CNN’s “Game Over” column reviews the new Xbox.

Meanwhile, the American Heart Association suggests that Drinking decaffeinated coffee may be harmful to heart health.

Decaffeinated — not caffeinated — coffee may cause an increase in harmful LDL cholesterol by increasing a specific type of blood fat linked to the metabolic syndrome, hints a new study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2005.

(both via slashdot.org)

Best Amazon review ever (or maybe second, behind the Anne Rice Explosion of 2004):

This has to be the worst martial arts technique book on the market. There was no practical use of the fist for street self defence unless you were attacked by a very wet and naked horny Lesbian on heat.
I didn’t realise that Master bates was not a martial artist in the true sense of the word.
This book was a total dissapointment from a Self Defence point of view although i am a total hit with the ladies. Please forgive any error in grammer as my fingers are still sticky.

for this book (may not be appropriate for work or other sensitive environments)

hat-tip: KK

There’s also this article by a librarian and mystery author:

[A]s someone said, you never finish research; at some point you just give up.

And reference librarians hate to give up. We know better than most people that there’s always another book, another database, another website to try. It’s like giving a kid the key to a candy shop or taking a glutton to a free buffet and saying “stop when you’ve had enough.”

…

But the most frustrating thing about research is the knowledge that, no matter how much you do, you’ll probably still make mistakes, and someone will be there to point them out. On the first day my novel was on sale someone cheerfully told me of a geographical error on page 5. There was quite a crowd around, so I didn’t kill him.

hat-tip: LISNews

If Chairman Mao had been truly prescient, he would have located a little girl in Sichuan Province named Jung Chang and “mie jiuzu”- killed her and wiped out all her relatives to the ninth degree.

But instead that girl grew up, moved to Britain and has now written a biography of Mao that will help destroy his reputation forever. Based on a decade of meticulous interviews and archival research, this magnificent biography methodically demolishes every pillar of Mao’s claim to sympathy or legitimacy.

—Nicholas Kristof, ‘Mao’: The Real Mao, NYT Book Review

Sounds like a very interesting, if sometimes apparently questionably sourced, book. . . . .

So, apparently someone has created an illustrated version of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. . . .

I’ll be over here, cringing.

Wall Street Journal commentary by David Gelertner · NYTimes review by Jeremy Eichler · Library Journal interview with the artist by Mirela Roncevic · NY Newsday article by Peter Terzian

Many hats to tip: Tina, Edward Vielmetti, and Mark Liberman of Language Log.

Orson Scott Card, on Serenity:

I jealously protected the movie rights to Ender’s Game so that it would not be filmed until it could be done right. … I’ll tell you this right now: If Ender’s Game can’t be this kind of movie, and this good a movie, then I want it never to be made.

I’d rather just watch Serenity again.

He also says:

I’m not going to say it’s the best science fiction movie, ever.

Oh, wait. Yes I am.

Uncle Orson Reviews Everything, via slashdot.

Can you say ‘recusal‘? Apparently John Roberts can’t. . . .

“On Monday, September 12th, between the hours of 5:00pm and 7:00pm, bar customers across the nation will raise their glasses for a “Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour” as bar and restaurant owners shake up New Orleans’ classic cocktails to directly benefit New Orleans food and beverage industry workers who are out of work and sorely in need of funds for rebuilding their lives.” (via a later date)

Cal economics prof Brad DeLong suggests that maybe future presidential candidates should actually have some skill in public administration.

That story about FEMA director Mike Brown having been fired from his last job, as head of judging for the International Arabian Horse Association? The Boston Herald has details.

Penn State literature and cultural studies prof Michael Bérubé renames a few key players in the ‘recovery’.

The Rude Pundit takes A God’s Eye View of Recent Events: “[T]he hurricane and its vengeful aftermath are not God’s penance on New Orleans and Biloxi for the sins of sex and gambling. For God is far wiser than that. No, Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of wrecking the Republican agenda.” (The link on ‘agenda’ in the original post, while very pretty, crashed Opera. Twice. Beware.)

If television’s a babysitter, the internet’s a drunk librarian who won’t shut up.

I’ll admit Mr Jeepers is fuzzy and adorable. But in my opinion, a beanie baby crawled up his ass and died.

Language Loggers have posted about Partially Clips quite a number of times. I’ve finally taken the plunge and started reading the archives. . .

In other news, I’ll be in Pittsburgh for a few days this week, attempting to get financial aid, a job, housing, and so forth so I can be back at Pitt in the fall. Those of you who read my companion livejournal can find my phone number here; others should email me for the number (which is the same as it’s been since last summer). Also, if anybody knows of well-paying jobs or cheap housing in Pittsburgh, please let me know.

Nicholas Kristof continues telling the story of Dr Shazia Khalid this week:

[T]he family’s patriarch, Mr. Khalid’s grandfather, sent word that because Dr. Shazia had been raped, she was “kari” - a stain on the family’s honor - and must be killed or at least divorced. Then, Mr. Khalid said, his grandfather began gathering a mob to murder Dr. Shazia.

“I was very angry because he must know that Shazia is innocent,” Mr. Khalid said. “They treat a woman like a cow.”

General Musharraf was finding this couple’s determination to get justice increasingly irritating. So, Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid said, the authorities ordered them to leave the country, and warned that if they stayed, they would be killed - by government “agencies” - and that no one would even find their bodies.

• Part 0: The 11-year-old Wife, 21 June
• Part 1: Another Face of Terror, 31 July
• Part 2: A Pakistani Rape, and a Pakistani Love Story, 2 August

Proposed by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the Librarian Education Development Act would provide up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness to qualified librarians, teachers, and child-welfare workers in low-income communities.

—American Libraries, “House Bill Would Forgive Student Loans for Librarians”

nineteenfishes: only 5k? seems a little bit lame
DangerCat20: yeah, well.
DangerCat20: i don’t think the teachers get any better a deal.

UPDATE: Jessamyn at librarian.net mentions the story (linking to ALA’s press release instead of the news story linked above), and wonders at the ALA’s motives. Mark at …the thoughts are broken… also comments, pointing out that by the time you’ve worked long enough to get the deferment, you’ll have paid off that much already. . .