As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Rise of custom babies sets off ethics alarms


 
It can be somewhat surprising (and sometimes alarming) to find out what’s been happening in science when you haven’t been paying attention …
 
“[A fertility specialist in Encino] continued offering tests for gender and eye color … at his California clinic and in Mexico. Over the years, as his clientele grew, gender screening was quietly adopted by IVF clinics across the nation as a standard service.
 
“A survey published in March in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics found that nearly 73 percent of U.S. fertility clinics offer gender selection. Of those, nearly 84 percent offer it to couples who do not have fertility problems but are considering [in vitro fertilization] solely to control the pregnancy’s outcome.”

A liberal’s response to nationalism


 
Nice column by E.J. Dionne Jr. to start off the new year.

Monday, December 31, 2018

#200 Over & Done – Ryan Shaw (2007)


 
Yes, this 3-year blog project, which I originally thought I would both start and end in 2016, is finally Over And Done. (No, it’s not a coincidence I saved this song for the end.) I’ve said plenty about Ryan Shaw elsewhere, so I won’t repeat it here. Suffice it to say that, if there really are parallel universes, this song was almost certainly a big hit in at least 90% of them.
 
Stay tuned – I plan to start my next musical effort next month, and (somewhat) confidently expect to finish it by the end of 2019. Happy New Year to all!

#199 The White Collar Holler – Stan Rogers (1979)

 
As far as I know, neither well-known Canadian folkie Stan Rogers nor his lesser-known colleague Nigel Russell (who wrote the song) ever spent a day wearing a white collar, much less working in IT. Nevertheless, this ode to office-based professionals really hits the spot, so much so that I made a point of playing it for the attendees at my Westat retirement party.