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Two words: lynch mobs. Also, it is illegal in many states to "profiteer" and charge excess prices for gas. I know they busted gas stations in NC during the last huricane, and they will be doing so again soon. Obviously, it is a simple matter of legislating against the notion of supply and demand. It really is interesting how we made fun of communist countries and how they never had bread on the shelves because they were command economies, but when the chips are down, we nationalize and engage in price fixing (including Nixon!).

How's this? It's been getting good reviews, and I'm looking around for a good used copy here in Chicago.

Just finished a boatload of books on China, the most interesting are Concrete Dragon by Capanella and China's Urban Transition by Freidman. After reading 6 or so academic books for various reviews hope to read a few fiction books. Am halfway through To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a time travel romp by Connie Willis. Will probably next try to read Murakami's After Dark and Jesse Ball's Samedi the Deafness.

Just get the "Best of-" and start there. If you like it then you can buy the others any time. If not, you can stop there. Was a big, big fan of Cordwainer Smith when I was younger. I'd probably still like the core stories, but I haven't thought about reading him for a while.

I've read nearly all the early ones -- Midnight's Children, Shame, Satanic Verses, Haroun, and the Moor's Last Sigh. I really did like MC and Shame. Satanic Verses was a bit of a chore, and I read it mostly because I was supporting Rushdie against fundamentalists. Don't know what I would think now. Haven't read him in ages, though I think his newest looks kind of entertaining.

The ones by Raschka look pretty interesting. I'll see if the library has them. It is fun reading books with jazz-inflections to my kids.

It's on the Guardian as well. Definitely a classy guy and an interesting actor in all his roles. RIP

I'm sure there are a bunch, but I ran across this the other day -- Looking for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh. It is a fictionalized tale of Miles Davis coming to New York to try to play with Bird. I'm a bit amused at how Rollins' bridge playing is appropriated. Anyway, the illustrations are pretty great, full of images of what an ideal jazz club would have looked like back in the day (and the streets are a lot cleaner than the real New York of the late '40s). It's designed for very little children - 4 to 8 I suppose.

Just heard that it will be arriving mid Oct. if you ordered on Amazon.

I've listened to the 4th many times, but I have never been able to warm to it. Neither did Stalin. I'm pretty sure I saw Haitink conduct Shostakovich #4 last season with the CSO (have to check ticket stubs). I tried to catch the version on BBC Radio 3 where the CSO was visiting England for the Proms, but the stream was all messed up. Anyway, CSO has just released a new recording of #4 with a bonus DVD called Beyond the Score which is a multi-media presentation on the symphony and events of the Stalinist era. Sounds like something I will pick up. I think only one Shostakovich symphony is programmed this season.

????? Me too. Is that a Spinal Tap reference? I think it means 3 + 4 + 4 wins to win the World Series (once the playoffs actually start that is).

Well . . .because this appears to be a legal way to get the material, and blogs and torrents AREN'T? I think that is why they are making the effort. Though making an end run around the Canadian/US home address is on the grey side of things. That's not to say I wouldn't consider it as well.

I have a feeling that it won't be a good season. This time, however, they will seesaw between the O and the D letting them down. No way they should have lost that game. Fortunately, I don't like football (my wife loves it), and it is easy for me to ignore the Bears. As far as I am concerned, they have already ended the season with a sub .500 season, so that's the extent of mental energy I need to expend on them. I will say, however, that the coaching of the Bears leaves a lot to be desired. I'm no longer at all impressed with Lovie, as he fired the only coach who actually performed.

Pretty tough comeback win for the Cubs, but a W is a W. 3 run homer in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out! And that only tied the game. They won it in the12th. Actually, probably good to have a couple comeback wins, and they seem to have weathered the worst of their mini-collapse pretty well. So now that the losing streak is over, time for the playoffs. Magic number is 2.

