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Almost as soon as we put bookshelves in our daughter's room—before she even moved from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a bed—I put comics on those shelves. I subscribed to the Archie & Friends double-digests, and slipped those on there, along with my old paperback Peanuts collections. Later, once I was sure she wouldn't just pull them off the shelf and rip them up, I added the recent Dark Horse reprints of Little Lulu and Harvey Comics, the Drawn & Quarterly John Stanley Library, and my collections of Cul-De-Sac, Calvin And Hobbes, and Mutts. I never handed any of these books to her and said, "You should read this," and I never read any of them aloud to her. I've always felt that kids form stronger attachments to books, movies, and TV shows that they discover themselves—or that they think they've discovered themselves. So I just seeded her room with them, and my reward has been watching her come out to read us a funny Fox Trot comic I didn't even know she'd found yet. It's also been a pleasure to see her move on to comics like Bone, ElfQuest, Little Orphan Annie, and Carl Barks' duck stories, reading them with the same seriousness and joy she applied to reading the Harry Potter series, the Narnia books, or her collections of her favorite author, Roald Dahl.
I embarked on this "teach my daughter to love comics" project even though the same mission didn't work with her older brother (who prefers to read sports almanacs and instruction manuals), and even though I knew I was risking condemning her to a life of nerdery, loving an art form that has long been marginalized by popular culture. What I didn't know at the time was that I was actually steering her into the mainstream, at least when it comes to children's literature. For decades, I read article after article about how the audience for comics was aging, and how the mega-box-office for superhero movies and the respectful reviews of graphic novels in The New York Times weren't doing anything to stop the decline in young readership. But those articles are now somewhat outdated. Over the past five years, comics have been making a strong comeback with the preteen set, sneaking back in through an unexpected back door.
Just consider the past month's worth of New York Times bestseller lists for paperback graphic novels. Those lists have included the usual mix of superheroes, sword-wielders, and zombies (and sword-wielders fighting zombies), with the main difference being that two of those genre books—The City Of Ember and Amulet Volume 5: Prince Of The Elves—are from Random House Children's Books and Scholastic Press, respectively. And they're joined by two more down-to-earth Scholastic books by Raina Telgemeier: Smile and Drama. Meanwhile, the NYT hardcover bestseller list over the past month has included Hope Larson's graphic-novel adaptation of Madeline L'Engle's Newbery Medal-winning classic A Wrinkle In Time, and the Amazon graphic novel lists have featured Telgemeier, A Wrinkle In Time, and multiple volumes of Dork Diaries and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.
When my kids bring home the Scholastic Book Club flyers from school, they're much heavier on comics than they were in my day, when the best I could've hoped for was a black-and-white paperback of Superman stories (which I still have!) and maybe a Garfield collection or two. In addition to the long lists of Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries books in the Scholastic flyers, my kids can now select multiple Doug TenNapel adventure comics, or Brian Selznick's text/pictures hybrids Wonderstruck and The Invention Of Hugo Cabret, or something from the increasing number of children's books that work comics-style storytelling into their overall design.
Even more importantly than that: These books are good, by and large. Telgemeier's Smile, for example, is a winning memoir about how some complicated dental issues corresponded with Telgemeier's awkward transition into high school. It's a coming-of-age story filled with wonderful personal details. Her Drama is just as engaging and specific, telling a fictional story about a teenage theater geek who's sorting through her crushes on multiple boys, some of whom inevitably turn out to be gay. Telgemeier's cartooning and tone are light, but her stories are refreshingly honest, in a way that budding adolescents in particular tend to respect.
As for Larson's A Wrinkle In Time, I hadn't read L'Engle's book in about 30 years, and everything I'd loved about the original as a 10-year-old came rushing back while I was reading Larson's take, from the fantastical plot—about a group of kids who travel across the galaxy on a quasi-mystical, heavily metaphorical rescue mission—to the particulars of the characters, who are all misfits in one way or another. A couple of months ago, my daughter read L'Engle's complete Time Quintet in about a week; when she finished, I handed her Larson's version, and she tore through it just as fast.
