Friday Varia and Quick Hits

It’s been a cold and hectic few days here at the New Archaeology of the Mediterranean World Global Headquarters. But the semester is winding down, there’s a fire in the fireplace, and I might even risk a little Christmas music on the olde tyme stereophone.

While I enjoy some contemporary holiday musings, I’ll put together a modest list of quick hits and varia for your entertainment.

• So we’re looking for a dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Before you rush out to apply, you need to be sure that you ”have unquestioned integrity, exemplary interpersonal and communication skills, a commitment to diversity, common sense, and sound judgment.” This is so dumb. If you don’t have common sense or sound judgement, this sentence will probably not deter you from applying.
• This very odd application (or is it?) packet that arrived at the University of Chicago this week has been making the rounds on the internets.
• What are college sports for?
• For all the hype surrounding Shane Watson, the reality is that he’s mediocre, if stylish, with the bat and ordinary with the ball. Please, Cricket Australia, move on!
• This is the second or third reality TV show that we heard pitched for the Bakken Oil Patch. I just dropped them a line and offer to serve as a consultant.
• The other Blegen in Minnesota (pdf).
• I have to say that I really like Snapspeed on my iPhone 5. And I like even more because it’s free. 
• Another new Frightened Rabbit single.
• The 50 best albums of the year from the NPRs and a list from Stephen Mejias at Stereophile.
• The end of homework.
• Remember that Old Church on Walnut Street that I rambled on about a few months back? Well, this is the new house on Walnut Street. Congratulations to the Grand Forks Community Land Trust.
• The only way I now search the internet involves using this interface with Googles. (Or if I feel more into the 1980s frame of mind, I use this.)
• A couple of nice posts on writer’s houses: first on E.B. White and then on writer’s cabins in general.
• What I’m reading: J. Thomas, Archaeology and Modernity. (Routledge 2004).
• What I’m listening to: Swans, The Seer; Frank Turner, Love, Ire, and Song; Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights.