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Bottom-up journalism from the pros: News, tech and culture by Sheila Lennon

December 2008 Archives


New Year's Eve online and on TV

taiwan.jpg 3:52 PM Wed, Dec 31, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Whether you're snowed in and crestfallen, or always avoid amateur night at the bars, you can watch other people party online and on tV. Online Beginning at 4 p.m., TimesSquare.com will offer a link to link to a live stream......

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Marking time; What science learned in '08; Name that New Year's artist

newyear1889.jpg 12:38 AM Tue, Dec 30, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Vogue Paris used 18-year-old Hungarian-born model Eniko Mihalik for a high-concept spread titled Age 10 to 60 - through Make-up & Photography . Gems Sty posts the photos from that November 2008 issue at the link above. (I can't find......

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Free jazz mp3s: Dexter Gordon, New Year's Eve 1980

10:33 PM Sun, Dec 28, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

roio » Blog Archive » DEXTER GORDON AND FRIENDS - NEW YEAR'S EVE SPECIAL 1980 With Dexter Gordon and Friends Jazz Alive New Year's Eve Special 1980 [no label, 3CD] Live at the Keystone Korner, San Francisco, December 31, 1980.......

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Gone fishin' online

fishing_girl.jpg 12:40 AM Sun, Dec 28, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Fishing Girl is a free online game with no time limits. Your goal is to rescue someone from an island. The waters hold two sharks, so he can't swim. Drop your line, and see what happens. There are two......

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John Lennon boosts One Laptop Per Child

xo_laptop.jpg 10:55 PM Fri, Dec 26, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Reuters; Imagine: Lennon in TV ad 28 years after his death: Through the use of digital technology, the former Beatle urges people across the United States to support a campaign by "One Laptop per Child" to deliver tough, solar-powered......

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Time out

fireplace_560.jpg 3:07 PM Fri, Dec 26, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

On the first real day of vacation, I'm curled up with a novel by the fire, wearing my new cat socks. The fridge is full of leftovers, no need to go out into the cold.......

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Help with your new tech

10:27 PM Thu, Dec 25, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Got some new tech stuff for Christmas? Stuck already on some aspect of it? Does it do something you wish it wouldn't, or not do something you wish it would? Azadeh Ensha of the New York Times wants to help,......

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Christmas at our old house

xmas08a_242.jpg 8:33 AM Thu, Dec 25, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Yet another Christmas in this old house, its 173rd. I'm waiting for the rest of the family to wake -- they're strewn around on couches, and on an air mattress next to the Christmas tree. Last night, eating a......

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Happy Xmas (War is Over)

2:04 AM Wed, Dec 24, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

John and Yoko, Happy Xmas (War is Over) We have each other, and we're stronger than we know. Happy Christmas to you, and to those you love.......

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Viral videos for the holiday season -- one straight, one bent

10:57 AM Tue, Dec 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Two a capella choruses, two holiday tunes. But... Straight No Chaser, hailing from Indiana, had a YouTube hit that took them to yesterday's Today Show, a polished yet new rendition of a familiar tune. Straight No Chaser - 12 Days......

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Christmas dinner recipes, and the Feast of the 7 Fishes, too

table.jpg 4:01 AM Mon, Dec 22, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Providence Journal / Kris Craig I ran around newspaper food sections last night, looking for what's new for Christmas dinner this year. If alien anthropologists are studying earthlings through these recipes, they think we're feasting on towering plates of......

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Birdsong deciphered; Poinsettias aren't so poisonous; Christmas dinner for 2

poins.jpg 12:05 PM Sun, Dec 21, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Say It In Song: Researcher Deciphers Meaning Within Bird Communication at Science Daily. "...to Sandra Vehrencamp, Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior, bird song is a code." My old house is surrounded by big old trees that are home to......

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Langevin answers online readers' cybersecurity questions

11:47 AM Sun, Dec 21, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Slashdot | CSIS Cybersecurity Commission Chairman Jim Langevin Answers Your Questions Last week, I blogged an invitation to readers at programmers' news site Slashdot to ask questions of the Rhode Island congressman. His answers are at the link above. Here's......

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RIAA ends music-sharing lawsuits, aims to cut Internet access

10:56 AM Sun, Dec 21, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

ISPs, not lawsuits: Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits. While we were buying boots ahead of the snowstorm, the Wall Street Journal quietly reported that RIAA is ending its mass lawsuits against individuals over music file sharing. Instead, they'll have......