There is a reasonable chance I will be leaving Chicago next year, and the leading candidate cities are Milwaukee and Minneapolis. I know that nothing will quite compare to the Chicago Symphony, which I go to fairly frequently, but I thought I would gather any information I could on these two symphonies (or on anything else people want to contribute). I'd say from a quick glance at their websites, both are fairly serious with at least 4 to 8 concerts per month (or even more). This is in sharp contrast to Portland, where it really looked like the symphony played a handful of times a season. Milwaukee's symphony appears to travel around the state more, and the Minneapolis Symphony does appear to offer more repeat performances of each program (3 versus 2 for Milwaukee). Both were fairly middle of the road in terms of what they performed, but Milwaukee looked just a bit more adventurous. Anyway, if anyone has comments about the quality of either group that would be appreciated. Eric

For anyone in the Chicago region, there will be a Messiaen festival sponsored by U of Chicago: http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/messiaen/ I'm hoping to see the events on Oct. 5 and Oct. 10, but it may not work out. I've seen Quartet live three times, and this would be the fourth if it all works out. All were fairly memorable, particularly my first (in Ann Arbor) and third (Cambridge England at King's College).

Interesting analysis from J.P. Morgan, which I am not at liberty to share. Nonetheless, they think this is actually a pretty good deal for taxpayers in the medium and long-term, the equivalent of owning a Sovereign Wealth Fund, except that no one knows what happens if the Feds start making investment decisions on the basis of political considerations or alternatively start changing federal fiscal policy in ways that benefit AIG holdings. I would add that of course the moral risk that everyone will be expecting more and more bailouts, leading to riskier behavior rather than the much needed return to sanity. Probably the best thing would be for the feds to ride through the current storm, give AIG time to unwind the riskiest assets and then slowly disinvest in AIG.

What was far more insane was the Astros' owner insisting that they could get a game or two in before Ike swept through. Truly delusional. He finally agreed to neutral territory, but by this time, all the truly neutral locations were taken and they ended up in Milwaukee, which is essentially Wrigley Field North. Players' families were able to take the trip north though (unusual) so that may have helped a bit. At the same time, if they simply cancelled the three games, then the Astros would forfeit any chance of getting to the playoffs, and that would not have been fair either. As it is, if it will make a difference, the Cubs will have to go down to Houston at the tail end of the season to play one more.

Just showed up this morning at $65 at DG. Put one in my cart, but then put it back, since I have told myself to cut back a bit until I've listened to everything else I have bought.

I missed that the first time through the thread. I'm pretty sure I had a copy of that (no idea where it would be now). If I recall, it came with a wheel with several discs and it allowed you to plot your own novel by setting the book in different neighborhoods (SoHo, NoHo, TriBeCa, New Haven), coming up with different addictions and having different existential crises (sort of like a very structured Mad Lib -- it's hard to describe if you don't have one in hand).

Said Ami, "I'm a dias."

I usually go one or two notches below the highest speed (probably leaving me at 16x). My burner is a little older and I do notice more problems at the top speed. I do burn at top speed for DVD, but that is only 4x unfortunately.

I've only read Broom of the System, which I liked a lot. Wasn't that crazy about some of the stories in Girl with Curious Hair. After reading a couple of stories, I gave it away. Never even attempted Infinite Jest. Maybe someday. It is terribly sad, and I guess the question is whether given a couple of good days in a row, or perhaps more sleep, or even anti-depressants, he would have made the same decision. I've slowly learned to try not to make crucial decisions when I am bone-tired (which is too much of the time) because I simply don't make good decisions. Things always seem a bit more managable after I can take that step back (and perhaps sleep for 7 hours).

Don't know how true it is, but on the Guardian web-site commenting about the fact that the machine wasn't really running yet (just some systems check), a blogger said that some young woman in India had been so frightened about the end of the world (because of the collider) that she committed suicide. Sad if true.

They should fire it up on election day when the last butterfly ballot in FL is counted, creating a quantum condition and splitting the universe into two: one where Obama wins and one where McCain wins. This is obviously what e e cummings was referring to when he wrote: "listen; theres a hell of a nice universe next door; lets go"