Varia

On dreams: By Amy, who writes like one.

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Random Penseur waxes nostalgic for a pack of smokes.

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The motto of the tiny Algonquin in the exquisite children's book David's Little Indian by Margaret Wise Brown: Carpe Diem!

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New links added at left, in no particular order: The American Scene, which counts among its contributors Ross Douthat, author of a new Harvard memoir * Publius Pundit, blogging the democratic revolution * NYPL Digital Gallery * Mid-Manhattan Library * BPL Online Prints * Boston Sports Temples * Cliopatria, historians' blog collective * Butterflies & Wheels, fighting fashionable nonsense * A gallery of cigar-store figures, evoking allegories of America as Indian princess.

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The latest Red Ensign Standard remembers four Mounties fallen in the line of duty.

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Not in Their Name: Fish in a barrel, but very funny.

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On journalism as first draft of history:

[A] historian searching for clues about the origins of many of the great stories of recent decades--the collapse of the Soviet empire; the rise of Osama bin Laden; the declining American crime rate; the economic eclipse of Japan and Germany--would find most contemporary journalism useless. Perhaps a story here or there might, in retrospect, seem illuminating. But chances are it would have been nearly invisible at the time of publication: eight column inches, page A12.

The problem is not that journalists can't get their facts straight: They can and usually do. Nor is it that the facts are obscure: Often, the most essential facts are also the most obvious ones. The problem is that journalists have a difficult time distinguishing significant facts--facts with consequences--from insignificant ones. That, in turn, comes from not thinking very hard about just which stories are most worth telling.

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Dispatch from Dubai: Will the Mideast Bloom?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Listen to the conversations in the cafes on the edge of the creek that runs through this Persian Gulf city, and it is hard to believe that the George W. Bush being praised by Arab diners is the same George W. Bush who has been widely excoriated in these parts ever since he took office.

Yet the balmy breeze blowing along the creek carries murmurs of approval for the devoutly Christian U.S. president, whose persistent calls for democracy in the Middle East are looking less like preaching and more like timely encouragement…

"His talk about democracy is good," an Egyptian-born woman was telling companions at the Fatafeet (or "Crumbs") restaurant the other night, exuberant enough for her voice to carry to neighboring tables. "He keeps hitting this nail. That's good, by God, isn't it?" At another table, a Lebanese man was waxing enthusiastic over Bush's blunt and irreverent manner toward Arab autocrats. "It is good to light a fire under their feet," he said.