This morning I sat in a dentist’s chair for over two hours undergoing a Root Planing. It was uncomfortable, but necessary. Unlike the last time I underwent this procedure, the anesthetic worked. I can’t feel a thing in my lower mouth and chin, and so I’m dribbling. I just re-read that article I linked to, and then it struck me that the amount of money I made this quarter tutoring Calculus is exactly the amount I have to pay the dentist to scrape it off my teeth.

I just listened to one of the most moving things I’ve ever heard: The Thai Elephant Orchestra. These elphants were taught how to play oversided versions of traditional eastern instruments, including drums, string bass, and even harmonicas. The elephants were taught how to play them, were allowed to practice on their own on the instruments they chose, and were recorded after a few practice sessions. They were cued to start and stop, but were given no direction in between. The music is most beautiful. The page linked above has samples from the CD and a way to order. I heard them on the wonderful PRI radio program To the Best of Our Knowledge.

“Nightmare of the Retired School Crossing Guard” and other great works of art can be found at the online Museum of Depressionist Art. Found via PeterMe.

When I’d stopped checking, Jen Kitchen of whim & vinegar began weblogging again after a several month absence. Welcome back, Jen.

Can I Compost It? An annotated list of what you can and cannot add to your compost pile. If you garden (even just a few flowers around your lawn), you ought to compost. Your plants will thank you for it.

Eat more wasabi. It’s good for you.

Quick house-keeping note: the search box in the sidebar now searches through all of the last two years’ worth of entries, and not just the last two months’ worth, as it had. It’s taken me a while, but my Blogger-to-Greymatter conversion is nearly complete.

This link to Tom Baker’s web site is for Chris. Quiet though, it’s hush-hush.

This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

I always thought it would be nice to purchase the complete collections of several classic BBC comedies when I get rich. They sell them, but they’re mighty expensive. I’m not rich yet, but thanks to BBC America’s show marathons and my free TiVO, I now have every Monty Python’s Flying Circus ever aired, recorded in order (45 episodes on five tapes). That’s added to the Black Adder and Red Dwarf collections I’d already mde from previous marathons. Now if they’d ever get around to running a Doctor Who marathon, that’d be something. I’d have to stock up on a few hundred video tapes, though.