February 2011
25 posts
January 2011
44 posts
“The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or...”
– the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report on the financial crisis confirming what we already knew
“From the Louisian Purchase, the Erie Canal, and the transcontinental railroad to...”
– from Same Facts (h/t Joel Johnson)
Watching the Show Undercover Boss →
I saw Undercover Boss for the first time the other day and did a post about it for work.
“Copy Editor: “They’re getting rid of color-coded security alerts. They’re...”
– from Overheard in the Newsroom. (h/t Felicia Messimer) And here’s a post I did about the actual Department of Homeland Security decision to phase them out.
“We have a long and proud tradition of nationally respected, honorable...”
– Sandy Maisel, a professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, contrasting the traditional, stately image of Maine politicians with the style of new Governor Paul Lepage, who has been making a lot of headlines for being controversial
“The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I felt that...”
– from JFK’s college essay to get into Harvard. Sounds like quite the intellectual, go-getter … and by that I mean it reads like he wrote this while drunk and naked on a sailboat. The Atlantic had a few modern-day college admissions-type folks break down Jack’s effort.
“Effectively, the Kremlin is fighting a low-intensity war in south Russia. But if...”
– from this Newsweek piece about today’s tragic terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport in Moscow
Watch“Mika … I know you think [Sarah Palin] has nothing to offer the national dialogue and that her speeches are just coded talking points mixed in with words picked up at random from a thesaurus. I know you think Sarah Palin is, at best, a self-promoting ignoramus and, at worst, a shameless media troll who will abuse any platform to deliver dog-whistle encouragement to a far-right base...
All Dogs Go to Heaven?
via Carnies and Champagne
WatchThe granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway’s editor is currently funding the $2 million restoration of Finca Vigia, Papa’s Hemingway’s Cuban home from 1939-1960 and now a museum. I must visit this place. Text story here.
Watch“Sometimes I catch, turn and throw; sometimes I play stick … I was on 1-2-5 and St. Nick” – a lyric that Willie Mays (probably) never rapped
(He was a Harlem/St. Nicholas Ave. legend though and will be joining the San Francisco Giants this weekend when they bring their World Series trophy uptown to honor the original New York Giants and their home, the Polo Grounds. That’s...
Grading Obama's Foreign Policy So Far
Foreign Policy magazine is handing out grades to the prez on a variety of international affairs. Overall, they give him a B, which is not altogether surprising since they gave him a B for almost every category.
Here is the full report card.
Afghanistan/Pakistan: D Iran: B Israel/Palestine: B Iraq: B China: B Other BRICs: B North Korea: C Mexico: B- Europe: A- Japan: A- Domestic Issues w/ Intl...
Publish or Perish →
Fantastic career path I have chosen.
The 20 Best Nicknames in the Big Mafia Bust
By now, you have probably heard that the FBI locked up about 130 mobsters in a multi-state sting in the Northeast. They reportedly nabbed a few senior bosses and some 30 made member of New York’s “five families,” and families in New Jersey and New England.
In response, The Village Voice offers this list of the 20 best mob nicknames among those now in cuffs. Good list, but how...
“At the current rate, it could be 2017 before the country replaces the more than...”
– from the New York Times piece “The White House Looks for Work”
David Simon Respectfully Disagrees With Baltimore...
Most people who know me know my favorite creative work ever is The Wire. The depth, narrative scope and poignancy of David Simon’s five-season story arc depicting metropolitan — and really, societal — decay are just stunning. I’ve never read, heard or seen any more compelling tale.
So when Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III criticized the show’s depiction...
“Two and a half years ago, Alan Taylor started The Big Picture at the Boston...”
– Kottke’s take on a huge coup by my favorite magazine.
“A police report would explain that Mrs. Daniels had been killed when a truck...”
– from David Sedaris’ “The Monster Mash” (which I read in Holidays On Ice but I believe also appears in When You Are Engulfed in Flames)
“I disagree with many of the president’s policies, but I believe he is a patriot...”
– John McCain (via soupsoup)
“Two-spacers are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of...”
– The worst type of people. From Slate’s article about “Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.”
“We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living crap out...”
– from an unfortunately prescient email written by a community college classmate of Tucson rampage shooter Jared Loughner on June 14, 2010 — just two weeks after first meeting him
“These are tough times for microfinance. Politicians in some developing countries...”
– from an article on NPR’s Planet Money blog
“The excitement is tempered by anxiety about the path ahead. If secession is...”
– from a New York Times editorial about the coming secession of southern Sudan
WatchHere is a video of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) talking on The Daily Rundown on 3/25/10 about her Tucson office being vandalized and the general furor from her political opponents following her health care vote. It’s really hard to watch her speak on this. (video via Kateoplis)
There are two particularly chilling quotes from Giffords, the first bringing up Sarah Palin’s crosshairs...
“Barrett and Robbins are both great reporters. But these days, when a single...”
– from a Gawker post about two legendary Village Voice reporters (one who was fired, one who quit) leaving the publication.
Watch“This picture really underlines the paradox of war; it shows both the violence, the randomness of it and also the humanity of it. It’s all in that moment.” - James Nachtwey, photojournalist (link)
“ “We decided to find out which stores were selling the guns that ended up...”
– Probably worth asking some questions after that request. From this NPR report on how U.S. guns end up in Mexico.
“ “No philosopher has ever influenced the attitudes of even the street he...”
– Poet, editor and genius extraordinaire Charles Simic for The New York Review of Books
“It’s easy to understand why Franzen’s literary characters are so...”
– Chuck Klosterman in his GQ profile of Jonathan Franzen