Norah Jones, “My Dear Country”

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any Animaniacs clips. Here’s a fun song about the US Presidents.

This is just my way of saying that the surroundings may be new, but it’s still the same old blog. Enjoy!

In a Venn Diagram puzzle, there are three overlapping circles, marked A, B, and C. Each circle has a different rule about who or what can go inside. The challenge is to guess the rule for each circle. You can find a more detailed explanation of Venn Diagram puzzles, along with an example, here.

Each of the eight titles below refers to a Beatles song.

UPDATE: Rather than solving the rules, feel free to suggest additional Beatles songs and where they would belong in the diagram.

What are you listening to right now?

I don’t mean right this second, unless you happen to be listening to something interesting as you read this. Right now, I happen to be listening to a playlist I created in iTunes. Playing now is a song called “Daydream in Blue,” by I Monster. I heard it on an episode of Hustle (an excellent BBC series starring Adrian Lester that’s been replayed on AMC), and I downloaded it from the Apple Music Store. And now it’s over, and I’m listening to “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers.

So “right now” is a tricky term. But in general, what have you been listening to lately? Is it a new album by a familiar artist? Is it an old favorite you haven’t listened to in a while? An audiobook of the newest Harry Potter? The Black Eyed Peas? A podcast on the Byzantine Empire? The Beatles? Chopin? The New York Times? The Dixie Chicks?

What are you listening to right now?

I’m off to the baby naming for Lilah, so no time to post anything original this morning. Instead, I leave you with this Animaniacs song about Magellan, that for some reason really cracks me up. Enjoy!

A few days ago, I included a long discussion about the brain in a post about Daniel Tammet, the mildly-autistic, but highly-savant “Brain Man” of Britain. I’m aware that some of you may still have some questions about the way the brain is configured. As a public service, it is my pleasure to provide this illumination from one of the world’s leading authorities on the brain.

Ever since the post that featured Yakko’s World, I’ve been flooded with e-mails asking for more Animaniacs cartoons. Well, not actual e-mails as such, but I can sense people want them.

Here’s one called Yakko’s Universe:

I gave a full-day workshop today on the value of blogging in the literacy classroom for school-based literacy coaches and technology coaches from across the city, and I never once mentioned that I had my own blog. I don’t want to be annoying “Hey, you gotta read my blog” guy.

But if I never tell anyone about the blog, then who will come and watch my postings of grainy Animaniacs cartoons from the mid-’90’s?