Steely Dan – Kid Charlemagne

When I'm finished with the difficult parts writing a long legal brief, when I'm the only one still at the office and all that remains is tidying things up and cite-checking, I am only then able to listen to music while working. At these my very late night sessions at the office, I often crave tight driving jazz/rock with excellent musicians. Steely Dan fits the bill, especially when I crank up my modest little office stereo. I'm referring to the music of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, of course. If you haven't heard the two "new" CD's of Steely Dan, ("Two Against Nature" and "Everything Must Go"), you're in for a treat. This tune, "Kid Charlemagne," is from one of the group's earlier works, but this is a terrific performance in a studio-like setting. And speaking of excellent musicians, check out the guitar playing:

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Awesome Saturn

Today I found a 2006 unread issue of National Geographic in my pile of things-to-read, and I was floored by the incredible photos of Saturn taken in 2004 by the Cassini spacecraft. Don't forget the look at the entire gallery, including the photo of Saturn's icy moon Dione, profiled with Saturn's rings on edge (they are only 150 feet thick). Amazing photos! Galileo discovered Saturn's rings in 1610, but one is tempted to imagine what Galileo would have said had he seen these photos. Saturn, as big as 700 Earths, and orbited by at least 56 moons. One of those moons, Titan, was visited by "Huygens, a probe launched from Cassini. If that is not enough excitement for you, consider a second article in the same issue, this one called "Earth in the Beginning." It was a harsh environment, but we are survivors. Check out the gallery here, too, as well as the animations. Admittedly, these are reconstructions, but such a context it all brings home. . .

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Flavor network map, and more exotic maps

Edge.org is featuring a wonderful collection of maps, including this Flavor Network by Yong-Yeol_Ahn, a postdoctoral researcher for the Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University (click for a high res view that will allow you to explore). Or consider this map of the oldest words in our lexicon, by Mark Pagel, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Reading University, England. And consider this map illustrating path dependence, a 1901 map of the Internet. Many more maps to see here, courtesy of Edge.

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