Friday Varia and Quick Hits

I wish I could tell you all that rather than enjoying my Christmastime, I slaved over the quick hits and varia, but that’s just not the case. As a result, they’re a bit on the light side this St. Stephensmas (or Boxing Day).

Despite my clear dereliction of duty, I wish you a happy holidays:

• The new Hesperia arrived in time for your holiday reading. I had access. I’ve heard it’s a ripping read.

• Zagori in Epirus proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

• Some more sad news about Syria’s cultural heritage. 

• Some depressing, but also intensely familiar, photographs of dying Greek shops.

• An interesting note on the Greek left and the austerity program.

• Sacred pilgrimages are popular once again.

• This is how you get writing done.

• Urban Giants: a short movie about the massive telecommunications centers built in the 1920s and 1930s by Western Union and AT&T.

• Extra disciplinary writing within the disciplines.

• Living simply astride a yurt in the Wyoming. I’ve heard that experienced yurtsman can milk a yurt while riding it across the steppe. It’s just what I’ve heard…

• Some media archaeology and the rise of the shitpic.

• More photographs of the Bakken Boom.

• What I’m reading: L.G.Gerber, Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance. Baltimore 2014.

• What I’m listening to: Ray Charles, The Genius Sings the Blues (mono); Miles Davis,  ‘Round About Midnight (mono).

We’ve tried to teach him manners. But when he got his Chewbacca stocking and stuffed lamb, it was GAME ON.