Our language, English—as spoken by us. A little bit of Fry & Laurie.
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I'm looking forward to the new Bill Callahan album, <i>Woke On A Whaleheart</i>, not only because I have this aching feeling that it's going to be a beautiful piece of work, one that I can relate to and fall in love with, but also because I think it's going to offer excellent sound quality, and I just can't wait to hear it on the hi-fi. This is interesting to me because I never looked forward to an album for its sound quality before. Even when reading our own <i>Stereophile</i> record reviews, I've paid little attention to the number of stars placed besides the "Sonics" heading, except to make sure they're the right size and font.
<I>Word Spy</I> is "devoted to sleuthing out new words and phrases. These aren't 'stunt words' or 'sniglets,' but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources."
Anybody who has been around NYC for the last 20 years or so will attest to the fact that it has gotten a lot easier to get great burritos. Ever wonder why? <I>Idle Words</I> fills us in on the secret.
Back in March, I posted a <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips//index4.html">link</A> to a <I>Physics Web</I> <A HREF="http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/20/3/3/1">article</A> on iconic equations, which quoted Gauss' assertion that if Euler's formula wasn't immediately obvious, the reader probably has no chance at being a first-class mathematician.
I would like to be at home right now, sitting on the orange couch, listening to the hi-fi. Because Bill Callahan has been on my mind, I think I would choose to listen to Smog's <i>A River Ain't Too Much To Love</i>, an album that soothes me, that makes me feel good.
Devising tests that distinguish whether ravens solve problems through logic or instinct ain't easy.
Although I'm normally dealing with stuff that turns electricity into sound, I am fascinated that Zhong Lin Wang seems to have invented a nanotech power source.
"Police said the busted driver first shoplifted pepperoni and string cheese from the store after he couldn't find Hot Pockets for his pregnant girlfriend, who was waiting in the GMC. Then he stole the stereo and brought it back because 'it was not of high quality.'"
Ed Hitchcock writes: "As both a paleontologist and home brewer, I could not help but be attracted by the media coverage of the reproduction of an ancient Sumarian beer. The beer, called Ninkasi after the Sumarian goddess of beer, was produced by the Anchor Brewing Company (San Francisco, California), based on a hymn inscribed on a clay tablet (1). Dr. Solomon Katz of the University of Pennsylvania and Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing worked to decipher the brewing clues contained within the hymn to reproduce the beverage so revered by the ancient Sumarians."