… I’m sorry. It’s coming. Today was taken up in large part by my trip to school to teach a class for which half my students didn’t do their prep work, and which they therefore had no reason to attend. And then all hell broke loose.

Here’s a roundup of interesting links I found at the Arts & Letters Daily: The divide between art and science is a fascinating question. We take so many images from science for our art, and scientists sometimes study artistic techniques in order to better portray their work in images. So where’s the line, and what does it matter or mean? This article tries to tackle that question. And some of the art here is interesting too. There’s a great little piece on Stalin and film, which is a connection I knew a little about but not as much as is …

The other day Shawn told me it was time for a new poll, so here I am, dutifully tabulating the rsults of the last one and wondering what the next one should be about. The winner for most “craziest prediction” was, hands-down with 31% of the 13 votes cast, “Rush Limbaugh will finally just shut up and go away.” Unfortunately, that’s probably true. Runners up included, “Jazz music will enjoy such a revival during the next major war that it will be as popular is in 1950,” and “North and South Korea will reunite and find themselves so powerful that …

Hey, there’s some new material up—a lot of it, actually—over at the New Sophists’ Almanac site. Marvin discusses hip-hop and rap, and describes an art work, and I turn our focus, for the time being, to a new question about compassion and moral philosophy. As usual, Marvin responds with intelligence and panache. Aw, hell, maybe it’s just easier to direct you to the site and you can check it out for yourself. Go have a look at New Sophists’ Almanac.

For amusement, Lime asked me to take one of these enneagram tests. I found this one: Conscious self Overall self Take Free Enneagram Personality Test Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||| 45% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||| 29% Type 3 Image Focus |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Type 4 Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 61% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||||| 68% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||| 57% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||||| 53% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||| 46% Type 9 Calmness |||| 18% Your Conscious-Surface type is 3w4 Your Unconscious-Overall type is 4w5 Take Free Enneagram Personality Test I don’t put much stock in a test that tries to …

Really, I’m not stoned to the gills. Really. You’re a Spirograph!! You’re pretty tripped out,even though you’ve been known to be a bitboring at times. You manage to serve yourpurpose in life while expending hardly anyeffort (and are probably stoned to the gillsall the while). What childhood toy from the 80s are you? brought to you by Quizilla Thanks to Budaechigae, who found this on Green Boogers via me. Huh, fancy that. Really, I’m not.

I just cleaned out my camera, meaning some newer pics will be added to my photoblog. (I expect to add more once I get a day free, especially my many pics from India.) But for now, all I’ve done is added nine new banners to the site. They’re on high rotation so you should see them over the next week or so. I’ll also be adding a few more this week, if I get a spare moment. Perhaps if there’s interest I’ll create a minigallery of my banners for those who would like a chance to peruse.

Here’s an article about the hardships with foreign women face living in Asia. Some of it comes as no surprise to me, but anyway, it’s worth a read. This is a story that reinforces stereotypes that some people will reject, and other people, like Julie Sleva, will endorse wholeheartedly: For single Western men, Asia can be a paradise of exotic, beautiful women more than willing to pamper them and inflate their egos. The perks of an expat life — low-priced maids, company-paid drivers and members-only clubs — relieve married couples of many of life’s daily hassles, including the chores of …