It's Spring!

The robins' return marks the first day of spring at our house; This morning I saw them hopping along the sunny part of the yard for the first time this year. They appeared at work two weeks ago, but thanks to the hill and our north-facing microclimate, everything in our yard is delayed. It's amazing, I swear you gain a USDA zone just going around the block. The tulips and daffodils started emerging a week ago now, and even the daylilies are poking their heads out of the ground. Strangely no sign of the crocus yet - they usually beat all comers, even poking out of the snow some springs. I guess it's time to come out of winter hibernation and start pruning and fertilizing the garden.

Another sign of spring: the squirrels are awake again and after the bird feeders. Anyone has a good way to squirrel-proof birdfeeders, I'm all ears. They are masters of creative skullduggery. One of these days I'm going to resort to an air rifle...

In response to this vernal upwelling of life, I just planted in flats two gross of seeds (mostly daylily hybrids, focusing on new spider and double forms) from last season’s garden. A separate weblog thread is under construction for all things daylily, including tracking the fate of these hybrids. As soon as I have the final build I will link it in here.

Sinistral survival

Turns out being left-handed does confer some advantages beyond a quicker path to first base:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4831218.stm

That's cool for the snails, but it doesn't really help humans much. It is nice to know, however, the hypothesis that left-handedness decreases lifespan appears to be false. Recent scientific studies in Brazilian, Canadian, Danish, and American populations show no correlation between handedness and lifespan. The Brazilian study, in particular, noted that the observed decrease in left-handedness in the geriatric population is due to negative cultural conditioning, and not mortality. (Martin WL, Freitas MB “Mean mortality among Brazilian left- and right-handers: modification or selective elimination?” Laterality 2002;7(1):31-44.)

Also of gauche interest - did you know that the chirality of your hair whorl predicts handedness? People whose hair twists clockwise are overwhelmingly (94%) right-handed, while those with counterclockwise hair have a 50-50 shot at it (the genetics are complicated - hair chirality is apparently linked to a gene that determines whether handedness is genetically patterned or stochastic – technically called a random-recessive genetic model). Anyway, the publication is: Klar, AJS “Human Handedness and Scalp Hair-Whorl Direction Develop From a Common Genetic Mechanism” Genetics 2003 165: 269–276). Now everyone go stare at the top of your head ;)

For all those lefties in my family, you will be disappointed to know that despite having counterclockwise hair, Bug appears to be right-handed. I wonder if the supposed “lefty” differences in brain physiology (increased interconnectivity and cooperative function between the hemispheres) are genetically linked to the whorl regardless of handedness or if they are also random in the counterclockwise population?

Duke Outhustled...

I think the title says it all. Duke lost to LSU in a game they were never really in. LSU's athletic overplay defense on Williams and Redick disrupted Duke's half-court set better than anyone has all season, and the rest of Duke's team was too young (McRoberts, Paulus) and too banged up (Dockery, Nelson) to compensate. Duke had some success in transition, but couldn't outrun a lightning fast and well-conditioned LSU team for long. What surprised me was the lack of emotion from the Duke side in this game – they just didn’t seem to want it as much as LSU. Maybe they were dog-tired after winning the ACC championship, but it was sad to see Redick and Williams end their careers with a whimper instead of a bang (and why, in the last couple of minutes, is Paulus launching 30 footers instead of banging it down low to Williams like they had all game? I know he’s got four fouls, but if you’re not going to give him the ball he might as well not be on the court. There were a lot of focus mistakes down the stretch for Duke – particularly during defensive rebounding). So there you have it. LSU played harder and smarter, and that usually wins you a game. John Wooden said that the champion this year would have to go through Duke to get it – LSU must feel pretty damn good about that.

As an aside – Big Baby has got to get more polished, but he is a fun player to watch. No one that big should be able to move that quickly! Congrats LSU, well fought game. For Duke, it’s time to reload and watch K work his magic one more time…

My son, the eater of all things!

