Saturday, November 10, 2012

Aweekstweets November 2-10 2012: the week the robostorm subsided


@donloden I will focus equally on data integration, analysis, & visualization of patient similarities. Decision support 4 providers & payers

11m
@donloden I haven't decided yet what my emphasis will be in the PMWC 2013 talk on similarity analytics.

17m
#IBM developed similarity analytics & commercialized it in our recently launched Patient Care & Insights solution (ibm.co/RKZJO4)

20m
I'll speak @ Personalized Medicine World Conference 2013 (bit.ly/RKZtyF), Jan 28-29, Mountain View, on "patient similarity analytics"

23m
@k8lynch Leftover wine is what remains in the bottle after the previous evening's imbibulation.

26m
@MattGron Blogging blueprint? You simply need a core of employees who are incentivized to blog & have the discipline to do it regularly.

29m
In the past few weeks, I've lined up a few more outlets for my #IBMblogging. Or they lined me up.

7h
It was a busy week. I can't recall what I did. Thank you Friday night wine!

7h
Crowded House "Pineapple Head" (youtu.be/EDMZH0mvc9M) JK--Apparently some Kiwi expression. Or not.

7h
The Dutchess and the Duke "Reservoir Park" (youtu.be/IyvqU9Uz9pM) JK-- 2008. Short-lived Seattle indie-folk group w/late 60s-ish vibe

8h
RT @Gibbstack: Currently watching sold out crowd @ Cat's Cradle in Carborro NC sing along w/'Same Love' & it's fucking beautiful@macklemore

8h
Neko Case "Buckets of Rain" (youtu.be/r_Uvy0g3MMM) JK--Covers a cool Dylan country song from "The Basement Tapes."

8h
Neko Case "If You Knew" (youtu.be/DQHSVl5FAnI) JK--Live one from "The Tigers Have Spoken." Stirs the blood with every hearing.

8h
Rachel Sweet "Stranger in the House" (youtu.be/jpkyoav4WM8) JK--Rachel could belt it all brassy. Would luv @NekoCase to cover this

8h
The Beatles "Birthday" (youtu.be/1YqMSIOQ4YE) JK--Who's doing background vocals on this one? John George & Ringo? Sounds like women

8h
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) "Bless Yore Beautiful Hide" (youtu.be/N7OJs10y5t0) JK--Including young Julie Newmar.

8h
The Hidden Cameras "The Smell of Our Own" (youtu.be/05DK10yk8gY) JK--2003. Full album. A desert island disc.

8h
The Hidden Cameras "Ban Marriage" (youtu.be/n-2lQ_xzQfE) JK--2003. Brilliant Canadian group. Gay in both senses of word. Unabashed.

8h
Country Joe and The Fish "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" (youtu.be/f4WeqP2G6pI) JK--1967. From "Electric Music for The Mind & Body"

8h
Country Joe McDonald "Tricky Dicky" (youtu.be/Wmp9gRsncuY) JK--"walks talks smiles frowns does what human can..a genuine plastic man"

9h
Crosby Stills Nash & Young "Helpless" (youtu.be/6FUsj-btBIk) JK--Big Bird's flying across the sky, no worries about being shot down

9h
Roxy Music "Love is the Drug" (youtu.be/OtCVLtcfLi4) JK--People in some states can now marry any human they love. It's addicting.

9h
The Doobie Brothers "Black Water" (youtu.be/mSAqkGU2nQ4) JK--Hey, man, ya gotta change out the bong water occasionally. Black w/resin

9h
The Seeds "Pushin' Too Hard" (youtu.be/IReb27tFqMg) JK--Seeds push up against hard soil, sprout stems, leaves, buds. Far out!

9h
Brewer & Shipley "One Toke Over the LIne" (youtu.be/Ejvcd-JeVCQ) JK--Dedicated 2 the voters of Washington & Colorado. Mind the roach!

9h
Finishing the leftover wine. My favorite type of leftovers.

14h
I suggest US govt appoint Wile E. Coyote to lead us to brink of fiscal cliff. Then we all beep-beep away at last second before he plummets.

14h
They're agile. Let's see what fresh post-defeat mass delusion Fox News cooks up & serves to us as stop-the-presses news.

