The Rhine River

Random Notes June 11

The wife and I are going to Cooperstown, to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Should I go with my record--weak hitting second baseman with range, speed, and a wicked arm who reached the middling ranks of college intermural softball--or should I pay the admission?

• Adieu, Ray Charles. See the eulogy by Johno (Lester Bangs reincarnate).


• I keep forgetting to post about these stories from the Tavis Smiley Show, The Legacy of Blackface, on African-Americans' interest in minstrel performers.


• Ups and downs of being Jewish: on the one hand, Orthodox Jews in New York City are freeking out about microscopic bugs in the tap water. On the other, there is this humorous commentary on how Jews can use Sabbath to silence Jew haters and critiques (some drinking, then some more drinking, some eating, then some drinking ...)


• Here is an interesting article on the SCOTUS record on federalism: it is actually rather middle of the road. (Thanks, Geitner Simmons


• [Update:] I might be preparing to eat my words. The Cologne police are looking for "a thirty year old man, wearing a black baseball cap and presumably having blond hair". He is the owner of the bike that contained the explosives in Wednesday's attack in Muehlhein.

posted by Nathanael @ 9:48 PM