Friday, October 29, 2010

"Redeeming the Almanac" - Molly McCarthy

Title:  Redeeming the Almanac
Author:  Molly McCarthy
Source:  Common-Place.org
Date: October 2010

"Learning to Appreciate the iPhone of Early America"

read here

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

"Inside Think Geek, Where Mythical Meat can Make Millions" - Mathew Honan

Title:  Inside Think Geek, Where Mythical Meat can Make Millions
Author:  Mathew Honan
Source: Wired
Date: September 27, 2010

"Liotta takes another slug of coffee as he types on his MacBook Pro. 'What happened to my shipment of mini unicorns?' he mutters."

read here

Monday, October 25, 2010

"Life Aboard the International Space Station" - Ian Sample

Title:  Life Aboard the International Space Station
Author:  Ian Sample
Source:  The Guardian
Date: October 24, 2010

"It's 10 years since the first crew entered the International Space Station 220 miles above the Earth. But what is it like aboard a big tin can travelling at 17,500mph?"

read here

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"The Chameleon" - David Grann

Title:  The Chameleon
Author:  David Grann
Source:  The New Yorker
Date: August 11, 2008

The story of serial French child imposter.

read here

"TV Review - NBC's 'Outsourced'" - Daniel Fienberg

Title:  TV Review - NBC's "Outsourced"
Author:  Daniel Fienberg
Source:  HitFix.com
Date: September 23, 2010

A well-worded review about why this show is so completely terrible.

read here

Monday, October 18, 2010

"This Side of Ultima Thule" - Jeffrey Tayler

Title:  This Side of Ultima Thule
Author:  Jeffrey Tayler
Source:  The Atlantic
Date:  April 2004

"A dispatch from eastern Siberia, a realm of steel-shattering cold, nullifying vastness, and withered hopes, which is sometimes called “the white hell.”

read here

"My Friends Shame" - Charlie Brooker

Title:  My Friends Shame
Author:  Charlie Brooker
Source:  The Guardian
Date: May 22, 2004

"As Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Joey leave the building, Charlie Brooker reveals how he tried - really tried - to loathe them"

Since Mr. Brooker shall no longer be writing his Screen Burn column, here's a good one from a few years ago.

read here

Friday, October 15, 2010

"The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp" - R. A. Radford

Title:  The Economics Organization of a P.O.W. Camp
Author: R.A. Radford
Source: Economica
Date: 1945

An amazingly detailed description of the economic workings of a WWII P.O.W. camp.

read here

"Why Do People Hate Hipsters?" - Alex Rayner

Title:  Why Do People Hate Hipsters?
Author:  Alex Rayner
Source:  The Guardian
Date: October 14, 2010

a cultural analysis of the very complicated word, "hipster."

read here

Thursday, October 14, 2010

"The Most Widely Read Magazine in the World" - Joel Meares

Title:  The Most Widely Read Magazine in the World
Author:  Joel Meares
Source:  The New York Review of Magazines
Date: May 13, 2010

"...It’s the first Saturday of March and a perfect day for Jehovah’s Witnessing. The sky is clear, the air is crisp and a fresh copy of The Watchtower, stamped March 1, 2010, is ready to be distributed."

Was reminded of this article when a copy of The Watchtower appeared on my kitchen table.

read here

"Azzam the American" - Raffi Khatchadourian

Title:  Azzam the American
Author:  Raffi Khatchadourian
Source:  The New Yorker
Date:  January 22, 2007

In case you were listening to NPR this morning, you may have caught the segment about Adam Gadahn.  If you did, here's more backstory.

read here

"The Eccentric Englishman"- a book review by Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn

Title:  "The Eccentric Englishman"
Author:  Deidre Foley-Mendelssohn
Source:  The New Yorker
Date:  September 15, 2010

Review of a new book which details the pranks of an early 20th century Englishman who tested the rules of the Royal Mail by mailing everything from turnips to crocheted postcards to himself.

read here

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"The Gentle Art of Poverty" - John Brooke

Author:  John Brooke
Title: "The Gentle Art of Poverty"
Source: The Atlantic
Date:  October 1977

Subtitle: How to live in Southern California on $2000 a year

Read Here

"Letting Go" - David Sedaris

Title:  Letting Go
Author:  David Sedaris
Source:  The New Yorker
Date:  May 5, 2008

david sedaris on smoking, not smoking and other smoking related things

read here