May 2012
22 posts
The Taste Makers →
Raffi Khatchadourian:
Once you begin to consider the natural world at a molecular level, the boundaries that separate one fruit from another begin to seem like artifice. Givaudan’s many scientists often refer to food as “the application,” as if it were composed of malleable lines of computer code; from this perspective, adding a flavor is as simple as updating software. A...
A Short History of Blood Chits: Greetings From the... →
C.J. Chivers:
In the simplest sense, a blood chit is a prepared message, written in local languages, that a lost service member can present to most anyone who might help. It offers a rough description of the predicament – “I am not from here and would like to get back to where I belong” – along with both a request for aid and the promise of a reward for assistance. The chits are carried by many...
Traffic →
Jeanne Marie Laskas:
LaGuardia Airport is tiny compared to its sleek modern counterparts, like Atlanta or Denver with their endless parallel runways spread over thousands of acres. LaGuardia is jammed into just 680 urban acres; taxiways are tight; runways intersect; you can’t launch a departure until the arrival on the other runway crosses the threshold or else the airplanes will…collide....
Mad Men: Mothers and Daughters →
Molly Lambert:
In the executive dining room of the Time Life Building, Don and Megan grift Heinz. Noted science-fiction writer Ken Cosgrove fluffs the clients between drinks and passes to Don for an alley-oop while he paints the scene. Megan masterfully tops from the bottom, paving a way into Don’s beans speech and then demurely beaming at him by his side. Suddenly the Don Draper show is a...
Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel →
Natalie Wolchover:
The tricky thing about the wheel is not conceiving of a cylinder rolling on its edge. It’s figuring out how to connect a stable, stationary platform to that cylinder.
“The stroke of brilliance was the wheel-and-axle concept,” said David Anthony, a professor of anthropology at Hartwick College and author of “The Horse, the Wheel, and Language”...
On the Far Slope of the Uncanny Valley →
Nitsuh Abebe:
I have spent most of my life with the distinct sense that our minds and experiences are mysterious, ridiculously complex, and vastly different from one another’s, to a degree that makes everyday communication almost miraculous. There are times when this feeling is terrifying, and times when it’s reassuring, magical, or inspiring. I suppose I’ll have to take it up...
How the Daily Mail Conquered England →
Lauren Collins:
The Mail has an oral quality, prompting the exclamations of wonder or disgust that attend what the media critic Roy Greenslade has called “Hey, Doris!” stories. Its quirks include a love of aviation, and the annoying habit of inserting real-estate prices into stories that have nothing to do with them, such as the death in a ski-resort accident of a boy whose parents “live in a £1...
I Buy You White Gold
Lesley Gore | Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows
Vetiver | Right Away
Harper Simon | Wishes and Stars
The Hollows | Josephine
First Aid Kit | Emmylou
The Girls | Here I Am in Love Again
The Mountain Goats | Southwood Plantation Road
Perfume Genius | Hood
Janelle Monáe featuring Deep Cotton | 57821
Simon & Garfunkel | Kathy’s Song
Bobby Womack | Fly Me to the Moon
Emahoy...
April 2012
54 posts
When someone asks me for advice about life after...
whatshouldwecallme:
When I start getting ready to go out
whatshouldwecallme:
Mad Men Power Rankings: Episode 505, 'Signal 30' →
Mark Lisanti:
“I’ve got it, Don,” he says, weakly, holding a fistful of loose Allen wrenches for some reason. “I fixed it last night.”
“Pete,” Don says. “I’ve got this. I grew up with this.”
“But—”
“Shhh.” Now Don peels off his undershirt, sopping wet from the gushing water. “Hold this, too, would...
“DRM is a religion for old-growth media executives. Rational thought could lead...”
– John Gruber
Second-Act Twist →
Tad Friend:
“Your dad has a Nemo flag on his boat, but he’d never talk to you about it,” Julie said.
Stanton frowned and sighed. He’s grown close to his father in recent years, and even sports a similar beard. “To give my parents credit,” he said, “they did instill my love of movies. They took me to everything from ‘Jaws’ to ‘The Tin Drum,’ and it had a huge effect. I’m always trying to get an...
The Villain →
Roger Lowenstein:
The critique from the right is that the continued steps to stimulate the economy are both unnecessary, given that the financial crisis has passed, and inflationary. Allan Meltzer, an economist and historian of the Fed, says Bernanke is trying to do what is beyond his powers. “The current high unemployment is not a monetary problem,” Meltzer says, meaning we are past the point...
Traveling Sicily – Thoughts & Tips →
N.F. Simpson:
Only rent a car, if you are a confident driver or quickly become one. Otherwise you might get a heart-attack on buzzing city roads, other drivers fooling you by either not using turn indicators or using them unexpectedly, cutting in and out not based on what’s allowed, but on what works. In other countries, two solid lines means no overtaking in either direction, here its a...
The Body Counter →
Tina Rosenberg:
In 2007, the Save Darfur Coalition, a human rights advocacy organization, was called out by the London-based European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, a group aligned with the government of Sudan. Save Darfur had been running full-page ads stating that 400,000 people had been killed in Darfur. The council brought a complaint to Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority...
“The mere process of conquering the extreme environment of space teaches us so...”
– Space Exploration: When there are so many problems here on earth, should so much money be spent on manned space exploration? - Quora
berberich:
This has to become a regular thing.
...
Mad Men Power Rankings: Episode 503, "Tea Leaves"-... →
Mark Lisanti:
“Look. ‘Keef.’ I came here with a proposition. A business proposition. You think you’re above it. But you’re not. Art, like everything, has a price. Rock ‘n’ roll and a can of baked beans, at the end of the day, are both products. Products you and I are selling. If you’re not interested in using your product to help sell my product,...