Another welcome development in the burgeoning children's market for comics is that it's giving some veteran cartoonists new outlets. Lincoln Peirce, the creator of the newspaper strip Big Nate—a kind of proto-Diary Of A Wimpy Kid—started turning his cartoons into young-adult chapter books a couple of years ago, and has become a staple of the Scholastic flyers, to the extent that even collections of his actual Big Nate strips are selling again. Newspapers used to be many children's entry to comics fandom, but with print dying and the comics page dwindling in influence and quality, the mail-order bookstore may be the last, best hope for a vital American art form. (There are some similarities here to the way They Might Be Giants went from "beloved but marginal" to "wildly successful" once they started supplementing their quirky pop records with quirky children's albums.)
Comics for children aren't just making inroads via mass-market paperbacks. In 2008, alt-comics veteran (and New Yorker art editor) Françoise Mouly launched Toon Books, a thriving iteration of the earlier "RAW Junior" imprint she created with her husband Art Spiegelman, in an attempt to fuse comics with picture books for beginning readers. The first few waves of Toon Books—which have given the likes of Spiegelman, Jeff Smith, Jay Lynch, and R. Kikuo Johnson a venue for their more kid-friendly work—have done well enough that the line has just released its first book long and involved enough to be dubbed a "graphic novel." David Nytra's The Secret Of The Stone Frog is a beautiful, surreal storybook, like a fusion of Winsor McCay, Hayao Miyazaki, and Lewis Carroll. It's a fine next step for kids who liked Toon Books' "Benny And Penny" series but aren't ready for A Wrinkle In Time or Drama.
Like Toon Books, the prestigious comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly has in recent years been in the business of making the kinds of kid-friendly books that become family keepsakes. In sort of a reverse of what Fantagraphics did back in the '90s when it started the pornographic Eros Comix to keep the bills paid, D&Q established the Enfant imprint for its archival collections of classic kids' comics, like the recent color repackaging of selected Tove Jansson Moomin storylines and D&Q's strange, wonderful collection of 1950s Pippi Longstocking comics, appearing in English for the first time. These are books that young kids read and re-read, then pass along to their kids someday—or at least leave on a shelf in the den for their children and grandchildren to stumble across, the way I remember doing with my grandmother's collection of crumbling-but-still-gorgeous children's books.
And this matters, because books like D&Q's Nipper collections or Fantagraphics' Mickey Mouse archives are a better gateway to comics than anything DC or Marvel is publishing now. That's not a knock against those companies, or against the superhero genre, which I still love. But the major comics artists of today—like Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Marjane Satrapi, and Lynda Barry—tap into that feeling of being 8 years old and poring over the Sunday funnies or a Golden Book. They connect that feeling to adult concerns and emotions, but still, they rely on an inherent affection and nostalgia for the medium. Five years ago, I worried that those cartoonists were a dying breed, writing and drawing for a dwindling audience. Now I look at the stack of comics next to my daughter's bed, and I see hope.


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Apple moves to trademark 'iPad Mini' in the U.S.
The device maker filed for the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week.
Apple has applied for a trademark on the "iPad Mini" brand.
The company filed the trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week. In the application, Apple describes its tablet as a full-featured slate, offering everything from Web connectivity to calendaring.
Here's Apple's description of its tablet: A "handheld mobile digital electronic device comprising a tablet computer, electronic book and periodical reader, digital audio and video player, camera, electronic personal organizer, personal digital assistant, electronic calendar, and mapping and global positioning system (GPS) device, and capable of providing access to the Internet and sending, receiving, and storing messages and other data."
Apple announced its iPad Mini last month and launched it earlier this month. The tablet comes with a 7.9-inch display and runs Apple's iOS platform. The iPad Mini starts at $329 for the 16GB, Wi-Fi-only model. Last week, Apple launched the 4G LTE-equipped option, which starts at $459.
