Olives, Anyone?

Olive Kitteridge is a stunning book.  Simply and beautifully written; complex in its simplicity, the novel is a collection of interwoven short stories, a form that if not birthed, was certainly given identity by Louis Erdich with Love Medicine.  Olive is not a likeable woman.  She is intolerant and speaks her intolerance, alienating her son and many others.  As Olive states, “And I am essentially a peasant.  I have the strong passions and prejudices of a peasant.”  But she is far richer in character than this, and to paraphrase a New York Times book reviewer commented, the gravitational pull that anchors the various stories in the novel.  The novel will shock you, amuse you, stun, marvel  and nearly devastate you, often within a few pages.  Set in contemporary Maine, Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer for this work.  And she damn well deserves it.

Spill Baby, Spill

On the average of twice a day I wish for the powers of a Greek God.  This morning my wish is to take all those morons who were chanting "Drill Baby, Drill" at the Republican convention and displace them to the shores of Alabama where the first fingers of the largest oil spill in history are beginning to degrade wetlands, fisheries and beaches, and magically have them continue their chant, while jumping up and down and generally acting like idiots.  I would welcome what the locals would do to them.

The Strangest Urban Ecosystems in the World

This makes for a fascinating read.

Eating Ants

A recent poem, "Eating Ants," was accepted by Alimentum's MenuPoems.  Hear it being read in a noisy eating establishment by someone I don't know but am now indebted to.

Quick Takes

Rush Limbaugh, who claimed he was going to move to another country (we were hoping) if the health care bill passed, still hasn't found one without socialized health care.  Keep looking Rush.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the University of Phoenix, which many of us used to think was a hoax, is now the second largest university in the country, beating out the California university system.  New York's is still the largest.

Almost perpetual motion machine:  Given the two universal laws that cats, when dropped from a height, always land on their feet; and the law that dictates a buttered piece of bread will always hit the ground (or floor) butter side down = if a buttered piece of bread is attached butter side up to the back of a cat, and the cat is dropped from a great height, it will spin indefinitely generating great amounts of electricity.

Clay Shirky on Cognitive Surplus

This is a fascinating talk by a very interesting contemporary social observer, Clay Shirky, who's book "Here Comes Everybody" I'm currently reading, learning from, and enjoying very much.

Battling the AntiChrist

Given this is who is currently battling the AntiChrist, I'm going to have to put my chips with him.