Minor Wisdom

It’s been fun, but I am done.

After thinking about it for quite a while, I’ve decided that this blog has run its course. Time to put ’er down. I have a lot of little reasons for this decision, but the big one is that my heart just isn’t in it anymore. Aside from my recent little piece about my almost-accident, I haven’t written anything heart-felt in a long time. And if I’m not up to doing that, I don’t see the point of continuing this project.

Which is not to say that this project hasn’t been fun or worthwhile. It’s been both. And I’ve managed to sustain this blog for nearly six years—an eternity in this ephemeral medium. And I’ve made many real friends on line, some (but not all) of whom I’ve met in person. I am grateful for those friendships, and I hope to sustain them by following and responding to my friends’ on-line stuff. But as for my own little corner in the blogosphere, well, it’s just time for me to move on.

I have been doing the Twitter thing lately. So if you feel inclined, please follow me there @minorwisdom. I promise to do that as long as I feel like it. (In Louisiana, we call that a potestative condition.)

For Jazz Fest, must work on bilocation

A few days ago, the New Orleans Jazz Fest schedule came out. I will have a WWOZ Brass Pass, so if all goes well, I’ll be at the Fairgrounds for all seven days. The lineup looks great. And as usual, it presents some tough choices. For instance:

Sam and Dave: Too good to keep until next Saturday.

My friend Ben Opipari found this gem. It’s so good that I can’t keep it until next Saturday. So here are Sam & Dave, urging you to hold on.

Guitar duet, courtesy of the Allman Brothers

The South is the source of soul. I can offer many proofs of that statement; here is just one: the Allman Brothers’ classic Blue Sky, featuring perhaps the finest guitar duet in the history of rock & roll. (Hat tip to Peter Athas, a.k.a. Adrastos.)

Life is fragile. And control is an illusion.

Today I was returning to New Orleans from Lake Charles after a court appearance. I was driving east on I-10 in the right lane just outside of Lake Charles, with cruise control set at the speed limit, 70 m.p.h., when a white sedan in the left lane, parallel to my car, veered into my lane. Though the white sedan didn’t touch my car, my reflexes took over. Before I knew it, I went from the right-side shoulder across the left lane into the grassy median, where my car did a 180-degree spin before stopping.

Thankfully, my car (an SUV) did not roll over. I was able to get back onto the highway and continue my return to New Orleans. If my car had crossed the entire median into the westbound lanes, I would be dead. So perhaps from now on, I’m living on borrowed time. Lesson # 1: Life is fragile. In an instant, it can be gone.

One additional lesson: When traveling at highway speeds, control is an illusion. At 70 m.p.h., all it took was a gesture from the car next to me to throw me out of control. So pardon me if, from now on, I set my cruise control below the speed limit.

A nature documentary about the honey badger

I try to post educational or edifying stuff here. But I don’t recall ever posting a nature documentary. So to fix that omission, here is a 3½ minute item about the honey badger. The narration is especially good.

How about a slice of π?

Today is Π Day, celebrating the ratio between a circle’s circumference and its diameter. To celebrate this great feast, the lass in this video recites π to the 100th digit while balancing 15 books on her head and solving a Rubik’s cube. Geeks everywhere (present company included), still those beating hearts. (Hat tip to Letters in Bottles.)

These photos from Japan will take your breath away.

I thought I saw bad stuff in New Orleans and along the gulf coast after Katrina. But all of that seems dwarfed by these photos of the devastation in Japan. (Hat tip to my cousin-in-law Kent.)

Mississippi John Hurt

No comment needed. Just watch this. (Hat tip to Andrew Lilly.)

A thought for Ash Wednesday

“Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” Or, as Shel Silverstein put it:

Sunday morning music

How far it is from gospel to the blues? About one song. Here is Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Folks, this is the real blues, close to the roots.

If you like your blues close to the roots, then you’ll love this: R.L. Burnside doing See My Jumper out in the country.

Skip James, the Bach of the blues

My guitar tutor, Vincent, referred to Skip James as the Bach of the blues. An apt description. Here’s a pretty-good-quality video of Skip playing Crow Jane.

How placebos work, and what this means

Everyone who took a psychology course in college knows about placebos. But most of us don’t know the physiological reasons why they work. And few of us think about the implications of their effectiveness. Here’s a video that wades into these subjects. (Hat tip to Improbable Research.)

Bring me my running shoes

Tomorrow’s Rock ’n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon passes my front porch, right around the 7-mile split. For all competitors, I offer the good wishes of Lord Birkenhead in Chariots of Fire: “Good luck to you all.” And I offer something that Lord Birkenhead could not: this bit of musical inspiration by Howlin’ Wolf.