Good Reads

[Laurel]

http://www.thelocal.fr/userdata/images/article/9e7fc017f2e75eef865a506cc60a80e5bd44c404115ad4c496f837b799da6c2e.jpg
A photo self-portrait by Miru Kim, captured in the Paris catacombs. Image copyright of the artist, courtesy of Waterhouse & Dodd

Paris is known as the city of love, but despite its myriad romantic attractions, one spot in particular is proving to be a magnet for erotically-charged artistic types, and it's a world away from the Jardin du Luxembourg or even Pigalle.

The catacombs underneath the French capital have long been a popular tourist destination but authorities in Paris are having to battle an unwanted group of visitors wandering through the underground tunnels.

Nude models, photographers and erotic film-makers have been joining the six million skeletons hidden around the city's famous underground chambers, much to the chagrin of those in charge of the catacombs.

“We receive at least one request [for permission to film or take photos] every week,” a spokesman for the Musée Carnavalet, which manages the catacombs, told French daily Le Parisien on Monday.

“Obviously, we say no. This is a sacred place, which houses the remains of six million Parisians. We only allow serious or scientific documentaries,” the spokesman added.

Denied permission, the underground adventurers take matters into their own hands by disguising themselves as ordinary members of the public to get past the guards.​

- read the full article Famed Paris catacombs draw erotic visitors (from TheLocal.fr)​

 

[KRCummings]

http://www.thelocal.fr/userdata/images/article/9e7fc017f2e75eef865a506cc60a80e5bd44c404115ad4c496f837b799da6c2e.jpg
A photo self-portrait by Miru Kim, captured in the Paris catacombs. Image copyright of the artist, courtesy of Waterhouse & Dodd

Paris is known as the city of love, but despite its myriad romantic attractions, one spot in particular is proving to be a magnet for erotically-charged artistic types, and it's a world away from the Jardin du Luxembourg or even Pigalle.

The catacombs underneath the French capital have long been a popular tourist destination but authorities in Paris are having to battle an unwanted group of visitors wandering through the underground tunnels.

Nude models, photographers and erotic film-makers have been joining the six million skeletons hidden around the city's famous underground chambers, much to the chagrin of those in charge of the catacombs.

“We receive at least one request [for permission to film or take photos] every week,” a spokesman for the Musée Carnavalet, which manages the catacombs, told French daily Le Parisien on Monday.

“Obviously, we say no. This is a sacred place, which houses the remains of six million Parisians. We only allow serious or scientific documentaries,” the spokesman added.

Denied permission, the underground adventurers take matters into their own hands by disguising themselves as ordinary members of the public to get past the guards.​

- read the full article Famed Paris catacombs draw erotic visitors (from TheLocal.fr)​

This is interesting because I've been there years ago and can't imagine why people would do this. Seems wrong to me.

 

[Laurel]

This is interesting because I've been there years ago and can't imagine why people would do this. Seems wrong to me.

Dunno, but I suspect they do it for the same reason people graffiti famous monuments - to try to steal a piece of that place's immortality.

And yeah, it's rude IMO.

 

[Laurel]

Another interesting piece sent to me by a birdie.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-YH756_0724ge_D_20130724174020.jpg

Feeling shy in a group meeting? Your smartphone may be to blame.

An unpublished paper out of Harvard Business School suggests that using small gadgets makes people less assertive. Those who use larger gadgets come across as more assertive.

When people use smaller devices, their posture contracts, increasing stress and decreasing testosterone levels, say researchers Maarten Bos and Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School. The inverse is true when people use large desktop computers, which force users to assume a more open posture. And the effect continues even after the device is put away or the user logs off.

