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I am super proud of the two oldest women in my immediate family. My wife Dawn prepared a full-blast Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all of the trimmings in our new house for 13 people – our first holiday in the new abode. A total success all the way around, as …

Gibson celebrated the 2000th anniversary of the birth of an influential Jew named Jesus Christ with this elaborate tribute guitar two years ago. There is something about the intimate handling and manipulation required to play a guitar that makes me a bit leery of this instrument – I suppose we …

Seems like it to me, and also to Pierre Bennu: I know you’ve been thinking it. And if you haven’t, you probably haven’t been paying attention. The art we once called hip hop has been dead for some time now. But because its rotting carcass has been draped in platinum …

For our Chicagoland friends: The inaugural celebration of Delmark Records’ 50th Anniversary will take place Thursday, January 23, 2003, at the Chicago Cultural Center. Scheduled to perform are blues guitarists/vocalists Jimmy Burns and Johnny B. Moore in a solo acoustic setting; Chicago jazz stalwarts pianist Jodie Christian and tenor saxophonist …

Christopher Hitchens examines anti-Americanism in its various ugly forms: The United States of America is not just a state or a country but a nation-the only such country, in fact-supposedly founded on a set of principles and ideas. The documents and proclamations preceded the nation-state. China would be China under …

Amnesty International says two Chinese Internet users, in custody for “subversive” Internet use, have died under mysterious circumstances: Amnesty International issued a warning today on its Web site that Internet users in mainland China could be killed by the State for expressing their opinion online. Thirty three people were named …

The college P2P scenario is a contest between intellectual property rights and student privacy issues with bandwidth issues thrown in the mix. Amy Harmon looks at the contest in the NY Times: As colleges across the country seek to stem the torrent of unauthorized digital media files flowing across their …

Very handy new browser add-on that functions as an interactive P2P site-recommender. You can dive into categories, search randomly, rate sites, chat with fellow “stumblers.” User testimonials here, FAQs here. Well worth checking out.

Between a tension-filled episode of 24 and the debut of The Osbournes 2 (much better than anticipated), we watched part of a History Channel show on Davy Crockett, who was a true hero. Dawn asked me what other Americans I thought were heroes. I said I didn’t know. She said …

“Sharia sharia Allah says it’s so A child steals bread His hand must go AND COVER THAT WOMAN UP FROM HEAD TO TOE” Okay, that was bad – I couldn’t resist. Meet our own indiginous strict Muslim hip-hop group, Native Deen: “So always be proud, you can say it out …