Miscellanea #14

Noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over.

A Writer’s Reading List
Haemi Lee over at Dangerous Women has been talking about what an English major should read…and that got me thinking about what aspiring writers ought to read. Not the how-to books, but just good fiction. So here, in no particular order, is a list of books that made a difference to my own education as a writer… (Writing Fiction)

Rickey Henderson re-signs with Newark Bears
Rickey Henderson is back in baseball. The 45-year-old outfielder re-signed Sunday with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League, where he played last season before returning to the majors. Henderson has the most runs (2,295), stolen bases (1,406) and walks (2,190) in major league history. The likely Hall of Famer excelled during 56 games with Newark last year, then joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in July…. (ESPN.com - MLB)

Popcorn coated with Peanut Butter and Chocolate
I was at a loss as to what to bring to the last PhillyKnitters Stitch & Bitch. I hadn’t made a trip to the grocery and my refrigerator was housing batteries, candles, film and mustard. I was panicked and was in no mood to fight the Saturday shopping crowds…. (StellaBites)

African Democracy
Almost unnoticed by the Western press, Africans have continued to fight for democracy…. (WorldChanging)

Talk Radio Hosts Attack Cyclists
In the news this week are more reports of Radio DJ’s dissing Bicyclists… ‘Talk radio hosts are targeting bicyclists again. Stations in three cities in the last two weeks have made disparaging, incorrect, and at times dangerous remarks about bicyclists….’ (The Cycling Dude)

The locusts sang such a sweet melody
Brood X is about to invade the nation’s capital. Brood X is not, alas, something dreamed up by Grant Morrison (or a cheap Alien knockoff by Chris Claremont). Brood X is the largest population of periodical cicadas to hit the eastern seaboard; the cicadas are entirely harmless and vulnerable to predators, so they’ve developed a unique strategy for ensuring that they survive to make the next generation of baby periodical cicadas. They spend the vast majority of their lives underground, and when they surface en masse they do so in such quantity, often in densities of over a million per acre, that predators simply get overwhelmed….(Snarkout)