Loreena McKennitt's 'Mummers' Dance' I just added some songs to my playlist on MySpace, but didn't make the player play automatically, as that annoys the hell out of me. This is the first on the list. My MySpace page is: http://www.myspace.com/eilirion if you want to check it out. Feel free to do a ...

Okay, I don't know if it's officially sleeping in if you get up at 7 am to get someone from work, but the fact is that other than that, I had nowhere to be at a certain time this morning and slept until almost noon. My dreams were very vivid and nearly psychedelic, ones that I've dreamt before and a...

Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam: Critics fear dictatorship in region where Russian laws will not apply Ramzan Kadyrov insists seven young women shot in the head and found alongside a road were the victims of Islamic honour killings for having loose morals, even though the facts and quit...

Hard economic times a boon for libraries 'Whenever you have tough economic times, public libraries are a place people go because they have no other alternatives or because they know they are going to get the kind of powerful information that will make a difference in their lives,' said Kristin McDon...

In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to pr...

Any of you following this blog for the last month or so knows I had a horrible ear infection at the beginning of February. Even after the infection let up, I had a lot of fluid in both ears, especially at night and in the morning. Well, I finally went to the doctor today, and he did indeed find flui...

My ears are still giving me problems (stuffed up, the feeling of fluid sloshing about, and a hard time hearing). But my throat also hurts, as does my head and the back of my neck and shoulders. I feel achy and sinusy and a little feverish. It was worse last night; maybe it will just be a short, 24/4...

On February 19, 1945, my grandfather, Edgar Craig, from Danvile, Kentucky, was a 21-year-old Marine who worked with tanks. That day was the beginning of one of the most famous (infamous, really) battles of World War II--Iwo Jima--and he was there. At the time he was married with a small son at home....

I went to feed the fish tonight and apparently I lost a fish (two days after the guarantee was up). But the rest are doing alright. One platy seemed weaker the whole time; I think it was this one. I'll check with Brenda and see if she can bring me some more fish. The algae's a big problem; it's cove...

If you don't know who Miep Gies is, then you don't know your Holocaust history. She was one of the office workers who hid the Frank family (including Anne Frank, whose diary became one of the most famous documents of the period) in the Secret Annex of an office building in Amsterdam. She is the last...