The State of the Union

You can access more background, more links, and bigger pictures over at Wikipedia But I bet he doesn't talk about the fact that constant-dollar income for the "bottom" half (half. as in 50% - as in 150 million plus human beings) hasn't budged appreciably since before Reagan.

To Boldly Go..

Last week's clouds and gloom have given way to bright sunshine, but I haven't finished reading the intertubes yet, so I can't go out and enjoy it...

From today's NYT, an article in the Theater section:

“I used to recite Shakespeare from memory,” he (Patrick Stewart - more of us know him as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from "Star Trek - the Next Generation") said. “I just learned all these big speeches. That’s what’s so interesting about playing Macbeth this year, because I’ve known these speeches all my life.”

I never memorized much Shakespeare, but I did manage to collect some bits and pieces of the Bard along my road, to go with the American writers whose work sparkled enough that I picked it up to carry with me. I sense the incompleteness of my library, at least in depth. But I don't for a moment regret the breadth of it, nor the journey that let me collect so many shiny nuggets.

Go read the article - it'll take you interesting places as well.

Or don't. Get out in the day and enjoy that, if you'd rather.