"I watch you..." she observed. "And what dear, young, tender creatures you are. You're so nice to look at that it quite makes my heart ache. Ah, my dear! You are taking a heavier burden on your shoulders than you can bear. It's people like you that the tsar's folk are ready to put into prison."
"Nothing of the kind. Don't frighten us," Nejdanov remarked. "You know the old saying, 'As you make your bed so you must lie on it.' "
"Yes, I know. But the beds are so narrow nowadays that you can't get out of them!"

—excerpt from Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev

An excellent online tool for choosing web page colors and backgrounds, the 4096 Color Wheel. From a link found on the style obsessed redemption.

The Cockeyed Absurdist is back and he reminded me of what I heard on the news yesterday, that Phish is breaking up. Good. Phish blows. Their lame noodling has irritated me for the last time.

Ursula Le Guin, author of the Earthsea Novels, speaks out about Harry Potter:

I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality" of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.

Read the full interview. Visit her official site.

I saw this at Maud Newton's and it's the only funny thing I've read about the war so far:

People of Iraq, I say to you:

Stop trying to kill us, so we can leave. But also, do not fear. We are in it for the long haul, although we cannot stay with you indefinitely. No, as soon as you stop trying to kill us, believe us, you will never see us again. Therefore, trust us, people of Iraq, have faith, we assure you: As long as you continue trying to kill us, we will never abandon you.

Read the full article.