Wes Phillips

I don't know about you, but I can't resist an essay that begins: "San Francisco is a city without graves. In 1900, the board of supervisors passed an ordinance prohibiting burials within the city limits. In 1912, the board announced its further intention to eliminate the city’s previously existing cemeteries, and in 1914 removal notices were sent to all burial sites, declaring them 'a public nuisance and a menace and detriment to the health and welfare of city dwellers.'"

"Seen the extra-long trailer for Ratatouille?" I asked Paul DiComo.

"'If you define the black hole as some place where you can lose objects, then there is no such thing because the black hole evaporates before anything is seen to fall in,' said [Case Western Reserve University physicist] Vachaspati."

John Marks writes: "Here is a page with six free downloadable MP3 tracks that for one reason or another had to be left off my CD survey of the historical and significant pipe organs of Rhode Island I have mentioned a few times in my Fifth Element column.

Rodrigo y Gabriela play guitar real good. The video, on the other hand, is annoying. You might enjoy it more with your eyes closed.

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A long, ultimately inconclusive, fascinating look at Colony Collapse Disorder.

Book collector Jeff Wong thinks the coolest collector's edition of OTR would be a limited reproduction of the scroll. Me too, although I'm sure I couldn't afford one.