John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

What kills whom where

What kills Canadians most? Or residents of other nations? And what is the global picture? Check out WorldLifeExpectancy. It's revealing stuff, especially with the ability to compare, contrast and sort.

The quick wit of Muhammad Ali

The Guardian publishes today a list of some of the things Muhammad Ali has said over the years. My favourite, from 1960, when Cassius Clay was in a segregated restaurant:

On being told "We don't serve negroes"

I don't eat them, either. Just give me a cup of coffee and a hamburger.

The rest of the feature is here.

Canadian Lawyer surveys St. John's

The economy in St. John's has been doing very well lately, and the legal profession is no exception, says this report in Canadian Lawyer.

Reading for a long weekend

... in Canada, anyway. In The New Yorker, sample Salman Rushdie's short story, In the South.

Bits and pieces

A few things gleaned over the weekend. Apologies for some overlap from my Twitter feed.

First things first, go to Accordion Guy for a morning laugh.

Joe Klein, writing in Time, welcomes Bob Dylan's new album, but focuses on the 68-year-old singer's age:

And now, with the release of his 46th album, Together Through Life, Dylan is, officially, old. Listening to these songs, I imagine him as one of the last guests at someone else's 70th-birthday party, sitting at a table that's been cleared except for the wine stains and bread crumbs. He's wearing a bolo tie and his scraggly mustache, telling stories about women he used to know but never cared for all that much.

Sheena Goodyear, a former editor of the Muse and now striking out on her own, has been selling some freelance stuff to the Toronto Star. Her latest piece is on how long-distance couples are using technology to keep in seemingly continuous touch. 

Holy Edwardian surprise: This Facebook thing is not nearly as old as we think. Sort of. Jenna Worthman, writing in the Bits blog for the New York Times: 

Bryan Benilous, a historical newspaper specialist at the digital-archive company Proquest, said he and his colleagues came across a Boston Daily Globe article from August 24, 1902, titled, “Face Book The New Fad,” describing a party game where revelers sketch out cartoony caricatures for fun.

“I think it is interesting to note the similarities with this first iteration of Face Book as a shared social experience,” said Mr. Benilous. “It’s almost like having friends write on your wall in a much less tech-savvy way.”

A new, and more literal meaning to writing on someone's wall, eh?

Interesting piece on how daily newspapers might survive. Stop being daily. Hmmm. Another option: Higher newsstand prices. (They aaaalllways go over real well.) 

People don't agree on what makes a great domain name. This piece sorts out what works for two key but not necessarily confluent reasons: branding and search.

Rorshach dies

... and not by being vaporized by a blue dude who glows. It's the anniversary of the death of the real McCoy.

The saddest bear

Ever dealt with someone who just seems to be beyond cheering up? (If you're honest, you'll see yourself as having been in that position the odd time. Or more often.)

Check out The Saddest Bear of All - a very short online book, but one that might meet you in the right mood. After the last week, I appreciated it.

W.: The Onion Years

Or, more accurately, Onion: The Bush Years. Joey at Accordion Guy has done a service and collated a slew of headlines from the satiremeisters at The Onion about outgoing president George W. Bush.

How they died

Curious Wikipedia list of the day: A list of unusual deaths, from the legend of how Chrysippus died from laughing, to Marcus Garvey, who died after reading his own (premature) obituary. 

A tree that really stuffs the house

We've certainly had trees over the years that seemed to overwhelm the room. This report from the BBC, though, is on another level altogether.