From the Atlantic:

The Dark Psychology of Social Networks

Why it feels like everything is going haywire

With the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was not much mention of the Czech Velvet Revolution from around the same time period.  My connection to this involves the music of Frank Zappa.  His music was a sort of catalyst for the revolution.  The band Plastic People of the Universe, named for the Zappa song, became a rallying point that eventually led to the overthrow of the Czech communist regime.

The first Czech president after the revolution, and friend of Frank Zappa, was the playwrite Vaclav Havel.  I recently ran across his essay, The Power of the Powerless.  A bit long but the first half is eye opening and about they way the former Soviet Union controlled people by controlling access to information and enforcing a certain conformity.  I found a copy of the essay available on Amazon for $44 (for the eBook!).  Below is a link to the Time Machine version, badly scanned but still readable.

Václav Havel: The Power of the Powerless

Went out to see Bob Schneider at the Saxon last night.  Plus some good Tex-Mex from Chuys and BBQ from Southside.

A good read about an NFL player who decided to retire — at halftime of game 2.

Vontae Davis retired at halftime of an NFL game. That’s just the beginning of his story.

Fake Fliers by Nathaniel Rusell.

From The Atlantic:

The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course

A company once driven by engineers became driven by finance.

The Music Modernization Act is now law which means some pre-1972 music goes public

Not sure I understand this new copyright law.  Lots of these seem to be just 30 second clips:. Album Recordings

From The Guardian.  Who knew that one of the best tax havens in the world was — South Dakota.

A few more pics from our last day in San Antonio.

On this very cold day we seemed to have the place to ourselves.