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Free: Better Christmas gift tags to print

emilys-holiday-tags.gif 3:27 PM Sat, Dec 20, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Many sites offer free printable tags, although not a lot are drop-dead gorgeous and many are kitschy or worse. The Santas above are simple and well-formatted, freeprintablegifttags.net doesn't want your email address and only makes you promise you won't......

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Al Franken up in Minn. Senate recount; news site lets readers judge ballots

ballot.jpg 9:39 AM Sat, Dec 20, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Democrat Al Franken leads by 251 votes over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman on this leg of the Senate race recount, says the Minnesota Star-Tribune. Political statistician (math geek) Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight Franken is Winning, and Coleman Knows It 3.......

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What are you thinking about?

snow2_560.jpg 8:07 PM Fri, Dec 19, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

...

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Voice of the Star Trek computer, Majel Roddenberry, dies at 76

Majel1.jpg 11:15 AM Fri, Dec 19, 2008 | | Comments (5)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

StarTrek.com Majel and Gene Roddenberry. Star Trek Universe Loses Majel Barrett Roddenberry. The actress, widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, played Nurse Christine Chapel in the original "Star Trek," and Lwaxana Troi (free-spirited mother of Counselor Deanna Troi)......

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Christmas cookie recipe: Cut to the chocolate

kacccookie.jpg 12:56 AM Thu, Dec 18, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

The Baltimore Sun originally published the story (Revisiting our favorite holiday cookie recipes), but the Orlando Sentinel published the photos, and that's what sold me. It's a soft sugar cookie iced with melted chocolate chips. Suzanne Laubheimer's Version of the......

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Free audio book: '33 1/3: Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited'

33Highway61Revisited.jpg 1:18 AM Wed, Dec 17, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Download 33 1/3: Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (Free Version) (Unabridged) by Mark Polizzotti; free audio book at Audible.com You can download and burn it to CD for the Dylan freak in the family, perhaps wrapping it along with a......

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House Cybersecurity chair Langevin taking questions online

langevin.jpg 11:07 AM Tue, Dec 16, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

At tech news site and programmers' haven Slashdot, Robin Miller, Editor in Chief of SourceForge, which owns Slashdot, passed on an invitation from Congressman Jim Langevin's office: Slashdot | Ask Cybersecurity Commission Chairman Jim Langevin About US Cybersecurity Plans US......

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Free mp3s: Burn a CD of 'The Messiah' as a frugal gift

9:03 PM Mon, Dec 15, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Updated Wednesday, 3:12 a.m. Handel's Messiah - Boston 2008. Handel and Haydn Society, Boston 2008 [no label, 3CD]. Live at the Symphony Hall, Boston, Mass., December 7, 2008. Very good FM broadcast. As blogger Shelley Powers noted in comments below,......

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Shop: 2008 tech, shipping deadlines, small gifts, Freecycle

boxwood.jpg 10:43 AM Mon, Dec 15, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Holiday Gift Guide: Electronics edition, at the Atlantic, begins, Well, it's hard to find cheap steals in electronics, so I'll just go ahead and recommend them, and you can view it as a nostalgic symbol of better times I think......

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Antique Christmas recordings; Dream playback is coming; 2008 ideas

vocp.jpg 8:20 AM Sun, Dec 14, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Saying, "I released VOCP 10 years ago and each year as we get closer to the Christmas holidays I get overwhelmed with requests for it. The disc is out of print and I have no copies left so I've......

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Christmas music blogs dig up rare, obscure and best forgotten mp3s

rastasanta.jpg 10:27 AM Sat, Dec 13, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Tiptoeing gingerly through the wilds of music blogs... Distinctly Jamaican Sounds' Yes, Virginia, There Is A Reggae Santa Claus! blesses you with a Christmas mix, thoroughly annotated and ending with, I want to thank everyone ahead of time for your......

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Watergate researcher, journalist blogger, friend Liz Donovan dies

lizblog.jpg 11:32 AM Fri, Dec 12, 2008 | | Comments (5)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Liz Donovan's Facebook profile photo; tributes are building there. Miami Herald obit: Liz Donovan, researcher on Watergate, dies. She was 63. When we first met online, this blog was a handmade html page, and Liz was writing WeBlog at......

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Can a laptop and the Web replace cable TV?

computertv.jpg 3:43 AM Thu, Dec 11, 2008 | | Comments (4)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

NYT illustration NBC's The Office on a laptop. The New York Times: "At ABC, 8 percent of viewers they track -- or about one out of every 12 people -- watch network shows solely online." Ditching cable for free......