Bug is apparently in a new growth spurt. He ate at 6:00, 7:00, and 10:30 last night, and followed that up with a 12+ oz. feast at 3:00 this morning, then ate at again at 7:00. I literally don't know where he stuffs it, because he isn't that big! It's going to be a rough week...

Victory is Mine!

I've been banging my head against the wall recently, trying to get iTunes for Windows to connect properly to the CDDB and pull down the song titles of new albums. Firewall settings, iTunes settings, killing everything in the systray, patching all possible troublemakers - nothing helped. Finally today I found a broken-link reference on Apple's forums to a former post on Symantec's forums about Norton Firewall 2002 causing the problem. A quick search of Symantec's forums revealed that apparently NF2002 has a conflict with the Gracenote database connection, even when iTunes is exempted from the Firewall. They claimed the latest patch fixes the problem, but it didn't. The solution? I dumped NF2002 - it's redundant with the hardware firewall anyway. Now album and song titles blissfully appear as soon as the CD does. Still, its disturbing that a four-year old program is obsolete. Black Ice, anyone?

hard at work?

NPR's "Day to Day" ran a segment today interviewing USA Today correspondent Kathy Keily, who investigated the current congressional work schedule. According to Keily, the US House of Representatives has been in session a total of 46 hours since the beginning of the year, typically only staying in Washington Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Nice work if you can get it! I know it's an election year, but shouldn't they actually have been in session for more than a week by now? They are on pace, Keily says, to surpass in sloth the "Do-Nothing Congress" Truman used as a counterpoint to his campaign in 1948. What is it again that Congress is the opposite of? ;)

Seriously, those of you who know more about politics than I, feel free to explain if this is, or isn’t, as bad as it sounds. From a largely apolitical view, it sounds pretty lazy.

A taste of summer

The Shenandoah under (almost) full sail.

Drink of the Month

Usually, this section of the blog will contain a drink recipe I am fond of, but to kick off this section of the blog, I’m going to describe the ways in which I typically enjoy good rum. For those of you who think of rum as something to put in Coke, here are some great ways to broaden your horizons - good rum has every bit the complexity and satisfaction of good scotch, at a fraction of the price. I'll do a review of some of our favorites soon (friends don't let friends drink bad rum!).

1.) Straight up – the best way to savor really good rum.

2.) Rum the way the locals drink it: In the Carribean, rum is often cut with water, sweetened with sugar, and enjoyed over ice. Balance the rum and water to taste but I find equal parts and a teaspoon of sugar in a tumbler is about right. The reason this drink came into being was apparently that Carribean locals tend to drink overproof, unblended rums – the closest commercial stuff would be something like 151 or Jack Iron. The reference to see for more info is Rums of the Eastern Carribean, by Edward Hamilton. This book is currently out of print but can probably be located by your favorite used and rare booksource. Check out his website www.ministryofrum.com for lots of rum info and reviews.

For a different twist on this drink, cut back on the water and add lime. This will give you a Caipirinha, a drink typically made with the Brazilian cane liquor cahaça. For the most authentic version, use either cahaça proper or sugar cane (not molasses) rum – also called Rhum agricole or sugar cane brandy, depending on the source.

3.) Bittersweet (Charlie’s rum drink): The inspiration for this drink hit me one night while staring aimlessly into the liquor cabinet. Equal parts vanilla seltzer and rum. Campari to taste (my taste would be another equal part, but I like Campari ;) Serve on rocks.

4.) the Painkiller: This drink is ubiquitious in the British Virgin Islands and almost unheard of elsewhere, which is a real shame. On the other hand, every time I make one I’m transported to the deck of a sailboat in Cane Garden Bay, which isn’t a bad thing either. Here’s our version: mix 2 parts pineapple juice, 1 part coco lopez (cream of coconut), and 2 parts rum, shake to chill, strain into a glass full of ice (I often use plastic cup, this is a beach drink after all). Add a liberal splash of triple sec and garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. The fresh nutmeg is particularly important. Grocery stores sell little nutmeg grinders just the right size to fit over the mouth of a glass, so it’s not as hard as it sounds.