15h
"How Facebook keeps 100 petabytes of #Hadoop data online" (bit.ly/TzvLLo) JK--Two-node NameNode replacement called AvatarNode

15h
"How does #bigdata add 2 experience of watching football?" (bit.ly/TzvE2t) JK--Optimize beer provisioning & refrigeration decisions

15h
"A famous predictive modeling scam" (bit.ly/TzvqZe) JK--Beware. I predict a sucker will be born every minute from now thru eternity

16h
"#Hadoop Analytics is not real time – A Reality or Myth?" (bit.ly/TzuST6) JK--Myth, if by "Hadoop" you mean "MapReduce."

16h
I'll be doing a monthly blogpost for #techtarget#ITKnowledgeExchange called "Small Thoughts on Big Data." 400 words max, each

16h
Near as I can tell, Obama's principal tactical error during the campaign was failing to dose himself with Red Bull the day of debate #1.

18h
"Small Data Beat Big Data In Election 2012" (bit.ly/WLMIbJ) JK--Actually, article points to decision science powered by data science

18h
Good bit on yoga from "Portlandia" 1st episode of season 3bit.ly/WLL5dV

19h
RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis JK--2012. Absolutely no doubt in my mind. Song of the year.

19h
Hi @devonvsmith. I enjoyed your talk at #isum12. Please DM me so I can send you my email address. I'd like a copy of your deck.

20h
County-by-county breakout of voting for Obama vs. Romney reveals continuous blue thread thru red middle of Deep South & up lower Mississippi

20h
Maryland legalizes casino gambling. IMHO, that's the "hail Mary" pass for National Harbor, Oxon Hill, to become viable tourist destination.

20h
I'm doing an #IBM twitter chat next Wed, Nov 14, from 1-2pm (eastern) on Simplifying & Shortening the IT Lifecycle with Integrated Systems

21h
Like to plan a year ahead? IBM Information On Demand 2013, November 3–7, 2013 in Las Vegas. Same venue. #ibmiod

21h
Anyway, it didn't take a pro data scientist to see Obama had stable enough edge in enough polls in enough key states to lock it up.

21h
"Netflix open sources dynamic query goodness for Amazon cloud" (bit.ly/S4Lwsj) JK--Supplements sys mgt APIs provided by AWS

21h
You can read Nate Silver election prediction success as "data scientists uber-alles." Or simply as shaping & tuning a model to fit data well

21h
"Demystifying #BigData: Industry Leaders Release Comprehensive Rpt on Big Data in Govt" (bit.ly/UzuiE2) JK--Co-chair #IBM Steve Mills

22h
"#IBM’s #BigData 4 Smart Grid Goes Live in TX" (bit.ly/UztSxn) JK--Analyze 3M+ Oncor smart meters, portal-bsd intel 2 ops & customers

22h
"#IBM’s new software takes aim at huge, complex engineering projects" (bit.ly/UztMWu) JK--IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager

22h
Legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington state is no surprise. Local Seattle weeklies have "medicinal pot" ads that fool no one

22h

22h
Healthcare analytics? Saving lives in real time (bit.ly/Tfc63D) Friday's#IBM quick-hit

22h
Healthcare analytics? Saving lives in real time: lnkd.in/8Fg-XU

Reading a Raleigh local rag, published before the election, about how Obama & Dems would almost certainly lose big.

"#IBM Cited As a Leader in BI Services by [#Forrester]" (www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pr) JK--Forrester Wave of BI Service Providers, Q4 2012

RT @seantrout: Great #BigData panel discussion with@maddogmanny @jameskobielus & @rocketfuelinc at #ISum12 JK--Thanks for coming!

Looking for a Good Place to Put Billions of Human Genome Data Points? Try the Cloud. ibm.co/VTbvV4 #IBMsmb

#Hadoop industry standardization: A suggested frameworkibmdatamag.com/?p=6000 by @jameskobielus

A suggested framework for #Hadoop industry standardizationibmdatamag.com/?p=6000 by @jameskobielus

Why #Hadoop standards are essential for sustaining industry momentum ibmdatamag.com/?p=6000 by @jameskobielus

True #Hadoop Standards are Essential for Sustaining Industry Momentum: Part 2 ibmdatamag.com/?p=6000 by @jameskobielus

#Forrester remains my favorite analyst firm on marketing & strategy, digital channels, and customer experience/engagement.

Listening to Sucharita Mulpuru of #forrester discuss e-commerce at#isum12. I read all her work while I worked there. Great research!

