Sydney’s hot theatre ticket right now is a David Hare play called The Permanent Way or so is everyone telling me ... It is all about the state of Sydney-British railway system
What happens when you get a bunch of spooks, lawmakers, gadget geeks, and military interrogators together in a hotel conference room and ask them to talk - on the record? Spy world
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Pass it on by Postcard
Late Vivian Green said: Religious faith is not unlike sex, less product of the intelect than an expression of something deep within the human psyche.
Unlike John, I had come back, not to stay, but only for an hour or so—long enough to see and to savor again, for the first time in nearly five years, that small and surprisingly unchanged part of the city where I was born and had spent so much of my life, where I knew every building and back alley as well as I knew my own front yard, where I had been a young priest, where I had had my own parish, and where, as in no place else, I had belonged, I had been at home. I suppose it’s the mark of the provincial man, but in any case I find that I have a special and lasting love for this place which is so obviously just a place, which has no particular beauty or grace or grandeur of scene, but which is, quite simply, a neighborhood, my neighborhood, a compound of sights and smells and sounds that have furnished all my years. What kind of man is it who, after almost fifty years, can still spend half his time remembering the cry of the chestnut man, as it came floating down the street on a winter night…?
And the people, all the people, the people one knew and understood almost by instinct, who had warmth and wit and kindness and an astonishing cascading rush of words—and who also had long and unforgiving memories, and tongues that cut like knives….
-Edwin O’Connor, The Edge of Sadness
• World Book Day - The Power Of Recommendation [There is a crisis in literature. Book sales are down, authors are despondent, salons are closing and literary lunches have become drab affairs But American publishers have come to the rescue. Literature's woes, they have decided, lie in the smallness of the print ; Despite their ancient pedigree as "lovers of wisdom," philosophers sometimes muddy the waters more than they clear things up Philosopher puts concept of truth to the test ]
• · Yep, life'll burst that self-esteem bubble ; I was raised half Jewish and half Catholic. When I'd go to confession, I'd say "Bless me, father, for I have sinned -- and you know my attorney, Mr.Cohen." 100 Funniest Jokes of All Time
• · · A look at Dostoyevsky's disregarded prophecy The famous Russian author shows us what's to fear in a world without God ; From The Toronto Star, an essay by Arthur Miller, In praise of tragedy and the common man
• · · · If you sign on with a modern-day matchmaker, you'll have to toss away your idealized notions of soul mates and embrace the romance of no romance Unreal. He's just my type ; Lover boys
• · · · · As the French know, love -- like good food and wine -- is a stimulant best consumed in small, very pretty portions. On Love ; Many librarians believe they're competing with and losing against search engines like Google, that for most users the convenience of a simple, clean interface outweighs the quality of the quality of the results. Whether this is true or not Google's digital library project is an opportunity for libraries to remain competitive by working with the competition. For the sake of users, and their own future, libraries just have to make sure they're taking advantage of the opportunity and not being taken advantage of Will Databases Replace Libraries?
• · · · · · The Book-of-the-Month Club is reinventing itself, updating to try to compete in internet age Reinventing Book-Of-The-Month ; A couple of scholars write a book, then watch as it languishes near the bottom of the Amazon sales rankings. How to get it higher? How about visiting Barnes & Noble stores and placing it in more prominent position? Begging producers for interviews? Taping your own readings complete with laugh tracks? Goosing Book Sales - Two Authors' Saga ; It's no secret that I think the iPod is a life-changing device and that anyone and everyone who cares about music even a little bit should experience the joy of iPod-ness. But until this year, the least expensive model cost $250, making an iPod more a luxury than a necessity The Cheapskates iPod shuffle: tiny, inexpensive and ever so cool