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Daily Routines: Few night owls in this famous bunch

kafka.jpg 12:43 AM Thu, Dec 11, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Daily Routines is a blog about "How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days." Hemingway, Toni Morrison, George W. Bush, Thomas Friedman, Emily Post, Jacques Barzun -- they're all a bunch of early birds, rising at dawn. Only......

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Dropping in on the sky

pleiades_jonesx.jpg 2:38 AM Wed, Dec 10, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

M45: The Pleiades Star Cluster Credit & Copyright: Phillip L. Jones VisualUniverse.org Yesterday's Astronomy Picture of the Day (NASA) Explanation: Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the......

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Here's some of Dave McKenna's jazz memorial Sunday in Woonsocket

9:17 AM Tue, Dec 09, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Dave McKenna Memorial - Woonsocket R.I. Part 1 "Make Someone Happy," Dec. 7, 2008. Woonsocket-born jazz pianist Dave McKenna died Oct. 18. Friends, fans and fellow musicians gathered Sunday at St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center in his hometown......

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Update: Fashion designers sketch Inaugural frocks for Michelle Obama

dianvonf.jpg 12:37 PM Mon, Dec 08, 2008 | | Comments (3)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Update: Since I posted this late last night, I've been seeing lots of hits from Michelle Obama Watch, a site I was unaware of. It's a smart, newsy and lively blog, and deserves a look if you're interested in tracking......

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400+ photos fill legendary photographer's book about 'The Godfather'

SS_SamuelBeckett_1964.jpg 10:32 AM Mon, Dec 08, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

How they shot The Godfather, Daily Mail (UK). The headline doesn't really seem to go with the story, which is Mario Puzo's account of writing The Godfather and of others trying to cast the movie, excerpted from 1972's The Godfather......

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Sugarplums without plums: 3 recipes and a vision

sugarplums2.jpg 3:04 AM Sun, Dec 07, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; --Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from Saint Nicholas, 1823aka 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, after the poem's first line Sugarplums aren't made......

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A weekend for winter veggies, art gifts

beets.jpg 9:16 AM Sat, Dec 06, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo Yes, our broccoli finally toppled over and the last tomato has ripened on the windowsill, but local farmers, butchers and fisherman are still producing. This morning at 11 a.m. the Providence Wintertime Farmers' Market......

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Photos: Venice under water; Where should Obama go to speak to the Islamic world?

venice1.jpg 10:24 AM Fri, Dec 05, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Reuters / Michele Crosera Venice under water The Globe's Big Picture is all over Venice, where people wade to work and life goes on in flooded shops like the bakery above. There are 25 photos in all, mostly shot......

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Obama may tap 'Father of Net' for top tech post; Free Net access ahead?

vint_cerf.jpg 12:13 AM Fri, Dec 05, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

At Politico, The 5 best jobs Obama has yet to fill. Craig Gordon and Ben Smith save the best for last -- the newest cabinet-level post, the first ever... Chief Technology Officer The list: Vinton Cerf (at right), Google's "chief......

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Give or get a free robocall from Santa Claus

12:19 AM Thu, Dec 04, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Sheila Lennon    Email

ChristmasDialer.com promises to make a free call "from the North Pole!" to one kid on your list. After inputting the phone number, you choose from these three messages: 1. I am holding a long list with all the names of......

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'70s photos: rock stars at their parents' homes

david_crosby.jpg 11:50 PM Tue, Dec 02, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

70's photographs: Rock stars at their Parents Houses. Zappa, Clapton, Grace Slick, etc at | Noise Addicts music blog audio blog The photos were shot by John Olson of Life at the newly opened Google-Life Archives. The "etc." in......

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Maureen Dowd interviews Tina Fey; Sky souvenirs

moon_jup_ven.jpg 10:59 PM Mon, Dec 01, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Maureen Dowd interviews Tina Fey for Vanity Fair: What Tina Wants. Maureen is reporter here, not her NYT columnist self at all. Read... Folks all over photographed the moon with bright Jupiter and brighter Venus tonight. Flicker has thousands of......

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An early bird surveys Cyber Monday deals

sabatino.jpg 4:12 AM Mon, Dec 01, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Sheila Lennon    Email

Cyber Monday" was invented in 2005 by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation, which hosts CyberMonday.com. Cyber Monday is not actually the biggest online shopping day of the year; last year it was only ninth, with......

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