@devonvsmith I agree. Most of life is simply maintaining world in your peripheral awareness till at least one cool thing relieves the tedium

"Jon Stewart Gleefully Rips Into Fox News Election Coverage: ‘There Was An Avalanche On Bullsh*t Mountain’" (bit.ly/TMlbD2) JK--Zen!

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Down in the Boondocks by U.S. Girls from GEM JK--2012. Great cover of great song. Surprised it's rarely covered

Come hear me/others speak on #bigdata this morning, 9:20-10:20am (eastern) at #isum12 in Raleigh NC.

Decision scientists? Experience analytics drives empathetic situational engagement (bit.ly/RKcYNs) Thursday's #IBM quick-hit

Decision scientists? Experience analytics drives empathetic situational engagement: lnkd.in/kBFepf

Beach Boys "Caroline, No" (youtu.be/2r1V3oDSydM) JK--About a girl, not a state, or on mind. 'Bout the Boys in a girl state of mind.

James Taylor "Carolina In My Mind" (youtu.be/4LFqWIKayIE) JK--2nd, and far more mellow, song I think of when "Carolina" mentioned.

Velvet Underground "Sister Ray" (youtu.be/FJUpY5geWcU) JK--1st song that comes 2 mind when think "Carolina." North or South? Not sure

The Beatles "I'm So Tired" (youtu.be/MIENus8bJlY) JK--I'm chipper. But this is only song I know mentioning Sir Walter Raleigh. "Git"

Michael Cosentino @cosentino For the Nate-haters, here’s the 538 prediction and actual results side by side pic.twitter.com/jbny4pRX
 Retweeted by jameskobielus

"Triumph of the Nerds: Nate Silver Wins in 50 States" (on.mash.to/XkLjrn) JK--Cold consolation 4 beloved Tigers being swept in Series

Listening to #isum12 speaker discuss marketing on socials I don't get into, such as Pinterest & Tumblr, may spur me to take second looks.

Right-leaning Washington Examiner reports all of yesterday's election results w/impartial tone. Good. You maturing into legit newspaper?

#isum12 speaker works for "Garden & Gun," a magazine about Southern culture. No comment.

"BI Reference Architecture that Actually Works" (bit.ly/XkIl6u) JK--Good @bevelson post. Can't wait 2 see #forrester BI Playbooks

"Do You Have a Single Version of Process?" (bit.ly/XkI3fD) JK--Good post by @cmooreforrester . Master process management (MPM)?

"Obama Defeats Romney to Win Second Term" (bit.ly/XkHJOd) JK--I'm glad the IT press is covering this story. Rest of media ignoring it

"#Hadoop Distributions: 10 Requirements for a Full-Service Deployment' (bit.ly/XkH5jH) JK--Good narrative overview.

Speaker at #isum12 mentioned "MarijuanaMajority.com". Behind Wash & Colorado legalizations? Latter gives new meaning to "Rocky Mtn High"

Speaker at #isum12 talking about challenge of balancing "staff as brand" w/ corporate brand. A solution evangelist does it 24x7.

Speaker at #isum12 equated "Internet curation" with "sifting through crap."

"Boston preps big kickoff for big data hub" (bit.ly/XksKno) JK--Hack/Reduce sponsored by #IBM & others

@lmcgowin For starters, rid your head of the notion of "six-figure gurus." They're simply people who may B interested in you & your thoughts

@lmcgowin Where are you, specifically? Regardless, best way to network is walk around, introduce self, shake hands, & talk with people.

"#IBM Interactive Placed in Leaders Quadrant by [Gartner]" (ibm.co/XkqPPu) JK--Agency within IBM specializing in digital mktg svcs

Not imagining this. Notice how Fox News anchors looked+sounded defeated as they announced Romney's defeat (youtu.be/xpsweWmFpmU)

This is my first time in Raleigh, as opposed to RTP. Pleasant quiet mid-sized southern city. Not flashy, but flashy is over-rated.

Luv when online solicitation addresses me as "James Gerard" (1st 2 names on my birth cert). Sounds like my dad calling me when pissed off

Meta-analysis? (bit.ly/T3siEV) JK--Wednesday's #IBM quick-hit

Meta-analysis?: lnkd.in/_tdhA7

@rodtrent My daughter's healthcare costs have been projected to stay under control. Good news for someone with "pre-existing condition."