With the U.S. filing now complete, Apple has its bases well-covered on the iPad Mini's branding. According to Patently Apple, which was first to discover the trademark application, Apple filed for trademark protection on the iPad Mini branding earlier this month in Europe and Canada.

subset: commoncrawl


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Condensed matter physics is full of approximations, where one avoids a problem by enlargin the Hilbert space, analogous to AdS/CFT.
One hope is to use integrable models, which one can solve exactly no matter what coupling is. Many physical systems are approximately integrable. Conformal field theories play a similar role.
An obvious example would be QCD that has obvious importance in the Standard Model
Dualities may help a lot and may be not just AdS/CFT. There may be new opportunities arising in math. The examples we have so far are solutions for special cases and particular theories. Integrability in these examples is key.
"I can only express my disappointment. I don't know how many years it's been since we developed QFT... but even now, if we want to handle quantum field there, we still have to do perturbation theory."
But saying something is strongly coupled is describing it as "not tractable by perturbation theory." In other words, we're describing it by what it's not. It's better to describe something by the phenomenon it represents. A strongly interacting system might mean highly entangled and that's interesting. And thinking about how to describe entanglement offers a path into how to handle that type of strongly coupled system. In other words, think about how to understand the phenomenon that's happening rather than how to handle the general problem of "no perturbation theory."
Effective theories, QCD... [?]
Strong coupling is tractable in integrable systems (N=4 SYM, spin chains). QCD and N=4 SYM have deep connections maybe. Use resumming for QCD?
Just use numerics? E.g. lattice QCD. And these methods can give us qualitiative insights and surprises.
Comments will be accepted until June 29.


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You've bought the fixings and prepared the glorious bird, and all your hard work is about to come together in the apex of the Thanksgiving holiday—the eating of the turkey. Before that delicious creation of yours can be savored, it must first be carved as expertly as it was roasted. If you've wondered how to carve a turkey the right way, you're about to find out.
A moment of rest. Before you begin to carve the turkey, let it rest while you enjoy a pre-meal aperitif with friends and family. The bird may be hot and smelling divine, but it's not the best time for carving. The juices need time to redistribute, and the bird needs to cool off for best carving. Cutting a turkey too soon can result in stringy bits, broken slices, burned fingers and disappointment all around.
Prep your station. A carving station is the best spot for proper bird carving. Do not try to carve with a slippery platter, hot bird and sharp knife at the beautiful dining room table. That's a disaster waiting to happen. A good grooved cutting board and sharp carving knife with hot platter at the ready and plenty of elbowroom is de rigueur.
Make the cut. The best way to carve a turkey—according to the professionals at Zwilling J.A. Henckels and co-authors of The Complete Book of Knife Skills: The Essential Guide to Use Techniques and Care—is off the bone. Follow these simple steps:
- Place the cooled turkey on the cutting board breast side up, legs facing away from you.
- Steady the bird with the carving fork in your non-dominant hand.
- Cut from top down through leg joint on both sides, and pull leg away from the bird until it is removed from the socket.
- Locate the separation of leg to thigh and slice into the joint removing the pieces. Place the legs on the serving platter, slice the sides across the grain and add to platter.
- Remove both wings by placing knife tip in the joint and cutting to release the wing one at a time.
- Place fork at the top of the turkey breast to steady it, and slice down along the center close to the breastbone. Push the meat away from the carcass to gently release it from the ribs.
- Let the knife blade sit close to the rib cage and cut further down back through the wing area to release more of the breast meat.
- Cut all along the bottom side of the breast to release the entire breast.
- Lay breast skin side up and cut slices cross grain. Place them on your platter.
- Repeat on the second side.
The carcass left over is great for making soup stock. Simply place it in a large pot with water and let it cook over medium to medium-low heat for about a half-hour or more. The stock can then be strained and frozen for later use.


