Best of AC & DC Vol. II

Longtime associates are well aware of the deep respect I hold for a bootleg compilation of AC/DC songs that my dad purchased in Indonesia in the mid-80's. A few years ago I made a follow up compilation of songs that were left out of this first, historic, volume. (In emulation of first volume, I did not center my compilation around popular tracks--such as "You Shook Me All Night Long"--instead, I included less well-known tracks that actually stand up better to repeated listening.) But I can't seem to find a copy of my "Best of AC & DC II". And I can't remember what I put on it. So I just made a new version of "Best of AC & DC II". If I'm ever able to find a copy of the earlier version, it will be interesting to compare the two.

How to remember the order of streets in downtown LA

"From Main we Spring to Broadway, and then over the Hill to Olive. Wouldn't it be Grand if we could Hope to pick a Flower on Figueroa?"

From "Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County" by Leonard and Dale Pitt

It is also mentioned on the USC Geography Dept's downtown walking tour website. Check out their list of recent variants on this idea.

Linguistic Relativity

"Consider a rainbow or a spectrum from a prism. There is a continuous gradation of color from one end to the other. That is, at any point there is only a small difference in the colors immediately adjacent at either side. Yet an American describing it will list the hues as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple or something of the kind. The continuous gradation of color which exists in nature is represented in language by a series of discrete categories. This is an instance of the structuring of content. There is nothing inherent either in the spectrum or the human perception of it which would compel its division in this way. The specific method of division is part of the structure of English.

By contrast, speakers of other languages classify colors in much different ways. In the accompanying diagram, a rough indication is given of the way in which the spectral colors are divided by speakers of English, Shona (a language of Rhodesia), and Bassa (a language of Liberia)."

Image and text from H. A. Gleason's "An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics (Revised Edition)" (1961), p. 4.

Clifton's "Pacific Seas" Cafeteria Postcard

The story behind Clifton's is downright amazing. Watch this documentary.

One Hot Babe

I stole this photo from someone's fridge at a party in college.

Ndali Lodge

Located in western Uganda, the Ndali Lodge is easily one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been.

Nice Line

"Evidence which, taken at its face value, leads to an absurd conclusion
must be worth less than at first appears." K. S. Woodworth, Review of Schultz (1906)