Love the cold November day. Good excuse for wearing my Lt. Columbo trenchcoat on business trip. Short guys look more formidable in trenches

Hey Android: get smart enough to recognize my idiosyncratic terms of endearment & NOT auto-correct in texts I sent to my wife.

Enjoying the online calm after the robo-storm. Chicken soup for lunch in downtown Raleigh.

WSJ piece says 3% of US male population are psychopaths. I suspect piece ghostwritten by vast psychiatric conspiracy 2 dupe us to believe.

Dear President Obama: I voted for you in spite of the obnoxious robo-calls. Please resist the temptation to robo-call us with gratitude.

Washington state voters legalize recreational marijuana. Seattle's best now has new meaning. Venti-sized bong hits?

Don't have to worry for next few years about the rightwing messing with ObamaCare. One fewer thing to worry about. Thank you electorate!

CNN projects Obama re-election. Our long national nightmare is over. Gotta get me some sleep.

Let's just call it now: Obama re-elected!

My tweet prophecy from 12-28-11: "One thing I love about GOP is that all candidates get chance 2 play "eventual loser" 4 a week"

CNN analyst lays out the sorry news for Romney: Obama can be re-elected now WITHOUT Florida, Ohio, or Virginia.

Let's net this out: very likely no change in the US federal government balance of power. Democratic pres & senate, Republican house.

Schweet! Tim Kaine the new US senator from Virginia. Was a good governor. Will be an excellent senator.

RT @algore: I am confident in saying that President Obama is going to carry the state of Florida tonight. bit.ly/PpLrD1 #Current2012

We're just leaving it on CNN all night. Fox and NBC just too rah-rah partisan. I trust CNN to be even-handed, and they reward my trust.

Pere Ubu "I Hear They Smoke The Barbeque" (youtu.be/vHCXkHA8OBI) JK--1990. Oddball in Ubu output cuz it's radio-ready. Good one.

RT @marklisanti: Florida so close the election will be decided by a special runoff wrestling match between an alligator and a serial killer.

Electoral College Map LIVE Results on Who is Winning the Election via @PolicyMic (policymic.com/articles/18594) JK--No surprises so far.

New #IBM jk blog: "Next Best Action Rides the Best-Fit Model" (ibm.co/Xh4VwF)

Wrote all my quick-hits spanning Nov 12 through Thanksgiving. All of them on smarter #bigdata consolidation. Just to get them out of my face

"Election Day 2012: Another UNIVAC Moment!" (bit.ly/TIwGM3) JK--Cronkite reported the projection of this newfangled electronic brain

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Kick Out the Jams by MC5 from The Very Best Of JK--Raucous profane jam always reminds of Ann Arbor, U-Mich, Hash Bash

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Help Save the Youth of America by Billy Bragg from Talking With the Taxman About Poetry JK--I consider Billy American

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Ohio by Crosby Stills Nash & Young frm Decade JK--Actually, Nixon-era soldiers didnt wear tin armor. Correct it Neil!

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Carry Me Ohio by Sun Kil Moon from Ghosts of the Great Highway JK--Should be anthem of Swing State America!

Just realized. Saw far fewer bumperstickers lawnsigns paperfliers & lapelpins, 4 any candidate, this election cycle. But online onslaught

For Obama/Biden and Kaine. pic.twitter.com/lE5z5UUV

Standing in line to vote at Francis Scott Key Middle School, Springfield VA pic.twitter.com/qXZEYKLW

RT @jameskobielus: lnkd.in/REere5 Various levels of governance relevant 2 #bigdata. I've opined on several o them in past several...

lnkd.in/REere5 There are various levels of governance relevant to big data. I've opined on several of them in the past several...

"From #BigData to Big Marketing" (bit.ly/SKlWf5) JK--This stat gives me a headache: avg consumer experiences 16,000+ mktng msgs daily

"Two Stage Prediction Model" (linkd.in/SKlLk9) JK--Good high-level discussion among data scientists of modeling options.

Damn WSJ didn't deliver this morning. I'll bring my Zune to the polling place, to bide the time while I wait in line. #KEXP & NPR podcasts

"Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." - George Bernard Shaw

Catch me speaking on a panel at Internet Summit, Raleigh NC, on Thursday morning (bit.ly/FsWdp)

"Gosh darn it." Funny that someone would so egregiously defang a curse phrase. Like pantomiming that you're stabbing someone in back.

