| Jury-rigged, jerry-built: Maybe a problem?
The word had popped up the week before in The New York Times Magazine article, "The Sleep-Industrial Complex," all about the mattress and pharmaceutical industries. The piece included a reference to a man who was such an enthusiast for Sleep Number Beds that he "jury-rigged something similar for his bulldog." On the subject of exactly how the dog expressed its preference for a particular Sleep Number, the author was silent. Jury-rigging is a term with nautical origins. "Rig" is one of those little words so short that it contains nearly infinite meanings (an early form of nanotechnology). One of its meanings is "the arrangement of masts, sails, etc., on a vessel." In the days of the tall ships, when a vessel on the high seas lost a mast in a storm or a battle, the ship's carpenter would fashion what was known as a jury mast from spare parts down in the hold.
Dallas, I love you, but I've found Austin
With the weather so frightfully cold—at least when it's not oddly warm—now might be time to inject a bit of summer cheer into the dreary season. Summer is also a peak time for CD new releases, and here are a few that somehow got lost beneath the pile. Out of the ashes of the Boston cult act The Stairs comes Hallelujah the Hills, a fluctuating line-up featuring cello, trumpet, melodica and plenty of guitars. The band's debut, Collective Psychosis Begone, slipped under the radar in June but is well worth discovering this holiday season. Dreamy and psychedelic one minute, intricate and intense the next, the dozen tracks actually live up to titles like "Raise the Flag of Your Sibling's Favorite Daydream" and "It's All Been Downhill Since the Talkies Started to Sing." Members play off one another like a new version of the Band, updated of course with the appropriately modern choice of mind-altering substances.
Prep boys basketball preview: McFarland's Walker tries to remain ...
Riley Walker's spirits were at an all-time low when an early morning phone call proved to be the perfect medicine. Walker, a 6-foot-5 senior forward on the McFarland boys basketball team, was reeling from a knee injury he had suffered several hours earlier during the second quarter of the Spartans' Badger South Conference opener against Verona last Friday night. But while Walker was still awake early Saturday morning, talking with his parents about the potential end to his senior season and the impact it would have on his college career, the family's home phone rang. With it came some good news that put his mind at ease. "It was a call about 1 a.m. from (UW-Milwaukee assistant) coach (Brian) Bidlingmyer," said Walker, who signed a national letter of intent on Nov.
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