I've often described online discussions and essays as "Brain Jazz." Like a lot of modern jazz one musician (writer) riffing off another can be irritating. But when it works, when it comes together, brain jazz can be transcendent. An example coming off my RSS stream this morning is when Stuart Schneiderman of the wonderfully titled therapist's page "Had Enough Therapy" takes up Victor David Hanson's latest essay Reflections on the Revolution in America and "free ...

tags: coup d etat, storming the bastille, professor hanson, reading reflections, reflections on the revolution, richard pipes, philosophy and literature, david hanson, literature classes, victor david, russian revolution, modern jazz, schneiderman, nthe, hegelian, nso, proletariat, notches, riffs, small group

The continent that dealt it. Science News via Wired Science (there's two "trustworthy sources") sends the world to hell today with the latest TEOTWAWKI fear bomb with Methane May Be Building Under Antarctic Ice "If the methane produced by the bacteria gets trapped beneath the ice and builds up over long periods of time — a possibility that is far from certain — it could mean that as ice sheets melt under warmer temperatures, they would ...

tags: bang and a whimper, long periods of time, methane gas, gigantic bubble, antarctic station, teotwawki, trustworthy sources, global cooling, nthe, bic, flicks, fart, earthquakes, comet, millennia, global warming, bacteria, curry, continent, scientist

"And the face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale..." The face of (Karl Marx) (Rasputin) (Jesus) that so many around the blogosphere are seeing today is, alas, a mere figleaf of their imaginations. Sorry, kids, it just isn't there. How do I know? I used an ancient reporting technique. I walked to the corner and looked for myself at the real cover on-sale now for $5.95 [Pass]. Nope. No face. Instead, there's ...

tags: portraiture photography, unsharp mask, lying eyes, karl marx, bearded face, hillary clinton, figleaf, sorry kids, nthe, kerfuffle, whiter shade, magazine rack, rasputin, nig, whiff, grasshopper, imaginations, artifact, newsweek, blogosphere

It could have been deja vu all over again for Alberto Contador at the Paris-Nice bike race on Sunday. The Caisse d'Epargne team was attacking Contador's precarious position as overall leader in the final stage of the week-long race, just as it had in the penultimate stage in 2009. But instead of succumbing to the pressure and losing the yellow jersey to final champion Luis Leon Sanchez last year, Contador survived the attacks to win his second ...

tags: luis leon sanchez, caisse d epargne, final champion, nice bike, alberto contador, precarious position, nthe, bike race, valverde, slugs, deja vu, finale, paris

by a track stand at a stoplight or a bunny hop over a stick in the road, I was astounded by the wonderful performances of the artistic bicyclists from Germany at Saturday's Seattle Bicycle Expo. If synchronized swimming can be an Olympic sport, so should this. In fact, artistic cycling is a popular UCI-licensed sport in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The Cascade Bicycle Club brought the reigning World Champion in single artistic women, Corrina Hein, ...

tags: cascade bicycle club, sport in germany, artistic women, licensed sport, matla, nthe, world champion, musu, leading men, olympic sport, bicyclists, stoplight, synchronized swimming, lukas, hein, expo, uci, competitions, seattle, europe