Hunching over a smartphone, Bos and Cuddy found, affects behavior even after users put the device away, causing them to be less likely to take risks immediately afterward.​

- read the full article One More Reason to Put Down That Smartphone (from the Wall Steet Journal)​

 

[Laurel]

http://www.applebees.com/~/media/car_side_image.ashx

Look, it’s not like Applebee’s hasn’t heard the jokes. Applebee’s is not some out-of-touch square with no ears for hearing or feelings for feeling things. Applebee’s is a restaurant. An honest-to-goodness, flesh-and-blood-and-Potato-Twisters restaurant who is right here—right everywhere, really—and who can easily hear you laughing it up at Applebee’s’s expense.

What about all the good times we had? Remember those? Applebee’s does. Applebee’s even remembers your very first date. You know why? Because it happened right here at Applebee’s. You could have taken her to any number of dining establishments, upwards of a dozen of which are located within 75 yards of Applebee’s. You could have taken those first steps toward adulthood at Ruby Tuesday or Texas Roadhouse, or even (god forbid) O’Charley’s. You could have taken her to T.G.I. Friday’s. You could have grabbed vacuum-packed ham sandwiches at the 7-Eleven next door and eaten them in the parking lot of the Dick’s Sporting Goods next door to that.

But you didn’t.

You decided that the best spot to impress your crush was a little place between an AutoZone and a frontage road, and you dined by the light of the moon and the parking lot lamps and the traffic lights and the neon Applebee’s sign all combined into one light and reflected off the fleet of Dodge Caravans from Bill Taylor Dodge parked twelve feet from your booth. You chose the Fire Pit Bacon Burger, and she chose the Chicken Quesadilla Grande, and in that moment, all was perfect. Remember that, my friend. When it was go time, you brought her to the Neighborhood. And you ate good in the Neighborhood. You ate good, damn it.​

- read the full article Applebee’s Just Wants You to Know That it is Not Immune to Your Barbs. (from McSweeney's)​

 

[pete]

http://www.applebees.com/~/media/car_side_image.ashx

Look, it’s not like Applebee’s hasn’t heard the jokes. Applebee’s is not some out-of-touch square with no ears for hearing or feelings for feeling things. Applebee’s is a restaurant. An honest-to-goodness, flesh-and-blood-and-Potato-Twisters restaurant who is right here—right everywhere, really—and who can easily hear you laughing it up at Applebee’s’s expense.

What about all the good times we had? Remember those? Applebee’s does. Applebee’s even remembers your very first date. You know why? Because it happened right here at Applebee’s. You could have taken her to any number of dining establishments, upwards of a dozen of which are located within 75 yards of Applebee’s. You could have taken those first steps toward adulthood at Ruby Tuesday or Texas Roadhouse, or even (god forbid) O’Charley’s. You could have taken her to T.G.I. Friday’s. You could have grabbed vacuum-packed ham sandwiches at the 7-Eleven next door and eaten them in the parking lot of the Dick’s Sporting Goods next door to that.

But you didn’t.

You decided that the best spot to impress your crush was a little place between an AutoZone and a frontage road, and you dined by the light of the moon and the parking lot lamps and the traffic lights and the neon Applebee’s sign all combined into one light and reflected off the fleet of Dodge Caravans from Bill Taylor Dodge parked twelve feet from your booth. You chose the Fire Pit Bacon Burger, and she chose the Chicken Quesadilla Grande, and in that moment, all was perfect. Remember that, my friend. When it was go time, you brought her to the Neighborhood. And you ate good in the Neighborhood. You ate good, damn it.​

- read the full article Applebee’s Just Wants You to Know That it is Not Immune to Your Barbs. (from McSweeney's)​

i lol'd

 

[neci]

This is interesting because I've been there years ago and can't imagine why people would do this. Seems wrong to me.

Dunno, but I suspect they do it for the same reason people graffiti famous monuments - to try to steal a piece of that place's immortality.

And yeah, it's rude IMO.

I've heard of the artists under the city. I believe there is one thing to be said for being forced underground due to your work, but quite another to defile the tombs of the dead for your own selfish pleasure.

 

[oggbashan]

Really? That's awful.

