Musk or Lilly, Rose or Bergamot?

There's video above, FeedReader

It's been, and will likely continue to be, quiet around here for a while. I'm a bit busy at work, trying to get back into some better habits, and really trying to get over my seasonal funk. So the occasional short posts continue, *maybe* interspersed with a rare longer piece.

For example, we're thinking of heading out to Barrett-Jackson this weekend, and if we do I'll endeavor to file something big and juicy, maybe even with *photos*. No money burning a hole in my pocket, so no bidding this year, but there are a few cars there I'd *really* like to see (even the poor hacked-up sister of my car.) Plus, TheWife's excited to see a few VW Things and The MonkeeMobile.

But, in the absence of cogent political analysis (they all suck, some just a little less than others,) clever criticism of film, TV, and books (avoid 'reality' shows but enjoy the rest,) or metaphysical discussions (fire BAD! bread good!) I thought I could at least link to America's first philosopher, first inventor, and first among equals. And no, it's not that sloppy dressing, sloppy thinking, morally suspect douchebag Jefferson. I'm pretty sure I've made this clear: I respect rhetorical excellence from rhetoricians and writers. From leaders I want something more substantial.

So here, without further verbal masturbation, is Ben Franklin on an important issue of his day, and ours.

Druze out in Space

Wow. This is a fascinating profile of a Druze working on his doctoral dissertation in Germany. A great piece about the fluidity of identity.

Samuel Schidem, one of the guides [in Berlin's Jewish Museum] for Hebrew-speaking groups, chose to do his job in such a way as to "remove visitors from their Israeliness and make them think a little differently." Schidem shakes up the Israelis' regular thought patterns through their attempts to guess and catalog his identity.

"Some of them think I'm Yemenite or Moroccan, or maybe that I come from South America. At the end of the tour someone always asks where I'm from and where I learned Hebrew. I say that I'm an Israeli. And then immediately I get, 'From where in Israel?' and I say, 'From Usfiya.' And then there's a bit of shock, and right after that they get all excited. But I don't tell them at the beginning, because then they wouldn't listen to me the same way during the tour."

Philosmithical Musing

Rudely stolen from: The Illustrated Smiths

I, um, don't know what to say. Granted, Morrissey is our greatest living singer-songwriter, but who knew he had so much to say about the philosophy of language.