Speech analytics? (bit.ly/U6sdP8) Tuesday's #IBM quick-hit

Speech analytics?: lnkd.in/vb_2Sn

Trying to get some work done before I go off and do my civic duty.

John Cusack to star in biopic about Rush Limbaugh? Sure! While we're on subject, let's get Tom Hanks for Osama Bin Laden life story.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe. Let's re-imagine Great Emancipator as man with movie-star good looks.

Key autumn milestones: yesterday we fell back to Standard Time, today we brought cold-weather garments from auxiliary closet.

Ah, wasn't much decent in local Redbox tonight. Picked up some British thing with good ol' Dame Judi Dench. My kinda Dame! "Marigold Hotel"

@CurtMonash I agree. Obama sells a policy like Jay Leno sells a punchline. Jams 'em out there. You acknowledge professionalism of delivery.

@CurtMonash My own assessment o Obama framed by fact he's 1st president (slightly) younger than me. Hard to hold illusions re own generation

@CurtMonash I don't think Obama's the be-all/end-all of presidents. None of the previous ones were either. But he's done a good job.

@CurtMonash I think we all need to neutralize this "killing enemies abroad shows America is strong" nonsense. That's bellicose chauvinism

Anybody ever done a study 2 determine what are most over-used IT project codenames in vendor and/or user worlds? Which R kiss o death?

@CurtMonash Hey Curt, I've spewed my various political opinions across my key social presences for quite some time. It's all out there.

@CurtMonash "Markets well to...." is the key criterion for positioning in a tight electoral campaign, isn't it?

@CurtMonash And I'll flag the OBL killing for the same reason GOP dinged Carter on the Iran hostage crap. Partisan electoral wedge advantage

@CurtMonash It's one of the key reasons worth flagging in a tweet. I have about 10 times that many top reasons.

Why am I voting for Obama tomorrow? External: pulled US out o Iraq, dispatched Bin Laden, & rebuilt key alliances. Domestic: HC insur reform

"Superman Home Planet Krypton 'Found'" (bit.ly/RMDuE8) JK--No. Neil deG Tyson ID'd real red dwarf 4 DC Comics 2 write into narrative

Pere Ubu "Free White" (n.pr/RMzeV8) JK--2012. Brand new. Free from NPR All Songs Considered. Ubu has always sounded warped+cracked

Phone ringing. Caller ID says "private caller." Robo-call? Do I pick up? Let it go to voice mail. Ah yes, sit in jail there U obnoxious bot

@CurtMonash Hey Curt, if I had to wait till I felt I knew as much as I wished to know in order to write, I'd never write. I hear ya.

"Beyond hashtags: Instagram nxt challenge is tackle #bigdata" (cnet.co/RMvdjG) JK--Actually, Big Media chalenge: bit.ly/RMvCT5

@CurtMonash On DBMS2? They were all brief, but none looked rushed or half-assed. Your usual good detailed posts.

I am voting tomorrow for Obama for president and for Tim Kaine for US senator from Virginia.

I love cold weather because it means more pockets to stuff things into.

Next week and the following week, up to Thanksgiving, I'll quick-hit on one topic only: smart #bigdata consolidation

"How does Kaggle get world’s smartest data scientists 2 moonlight 4 free? Turning problems 2 contests" (bit.ly/VNL1nY) JK--Addicting

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Let's Get Lost by Beck & Bat For Lashes from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse JK--Cool duet. Voices work well together

@merv George Harrison got deeper from the Indian influence.

@merv Donovan doesn't get the credit he deserves for being the eclectic promiscuous every-scene cool deep fun minstrel of that era.

Nothing holds still. Those three words sum up the world of now & going forward. Everything seems to have come unglued in recombinant mode

New #IBM jk article: "True #Hadoop Standards are Essential for Sustaining Industry Momentum: Part 2" (bit.ly/RDTIRH)

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Psychedelic Pill by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from Psychedelic Pill JK--Brand new. Return to old form. Early 1970s

Blind Willie Johnson "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond" (youtu.be/XsYtT8owyJ0) JK--On @merv recommendation. Late 1920s?

