• ITEM: News so happy, I’m verklempt: New York’s 2nd Avenue Deli finally reopens next week (just off 2nd Ave). Time to book a flight!
• ITEM: Jon Carroll’s yearly pitch: This holiday season, won’t you volunteer for the Untied Way?
• ITEM: Fan reviews of Tuesday night’s Tool concert at the Civic Auditorium. It was, of course, an absolutely transcendent experience. We should be erecting statues of Maynard James Keenan in all the major cities. :)
• ITEM: You know how there’s that stretch of road in our beloved East Bay that is both I-80 East and I-580 West, while the other side of the road is both I-80 West and I-580 East (all this despite the fact that the road runs mostly north-south)? Turns out there’s a cracktastic term for this.
• ITEM: I worked a fifteen hour shift yesterday to help launch this … the new Macworld.com!

• ITEM: I ordered an XO laptop and cannot wait for it to arrive. Are you a geek? Perhaps one with a child in your life? Here’s why you should follow suit (the Give 1 Get 1 program has been extended till 12/31).
• ITEM: John Carroll wrote two amazing columns this week. First up, his take on the rich fucktards in Seadrift who think they own the beach. (Are you a transplant to California? Then listen the fuck up: In this state, the people own the beach.)
• ITEM: John Carroll #2: At his funniest, on what can happen come a Tuesday.
• ITEM: Just another lie: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said “Israel must be wiped off the map.”
• ITEM: Stanfurd 13-point favorites for tomorrow’s Big Game. “I have a bad feeling about this.” GO BEARS!

“Are you kidding?” he said. “We couldn’t do that against air.”

• ITEM: Blade Runner: The Final Cut, now showing in LA and NYC, arrives in San Francisco November 30.
• ITEM: Douglass Rushkoff on 9/11 “Truthers.” I have just about had it with these people. (Seems Bill Clinton feels similarly.)
• ITEM: Mark Morford on the danger of progressive extremists. (He’s absolutely right, and, happily, this piece is less shrill than most Morford screeds.)
• ITEM: Elementary school science: Nearly extinct. This is so depressing. By the time I have a school-aged child, will there be any public schools left worth sending him or her to?
• ITEM: New Orleans, two years after Katrina, in pictures. Heartbreaking.

• ITEM: “Animals at Play” (short video): I cannot shake the sense that the bear and the dog recognized each other as old friends from a previous existence and were just overjoyed to have encountered each other again.
• ITEM: “School Cheating Scandal Divides N.H. Town”: We had a similar, far more widespread situation at my own high school during my years there; the kids involved were never punished and happily moved on to schools like Princeton and Stanfurd. Sounds like things work differently in New Hampshire.
• ITEM: The Solano Drive-In: I had no idea there was an extant drive-in movie theater in the Bay Area! Gotta go!
• ITEM: H.L. Mencken, writing in 1920: “On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
• ITEM: Sanity prevails…or does it? Southwest Airlines will modify its boarding procedure. Still no assigned seats; instead, assigned positions in line.
• ITEM: The Lateral Coital Position: A step-by-step (five steps!) guide for assuming it. Hmm… Gotta get a girlfriend into my life again!

“I have close family members and friends who are a member of the gay and lesbian community. Those folks include my daughter Lisa, as well as members of my personal staff.

“I want for them the same thing that we all want for our loved ones — for each of them to find a mate whom they love deeply and who loves them back; someone with whom they can grow old together and share life’s experiences.

Nothing says Buddhism like raising a child. To cherish what has already changed as you look upon it. To hold most tightly what you must most let go.

• ITEM: Alphablogger J-Walk goes to Amsterdam, can’t believe all the bikes.
• ITEM: “How To Be Happier By the End of the Day” — not bad, actually.
• ITEM: “Chick flicks?” Sure, they exist, admits Gloria Steinem. But then, so do “prick flicks.” Brilliant!
• ITEM: “Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works” — this is great and all, but I remain convinced that meditation’s power is lessened the moment a scientist starts trying to measure it. (The same goes for the power of prayer.)
• ITEM: Public elementary school students right here in Oakland are receiving mindfulness training. Right on!

I mean, come on, it’s New York. It’s the city that never sleeps because people are up all night thinking and fantasizing and making plans. I know where my home is, but I also know where New York is. Being there was like spending time with an old friend.

• Murray visited Amsterdam (for my money, the most beautiful and civilized city on the planet), and has some insightful comments about what makes the place so damned inviting and livable: “I had no idea that such a vast amount of the old city exists and in such a perfect state. There’s a functional found beauty to the rows of high narrow canal houses and repurposed warehouses… . The streets are an obstacle to cars, to the benefit of pedestrians, bicycles, and general well-being.”
  
  
• Jamin sings the praises of sardines. “Sardines are amazing. They are cheap (75-85 cents a can where I shop), have a shelf life of several years, are high in protein, and taste great (if you like fish).” Hell yeah. A tin of sardines always hits the spot for me. And, if eaten at home, always makes the cat insanely jealous.

• ITEM: A very selfless bird tried to make the world a better place today, and, sadly, failed.
• ITEM: Was not aware, am very glad to hear: There is a movement afoot to lower the drinking age in this country to 18. (I’m always shocked when older folks don’t realize that most college drinking these days is illegal because of the stupid age-21 laws.)
• ITEM: On eHarmony, folks are asked to name the last book they read and enjoyed. I close the match anytime a person responds with an Ayn Rand novel or The Da Vinci Code (which happens more often that you’d expect). I’m three years late finding this, but someone took the time to explain (better than I ever could) why Dan Brown’s book is such a dreadful POS. [spotted at kottke.org]

• ITEM: British children are unhappy.
• ITEM: Dutch children are happy.
• ITEM: PARENTS: Want your children to be happy? Don’t praise them for being smart. (Revelatory reading here. For me, anyway.)

• ITEM: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Read it before it disappears: NYT piece on eating by the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (currently on my nightstand).
• ITEM: Here’s just one reason why ethanol sucks: It makes corn tortillas too expensive for poor Mexicans who depend on them. Repeat after me: Don’t burn food!
• ITEM: Rolling Stone: “Why Gore Should Run — And How He Can Win”
• ITEM: “Cineplex Drove Me to Piracy”: The best breakdown I’ve read about how much modern multiplexes suck.

• ITEM: Good news from NYC: The 2nd Avenue Deli may rise again.
• ITEM: The Candy Desk of the United States Senate.
• ITEM: Jon Carroll waxes eloquent on winter, diabetes, and bakeries.
• ITEM: I could watch this baby panda sneeze over and over all afternoon.

Richie Unterberger will be presenting and discussing two hours of rare Beatles audio clips, as well as showing a few rare Beatles film clips and discussing and signing his book The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film, on Wednesday, January 17, from 7:00-9:00pm at the Park Branch of the San Francisco Public Library at 1833 Page Street in San Francisco.

I strive daily to cultivate peace and compassion. I am often blissful, sometimes troubled, sometimes stressed, and usually a bit lonely. Change is possible!