Friday Varia and Quick Hits

It’s a beautiful and sunny Friday morning, so a perfect time for some varia and quick hits.

• Stephen Aron’s talk last night was one of the best Wilkins Lectures in recent memory!

• Be sure to check out Eric Poehler’s talk next Wednesday.  Here is the local report on it.

• Be sure to check out the 2011 Editions of the First Year Reflections on Teaching Thursday.

• I’ve been watching 60 Minutes’ segment on Mt. Athos some this week.

• This is a depressing thing to think about if you like jazz.

• But this collection of classic jazz album covers can maybe cheer you up.

• Or you can listen to a stream of the Beastie Boys new album while reading this “oral history” of the Beastie Boys.

• This Day of Archaeology thing sounds pretty cool.

• This is a super depressing way to reflect on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. A really depressing form of abandonment porn.

• I was bummed to hear that Nicholas Feltron was hired by Facebook, but then happy to hear that my beloved Daytum, which he developed with Ryan Case, will continue.

• “The report of my death was an exaggeration”: The last typewriter factory in India did close, but it’s not the last in the world.

• The death of the book is also an exaggeration.

• If you haven’t checked out Ryan Stander’s M.F.A. exhibit here on campus, you really should.

• What I’m reading: K. Davis, Periodization and Sovereignty. Philadelphia 2008.

• What I’m listening to: MellowHype, Blackenedwhite.