@merv Thanks Merv. I'll check for it on YouTube first.
Peta-governance? Cloud introduces a wild card into #bigdatagovernance (bit.ly/TFn18R) Monday's #IBM quick-hit
Peta-governance? Cloud introduces a wild card into big-data governance: lnkd.in/jRMXa5

Wife got me to try chocolate cream cheese spread on my whole wheat bagel. Confirms why I'm not a chocolate4breakfast man

Urgh! A Music War (1981) . Full movie (youtu.be/m3Ym0ZzCynY) JK--I've never seen. Kudos to Michael Weir!

lnkd.in/-wnTNq Will: Yes, in fact, I've blogged on the role of big data in BI a few times, including here:...

Machine data analytics?: lnkd.in/UrfpYw

Essential Logic "Fanfare in the Garden" (youtu.be/36KHk5TMIlM) JK--Curious what happened to Lora Logic. Also on NME/Rough Trade C81

James 'Blood' Ulmer "Jazz Is The Teacher (Funk Is The Preacher)" (youtu.be/L_2gFCZ3Kb8) JK--Correction. One other US artist on NME/RT

Pere Ubu "Misery Goats" (youtu.be/fCR9Kva6JOQ) JK--Only American artist on that NME/Rough Trade cassette. Also on PU "Art of Walking"

John Cooper Clarke "The Day My Pad Went Mad" (youtu.be/Gg03WnDSJsM) JK--1981. Shouting English poet also featured on NME/Rough Trade

Aztec Camera "We Could Send Letters" (youtu.be/8wqKZkIQkBE) JK--From same NME/Rough Trade release. Kept me warm thru Michigan winter

The Gist "Greener Grass" (youtu.be/Se1IY2Ugjf0) JK--1981. Jaunty instrumental by Moxhams from NME/Rough Trade multi-artist cassette

@merv Yeah, What a clown.

@jameskobielus more seriously, many of us acknowledge one another's work regardless of firm here in the twitter verse. Respect counts.
 Retweeted by jameskobielus

@merv #Gartner #bigdata What? Gartner citing Forrester? Are the lions lying down with the lambs in the analyst space these days? Shocked!

RT @kexpplaylist #kexp Do It Again by The Jolly Boys from Great Expectation JK--Very cool growly Caribbean Steely Dan cover

Peter, Paul and Mary "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (youtu.be/xVxYhF6liTU) JK--Many a "Negro" spiritual found its way into folk-mass

Carole KIng "You've Got a Friend" (youtu.be/XHlcW_lKPl4) JK--The repertoire of 70s Catholic folk-mass embraced secular compassion

Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken" (youtu.be/kKoRp05L95c) JK--Another contemporary staple of the 70s Catholic folk-mass.

Crosby Stills Nash & Young "Teach Your Children" (youtu.be/wx4AATLY7L8) JK--St. Edith folk-mass performed this. Led by Norm Recla Sr.

4 Nov
Medical Mission Sisters "God Gives His People Strength" (youtu.be/Yn32aQ-OUmo) JK--All song composed by Sister Miriam Therese-Winter

Medical Mission Sisters "It's a Long Road to Freedom" (youtu.be/txK5ZazkJBU) JK--"When U cover Earth w/songs U sing the miles fly by"

Medical Mission Sisters "Joy is LIke the Rain" (youtu.be/ZCIXVPYJuSg) JK--I connected with folk-guitar masses post Vatican 2

We say grace before meals. During which I say a silent prayer of thanks that I married a great cook.

Christopher Hitchens was more interesting discussing Americans than Brits. His very Englishness made his comments on Englishness feel petty

I misspoke re late Christopher Hitchens. His essay on North Korea is the sharpest assessment of that madhouse nation I've ever read.

WSJ piece about happy aging. Research sez gratitude optimization & regret mitigation are key.

Once you recognize the stubbornly manic-depressive character of many news cycles, you are on the road to liberating your heart from it.

Checked out weighty tome by dude Kissinger appointed head of his firm. Slams "top-down" culture of #IBM et al. Not my experience so far.

Standard Time resumes. We can now spend all the daylight we saved.

Stopped reading review of new Pete Townshend memoir when reviewer implied the group started as The Who. High Numbers!

"Smithy of my soul." Is there a "jonesy" of the soul? That's not an obsessive-compulsive pleasure-seeker?

Have I read James Joyce's "Ulysses"? Not all the way thru. Got tired of waiting for ghost of the US president to appear.

