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A most excellent program organized by SF’s tourist bureau has been moved from January to the more tourist-friendly month of June. It’s a great opportunity to try new restaurants at a reasonable cost. 3-course set lunches are $21.95 and 3-course set dinners are $31.95.
Check out the list or restaurants and available reservations at OpenTable.com
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Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man and the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, endorsed Barak Obama yesterday. But the really interesting thing he had to say was about the economy and idiots. From the Agence France-Presse story:
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Erhu, a 2-stringed Chinese instrument played with a bow, may not be on the radar of most people, but you really should take a look at this: a crazed reinvention of Sarasate’s crazed fantasy on Bizet’s opera which had a few crazed characters. (Thanks to Wenyi for sending me this one.)
| We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples. |
| California Supreme Court May 15, 2008 |
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A conversation with my pal Carrie today prompted me to dig up an incredible performance of “O luce di quest’anima” that Beverly Sills sang on a Bell Telephone Hour broadcast many years ago. There are so many reasons to like this little clip, the set, her dress, but most of all, her voice at its considerable peak. There aren’t too many legendary artists I have personal memories of, but Beverly was one: when I broke my foot on a City Opera tour (she was general director of the company at the time), she was the very first person to sign my cast!
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There’s no reason for posting this other than the fact I thought a large cow is an interesting thing. Chilli, the pictured bovine, stands over 6 ft tall, weighs over a ton and is as large as a small elephant. The news story offers the interesting humanitarian tidbit that Chilli was a foundling, left on the doorstep of an animal sanctuary.
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Microsoft launched its WorldWide Telescope software late tonight.
Now this is something I never thought would happen: a piece of software so incredibly cool, it sent tingles down my spine. Clicking on a constellation and watching the sky unfurl on my screen and then being able to click in for some of the spectacular photography gleaned from every major telescope in the world is just downright cool.
I know nothing about astronomy, but it was heartening to read that one of the lead programmers on this project never even saw the Milky Way until his teens.
It’s a free download from Microsoft. Check the computer requirements. Even my fairly modest UMPC 800Mhz Intel processor can render the program pretty well, although the prefab tours are a little taxing.
Microsoft WorldWide Telescope (won’t work in Firefox for me … try Internet Explorer)
an interesting article at SF Gate