The Daily Sabbatical

I’m pretty sure Debbie Harry is the first woman who made me feel “funny”. I saw this video the other day and it all came back to me…

Another excellent blog with another excellent tops list.  John over at s1t1 has mp3s up for his top 50 (!) songs and for his top 10 albums.  His taste is generally spot on–he has a penchant for a sort of blues infused pop, but he ranges beyond that.  Just direct songbird to his site and you’ll get a kick ass mixtape, learning something in the bargain.  Good stuff.

In the New York Times: A 23-year-old Malaysian man was killed on Thursday night after
reportedly enraging other customers who felt that he “hogged the
microphone”…
Read more here.

Last night, I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Dallas.  Lanie and I went to Soley, a restaurant that mixes the best of Mexican cuisine with French flair and presentation.  The restaurant itself is somewhat inconspicuous, on Henderson next to The Capital Pub, and the sign and exterior don’t really do it any favors.  Once inside, however, you are in excellent hands.  Service is among the best in the city, and while the atmosphere won’t blow you away, it is classy and allows the real star, the food, to shine.

Lanie and I started with a Tuna Tartare and a Tilapia Ceviche.  The tuna, with citrus vinaigrette and avocado, was one of the best things of its sort I’ve tried.  For the main course, I had a red-snapper with a cilantro risotto in an artichoke broth.  It was heavenly.  The snapper was cooked tenderly and to perfection.  Lanie had the Chilean Sea Bass with a Nopalito crepe which was also outstanding.  The dessert was also divine.  We had the Chocolate Chaud, which was plenty to split and the warm chocolate cake was perfectly paired with the berries and the dab of ice cream.

This place is not the cheapest on the block, but no one will leave with regrets.  I am just stunned that this place hasn’t been hyped any more than it has.  This is the first review of a restaurant I’ve ever written, so you can tell the impression it’s made.  Give it a shot.

Coming soon….

An interesting study recently showed that while alcohol reduced the competence of individuals performing tasks requiring vigilance (counting the the’s in an article), those negative effects were mitigated when the drunks were surrounded by other drunks.  One suspects that the presence of the others raised their awareness that they were incapacitated, triggering compensatory attention.  Interesting result.

With the reconstruction of wooly mamoth DNA, scientists are talking about how they could modify the DNA in an elephant egg so that a mammoth hatched.  (That will be a surprised momma!)  A similar trick might be possible when the DNA of Neanderthals is reconstructed, which is just around the corner.  Should we do that?  Is it ethically permissable?
I say no, for the simple reason that it is entirely too likely that it would be elected president. Or that it would at least be too convenient a GOP vice presidential nominee. 

Well, little G is coming to the big D, and he’ll be spitting distance from SMU. He and his lady are moving into 10141 DARIA PL in Preston Hollow. The property goes for a little over two million, making it a veritable shack for the neighborhood. The rumour is that they are having a tire swing installed in the front yard, something dubya has wanted since he was a boy.

Songbird 1.0 has finally been released!  If like me, you’ve been a follower since the early beta’s, you’re pretty excited.  If you don’t know anything about Songbird yet, you’ve got something to look forward to.
Songbird is, in essence, a music browser.  Based on the Mozilla framework, Songbird combines a music manager a la Itunes, with a browser that allows you to play music right off webpages, automatically subscribe to mp3 blogs so that music is automatically downloaded to your computer, and much more.  It can sync with your Ipod too.
Personally, I use Media Monkey for managing my main collection, but I use Songbird as a browser and to manage music downloaded from blogs.  I love the damn thing.  Check it out here.