For those times when ease of preparation is key, use the “poor man’s painkiller” – equal parts pineapple/orange juice (usually available as a frozen juice mix) and coconut rum, shake and serve over ice, and of course, garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. This isn’t quite as good as the real thing, but it’s quick and easy and is really handy on a boat.

5.) the South Beach: equal parts banana, pineapple, orange, and vanilla flavored rums, splash of cranberry juice for color. Straight up in a martini glass. I prefer Cruzan rums, but any flavored rum will do.

just a reminder: If you drink, do so legally and responsibly. Be safe and have fun.

Music review - the works of Morten Lauridsen

Morten Lauridsen is fast becoming one of the most well known contemporary American composers of classical choral music, and his success is well-earned. I recently picked up Lux Aeterna, a collection of several of his works performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale under the direction of Paul Salamunovich (RCM). Recorded in 1998, this disc contains world premiere recordings of several of these works, not surprising since Lauridsen was composer-in-residence with the chorale at the time. His music reminds me of Randall Thompson and Benjamin Britten. Though these similarities blend, his secular music tends to lean in Britten’s direction, while the pieces set to sacred text more have the languid and ethereal quality of Thompson (or Britten’s A Boy is Born, for that matter), relying on harmonic suspension to build the tension in the piece. The Lux Aeterna, set to five sacred texts that all involve light, is both outstanding and beautiful. Fans of Arvo Pärt who occasionally find themselves craving a major chord or two will love this piece (I’ll have to do a review of Pärt – to my mind one of the most important composers of the 20^th century – at a later date). Lauridsen’s skill is best exemplified by the second movement of the Les Chansons des Roses, a nocturne entitled "Contre Qui, Rose". A setting of a French Rilke poem (as are all the Chansons), this piece has a melancholy beauty that rivals Thompson's Alleluia or Pärt's Te Deum, though it is more intricate than the first and less austere than the last. With these comparisons, it is easy to see why some have labeled him a mystic. If you enjoy choral music, I recommend this disc; the technical skill of the chorale and orchestra is high (in contrast, unfortunately, to the particular recording of Thompson's works that I have), and Lauridsen's writing is enjoyable, complex, and at times deeply moving.

Sevens...

The impetus for me to finally enter the blogome was participating in what Jesse (see link to Hyperion Court) calls "Self-absorption comes in sevens". I realized I didn't have any good place to put my own list, once I had created one. So, this gave birth to the ulitmate fascination with self: a weblog. If 10 people ever read this, it is better than I have any right to expect. If 10,000 do, it will be less than I would hope. Such is the nature of self-absorption. Anyway, here is the list that started it all...

Seven things to do before I die:

Distill my own rum
Live in a lighthouse
Become a tenured professor of undergraduate biochemistry
Convince the world that religious differences are a stupid thing to fight over
Finish writing the novels that are rattling around in my head
Earn a Ph.D. in comparative theology
Drink aged Belgian beer at the Kulminator

Seven things I cannot do:

Whistle
Hide my emotions
Surprise my wife
Bike, hike, kayak, and ski as much as I would like
Smile naturally in photos
Tell jokes well
Separate work and life as much as I should

Seven things I like about where I live (Massachusetts):

The weather
The geography (terminal glacial moraine meets ocean)
Cape Cod
Apple picking
Great road biking
Being close to my family
October

Jesse’s Bonus – Seven things I don’t like about where I live:

The cost of housing
The short growing season
Suburban sprawl
There are places my wife would rather be
Ants (My own private war)
It’s not the British Virgin Islands
February

Seven things I say most often:

Smoo
Hi kiddo
I don’t believe that (in reference to labwork)
Fascinating
Humph
Groovy
That’s hysterical (and I wish I didn’t)

Seven books or writers that I love:

JRR Tolkien
Terry Pratchett
George Howe Colt (The Big House)
Dan Simmons (Hyperion Cantos)
Farley Mowat
Henry Beetle Hough
David Brin (Earth, in particular)

Seven movies I watch over and over and over again:

Oceans’ Eleven
Lord of the Rings
Band of Brothers (technically a miniseries, I suppose)
Gettysburg
Smokey and the Bandit
Passed Away
Legendary Lighthouses (set of PBS specials)

