Noted Here and There ...

Two updates from Monday's Mailbag: First, NPR's"Morning Edition" finally got around to running Juan Williams's interview with the University of Wisconsin's Tim Tyson about his book, Blood Done Sign My Name, yesterday. You can hear it here. Thanks to Jonathan Dresner for the tip.

Second, I mentioned Earliest Voices' net offerings of audio recordings of speeches by Bryan, Debs, Edison, Gompers, McKinley, Taft, and Booker T. Washington. Greg at A Journey Through Time recommends American Rhetoric's recordings of the top 100 speeches of 20th Century America. It includes many other interesting figures: Carrie Chapman Catt, Russell Conwell, Clarence Darrow, Emma Goldman, Huey Long, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, and many more.

That reminds me: I've told you that I do one fine imitation of Eleanor Roosevelt doing her Blue Bonnet Margarine commercial, haven't I? Yes, I have. But I do it only on very special occasions and with the aid of a stiff drink. American Rhetoric's recording of General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Address to Congress reminds me that I watched him give that address on television. The tv camera was positioned high in the House of Representatives chamber and, when it zoomed down on his entrance up the aisle, you could see that his male pattern baldness was covered by a swath of hair grown long on the side and swept across his barren pate. It confirmed my impression of MacArthur's vanity.

Katie Hafner's"Digital Memories Can Fade" in the New York Times set off an important discussion between Jonathan Dresner and Manan Ahmed. Thanks to Sharon Howard for the tip.

As Scott McLemee said,"every doofus and his dim brother Slim" has a blog. Even Martin van Buren has a blog.

Thanks to Jonathan Reynolds, I've seen pictures of his handsome newborn son, William Glenn Uti Reynolds. We'll let the proud papa post pictures if he wishes, but from the looks of him I'd say that both Martin van Martin and Uncle Glenn Reynolds had best be prepared to hand over the reins of power.