What's awful is that the prison authorities and probation service don't tell our local Police that he is about to be, or has been, released.

Often I'm the first to know because one of my contacts has spotted him and I tell the Police "He's back on the street."

 

[Laurel]

i lol'd

I've heard of the artists under the city. I believe there is one thing to be said for being forced underground due to your work, but quite another to defile the tombs of the dead for your own selfish pleasure.

Exactly.

 

[Laurel]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18uyitx59vqm7jpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Learning new skills is one of the best ways to make yourself both marketable and happy, but actually doing so isn't as easy as it sounds. The science behind how we learn is the foundation for teaching yourself new skills. Here's what we know about learning a new skill.

Our brains are still a bit of a mystery. We'll likely be learning about how our brain works for years to come, but we are starting to get a better idea of how we learn new things. To that end, let's start by talking about what happens in your brain as you take on a new skillset before moving onto some of the scientifically effective ways to learn.

How Your Brain Changes As You Learn a New Skill

Every time you learn something new, your brain changes in a pretty substantial way. In turn, this makes other parts of your life easier because the benefits of learning stretch further than just being good at something. As The New Yorker points out, learning a new skill has all kinds of unexpected benefits, including improving working memory, better verbal intelligence, and increased language skills.

Likewise, as you learn a new skill, the skill actually gets easier to do.​

- read the full article The Science Behind How We Learn New Skills (from Lifehacker)​

 

[Sean]

Wonderful piece by Mark Steel on the birth of the royal baby:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...commoners-to-be-in-your-presence-8732026.html

 

[trysail]

http://thescuttlefish.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/aldridge.jpg

Montauk, New York lobsterman John Aldridge was found alive and afloat Wednesday afternoon thanks to his rubber boots, which he turned upside down and placed underneath his arms to forge flotation devices in place of the life jacket he was not wearing.​

- read the full article Montauk Fisherman Found 43 Miles Offshore Using Rubber Boots as Life Vest (from The Scuttlefish)​

He is goddamned lucky to be alive. As the article states, he drifted some 38 miles from where he went overboard. It's a bloody miracle they found him. Somebody from the Coast Guard really earned their money.


He was smart to use his sea boots for flotation. I recall one survival course I took advised us to remove our pants, tie a knot in the bottom of each the legs, invert and inflate them (by blowing air into them). As crazy as it sounds, it actually works.




*reminds self to check sea boots*


__________________


ETA:
It reminds me of this story from a couple of years ago:




It is a goddamn miracle they found the five folks who were floating around in 15-foot swells. Color me amazed. These folks are extremely lucky to be alive.

I know a couple of fellows who were aboard various boats in the 1979 Fastnet Race.




Original article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...ued-after-yacht-capsizes-in-fastnet-race.html

http://fastnet.rorc.org/downloads/images/2011-news/2011-rfr-rambler-100-capsized-near-fastnet-rock-cb.jpg​

Video: http://fastnet.rorc.org/news-2011/race-updates-2011/video-rambler-100-and-monohull-record.html

http://fastnet.rorc.org/



Ex-United Technologies Chairman David Rescued After Yacht Capsizes in Race
By Aaron Kuriloff
Aug 16, 2011

Former United Technologies Corp. (UTX) Chairman George David and 20 others were pulled from the Celtic Sea after the 100-foot, record-breaking yacht Rambler 100 lost its keel and capsized during the Fastnet Race.

A dive boat searching in 15-foot (5-meter) swells found David, 69, Rambler’s skipper, and four other members of the crew tethered together off the southwest tip of Ireland yesterday, according to Rachel Jaspersen, marketing director for the yachtmaker Gunboat, who was on the rescue boat.

Jaspersen said in a telephone interview that her boat went to the scene after Coast Guard officials asked local traffic to assist in searching for five people washed away from the yacht, which was racing from the Isle of Wight in England, around Fastnet Rock off the southwest Irish coast and back to Plymouth, England.

