'We Like Lists Because We Don't Want to Die'

SPIEGEL Interview with Umberto Eco, Italian novelist and semiotician, who is curating a new exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. Eco talks to SPIEGEL about the place that lists hold in the history of culture, the ways we try to avoid thinking about death and why Google is dangerous for young people.

Eco: Homer's work hits again and again on the topos of the inexpressible. People will always do that. We have always been fascinated by infinite space, by the endless stars and by galaxies upon galaxies. How does a person feel when looking at the sky? He thinks that he doesn't have enough tongues to describe what he sees. Nevertheless, people have never stopping describing the sky, simply listing what they see. Lovers are in the same position. They experience a deficiency of language, a lack of words to express their feelings. But do lovers ever stop trying to do so? They create lists: Your eyes are so beautiful, and so is your mouth, and your collarbone … One could go into great detail.

SPIEGEL: Why do we waste so much time trying to complete things that can't be realistically completed?

Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No

In 1970, Pittsburgh Pirates Pitcher Dock Ellis pitched a legendary no-hitter against the San Diego Padres under the influence of LSD.  This animated short tells the story in the best way possible...

Ellis, now co-ordinator of an anti drug program in Los Angeles, said he didn't know until six hours before his June 12, 1970 no hitter that he was going to pitch.

"I was in Los Angeles, and the team was playing in San Diego , but I didn't know it. I had taken LSD..... I thought it was an off-day, that's how come I had it in me. I took the LSD at noon.

At 1pm, his girlfriend and trip partner looked at the paper and said, "Dock, you're pitching today!"

It was the highpoint in the baseball career of one of the finer pitchers of his time, and arguably,one of the greatest achievements in the history of sports.

See it here...

Nomenclature for Lego Families

“Can you see any clippy bits?” my son asked his friend. The friend was flummoxed. “Do you mean handy bits?” he asked, pointing.

“Yes,” replied my boy. “Clippy bits.”

Of course! This language of Lego isn’t just something our family has invented; every Lego-building family must have its own vocabulary. And the words they use (mostly invented by the children, not the adults) are likely to be different every time. But how different? And what sort of words?

Hence, a survey. I asked fellow parents to donate their children for a few minutes, and name a selection of Lego pieces culled from the Lego parts store. Read more...

Sesame Street Trashes Pox News

PBS Ombudsman Responds to 'Pox News' Parody on Sesame Street

At the end of the segment on Grouchy News Network, one of Oscar's viewers calls to tell him she's changing the channel, "From now on I am watching 'Pox' News. Now there is a trashy news show."

Michael Getler, the PBS ombudsman, writes that it was a parody too good to resist that should have been resisted.

Read more here...