Charlie’s Bonus – Seven famous people with whom you would like to have dinner (past or present):

Rebecca Romijn
John Alden
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Henry Beetle Hough
Robin Williams
Charles Wesley
Jesus Christ

H's Bonus – Seven CDs that are in the car right now:

U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind
Dan Fogelberg – Innocent Age
A Covenant of Thorns – Hallowed and Hollow
Trojan Box Set – Carnival
Creed – My Own Prison
The Highwaymen (Cash, Jennings, Kristofferson, and Nelson) – The Road Goes On Forever
Bruce Springsteen – Devils and Dust

Seven people I want to join in (with Jesse’s lack of limitations)

My wife
my Dad
my Mom
Rich
Meg
Martin Luther
Charles Darwin

Drink of the Month Archive

This section of the blog archives past Drink of the Month entries:

6/14/06
Growing up in southern New England, cranberries are inescapable. They are blended with every conceivable drink from beer to apple juice. The bogs are everywhere, and the distinct, somewhat putrid smell of cranberry bogs is fixed permanently in my memory. My elementary school even went on field trips to the Ocean Spray plant and museum. Perhaps out of this indoctrination, or perhaps on its own merits, cranberry juice is one of my preferred beverages. It turns out, however, that this obsession is healthy. Cranberries are one of the most potent natural sources of antioxidants, those wonderful biochemical compounds that can help alleviate things like heart disease, cancer, and aging. Cranberry juice is a traditional folk remedy for urinary tract infections, and scientific research has recently confirmed that consumption of cranberry juice inhibits the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to the lining of the urinary tract (World J Urol. 2006 Feb;24(1):21-7). In addition, cranberry components and juice reduce “bad” cholesterol (Life Sci 2005 Aug 26;77(15):1892-901, Metabolism 2005 Jul;54(7):856-61). Cranberry juice also suppresses H. pylori infection, a major factor in ulcer development (Helicobacter 2005 Apr;10(2):139-45). Both cranberry extracts and cranberry juice promote dental health by disrupting bacterial coaggregation and biofilm formation (J Am Dental Assoc 1998 Dec;129(12):1719-23, Oral Microbiol Immunol 2004 Jun;19(3):150-4). In addition, compounds in cranberry juice kill a wide range of cancer cell lines (J Agric Food Chem 2004 May 5;52(9):2512-7). Though scientific studies have not yet demonstrated that cranberry juice itself protects against cancer or aging, many of the other benefits have been demonstrated in well-controlled clinical trials.

What does all of this mean? Well to me, it says “Drink more cranberry juice!” It is important to realize however, that the “cranberry juice cocktail” or the cranberry juice blends found at the grocery store are usually mostly apple or grape juice, and contain very little actual cranberry juice. The reason for this is that the taste of straight, unsweetened cranberry juice is a potent as its antioxidants. To get the health benefits and avoid the excess sugar, head to the organic section and pick up any of several (at least in Massachusetts) available 100% unsweetened cranberry juices. I might as well warn you, the taste will take your head off. It is impossibly tart – chomping on raw rhubarb (which I am known to do) pales by comparison. Try it straight up once just for the experience – I doubt you’ll want to do it twice. To make it palatable, I mix 1 part cranberry with 2 parts orange juice (or 1 to 1 if I’m feeling adventurous). At this strength, cranberry still completely dominates the flavor but I think it is quite tasty. One final note of caution: I learned from rather disturbing experience that if you drink a lot of 100% cranberry juice in a short time (a quart in 24 hours is enough) two things could happen 1.) Your stomach may not react so well – cranberry juice is tart, acidic, and loaded with tannins 2.) Your feces will turn green. Really. It is apparently due to the metabolic byproducts of the red pigments in the juice. Go figure.

