In honor of tonight’s Wolf Moon, Astronomy Picture of the Day has posted a montage of twenty full moons. Be sure to click through to the twenty frame movie.
James Brown in the Middle East
Wow, the death of James Brown made the home pages of both Ha’aretz and Al Jazeera. Who knew?
Elizabeth Zimmermann
An online catalog of “New School Knitting: The Influence of Elizabeth Zimmermann and Schoolhouse Press”.
World Week
The things you learn reading blogs.
World Week celebrates the people of the Earth. It begins on December 25 and ends on December 31.
(Hat tip to Will Shetterly.)
Retelling the Christmas story
Paul L. over at Showers of Blessings had the good fortune to be part of the Christmas story in La Navidad, and is eloquent as usual in describing the experience.
[M]y friend Greg (one of the wisest of the wise men) talked to me at a rehearsal about the importance of the Living Word, of the Word manifesting and incarnating itself anew all the time, addressing the concrete circumstances of real people, not storybook characters.
Wow, an orderly transfer of power
With so many examples of disorderly and conflict-ridden transfers of political power (or refusal to transfer power), it was refreshing this morning to read this story on Al Jazeera: Bhutan king steps down.
The people of the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan have greeted the announcement of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck’s earlier-than-expected abdication with sadness and gratitude.
He’s 50 and has been ruling since he was 16. He had previously announced that he would abdicate in 2008.
Where I’ve been lately
I discovered a game/virtual reality/creative hotbed called Second Life, and I’ve been spending a lot of time checking it out.
Christmas music
One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories is my mother’s albums of carols. You know, those compilation albums with some artists putting their own spin on the carol and others singing it pretty straight. Since the advent of CDs, I’ve built a small collection of Christmas music, ranging from the cheesy compilations I loved in childhood to early music recordings I’ve come to love.
There’s a fantastic new album available. Wynonna Judd’s A Classic Christmas is just that–a classic. She does familiar songs without tarting them up. Her Ave Maria is outstanding.
Countries of the world game
This is a totally cool game: WORLD MAP — countries of the world. (Tip of the hat to Kottke.)
100 Notable Books of the Year
100 Notable Books of the Year from The New York Times Book Review –and I’ve read only one (Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I loved). Just goes to show how far out of the New York literary mold I am, I guess.