Please find enclosed for your approval pictures of my two new boys, Inigo Montoya in front (hereafter known as "Monty") and the Dread Pirate Roberts (to be called "Westley") behind. They are affectionate and curious and fearless and adorable.

Mr. Seli and I are visiting the Ommegang Brewery today in Cooperstown, NY on our way out to western PA for the 4th. Came across a couple boxes of corks ready for a bottling..

I am in awe seeing these pictures of 13-year old Ashol-Pan, a lovely young lady in Mongolia who is probably the first female in 2000 years to be apprenticed to the golden eagle hunters. (Okay, so, the article says her father is a "particularly celebrated hunter" himself, so she may have had an "in," but still!)

Throw in a completely seamless 5/4 measure during your piano solo and they'll never know the difference. But boy, even if you no rhythm at all, that just *feels* better, doesn't it?

HBO is great in that they have a "music" page for every episode of True Detective. There are people on YouTube making special videos for each track and such, and a few playlists here and there, but I thought I'd post the one that I made of all the songs listed so far, for all your brooding needs.

...in Massachusetts only, for the time being. Sorry. (Not sorry, more for me. Suckers!)

My Goodreads ratings are pretty simple. A 5 means I LOVED it, want to own it, would read it again. A 4 for me is a very good book that I quite enjoyed, even if it doesn't grab me quite the way a "5" would. Three means it was okay; nothing that annoying about it but not great. A 2 generally means I thought the book was…

I know we're now past Halloween but I wanted to share a pumpkin that a friend posted on Facebook (with his permission.) It's really quite disturbing, which is why I assume you guys will like it.

I was away for a week on vacation. What'd I miss? Let's just check my Feedly reader...

There must be some classical musicians here, right? People who have played in high school or college orchestras, or are currently conductors or at least people who are classical music nerds. Please help me identify this piece of music:

Last Friday, a doctor made three tiny, 1-cm slits in my knee, played what must feel like a video game to manipulate a camera into one and tiny little clippers into another, and removed a tear and a bunch of loose cartilage that had been causing me knee pain for 10 months now. Sewed me back up with stitches that don't…

This makes me sad. John Mainstone, the custodian of the University of Queensland Pitch Drop experiment that I read about first here on the O-Deck, died last week. He looked after the pitch for 52 years and was never able to see a drop fall. (The webcam was malfunctioning for the most recent drop and he had stepped out…