5/2/06

Drink of the Month highlights Long Trail brewery this month. New England breweries tend to focus on British and German styles, as opposed to the new American styles highlighted by Northwestern breweries - and none do it better than Long Trail. Like Boston Brewing Company (Sam Adams), their flagship beer is an adaptation of alt, a German style of ale that predates lager brewing ('alt' means old). With pronounced maltiness and use of German hops, I find this beer to be more satisfying than the typical American ale. Long trail also makes a very nice British IPA, which is unusual since most American breweries tend to go the Northwest IPA route. Long Trail's best beer, though, and one of my favorite beers in general, is Double Bag. This delcious heavyweight is a stickebier (secret beer) - a heavy alt. Presenting with 7.2% abv, this is definitely not a session beer, unless your session is in front of the fire on a cold New England night. Mighty tasty, though. I seldom find myself out of the mood for a double helping of Double Bag.

4-30-06

And like Spring in the Northeast, April's Drink of the Month was a little late in arriving. Here it is:

The Drink of the Month today is Ipswich Brewing Copmany's Oatmeal Stout. This Stout lives up to it's name, with a riot of dark malts, toasted oats. Brewed in the American style, this jet-black beer has liberal amounts of Northwestern hops to compete with the aggressive use of dark malts in an all-out assult on the senses. The beer has a fabulous chewy, grainy texture that took me three tries to approximate in my homebrewery (and won first-place medals once I did). Large amounts of home-toasted steel-cut oats turned out to be the key! Ipswich Oatmeal Stout is not a beer for the delicate palate, but if you like dark beer in general, and American-style stouts in particular, there is none better. Drink this beer by itself (it will overwhelm any food it is paired with) and as cold as possible - it is particularly suited to chasing the sun away on warm summer nights. Ipswich was bought by Mercury Brewing Company not long ago, a move I feared would alter the character of this signature stout. Fortunately, Mercury seems not to have messed with the recipe. Distribution took a dive for a while, but they seem to have ironed that out as well.

3-17-06

For those of you who think of rum as something to put in Coke, here are some great ways to broaden your horizons - good rum has every bit the complexity and satisfaction of good scotch, at a fraction of the price. I'll do a review of some of our favorites soon (friends don't let friends drink bad rum!).

1.) Straight up – the best way to savor really good rum.

2.) Rum the way the locals drink it: In the Carribean, rum is often cut with water, sweetened with sugar, and enjoyed over ice. Balance the rum and water to taste but I find equal parts and a teaspoon of sugar in a tumbler is about right. The reason this drink came into being was apparently that Carribean locals tend to drink overproof, unblended rums – the closest commercial stuff would be something like 151 or Jack Iron. The reference to see for more info is Rums of the Eastern Carribean, by Edward Hamilton. This book is currently out of print but can probably be located by your favorite used and rare booksource. Check out his website www.ministryofrum.com for lots of rum info and reviews.

For a different twist on this drink, cut back on the water and add lime. This will give you a Caipirinha, a drink typically made with the Brazilian cane liquor cahaça. For the most authentic version, use either cahaça proper or sugar cane (not molasses) rum – also called Rhum agricole or sugar cane brandy, depending on the source.

3.) Bittersweet (Charlie’s rum drink): The inspiration for this drink hit me one night while staring aimlessly into the liquor cabinet. Equal parts vanilla seltzer and rum. Campari to taste (my taste would be another equal part, but I like Campari ;) Serve on rocks.

4.) the Painkiller: This drink is ubiquitious in the British Virgin Islands and almost unheard of elsewhere, which is a real shame. On the other hand, every time I make one I’m transported to the deck of a sailboat in Cane Garden Bay, which isn’t a bad thing either. Here’s our version: mix 2 parts pineapple juice, 1 part coco lopez (cream of coconut), and 2 parts rum, shake to chill, strain into a glass full of ice (I often use plastic cup, this is a beach drink after all). Add a liberal splash of triple sec and garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. The fresh nutmeg is particularly important. Grocery stores sell little nutmeg grinders just the right size to fit over the mouth of a glass, so it’s not as hard as it sounds.

For those times when ease of preparation is key, use the “poor man’s painkiller” – equal parts pineapple/orange juice (usually available as a frozen juice mix) and coconut rum, shake and serve over ice, and of course, garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. This isn’t quite as good as the real thing, but it’s quick and easy and is really handy on a boat.