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Arne Ratermanis
Contents include art sections in tribute to EC Comics/MAD Magazine, Charles Schulz's "Peanuts", Dinosaurs & Giant Robots, Will Eisner's Spirit and Flash & Green Lantern.
Appearances in art by William Gaines, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, Frankenstein Jr., Mechagodzilla, Kona, Fred Flintstone, Ellen Dolan, Cutey Bunny, El Gato Negro, Impulse, Spark Plug, Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt, Snoopy, GoGirl, Judge Judy, Quicksilver and others.
Roughly 8¼ x 10¾" (8½ x 11" trimmed)
Contents include pieces on Barb Rausch and Golden Age writer Dorothy Woolfolk as well as art sections in tribute to Wonder Woman's 60th anniversary, Fantastic Four's 40th anniversary, Bone's 10th anniversary, Captain America's 60th anniversary, Carl Barks' 100th birthday and The Lord of the Rings.
Appearances in art by Bone, Wonder Woman, Huey, Dewey & Louie, Beany & Cecil, Captain America, Scrooge McDuck, Fantastic Four, Hobbits, GoGirl, Harley Quinn, Sub-Mariner, Dr. Doom, Galactus, Dragon Man, Mole Man, the Watcher, Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, Gollum, Donald Duck, Usagi Yojimbo, Radioactive Man, Red Skull, Bucky Barnes, Baron Zemo, MODOK, Nick Fury, Giant Man, Thor, Iron Man, Falcon, Shaloman, Miss America, Cutey Bunny and others.
Contents include pieces on the history of comics fandom (with many fanzine profiles and scans), Lee & Kirby, anniversary tributes (Fantastic Four, Antonio Prohias' Spy vs Spy, comics in 1986, Watchmen, Dark Horse Comics, SLG, Bone), more.
Appearances in art by Fantastic Four, Justice League of America, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Galactus, the Watcher, Avengers, Inhumans, Black Panther, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, Dr. Doom, Mole Man, Annihilus, Skrulls, Hulk, Spy vs Spy, Batman, Rorshach, Dr. Manhattan, the Comedian, Maus, the Joker, Boba Fett, Hellboy, Ghost, Predator, Concrete, Usagi Yojimbo, Groo, Conan, Willow, Alien, R2-D2, C-3PO, Stormtrooper, Milk & Cheese, Dr. Radium, Bone and more.
What Is This Site?
A virtual archive of mini-comics, fanzines, small press comics, newave comix and related items. The physical archive, housed at PF headquarters, is being built with personal acquisitions as well as generous donations from supporters. This project is most definitely a work in progress.


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- Click here for an updated story: Stormy Sunday, Monday: Cold With Rainfall Up To 3 Inches, Coastal Flooding, Freezing Rain Farther North
Enjoying this spring-like Saturday?
It may be a while till you have that chance again.
A cold front will move through starting later in the afternoon Saturday, bringing a sharp drop in temperatures by the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures that reached highs in the low 70s in the early afternoon will drop to the 40s and 50s by nightfall.
Temperatures will continue to fall thereafter into the 30s and 40s.
Light rain is likely Sunday on a cloudy day with the temperature falling to the mid-30s by 2 p.m. and wind-chill values between 25 and 30.
Rain will become heavier overnight Sunday into Monday. Monday will be a breezy day with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The high temperature will be in the low-40s but the wind-chill factor will make it feel like it's below freezing.
The high temperature for is not expected to climb above the mid-50s Tuesday through Friday.
Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Armonk and receive free news updates.


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4 Items
Royal Signals Crested Tie£16.20
Royal Signals Silk Striped Tie£27.00
Royal Signals Tie£12.90
4 Items
4 Items
4 Items
First founded in 1965, E. C. Snaith at first was a dedicated Royal Air Force supplier. Since then it has branched out to become military outfitters & tailors to the entirety of the UK Armed Forces selling uniforms, uniform accessories & equipment online to the consumer and to the trade.
