Another January is bearing down on us. As we close the door to 2008 and open up 2009, I figured a selection worthy of Janus the god of gates and doors in Roman mythology. Janus from the Latin “ianua” (the Romans didn’t have a “j” in their alphabet:) meaning “gate” or “door” is where we [...]

A roundup to facilitate your Monday web wanderings:
The Partying Priest
How Visiting Your Family Warps Your Brain (a good explanation for holiday family feuds)
Fortify Your Cocktails W/ Port (Port, Madeira and other fortified wines are underrated and delicious.)
Russian Professor claims recent events are confirming his theory that the US will cease to be one nation by [...]

Do you like modern music? Oh, I think it’s marvelous. Some of it, really fine…

Here’s the full story.

‘Tis the season for holiday cheer! This year, I’ll be enjoying many delicious beers thanks to my sis and brother-in-law “smuggling” some Chimay, Aventinus and other tasty treats down from Ohio. Would you like to enjoy such wonderments year-round? Do you wonder why you can’t find imperial stouts or Belgian dubbels and tripels here in [...]

I’m ashamed that it’s taken me so long to make my favorite Icelandic-Canadian rockstar, Lindy Vopnfjord (try saying that three times fast:), the subject of a WW. Lindy is one half of the indie rock duo that make up Major Maker. I met Lindy last summer at the Liberty Summer Seminar. Among other things, Lindy [...]

Every time another story about police abuse or corruption breaks, we hear the same story: these were renegade cops; this was an isolated incident; this type of behavior is rare. What’s clear is that in many departments across this country, a culture of corruption and patterns of abuse are commonplace and, if anything, increasing. Many [...]

To make up for the earnest uptightness of the last post:), here’s something to mellow everyone out a bit. One of the greatest guitarists of all time, I wish he had stuck around for much longer. Though, again, it’s impossible to single out one Hendrix track, I have always appreciated The Wind Cries Mary:

It’s too [...]

First, the lunacy. Alabama’s Senator Richard Shelby, despite his love of pork and earmarks generally, has taken a semi-principled stand against the financial bailout and, now, the automaker bailout. I applaud him for that and wish that more of our congresscritters would oppose these needless, wasteful bailouts. However, Joe Babiasz, a GM employee, believes that [...]

“Thinking aloud is a habit responsible for much of mankind’s misery.”
So says Benjamin Franklin, or at least his character played by Tom Wilkinson in the so far-excellent HBO miniseries: “John Adams,” which I have only recently begun. I have no idea whether the quote is historically accurate, but I will venture thinking aloud.
Does anyone know [...]

Via Kevin