“Harry, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just … let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or … two cups of good, hot, black coffee.”

— FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper

• ITEM: James Joyce gets namechecked in this lovely report of snow falling in Baghdad for the first time in living memory.
• ITEM: How to Read The New Yorker in 10 Easy Steps
• ITEM: Best Blogs of 2007 That You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading (this list introduced me to the wonderful bookforum)
• ITEM: I wish this Ask MetaFilter thread on cooking for one were longer, but it’s got some nice ideas.
• ITEM: Answers to the questions Cecil Adams refuses to answer. (Not bad!)
• ITEM: For the geeks: Richard Stallman gets flamed. From the comments: “On the whole, RMS comes off as the most reasonable participant in the discussion. For all his reputation of extremist dogmatism, he’s not the one slinging ad hominems and resorting to hyperbolic fallacies. Indeed, his patience in the face of such is almost eerie.” I would say “zen-like.”
• ITEM: For the geeks #2: Mark Pilgrim switches his parents to Linux. (My parents are scheduled for a similar conversion this year…)

“Ka is a wheel.”

— Roland Deschain, of Gilead