Filthy Lucre
Rare wisdom in an age of intemperate demagoguery & populist buffoonery: "The Dangers of Demonology"-link. To venture into the bailiwick of "Lies, Damned Lies, & the News," The Economist is the finest news outfit of which I am aware, bar none. I do not always agree with their collective editorial stance, but I agree heartily far more often than I disagree even minutely. A full-throated defense of the market's many virtues, that is what has been missing from our discourse ("our" in this context meaning all the Western liberal democracies) lo these last four gloomy years. Much has been made of the market's vices, & many of those criticisms have been valid, but it is good to be reminded of how central a rôle the development of markets has played in the unprecedented prosperity & peace that are the hallmarks of our age (even if we too often lose sight of those larger truths, focused as we are on the panics of the present). To the staff of The Economist I say: Hear, hear!

Hello, Kitty
It really is true, cats love to play with string.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Fountains of Wayne, "Cold Comfort Flowers" from Sky Full of Holes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Sky Full of Holes was a finalist for 2011 Album of the Year, & even though it didn't win it is in my estimation a most welcome addition to Fountains of Wayne's catalog. Keep up the good work, gentlemen!