January 2011
33 posts
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“Tourists in Cairo,” The New Yorker:
The women did not seem deterred. Their clothes were American casual, with vests, fanny packs, sneakers. They still hoped to visit the pyramids. “I’m not coming all this way and not getting on a camel,” one said.
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“‘I am so sorry that this happened to you in my country,’ he said to...”
– Friday in Cairo: Day of Rage — The Awl
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#28!
One time in undergrad when I was really bored didn’t have any friends I read all the way through Erwin Chemerinsky’s classic con-law hornbook (shockingly enough entitled Constitutional Law) (just for the lols of course; I studied poetry?), and he makes this argument in it that every one of the post-Bill of Rights constitutional amendments (with the exception of prohibition, kind of an...
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tylercoates:
Remember when I went to Chicago and hung out with Liz Phair for four hours? Now you can read about it!
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The Way We Pitch Now
Redacted: so _____'s agent wants me to do a book of personal essays
Redacted: she said, "I think Sloane Crosley needs more swearing."
Langer: L!KHJ@$:JK@H#$L@KJ#%HG:!JK#$HL@#%B@#:@T
Langer: "Oh _____? She's like a more sweary Sloane Crosley."
Redacted: haha, well, not quite, but that would be the pitch
Langer: I'm going to have to start calling you CrankyCrosley.
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A Case Study in Cluster Entrepreneurship →
makery:
The Makery is featured in the February issue of Details.
Choire wrote a nice thing about us.
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:(
Chez Langer (or “Ghostrider” if you’re checking in on Foursquare) (which you should never, ever do) had a recent shake-up: the roomie found true love, which means I just upgraded to a home office (take what you can get I guess?), and I figured this was as good a time as any to get my non-existent kitchen in order, seeing as I’ve been living on take-out since getting back...
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“There are many myths within the political blogosphere, but none is so deeply...”
– Freddie deBoeur, “the blindspot” (see also his follow-up).
This is a conversation we need to be having, if for no other reason than that, by and large, the response to deBoeur has so far has been one of utter confusion regarding the point he’s trying to make, at least as evidenced...
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Lorem Ipsum Dol-- oh SHUT UP.
Hey look, the internet is fighting about typography! Something about double spaces after periods this time? Again? And we all know what happens when the internet fights about typography, right? Typography nerds write these really passionate blog posts in which they all show off their exhaustive knowledge of the printing press and then work in some nitpicky rants about “kerning” or some...
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The Way We Talk About Gun Control Now
Looks a lot like the way we talk about healthcare, tax cuts, and bailouts:
Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official.
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“It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to...”
– NYT
Pretty much my thoughts exactly.
—
Late update: … and The Shrill One jumps on board:
It’s important to be clear here about the nature of our sickness. It’s not a general lack of “civility,” the favorite term of pundits who want to wish away fundamental policy disagreements....
ENOUGH.
In the day that has passed since yesterday’s horrific act of terrorism in Tucson, AZ, the conventional wisdom has taken exactly the shape I would have expected it to: our discourse is too divided; partisan pundits and elected officials have taken their fiery rhetoric off the rails; the vitriol is too great; all sides are guilty; extremists of all ideological persuasions are culpable.
And yet...
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It should go without saying that the darkest and most savage thread in our history is the amount of brainpower and ingenuity we’ve dedicated over the centuries to the creation of weapons with which to better and more efficiently end other human lives.
But perhaps it should give us hope to consider just how much energy and innovation has been dedicated to the cause of saving them: Gabby...
“When you work on the Hill, as in most jobs, you never think you are going to be...”
– lizistwentythree.
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Watch“We have to say what we feel: that government, no matter what its failures in the past—and in times to come, for that matter—that government can be a place where people come together.”
We have to say what we feel.
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printf("hello, world");
makery:
Long overdue, but The Makery is finally blogging!
We’re all excited to share a little more about ourselves and what we’re working on, so keep an eye out here to keep up with the projects of our current Maker’s Dozen as well as any community events we’re planning.
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Def Leppard Tribute Band Seeks Armless Drummer;... →
doree:
I think this is my favorite headline ever.
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“In case the new Congress doesn’t fully understand this, being unemployed...”
– The 99ers May Be the New Tea Party, by Abe Sauer.
Means, extremes.
It’s curious how the topography of New York seems to be so dominated by the busy numbered streets of uptown and the flummoxing switchbacks down south of Houston, and yet after enough time spent underground the destinations that become the most memorable are those least traveled, the names we’re reminded of on every subway ride, the bookends of each route bearing names so familiar and...
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TWW s02e07
“The Portland Trip”:
Sam: Oratory should raise your heart rate. Oratory should blow the doors off the place. We should be talking about not being satisfied with past solutions, we should be talking about a permanent revolution. Toby: Where have I heard that? Sam: I got it from a book… The Little Red Book. Toby: You think we should quote Mao Tse-tung? Sam: We do need a permanent...
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LATE UPDATE:
Ok! I promised y’all ten books but then I got 23 emails and this book is TOO GOOD and I can’t say no so I decided 23 is actually a damn fine number that really ought to be restored to its former pre-LeBron glory (cf. Michael Jordan, or better yet Devin “The Most Electrifying Man In Sports” Hester)—and anyway, 23 it is! But now I really do have to close the lines...
Celebrating Richard Ben Cramer
In my personal literary pantheon there is no more important work than Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: The Way to the White House.
I first read it in 2002 when I was quitting my job to go work a presidential primary campaign, and I’ve read every last one of its 1,047 pages during each presidential election cycle since, meaning I’ve spent the better part of the last decade...
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Top Ten Worst Sponsorship Moments in the Long and...
or: Maybe I’m Just Bitter that I’m So Old I Can Remember When There Were Just Fifteen Bowls and the Orange Bowl Was Still Called the Fucking Orange Bowl and the National Champion Was Decided on New Years Day Instead of Like in March or Whenever the Fuck it is Nowadays and Wait WTF is a TicketCity Bowl Anyway and WTF When Did They Start Playing Football at Yankee Stadium Ugh God Make It...
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