ON A SPARROW'S WING An odd mystery has struck Europe as select cities have seen precipitous drops in their sparrow populations. Sparrows are to European cities as Wal-Marts are to American small towns, and their disappearance seems inexplicable.

GASTRONOMY I'll let mybluehouse.com provide the introduction to Cornell University's exhibit "Not by Bread Alone: America's Culinary Heritage."

BABY REINDEER RUIN EVERYTHING How one girl lost faith in Santa Claus' ability to deliver the goods.

ON TRUTH, ON CANDOR, ON TORTURE Today's lead Post editorial says it as clearly as it can -- and should -- be said: "But there are certain things democracies don't do, even under duress, and torture is high on the list." This in response to a lengthy investigative piece by the Post's Dana Priest and Barton Gellman on the techniques and tactics used by our government to interrogate al Qaeda and other prisoners. The Post editorial notes that the techniques are similar to those used by Israel and criticized by the U.S. State Department as "abuse" and "torture." And at least Israel is open and candid with their public about what they do; the U.S. government denies that it is torturing anyone.

PAVEMENT REDUX Just released is a remastered anniversary collection from those seminal slackers and transformers of America's music scene, Pavement. It's not an exaggeration to call "Slanted & Enchanted" the "White Album" of the 1990s, or to call Pavement one of the most influential bands of the last decade. Buried within their sloppy, slapdash approach to music-making was a passion, one that probably made this dual-coast band pretty damn uncomfortable with themselves at their best moments. This 2-CD set combines "Slanted & Enchanted" with the splendid "Watery, Domestic," two Peel recording sessions, some outtakes and a live concert. All told 48 tracks (23 previously unreleased) that should remind old Pavement fans how startling their early music was. If you've never heard Pavement, this is an excellent primer, especially if you can close your eyes and imagine just how clean and polished alt.rock was becoming in 1992 (ala Buffalo Tom, the Lemonheads, et al). Pavement trumps Nirvana, and always did.

IRANIAN FERMENT Newsweek International provides another glimpse into a changing Iran, where the world's only theocratic government is finding that religious fervor is down and interest in the outside world is rising. The struggle to balance religious faith and secular activities will be an increasingly difficult one for Iran, and potentially might create an earnest push for a change in government.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS The trend might not continue with the new Congress, but two years into the Bush administration we find that compassionate conservatism has not played well in the legislative corridors. Most of Bush's initiatives have been stalled or nibbled away at during the legislative process, resulting in a rhetorical win and practical failure for the White House. Harvard's Robert Putnam, who consults the Bush team, puts it well: "The compassionates win a lot of rhetorical battles, but when you look where the budget is, it hardly shows a hint of the compassionate."

JOE STRUMMER DIES Never mind the bollocks, one of the first influential politically aware punk rockers is dead. The Clash's Joe Strummer died at the age of 50 of a heart attack, which probably doesn't rank up there with violence in Burundi in terms of world importance, but Strummer's political imagination and indignation set an important tone for a checked out generation in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

GETTIN' IT TOGETHER WITH KATE Kate grapples with the theory of perpetual crisis and Ranier Maria Rilke, and perhaps discovers that her voice is more suited for struggle than for rock-and-roll success stories. Because, really, who wants to read about how hard it was for Sigur Ros growing up in Iceland?

THE TOLKIEN CRITIQUE I stumbled across this critique of "The Lord of the Rings" at Boing Boing and read it largely because it was written by author Michael Moorcock, whose own take at darkly heroic fantasy writing has a flavor all its own. Moorcock sees Tolkien's work as conservative and backward-looking (which it is), and too forgiving of (or too inspired by) the "common man" as embodied by those merry hobbits. A complex, dense work of writing, LOTR doesn't delve deep into human nature, he argues -- but, then, what do you expect from a rabid consumer of Nordic culture and medieval literature? Moorcock says: "The Lord of the Rings is much more deep-rooted in its infantilism than a good many of the more obviously juvenile books it influenced. It is Winnie-the-Pooh posing as an epic. If the Shire is a suburban garden, Sauron and his henchmen are that old bourgeois bugaboo, the Mob -- mindless football supporters throwing their beer-bottles over the fence the worst aspects of modern urban society represented as the whole by a fearful, backward-yearning class for whom "good taste" is synonymous with "restraint" (pastel colours, murmured protest) and "civilized" behaviour means "conventional behaviour in all circumstances". This is not to deny that courageous characters are found in The Lord of the Rings, or a willingness to fight Evil (never really defined), but somehow those courageous characters take on the aspect of retired colonels at last driven to write a letter to The Times and we are not sure -- because Tolkien cannot really bring himself to get close to his proles and their satanic leaders -- if Sauron and Co. are quite as evil as we're told. After all, anyone who hates hobbits can't be all bad."

THE ALMOST TOO-LONG TOWERS Round Two of The Lord of the Rings trilogy sees lots of momentum and little forward movement, which is fitting for a story whose literary purpose was to demonstrate rising peril and clustering alliances, and the continued shattering and reforging of the original fellowship. Amazingly digitized and filmed battle royales, tight shots of poignant heroes gazing mournfully at one another or approaching enemy forces, and a schizoid Gollum hold it all together, creating a sense of promise for what December of 2003 will bring with The Return of the King.