The liberal party leader in Canada, Michael Ignatieff, seems to be an interesting fellow. I hope he becomes prime minister. I read about him in “Running on Book Sense and Charm” by Eric Konigsberg in the NYT.
Couple of interesting book reviews in yesterday’s paper: “The Descent of Taste” by Anthony Gottlieb. reviews “The Art Instinct” by Denis Dutton. (First Chapter) and
How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They are Still on This Earth) by Henry Alford reviewed in “Old Enough to Know Better” by Alex Beam. The old people thing seems to be a new theme for me. I’m still waiting for my copy of “What are old people for” to arrive in the mail.
The U.S. Supreme court continues its march to the radical right by weaking exclusionary rules. Apparently, this has been a hobby horse of Justice Roberts for years. Great. I read about it in “Justices Step Closer to Repealing Evidence Ruling” by Adam Liptik in the NYT. Samuel Walker writes an interesting rebuttal to Justice Scalia’s use of his book to support this recent ruling: “Thanks for nothing, Nino” in the LATimes.
Make your own cool little cube person with just a printer and scissors at Cubbeecraft.com
This report on a recently killing of a rebel fighter turned bodyguard turned exile from Chechnya reads like a horrifying spy novel: Slain Exile Detailed Cruelty of the Ruler of Chechnya by C. J. Chivers, NYT.
This man, President Ramzan A. Kadyrov of Chechnya, is accused of personally participating in torture in this article. Very scarey and discouraging.
How would you like it if your utility company gave you a comparative grade on how well you are using your energy compared with your neighbors? Utilities turn their customers green, with envy by Leslie Kaufman, NYT.
Finally a couple of sites for online reading of books for children. First, Starfall has many reading tools available just for clicking on their site. Very cool.
And for forty bucks a year, you or your kid can log on and have books read to you. Familiar books like The Little Red Hen and Rattle Trap Car on One More Story. Click here to experience a sample book (Rattle Trap Car).
Found both of these in “Click and Jane” by Virginia Hefferman, NYT.