Raven mavens may want to read Jonathan Yardley's review titled, The Sage of Baltimore in this month's Atlantic Monthly, which critiques a biography of H.L. Mencken. Yardley hits all the right notes in explaining how Mencken used a typewriter to catapault himself into the forefront of the American cultural dialogue.

By the time he was in his early forties, he had become what Walter Lippmann called "the most powerful personal influence on this whole generation of educated people."

Reading that prose is one of the great joys that literacy bestows on the sentient.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from his Sentientiae:

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a good many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.

Living with a dog is messy—like living with an idealist.

What makes philosophy so tedious is not the profundity of philosophers, but their lack of art; they are like physicians who sought to cure a slight case of hyperacidity by prescribing a carload of burned oyster-shells.

Self-respect: The secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.

In the duel of sex woman fights from a dreadnaught and man from an open raft.

Husband: A No. 16 neck in a No. 15 1/2 collar.

Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

Over at MeFi I saw this item about "PTSlaveryD" and thought, no, that can't possibly be right. These people couldn't be arguing that all African-Americans suffer from PTSD. That wouldn't agree with reality, it wouldn't make sense, it would be a totally insane thing to believe.

Sekou Mims, Omar Reid, and Larry Higginbottom...are writing a book about what they call "post-traumatic slavery disorder." In their working paper, Reid, Mims, and Higginbottom lay out a case for links between slavery and behavior in the black community today. They point out that slaves were punished if they knew how to read, and draw a comparison to the stigma attached to education today. "If you go to any elementary or middle school today and talk to black kids, they say, 'I failed all my classes, it's cool,'" Reid said.

• When a race is disparaged and disenfranchised for centuries and then abuptly given freedom, a ravaged racial self-image makes Victimology and Separatism natural developments.
  
• Victimology makes mediocre scholarly achievement seem inevitable.
  
• Separatism, casting scholarly achievement as "what white people do," sanctions mediocre scholarly achievement.
  
• It is a short step from inevitable and sanctioned to "authentic" and "cool."
  

McWhorter's argument is that from the 1860s through the 1950s, although segregation hindered black scholarship, learning for the sake of learning was not perceived by the black community as a racial line of demarcation. This, he says, was a product of '60s radicalism and identity politics.

6:01:34 PM       

That's right, the good ol' Islamic "fatwa," or general-purpose death sentence, is in danger of losing its cachet of exclusivity according to this story on the aftermath of the Nigerian beauty pageant riots.

"What we are saying is that the Holy Koran has clearly stated that whoever insults the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, should be killed," Zamfara State Commissioner for Information Umar Dangaladima Magaji told Reuters.

"The Muslims thought it was immoral to bring 92 women to Nigeria to ask them to revel in vanity. What would Mohammed think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from one of them."

Well, I ask myself, what else didn't I know about Islamic law? A lot, it turns out. The Washington Post has this in-depth report on the dual court system in Nigeria, and it's a fun read inasmuch as it makes you feel really good about not being in Nigeria. Turns out they have two courts—Islamic and Western-style. If you're in custody over there, you can request either one. Go Western, and you might sit around in a holding jail for 10 years or so before your case comes up. Go Islamic, it's like the Express Checkout at the market.

Did you know that under sharia if you're a thief and it's your second offense you lose a foot? Unmarried sex? A hundred lashes. It's all here. And a judge in the story is quoted explaining why it was compassionate to cut off the hand of a thief named Aliyu:

Because of the amputation, he says, Aliyu, upon death, can go to paradise—but not with the hand. "The hand will go to hell," he says.

How Is This Punishment?

I know, you've had enough beauty pageant stuff for one day, but over in Lithuania, they've just held the Miss Captivity Pageant—a beauty contest held at the Panevezys Women's Prison.

Not only did they go the whole nine yards with this deal, they put it on TV and got a "runaway hit," claiming a 66% ratings share and avoiding riots and carnage. Most of the women featured were convicted of crimes of passion, which is still the nice way to say "murder." So the producers sell the prison authorities on the deal...

There followed a crash course: a two-week drill on walking in high heels; reviews by a professional makeup consultant; sessions with a psychologist; fittings with a fashion designer; rehearsals with one of Lithuania's most popular singers.

Last Minute Shopping

Actually, there's plenty of time, yet. But the good stuff goes fast so it pays to shop early. Need ideas? There's a great rundown of unusual gift ideas over at the International Herald-Trib today.

My favorite has to be this cool Edward Scissorhands figure, with "Snip-O-Matic" action. They've also got a Sigmund Freud action figure just in case your Hulk Hogan doll has issues.

Celebrate the great achievements of the man responsible for modern psychotherapy with this Sigmund Freud Action Figure. Each 5" tall figure captures Freud in a pensive pose, holding a distinctly phallic cigar. Prop him on your desk or nightstand to inspire you to explore the depths of your unconscious and embrace the symbolism of your dreams.

That's Nice, But...

Here's a couple from the Department of Lost Focus. First up is this AP story out of San Francisco, concerning breakthroughs in biotechnology that may finally succeed in bringing us the long sought-after blue rose. "It would be a beautiful thing to see," says James Armstrong, a local flower-show bigwig. Yeah, but maybe we do the cancer thing first, and then screw around with rose pigmentation. Use spray paint for now, OK?

Then there's this headline: New bill protects insurance industry in terror attacks.

Looks like our legislators have the same confused priorities as the rose parade clowns.

12:28:50 PM