I FINISH MY READING at a Southwestern Writers’ Conference. I have spoken about crippling pain from a hiking fall and seeing a dust cloud from the Gobi Desert turn the sun moon-silver over the Black Rock, and how a volcanic out-cropping seen against sunset can become figures from a Javanese shadow play.

The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” changed my outlook on life.TODAY A FRIEND OF MINE sent me a spoof version of the Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.”The parody by Peaches, called “My Dumps,” is pretty funny if your humor skews toward the scatological.The Peaches song seems to be patterned after the Alanis Morisette version of “My Humps,” a slowed down, Tori Amos-style cover that brings the absurdity of the song into even crisper focus.

On January 13, the Costa Concordia was sunk by a killer wave.But the wave wasn’t made of water–it was a friendly, harmless wave from the head waiter of the ship to his family on the nearby island.As a “favor” to the ship’s head waiter, the captain of the Costa Concordia veered slightly off course and towards a rocky coastline that would deal a fatal blow to the ship.

Robert Hirschfield talks to a yak herder in Brooklyn, finding once again how New York is a city where “worlds collapse into one another without touching.”NYIMA DOKDA POURS ME his butter tea. Too salty for me. But it has the taste of mystery. Until now, I’d only tasted butter tea in books about Tibet.

Sweet recipes to cosy up with under the stars.Summer is almost here and what comes immediately to mind is one of life’s most simple pleasures: camping. Sleeping underneath the stars, cooking with an open fire, and of course delicious campfire treats. Here are some delectable delights that will warm your tummy and satisfy that sweet tooth we always get when bonding with the great outdoors.

Just how much is your income worth?A new tool developed by the ILO (International Labour Organization, an agency of the UN) shows how much your salary is worth in proportional dollars (computed in terms of purchasing power), and what percentage of the average national wage you make, for each of 72 countries.