WashPost article reporter actually uses Zune HD, comments on design elegance & usability. Amazing. Not post-mortem snark

WashPost article says world, statistically, is safer & more stable than ever. But we're no safer from bellicose rhetoric.

"Meek." Every time I seek that word, I imagine the person in questions utters it over & over, a self-effacing tiny human mouse.

Saw DVD of "The 5-Year Engagement" with Jason Segel & Emily Blunt. Entertaining but tiresomely overplotted & implausible. Ann Arbor scenes!

Reading "Arguably,," a collection of essays by the late Christopher Hitchens. Opinionated & erudite, but somehow vaguely unfocused

Nobody now alive was around in late 1800s to witness rampant American deforestation & wildlife decimation in name of economic development.

WSJ article about resurgence of wildlife in US metro areas. I rarely saw any in Detroit area growing up. I've seen deer often in DC 'burbs

The Eagles "Hotel California" (youtu.be/NUbTW928sMU) JK--Joe Walsh had to go west, young man, wielding a wild axe, to strike gold.

James Gang "Walk Away" (youtu.be/lmpJZ8hNZR0) JK--Apart from Pere Ubu, the only other noteworthy Cleveland band. Joe Walsh.

3 Nov
Pere Ubu "Navvy" (youtu.be/91KBuWqxE7g) JK--Spastic opener from "Dub Housing." Lyric: "I've got these arms & legs that flipflop"

Michael Penn "No Myth (Someone to Dance With)" (youtu.be/vC2Zm13AvIo) JK--Best known for relations: wife (Aimee Mann), bro (Sean)

Aimee Mann "Labrador" (youtu.be/XA1cX-wgMdM) JK--Jon Hamm pretends to be video director forcing Aimee to embarrass herself.

Luna "Tiger LIly" (bit.ly/QvzKqJ) JK--"Tiger lily girl standing tongue-tied in the corner."

The lady who brought Egidia to the US in 1982, UW-Madison Prof. Ellen Rafferty, is in town. We're going to see her tomorrow. Can't wait.

Luna "23 Minutes In Brussels" (youtu.be/81Sv57rbujA) JK--"Are we gonna get into a tussle?"

"Concert for Bangladesh" (youtu.be/mQeOd3R77nY) JK--1972. Full concert. Tahmina Ahmad, who introduced us, was from Dhaka.

The Beatles "Long, Long, Long" (youtu.be/Z6ghgQe2ikA) JK--"It's been a long long long time..now I'm so happy I found U..how I love U"

Michael Jackson "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (youtu.be/w8DKD0PoRSI) JK--November 1982. Somethin' started. Egidia & I met that month

Marvin Gaye "Pride and Joy" (youtu.be/g4LbRo9sudY) JK--"And I'm your baby boy."

Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers "Girlfriend" (youtu.be/6EEZS0ZLTdQ) JK--"G-I-R-L-F-R-E-N. Now that's somethin' that I unnerstand"

Beck "Girl" (youtu.be/Xm2n8fkBZVM) JK--"Take her where her soul belongs & I know I'm gonna steal her eye, nothing that I wouldnt try"

Fiddler on the Roof "Matchmaker" (youtu.be/59Hj7bp38f8) JK--"Find me a find, catch me a catch....be glad you've got a man."

Roberta Flack "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (youtu.be/hOFrGbuUqnQ) JK--Ex-DC schoolteachr "I thought the sun rose in yr eyes"

Everly Brothers "Claudette" (youtu.be/j0Otk53qFwM) JK--1958. "happy 4 the rest o my life when my brand new baby is my brand new wife"

Jimmie Rodgers "Honeycomb" (youtu.be/h1ubG2f1-to) JK--1957. The breakfast cereal used it in commercials in 1960s. "Darned good wife"

Esquire magazine dubs Mila Kunis the "sexiest woman alive." So, I guess, a great many hotties I've seen are technically dead? Please clarify

Men's magazines & the "art of living well." They usually equate it with the art of accumulating wealth & art of wasting it on unnecessaries

Details on CIA prompt rescue response 2 Libya terrorist attack on consulate should spur apologies by rightwingers who used as campaign issue

Hey NFL, don't hand us this pile of nonsense. Only way you can make your brutal sport safer is by transforming it into touch football.

I am damn glad the weekend is here.

Pere Ubu "The Book is On the Table" (bit.ly/QZEdng) JK--Oddity in their very odd back-catalog. David T. not vocalist. Who dat lady?