Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2604
August 28, 2010
Mental Health Break
Cold drinks, hot times:
Art Fag City chuckles:
Anyone who has had the distinct privilege of working for a large, soulless, multinational chain is familiar with the hideous crap that is the corporate training video. They can be hours and hours long with such riveting topics like "how to fold jeans the right way" or "how to stock shelves" – it doesn't make for a pleasant viewing experience. Step in Wendy's. Well, Wendy's in what my guess would be the Bell-Biv-DeVoe/Debbie Gibson...
Faking It
by Zoe Pollock
New research suggests wearing knock-off designer goods impacts more than your ego:
Wearing counterfeit glasses not only fails to bolster our ego and
self-image the way we hope, it actually undermines our internal sense of
authenticity. "Faking it" makes us feel like phonies and cheaters on
the inside, and this alienated, counterfeit "self" leads to cheating and
cynicism in the real world.
Counterfeit - Business - Business Services - Fire and Security - Security
...
This Old Thing?
Wired's Lisa Grossman reports that the solar system may be almost two million years older than we believed, based on the "fairly messed up" meteorite which scientists originally used to calculate the date. Co-authors of a new study Audrey Bouvier and Meenakshi Wadhwa found a more pristine meteorite to work with, NWA 2364:
"Most of what shaped the formation history of the solar system, and the planets and asteroids and all that, a lot of that happened within the first 5 to 10...
The Kudzu Cure?
Researchers are looking into an extract from the Kudzu vine to treat cocaine addiction. Originally brought over from Asia to prevent soil erosion, Kudzu has spread across the bible belt and is otherwise known as the "vine that ate the South."
When my family first moved to North Carolina, I remember thinking how beautifully the vines anthropomorphized all phone poles, trees, and abandoned structures, only to discover it was actually doing a good amount of harm to the native...
Porn's Paradox
by Zoe Pollock
Scott Fayner reviews how technology has historically been helped by pornography and its earlier adherents, and how that classic relationship has been upended by free porn on internet "tube sites."
All this back-and-forth between the porn studios and the tube sites is just the latest episode in a relationship between porn and technology that goes back at least to the printing press. And the rise of the tubes is hardly the first time technology has overturned pornography's...
A Poem For Saturday
by Zoe Pollock
Today's poem is a late summer romp by Galway Kinnell called "Everyone Was In Love." An excerpt below, but do click through since the ending is one of the best parts:
One day, when they were little, Maud and Fergus
appeared in the doorway, naked and mirthful,
with a dozen long garter snakes draped over
each of them like brand-new clothes.
Snake tails dangled down their backs,
and snake foreparts in various lengths
fell over their fronts, heads raised
and swaying, alert as...
Hipster Lit
Daniel Roberts profiles New York author Tao Lin and heralds him as the as the next big thing in net-savvy hipster lit. For those unfamiliar with Lin, here's the opening lines from Lin's Shoplifting From American Apparel:
Sam woke around 3:30 p.m. and saw no emails from Sheila. He made asmoothie. He lay on his bed and stared at his computer screen … Aboutan hour later it was dark outside. Sam ate cereal with soymilk. He putthings on eBay then tried to guess the password to...
The View From Your Window Contest
You have until noon on Tuesday to
guess it. Country first, then city and/or state. If no one guesses the
exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to
VFYWcontest@theatlantic.com. Winner gets a free The
View From Your Window book, courtesy of Blurb. Have at it.
Country music - Web Design and Development - View From Your Window - Operating Systems - X11
The Romantic-Conservative
Adam Gopnik's survey of Churchill is a spot-on read, with all the right flourishes of detail. Here he is on Churchill's speeches:
Churchill was a cavalier statesman who could never survive roundhead strictures on ornament and theatrical excess in speaking. That's why he could supply what everyone needed in 1940: a style that would mark emphatic ends (there is no good news), conventional ideas (we are an ancient nation), and old-fashioned emphasis (we will fight). Perhaps the...
The Last Harvest
by Zoe Pollock
Der Spiegel interviewed German author Günter Grass
about his new book on the German history and language behind the Brothers Grimm, Grimms' Words. A Declaration of Love:
SPIEGEL: You describe the two brothers as "word sleuths," who are concerned about every single letter. You also write: "On the one hand, words make sense. On the other hand, they're well suited to creating nonsense. Words can be beneficial or hurtful." How have the various facets of words shaped your own...
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