Sunday was the second anniversary of the founding of wood s lot, the curiously named, rich and dense weblog of the mercurial Mark Woods. Could there be anyone in the FmH reading universe who doesn’t frequent wood s lot? If so, get ye hence; the fruits are ripe for the plucking, courtesy of Mark’s generosity. Happy blogiversary, Mark! Many many more…

“The magazine Lingua Franca and its parent company University Business LLC filed for bankruptcy earlier this year…(T)he assets of University Business, including this Website, are to be auctioned in New York City on October 24, 2002…

Since the filing, Arts & Letters Daily has been kept afloat by the goodwill of its editors, Tran Huu Dung and Denis Dutton, and it is now time for them to move on. They will continue to supply content on other similar sites with which they are associated: SciTech Daily Review; Denis Dutton’s Philosophy & Literature site; Business Daily Review. Human Nature Review has fine science reporting, Arts Journal is our favorite for arts news, and Google News is invaluable for newspapers and magazines.”

DAYKU: a.thousand.syllables.for.peace hosted by randomwalks

Chimps do not ape culture: “Experts will today debate whether chimpanzee traditions such as Masonic-style handshakes, mutual back scratching and smashing nuts with hammers make up as real a culture as human art, music and poetry.

If the public meeting in London, backed by the British Academy and the Royal Society, agrees that chimpanzees are part of the cultural domain it may trigger a rethink of mankind’s evolution, putting more emphasis on society and less on genes.” Telegraph UK

Rafe Colburn at rc3 has put together a cheatsheet to the Slate writers’ dialogue about whether we ought to go to war against Iraq. ” If you haven’t yet made up your mind about whether somebody ought to storm into Iraq and send Saddam Hussein to Boot Hill, you should check out the ongoing dialogue among Slate writers arguing for and against the war. Unfortunately, the navigation for the series sucks, because it spans two weeks.” It would seem that Slate writers are mostly pro-war by Colburn’s categorization, but he warns that “the arguments defy easy categorization, and are nuanced and qualified, so don’t just accept my one word summaries.” rc3

When Jeb Bush speaks, people cringe: “The governor’s lesbian joke about the women arrested in the Rilya Wilson case is the latest example of his mean sense of humor — when he thinks the media isn’t listening.” Salon I know there’s a particular sense of gleeful satisfaction to be found in going after the Bushes of the world [I’m a prime offender! — FmH], but is this any more mean-spirited than what you’d hear off-mike from any number of our respected elected officials?

And then there’s this guy:

“Those darn speechwriters. Did it again. I know they’re trying to make me seem smart but this is ridikilis. Okay, let’s rock and roll. If I really try I can pronounce this word, even though it’s got four sillibulls. The fate of the free world depends on it.”

“A group of former Black Panthers fear that their legacy in African-American history is being sullied by a new and harsher brand of Pantherism.” NY Times

” Tomorrow in Washington, Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig will ask the Supreme Court to overturn the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, cynically dubbed the Mickey Mouse Preservation Act. The act is notorious not only because its sponsor was one of the dimmer bulbs in the Congressional chandelier, but also because it purports to be the handiwork of the evil Walt Disney Co. (remember when Disney was good?), which wants to lock up its rights to Mickey and Donald for another 20 years.” Boston Globe