Since 2004 it has been part of the Firmin House group along with Kashket and Partners, military tailors, and Firmin & Sons, button and badge makers, armourers and sword cutlers. The oldest part of the group has been continuously manufacturing in the United Kingdom since 1685 making it one of the country's oldest manufacturers and suppliers.
Unlike many direct sale companies this means we understand manufacturing and product development, not just selling. If there is anything you can't find, or even something entirely new, please do get in touch. We'll be happy to develop a bespoke product with you.


text: Lofoten (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈluːfuːtən]) is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude. Lofoten is known for a distinctive scenery with mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands.Read More


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In order for your results to be properly tabulated into rankings for our Spartan Point Series, you will need to "claim" all your results through Athlinks and make sure all your relevant races are grouped under one Athlinks profile.
What does "claim" mean? By clicking on the "claim" link next to your name in your Spartan Results, you will be directed to athlinks.com to claim your result from the event (along with any other races you may have completed but not yet claimed). Not only does this get your racing history all in one location, it also helps to link all of your results in the series right to you, making sure your points all add up correctly.
I had points, then I claimed them and they disappeared, why? No worries, your points are still there. We just need to hit the recalculate button to update them, now that you associated them with your profile. Every result, whether claimed or not, has a "racer ID" attributed to it. When you claim yours, it then takes on your profile racer ID. So, we just need to recalculate and do so periodically. Claiming is a good practice because you want all those results linking to the one and only you.
Why are my points showing under two different places? This can happen if you register under slightly different variations of your name (e.g. John and Jonathan) or have a hyphenated name (sometimes, the hyphen does not get included in the registration). One really quick way around this is to claim your result. That is the fastest way to get your points together and after we perform the recalculation you will be all set. Or, you can let us know and we can get your information merged on our end. To make the process as streamlined as possible, we suggest trying to use the same variation of your name for all your race registrations.
When will the points be updated? If there was an event over the weekend, you will typically see points updated to include that event by Wednesday of the following week. This allows time for any results updates after the event and provides cleaner data for the series, so points don't fluctuate.


text: Back Cryofibrinogen Does this test have other names? Cryofibrinogenemia, CF What is this test? This test looks for an abnormal protein called cryofibrinogen in your blood plasma. People who have this abnormal protein may develop a disorder called cryofibrinogenemia. Although the disorder rarely causes symptoms, if untreated, it can become life-threatening and lead to stroke, heart attack, gangrene, or other medical emergencies. Why do I need this test? You may have this test to find out whether you have cryofibrinogenemia. When this disorder causes signs and symptoms, they may include: Sensitivity to cold, including itching, redness, swelling, or hives Red or purple marks on the skin, a condition called purpura Skin lesions Stroke Heart attack Poor circulation Pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lungs Phlebitis, or swelling caused by a blood clot, usually in the legs You may also have this test to monitor your treatment for cryofibrinogenemia or a related disorder. In primary cryofibrinogenemia, the disease occurs without any other conditions. You may also have a test for secondary cryofibrinogenemia, which is a condition linked to a wide range of disorders. It is unclear whether these diseases cause cryofibrinogenemia. Disorders that are commonly associated with secondary cryofibrinogenemia include: Certain cancers, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and colorectal cancer Infections, such as tuberculosis, streptococcus, herpes, and hepatitis C Connective tissue disorders, such as lupus or Crohn's disease Vasculitis, a disorder caused by inflammation of blood vessels What other tests might I have along with this test? Your doctor will order other tests if your cryofibrinogen test shows that you have cryofibrinogenemia. To diagnose primary cryofibrinogenemia, your doctor may order an angiogram to look for blocked arteries or a biopsy of affected tissue. Additional tests depend on your symptoms and history, but may include screenings