Yes, that was lovely. I'm a little disappointed by some composers who were left out (Haydn! Mahler! Stravinsky!), but hey, that was inevitable: even in a 90 minute music-fest someone won't make the cut.

I can't believe we've gotten this far and no one has mentioned The Crush.

I'm reading "God's Chinese Son" by Jonathan Spence.

It's pretty fascinating, and one of those corners of history where you say: "Where have I been that I didn't know about this?!" In the mid-19th century, a Chinese man decided he was God's second son (Jesus' younger brother), and started a 20-year Christian reign within China. I haven't gotten too far in, but according to the back of the book, eventually 20 million died in the wars and famines that came about as a result.

One of the original Dixie Chicks (Robin Macy) was a math teacher at the school I attended for 10 years. She never taught me, but as a math geek I knew her pretty well. Never knew she sang, though!

Google's China office: http://goo.gl/lmxcB.

You asked, Google answered. :)

Disclaimer: I work at Google, but not in the Tel Aviv office.

From my experience, that's probably not a picture of a work area, but a lounge. We have a few of them scattered about. The actual work areas are usually more traditional cubicle-style spaces. (And you can get higher cubicle walls if you want them, FeliciaB. :)

Married, 27, first marriage, 13 years.

It's Hawking radiation, not Unruh radiation, that causes the firewall.

Great. In 2016 we strike and win, but what exactly do we win then? A nation sunk even deeper in red ink than today and with Obamacare so entrenched it'll never be excised.

No, we missed a historic opportunity yesterday. One it's going to be hard to recover from. The Left gets all the chances it needs, but we have to be perfect every time.

Exactly. Reagan had a famous response during the 60s riots to a protester who yelled "We are the future!"

"Sell your bonds."

Yeah.

I would argue that's a way to go decidedly wrong. But de gustibus, of course. :)

The Four Seasons redeems Vivaldi a bit, but not entirely.

I'm amazed and dismayed that Brahms has only gotten one shout-out so far. All four of his symphonies are great. The two piano concertos are great. The violin concerto is great. The cello sonatas as great. The German Requiem is great. The man wrote almost nothing not-great. He was a Beethoven-like perfectionist, and it shows.

I'm also noticing a lack of Bruckner support. Best Bruckner symphonies: #4, #7, #8, #9.

Don't forget Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, obviously, but the String Quartets as well.

Some Beethoven has been mentioned, but some often overlooked pieces would include his String Quartets and the Piano Sonata No. 29 (Hammerklavier). Stunning works.

Dvorak's Cello Concerto.

Chopin's solo piano works are his best output. The concertos not so much.

Schubert, I think, has not been mentioned: several great symphonies and great piano sonatas, and not half bad masses.

Obviously, there are tons of slightly-less-than-great works. I'm trying to his only the very top notes here.

That may all be true, but the turnaround, if it is to come, must start somewhere. And it most decidedly would not start with an Obama victory. I fully expect to be disappointed by President Romney. And I'll be very happy not to have all my expectations fulfilled by another term of President Obama.

One thing that worries me still is the Intrade odds. Tuesday it had it down around 55/45 and I thought it was about to break decisively for Romney, but since then it's back up to 63/37. These are people with money on the line. Granted, they might be buying the same Ohio poll BS that the media is putting out. But it worries me, all the same.

Clearly the LSAT has little to do with the law: as evidence I advance the fact that I used to teach LSAT prep classes (as well as SAT, GRE and GMAT prep) and all I know about the law I learned from the second half of Law & Order.

My most recent such encounter was this one: https://plus.google.com/u/1/107396192137632466407/posts/gni9Zhw1dbg