5.) the South Beach: equal parts banana, pineapple, orange, and vanilla flavored rums, splash of cranberry juice for color. Straight up in a martini glass. I prefer Cruzan rums, but any flavored rum will do.

just a reminder: If you drink, do so legally and responsibly. Be safe and have fun.

Quote Archive

This section of the blog archives the quotes that have appeared under the title bar. I will try to change the quote monthly, but it will more likely be whenever the urge strikes me...

8-12-06
The test and the use of man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind.
- Jacques Barzun


8-7-06
Be careful! Minotaurs lie in wait in the labyrinths of memory.
– Isabel Allende

7-24-06
He’s a poet (he’s a picker). He’s a prophet (he’s a pusher). He’s a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he’s stoned. He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
- Kris Kristofferson, "the Pilgrim, Chapter 33"

7-20-06
Landis chased down an 11-man breakaway, killed them and ate them, built a new bicycle out of their bones, and roared away in a pillar of fire to win the stage to Morzine and jump back to within 30 seconds of the yellow jersey.
- Patrick O'Grady, discussing Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France

6-7-06
Here is the world you asked for,
gorgeous and opportune,
here is nine o’clock harbor-wide,
and a glinting code: promise and warning.
The morning’s the size of heaven.

What will you do with it?
- Mark Doty, from “Long Point Light”

5-25-06
You cannot judge a race. Any man who judges by the group is a peawit.
Michael Shaara, from The Killer Angels

5-08-06
We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein

5-04-06
A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
John A. Shedd

5-01-06
Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me.
Proverbs 30:8, American Standard Versino

4-20-06
I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.
Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), in Say Anything

4-8-06
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky (quoted on forbiddenlibrary.com)

4-7-06
Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful... Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.
Charles Bradlaugh (quoted on forbiddenlibrary.com)

4-5-06
As a result of a respectful regard for other animals we may find that we are being led onto traveled ways that were once invisible to us, and in their deep alliance with natural forces we find a new depth in ourselves. This is the common ground for all living things.
John Hay, in “Going Out”, from The Run

3-31-06
To have the human attributes of mind and spirit and the race's ability to control its own environment does not give me the wit to beat the infinitely various will of life at its own game. All I could wish for would be to join it.
- John Hay, in "the Drive to Be" from The Run

3-30-06
When I hear that robin sing
Well I know it’s coming on spring
and we’re starting a new life
- Van Morrison, from "Starting a New Life", on Tupelo Honey

3-17-06
Whoever wants self-fulfillment must exert willpower over a long stretch of time, besides possessing talent and knowing how to manage it.
- Jacques Barzun, from Dawn to Decadence: 500 years of Western Cultural History

3-

This section of the blog archives the quotes that have appeared under the title bar. I will try to change the quote monthly, but it will more likely be whenever the urge strikes me...

4-20-06
I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

4-8-06
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky (quoted on forbiddenlibrary.com)

4-7-06
Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful... Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.
Charles Bradlaugh (quoted on forbiddenlibrary.com)

4-5-06
As a result of a respectful regard for other animals we may find that we are being led onto traveled ways that were once invisible to us, and in their deep alliance with natural forces we find a new depth in ourselves. This is the common ground for all living things.
John Hay, in “Going Out”, from The Run

3-31-06
To have the human attributes of mind and spirit and the race's ability to control its own environment does not give me the wit to beat the infinitely various will of life at its own game. All I could wish for would be to join it.
- John Hay, in "the Drive to Be" from The Run

3-30-06
When I hear that robin sing
Well I know it’s coming on spring
and we’re starting a new life
- Van Morrison, from "Starting a New Life", on Tupelo Honey

3-17-06
Whoever wants self-fulfillment must exert willpower over a long stretch of time, besides possessing talent and knowing how to manage it.
- Jacques Barzun, from Dawn to Decadence: 500 years of Western Cultural History

3-14-06
All too often people confuse being able to think with their actually having done so.
- Michael Stackpole, from A Secret Atlas