for cancer, infection, and inflammatory diseases. What do my test results mean? Many things may affect your lab test results. These include the method each lab uses to do the test. Even if your test results are different from the normal value, you may not have a problem. To learn what the results mean for you, talk with your health care provider. Your test results show whether and how much cryofibrinogen is in your blood plasma. Healthy people can have a small amount of this protein in their blood, so a positive result alone doesn't necessarily mean that you have a problem. Results are given in milligrams per liter (mg/L). Generally, a level greater than 50 mg/L means that you have cryofibrinogenemia. You may have levels of under 50 mg/L and no symptoms of disease, yet still have it. This is called asymptomatic cryofibrinogenemia. Some studies estimate that 2 to 9 percent of people tested have asymptomatic cryofibrinogenemia. How is this test done? The test requires a blood sample, which is drawn through a needle from a vein in your arm. Does this test pose any risks? Taking a blood sample with a needle carries risks that include bleeding, infection, bruising, or feeling dizzy. When the needle pricks your arm, you may feel a slight stinging sensation or pain. Afterward, the site may be slightly sore. What might affect my test results? If you are taking a blood thinner containing heparin, you may get a false-positive test result. How do I get ready for this test? You don't need to prepare for this test. But, be sure your doctor knows about all medicines, herbs, vitamins, and supplements you are taking. This includes medicines that don't need a prescription and any illicit drugs you may use.


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Now it's time for Massachusetts to start its annual budget-making theatrics. And, while the results are likely to cause similar disappointments, we at least have some new players and new rules that might make the proceedings more satisfactory.
First, Governor Deval Patrick has a new budget chief shepherding the process. Glen Shor was named a few weeks ago to succeed Jay Gonzalez, who resigned after three and a half years as secretary of Administration and Finance (A&F).
Second, the governor's budget proposal will be accompanied by two-year strategic plans from all eight cabinet secretaries.
And third, Patrick's budget will be presented in an entirely new, program-based form, in addition to the traditional line-item format.
The changes might not grab much attention when Patrick delivers his fiscal year 2014 proposal on January 23 — people are likely to be more interested in the tough medicine in the budget itself.
But in the long run, they are potentially more important. "Program budgeting, and releasing all of this information (in the strategic plans), is very positive in helping people understand the state budget, and the state government," says Noah Berger, president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
The replacement of Gonzalez with Shor is least remarkable, but that in itself suggests why it is interesting.
Under Patrick, the top budget position has shifted, from a key political post (going to party operatives such as Thomas Trimarco, Andrew Natsios, and Kevin Sullivan) to one held by expert policy-and-budget mavens. Leslie Kirwan had worked throughout state government under Republican administrations, including under Charlie Baker at A&F. Gonzalez worked under Kirwan, and earned his promotion through brains and hard work.
Shor, similarly, has quietly proven himself — first by heading the health-care budget in A&F, and then as executive director of the Health Insurance Connector Authority.
The new strategic plans were formalized by a Patrick executive order last February. A&F spokesperson Alex Zaroulis boasts that it's a major leap forward in government transparency, and outside State House–watchers agree.
The documents (to be posted online the same day as the governor's budget proposal) will not only lay out the program-by-program missions and activities for all to see, they will also set two-year, measurable performance goals.
This type of performance management is common in the private sector — and even, increasingly, in municipal government — but state government has been stubbornly resistant to it.
The timing of these first strategic plans may be auspicious. Their goals come due in 2015 — when Patrick and his cabinet will be gone, replaced by the next administration. So, they have less incentive to low-ball the numbers now, to make sure they look good later. Likewise, the new people in charge can be brutally honest in assessing whether programs run by their predecessors met their benchmarks.
The program budget might be the most welcome change of all. Anyone who's tried to wade through a state budget bill knows how difficult it can be to parse what's being spent for a particular area of interest — homeless programs, or arts funding, for instance.
