raw talent

At least one of my three teams started the season off with a win, though they made it as nerve-wracking as humanly possible.

Preseason NFL games are meaningless in the standings. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have meaning. Guys get hurt in ’em (the Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, lost for the season). Improbable faces excel and gain unlikely starting roles (J. T. O’Sullivan, 49ers).

With the anticipation of Navin R. Johnson waiting for his phone book, I am awaiting the release of the fall schedule of cooking classes at Whole Foods' Salud demonstration kitchen in Green Hills. In the meantime, there's a handful of classes left on the summer calendar.

[Note: After posting this, I discovered (via Merlin Mann) the video I’ve embedded below. In it, Ira Glass describes the gap between our taste and our ability to execute at that level when we begin working in a new medium.

Why do some people with lots of smarts and talent seem to flame out and never quite make it?

Richard Cohen is afraid the Democrats may enable