New Podcast - Site working again

Hey all,

There's a new podcast, just click on the link. Also, the host has fixed the "space" issue so we're able to post again. Huzzah!

P.S. scroll down for the posts that did not publish last week.

Italy

So over 4th of July weekend I headed off to Ravenna, Italy to give a paper (my first!) at an archaeology conference. It was pretty fun, although I didn't get to see much. Hey! Now I'm one of those academics who goes to cool places for conferences and doesn't see much else but the hotel room and conference facilities. Anyway, I did get to spend part of a couple afternoons walking around Ravenna and nearby Bologna. Here are some photos:

Rainstorm and rainbow in Ravenna

This is how the whole town looked! Can you imagine if this was your normal?

Mosaics in a basilica in Ravenna


Fountain in BolognaTowers in Bologna

Claire, I'm gonna have to come visit you and see all this stuff again! :)

The Taste has never been Real-er.

Hey Tasters!

So here's a sampling of links related to this recent installment! We featured Esquivel! so I thought it would be appropriate to link, in honor of the exclamation point, to a site that gives origins to common punctuation marks!

Next! Wikipedia tells us about the Italian city of Ravenna! It's important, art historically speaking, but I can't remember exactly why! So instead learn about U2's Zooropa!

Next, a synopsis of Adam Gopnik's New Yorker article on football. "The Unbeautiful Game"! And a blogger responding to The G-Man!

Breaking News! I was right about the meaning of the intials EP, when used in reference to a short music album!

In real, consequential news, the 4.2 quake that shook the Bay Area was epi-centered just a few miles from my house! Marc Reisner (RIP) thinks we're all doomed, because a large quake could bust the levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta!

Finally, to end happy, a round-up of fave bars in Madison and Oakland/Berkeley!

The Parkway!!!

The Weary Traveler!!!

The Harmony Bar!!!

The Albatross!!!

Man, I'm exhausted from all that enthusiasm... And now I have to pick myself up and go to work! Man, bad planning with all that exclaiming...

Coo(g)l(e)!

So google has some really neat new apps that I only recently found out about that I thought I would share.

For example:

Did you know you can text questions to Google (466453) and they will text you back with an answer? Word definitions, weather, movies etc.

Also you can get maps and directions through their 411 service!

And in a few select cities you can get directions on public transit systems!

And you can find out what people are listening to on Google Talk (by the way- how is Spin Doctors "Two Princes" in the top 20- who are people talking to? The early 90s?)

And lastly, look for aliens on Google Mars

Benoit

That's a tough one for me. When I first heard Chris Benoit, and his wife and child were dead, I was devastated. Benoit had been one of my favorite wrestlers for years. He brought literally millions of people joy on a weekly basis. I wanted to remember his as the great athlete and entertainer that he was, who had touched my life in only positive ways.

Then you hear the guy murdered his wife and son, who had Fragile X Syndrome, before committing suicide. To say I was conflicted was an understatement.

As far as for the reasons behind it, we'll probably never know. 20 years of steroids and painkillers had something to do with it for sure. 20 years of concussions had something to do with it for sure, too. Whatever triggered him to kill his wife, and then decide a day later to kill his son as well doesn't really matter that much.

He was a pro wrestlers first and foremost, and being a pro wrestler in the WWE isn't just a death sentence for those who don't get it out, it's promise of misery. What Chris Benoit did is shocking only in the bizarre horror of it. That something horrible happened to him, in hindsight, is a given.

When Eddie Guerrero died, it finally dawned on me. You give WWE money, you help perpetuate a culture of death. I have watched WWE maybe 3 or 4 times in the past two years. And they haven't seen a cent from me in the same time period. It's become impossible to watch these performers and cheer them, knowing you are cheering them into their grave.