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Much confusion exists concerning the provenance of the Mercury Living Presence SACDs that Decca Music / Universal Classics released ca. 2004 and 2005. Those SACDs claimed to present, quoting from the back cover, "for the first time, [the] original three-track versions. In addition to [the] direct-to-DSD 3-channel stereo, the disc includes a new DSD stereo, plus the original CD transfer."
According to Tom Fine,
"The 3-channel DSD layer is pretty much a straight transfer (they may have adjusted levels to tones so all channels were the same nominal level off the tape), done in high-rez PCM at Berliner Studios." Note that Tom does not know the hi-res bit and sample rate before conversion to DSD.
"The DSD stereo layer is a new 3-2 mix done at Berliner. They said they referenced the original CDs. Some turned out better than others, I think the last batched turned out very well.
"The redbook CD layer is from my mother's 1990s digital masters, her 3-2 mixes.
"Here's what was different about the non-redbook parts of the SACDs:
"1. Different playback equipment, so different sound coming off the tape. It's a different sound quality from the original equipment that my mother used.I'm not saying better or worse, just different.
"2. The 3-2 mixes were done new for the 2-channel DSD stereo mix. No original team members were involved in the mixing. Some turned out better than others. Again, they were different-sounding.
"3. The digital transfers were done at high resolution PCM, using a completely different chain from what was used for the original CDs. Whether or not that imparted a different sound is a matter of perspective and opinion. To my ears, those are not the main differences I hear between what was done at Berliner and what my mother did.
"What Chesky/HDTracks is selling is PCM audio of the 3-2 mix done by the guys at Berliner Studios."
Here is further clarificaton from Tom about the Mercury Golden Imports LPs: "Philips engineers made new Dolby-ized 2-channel masters, doing their own 3-2 mix from 3-track tapes. Some of the Golden Imports were also electronically-created stereo releases of original MONO (pre-11/55) masters, and some were made directly from late-era 2-track masters (Corigliano is one that comes to mind immediately)."
Of course, this article is all about the new releases, and establishing that the CDs and LPs are sourced from as authentic an A-to-D mix as possible. But I include this information, for the record, so that collectors are clear exactly what is new, what has gone down in the past, and what they may be spending their hard- or not so hard-earned cash for.


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Your following Kim Kardashian on Twitter is the reason we don't have a female president yet. Or something.
This morning on The Early Show, lawyer and television commentator Lisa Bloom was plugging her book, Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World. Accompanying the interview was a segment that asked young women about current events and showed them acting ditzy.
Let's leave aside the irony that The Early Show, not known for taking the high road in the world of celebrified, dumbed-down entertainment aimed at women, is casting stones. Let's even overlook the fact that the author of this book, Lisa Bloom, is the daughter and close associate of Gloria Allred, who is rather comfortable with tabloid and celebrity culture herself, or that Lisa Bloom's job as a TV legal analyst consists of analyzing celebrity lawsuits or turning people with grisly lawsuits into celebrities.
's focus on how this analysis pivots rather rapidly from "people in the United States are uninformed about the news" to "young women are shallow and empty-headed." Nowhere does anyone discuss how say, men are being dumbed down by ESPN or The Hangover II (although there's an argument to be made!), or how they're wasting their money on the latest gadgets or whatever.
Why is that? Well, for one thing, because mostly women buy self-help books. And only women's leisure activities make them ditzy or insubstantial, whereas all of the ones I just named, associated with men, just make them regular guys and seem to have no bearing on their ability to run shit.


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Currently Trending on Twitter: Swastikas
Twitter trending topics are often a great cross-section of racism, homophobia, and misogyny, but one of today's most popular hashtags has taken things to a delightful new level.
Swastikas are currently trending on Twitter. Not the word "swastika" but the actual symbol. My guess is that someone figured out how to embed a swastika in a tweet and countless others copy-pasted, because gosh, what a thrill.
