February 2012
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A Tappan Zee Greenway - NYTimes.com →
There are plans to convert the existing Tappan Zee bridge into a ‘High Line’ like pedestrian attraction, when a replacement bridge is erected:
- NY Times Editorial Board
There are a lot of unanswered questions, but if the idea can be made to work, a Tappan Zee walkway could be a splendid public attraction. The bridge would not be an easy stroll since its pitch can be a little...
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“There is a saying that inside every fat man is a thin man dying to get out. We...”
– Michael Mandelbaum, the foreign policy expert at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
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“The crisis in Europe is more the consequence of an unbalanced Constitution than...”
– Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Europe’s Austerity Mirage
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The Snow Man - Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think Of any misery in the sound of the wind, In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is...
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“Elites come up with phony ideologies and phony ideas to rob you of your freedom.”
– Rick Santorum, Limping Into Tuesday (The Note) - ABC News
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“We [are] shaped as writers, I believe, not much by who our favorite writers are...”
– - William Gibson, Distrust That Particular Flavor
(via Maria Popova)
Micro-culture is a great term, since we have a society of cognitive centers and a networked identity inside our minds.
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Independence for Scotland? - Neal Ascherson via... →
Recent successes of the Scottish National Party — they control the Scottish Parliament — have led to the possibility of a referendum on Scottish independence from Britain:
Neal Ascherson via NYTimes.com
BUT is independence what the Scottish people — as opposed to the S.N.P. — really want? In spite of the recent political fireworks, Scotland is a deeply conservative country (with a...
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“The next time you hear people invoking the European example to demand that we...”
– Paul Krugman, What Ails Europe? via NYTimes.com
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“Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people...”
– - Walt Disney
(via iheartloons)
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Margaret Atwood, from "Girl Without Hands"
Walking through the ruins on your way to work that do not look like ruins with the sunlight pouring over the seen world like hail or melted silver, that bright and magnificent, each leaf and stone quickened and specific in it, and you can’t hold it, you can’t hold any of it. Distance surrounds you, marked out by the ends of your arms when they are stretched to their fullest. You can walk no...
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WatchLiquid Plumr goes low for a double double entendre: The new Double Impact product set a woman to thinking about double penetration by the deli and produce guys in her supermarket.
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Children’s dictionary dumps ‘nature’ words «... →
via Next Nature
To make way for modern tech terms such as BlackBerry, blog, voicemail and broadband, the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has opted to drop terms pertaining to old nature. No longer can a child check this dictionary and learn more about the blackberry, dandelion, acorn, heron, otter, magpie, sycamore, or willow.
According to Vineeta Gupta, who heads...
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Slow Capitalism
Yesterday, I read Al Gore’s Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalism (pdf), and made a few comments. After reflecting a day, I have a more sweeping response: Gore’s focus — and that of his co-author, David Blood — is far too focused on the corporate boardroom, the compensation of CEOs, and the way that the stock market functions. Those points of emphasis are perhaps reasonable...
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“If troubled countries find that they cannot comply with the loan conditions —...”
– - Peter Eavis, For Greece, a Bailout; for Europe, Perhaps Just an Illusion - NYTimes.com
So, after the euphoria of a ‘deal’ for Greece, after the champagne bottles are empty, analysts return to the fundamentals: Europe cannot muscle its way out of the debt crisis by austerity, there...
WatchFrench photographer Lise Sarfati talks to Sean O’Hagan about her latest exhibition, She, featuring images taken between 2005 and 2009 of four American women – two sisters, their mother and her sister. The photographs work with each other, she says, to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts (via Photographer Lise Sarfati: ‘I choose people for their energy and aura’...
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“@stoweboyd: We should make open democracy and social justice a mobile app, so...”
– February 21, 2012 at 04:46AM — http://bit.ly/zZBI3I
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“@stoweboyd: The most palpable legacy of the WikiLeaks campaign for transparency...”
– February 20, 2012 at 05:39AM — http://bit.ly/zLo0uC
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“Look, I understand why influential people are reluctant to admit that policy...”
– Paul Krugman, Pain Without Gain - NYTimes.com
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Building 'slow democracy' based on transparency... →
The failure of public discourse and policy definition in our modern world was brought into sharp relief by the east Japanese earthquake and nuclear disaster. Genichiro Takahashi reports on Hitoshi Maruyama’s suggestions for ‘slow democracy’ — in which all parties are brought into important discussions, and ‘fast democracy’, controlled by full-time politicians,...
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“The natural state of the football fan is bitter disappointment, no matter what...”
– Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch
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“Wherever the word ‘marriage’ appears in any federal statute, replace that word...”
– - Richard Thaler, Gay Marriage Debate Is About Money, Too - NYTimes.com
A wonderful piece that starts with this:
HERE’S a two-question quiz:
• If Pat and Chris want to form a business partnership in your home state, should their sexes play any role in determining whether that partnership...
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“In the end, a person requires a method. He must be able to distinguish between...”
– Hanif Kureishi, The Art of Distraction via NYTimes.com
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“@stoweboyd: China reaches Lewis Turning Point? http://t.co/167H4oYS rural...”
– February 19, 2012 at 05:21AM — http://bit.ly/zWff8C
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“@stoweboyd: 44% getting Social Security 43% receiving unemployment & 40% on...”
– February 19, 2012 at 05:10AM — http://bit.ly/yzkZeX
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“@stoweboyd: Marriage has become a luxury good - Frank Furstenberg...”
– February 19, 2012 at 05:00AM — http://bit.ly/xiNqEO
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“@stoweboyd: more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside...”
– February 19, 2012 at 04:59AM — http://bit.ly/wcWMjY
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“@Slate: Nevada becomes the first state to regulate self-driving cars:...”
– February 18, 2012 at 10:23PM — http://bit.ly/w5EzVD
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“Microsoft’s biggest miss was allowing the world to finally see the truth behind...”
– - Patrick Rhone, Microsoft’s Biggest Miss
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“The Republicans are positioning themselves to be the leading party in a new...”
– Robert Slayton
(via azspot)
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Four Poems, Claire Donato
In the Wake of Freezing You to Death
Last summer was cold.
Worse: It did not stop.
Finally, another thought
Arrives in the shape
Of a thought
That plays out in the head.
She thinks, ‘I am in trouble again.’
Leave but never go.
In the Wake of Freezing You to Death
She thinks: ‘I told myself the dead don’t stay for long.’
In the background, the hot blue
Sun, or the shadow of
Its rays, falls.
Her...
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Warning: You Might Be a Terrorist If You Buy Your... →
[…] under new “Suspicious Activity Reporting” guidelines from the FBI, paying for small purchases in cash should be considered a suspicious activity, perhaps tantamount to reading aloud from the Anarchist’s Cookbook in a public space. The flyers, which offer guidelines to the public about how to determine if that strange man in the coat is plotting to blow you up or...
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“TED attempts to present itself as fresh, cutting edge, and outside the box but...”
– - Nathan Jurgenson, Against TED – The New Inquiry
There is a Disneyland feel to TED. A sort of creepy, contrived atmosphere, as if we are being primed for a peak experience or undergoing a secret ritual in techno-utopianism. And that feeling that great people are doing great things out there, so...
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“Israeli officials explain that we Americans cannot understand their fears, that...”
– - Fareed Zakaria, History could be a deterrent to Iranian aggression via The Washington Post
The US did not preemptively bomb the USSR, or China, to stop them from ‘getting the bomb’, and Israel should abstain from bombing Iran, too. 