Willie and the Wheel

The band has the chops, and Willie is, well, Willie. Definitely one for the desert island.

I'm lichen it

Among the most strange and beautiful little growing things.

Mammoth trouble

I've read that maybe we could clone one and bring them back...

Martian sand below Mr. Lincoln's ear

Why a 1909 Lincoln? Easy: NASA thought the launch would be in 2009, the centennial of the introduction of the Lincoln penny. I often think the penny should be phased out, but it is a great coin, thanks to the dignified profile of Abe, and especially back in the day of the beautiful wheaty tail side.

Photos from Curiosity... wow...

You know Mitt's in trouble...

... when Barry gets a tacit endorsement from Bibi...

More on teaching econometrics with R

A long day...

47% and all that

This excellent graphic from the NYT pretty much tells you what you need to know about how much people pay in taxes by income class. All things considered, we have a flat tax beyond $50,000, and not very progressive below that.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama takes the high road, but still manages to twist the knife subtly, with his signature style. As TNC puts it: "Barack Obama -- master of the slow soundbite. It's like watching Kareem's sky-hook."

Hafez Modirzadeh

Driving in this morning, I heard a track from this new album by saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh on the Stanford station. I had three immediate reactions: Man, is this cool! And man, is that piano out of tune! And man, that out-of-tune piano sounds strangely fantastic on those tone clusters!

When the DJ said it was Vijay Iyer on piano, I knew the tuning must have been intentional, and sure enough, it was.

Highly recommended. Something new in the tradition.

Your FSA/OWI photo of the day

Carr Fork Canyon as seen from "G" bridge, Bingham Copper Mine, Utah. In the background can be seen a train with waste or over-burden material on its way to the dump. Andreas Feininger 1942.

Your FSA/OWI photo of the day

Camouflage class in New York University, where men and women are preparing for jobs in the Army or in industry, New York, N.Y. They make models from aerial photographs, re-photograph them, then work out a camouflage scheme and make a final photograph. Marjory Collins, 1943.