As you might expect, tweets using the three-swastika hashtag are terrible — most are too dumb to be offensive, but the cavalier insensitivity and cultural ignorance is at least disheartening. Here's a sampling, for those of you who don't want to trudge through the depths of Twitter idiocy.
Memes (popularized by @DictatorHitler):
Click links for full comedic effect.
#卐卐卐 is top trend. I'm so happy: twitpic.com/b1zyuj— Adolf Hitler (@DictatorHitler) October 7, 2012
I said #卐卐卐 before it was cool. #AdolfHipstertwitpic.com/b20jhs— Adolf Hitler (@DictatorHitler) October 7, 2012
I'm releasing an album, with the song "Set Fire to the Jews", here is the cover: #卐卐卐twitpic.com/b20d63— Adolf Hitler (@DictatorHitler) October 7, 2012
Bad jokes:
There are countless iterations of "I did Nazi that coming" and "Anne Frankly it's offensive." You know what's really offensive? Lazy jokes.
3 Jews walk into a bar..I lied its a gas chamber#卐卐卐— Tyler (@TyAbercrombie) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐 is randomly trending, I did Nazi that coming.— Helen Keller (@CluelessHelen) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐 How did Hitler tie his shoes? In little knotzies— Mr. Mike (@ideawhore) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐 if this trend is illegal, time to dial NEIN NEIN NEIN— ror (@r0rza) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐 is trending Anne Frankly i think it's disgusting although I did Nazi that coming.— Alexander シ (@alexpicciarelli) October 7, 2012
Went to a beach in Germany, saw Adolfin #卐卐卐— nicholas (@YoLefty_) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐 This trend is way out of mein kampfort zone.— Daddy. (@DavidPritchardd) October 7, 2012
So #卐卐卐 is just randomly trending? I did Nazi that coming...— FOLLOW FOR OBAMA (@FollowMeOBAMA) October 7, 2012
Moral outrage:
First, let's note that @FollowMeOBAMA is choosing both outrage and tasteless jokes. Second, it's worth pointing out that the more people tweet a trending topic, the longer it stays trending. Tweeting that you're offended by swastikas while including swastikas in your tweet is one of the dumber things you can do online.
#卐卐卐 is a disgustingly disrespectful trending topic. R-T if you agree that it should NOT be trending. 6,000,000 killings is NOT a joke.— FOLLOW FOR OBAMA (@FollowMeOBAMA) October 7, 2012
Er why is #卐卐卐 trending? That's disgusting— Sophie McClymont (@sophiemcclym0nt) October 7, 2012
the fact #卐卐卐 is trending is kind of disrespectful. 6,000,000 killings is NOT a joke— ℓew (@Lewis_McKinley) October 7, 2012
Why is #卐卐卐 trending? Its not funny...— Amy Flores(@_amybby) October 7, 2012
honestly you can trend anything but not #卐卐卐 this isn't funny you might hurt other people where's your respect for the dead ones ?— Lone Wolf ∞ (@RowlingsOwl) October 7, 2012
These are probably the most depressing tweets — whether it's people who don't know the difference between Osama bin Laden and Hitler, or those who actually think swastikas are illegal.
#卐卐卐 this trend is disgusting, nobody wants to remember what Bin Laden did— March 7th (@yalienn) October 7, 2012
You lot are so insensitive you know Bin Laden caused so much terror upon the world and swastika is trending SMH— H to the O V (@souloh0e) October 7, 2012
#卐卐卐.... im pretty sure this trend is illegal— Colette Townsend (@SmoshyFever14) October 7, 2012
Wtf #卐卐卐...isn't it illegal to use this symbol?— ✌ (@JoannaStylinson) October 7, 2012
Oh ' #卐卐卐' is about Hitler.. awks— Samuel. (@Samuel_James1) October 7, 2012
Like all trending topics, this is only temporary, so try not to let it get you down. And make sure to check out Twitter tomorrow, when we'll surely be back to hashtags like #UKnowSheAHo and #WhyDoBlackPeople.
[Image via Twitter]