The other 16 members of the crew scaled the overturned hull and were rescued by a lifeboat from Baltimore, Ireland, race organizers said in a news release. David and four others spent 2 1/2 hours in the water, according to the release.

Jaspersen said her boat’s crew was taking photographs near Fastnet Rock when they heard the distress calls. She said the weather was “pouring rain, quite dark, very low visibility and a huge swell.”

Jaspersen and others on her boat found sailbags and other debris from Rambler as they searched for about 45 minutes before spotting the five looking “like one little red blob.”

“George insisted on coming onboard last,” she said.

Hypothermia Treated

One crewmember, Wendy Touton, was airlifted for treatment of hypothermia, according to the race website. The rest of the crew was reunited at Baltimore Harbor.

Rambler 100 capsized after rounding Fastnet Rock at 5:25 p.m. Dublin time yesterday, while leading the monohull fleet. Mick Harvey, project manager for the boat, said in the release that he was below with navigator Peter Isler, a two-time America’s Cup winner, when they heard the keel break off. The boat capsized immediately.

Rambler 100 was built by Alex Jackson, co-founder of the London hedge fund Polygon Investment Partners LLP. Last month, the boat set the record for fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean during a yacht race, covering 2,975 nautical miles between Newport, R.I. and Cornwall, England in 6 days, 22 hours, 8 minutes, 2 seconds.

Driving Train
David, in an interview last month, compared sailing Rambler to driving a train in terms of size and power. He said the crew had doubled the strength of the underwater daggerboards, which are foils near the keel, after breaking three during previous voyages.

“When the first daggerboard breaks someone says ‘you hit something,’” he said at the time. “After it was all said and done, we decided the daggerboards were under spec and so we built them again, same geometry, but with twice the material.”

David didn’t discuss the boat’s 18-foot keel, which helps it stay upright by canting as much as 45 degrees off center, in the interview.

The 600-mile Fastnet race has claimed lives and boats in the past. A Force 10 gale struck the fleet of about 300 yachts in 1979 with winds of 60 nautical miles an hour (70 miles an hour), causing 40-foot waves, according to John Rousmaniere’s history of the disaster, “Fastnet, Force 10.” Fifteen people died, five yachts sank and rescuers saved 136 sailors from the water. Only 85 boats finished.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...ued-after-yacht-capsizes-in-fastnet-race.html

At midnight, Monday 15 August, Eddie Warden Owen, Chief Executive of the Royal Ocean Racing Club received a call from Mick Harvey, Project Manager of George David's Rambler 100 (USA). Harvey spoke about the harrowing incident when the 100' Maxi Rambler 100 capsized in the Celtic Sea during the Rolex Fastnet Race.

The incident happened just after Rambler 100 rounded the Fastnet Rock at 17:25 BST. At the time, Rambler 100 were leading the monohull fleet and vying for monohull line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race which started on Sunday 14th.

Mick Harvey's account of the incident was charged with emotion. The tough Australian, who now lives in Newport, Rhode Island (USA), is a seasoned veteran, but he was understandably shaken by the incident:

"Soon after rounding the Fastnet Rock, the wind went southwest, right on the nose. We were beating into big seas, launching Rambler off the top of full size waves. I was down below with navigator, Peter Isler when we heard the sickening sound of the keel breaking off. It was instantaneous; there was no time to react. The boat turned turtle, just like a dinghy capsizing. Peter Isler issued a Mayday and we got out of there as quickly as we could."

The EPIRB had been activated and a number of crew climbed over the guardrails and onto the hull as the boat capsized and helped those swimming to safety. The Atlantic swell made it difficult for the crew to get out of the water however, working together, 16 of the crew managed to scale the upturned hull.

Five of the crew were swept away by the waves out of reach of the stricken Maxi and these included Skipper, George David and partner Wendy Touton who were in the water for two and a half hours. This group linked arms, forming a circle. Valencia Coastguard diverted a local fishing boat, Wave Chieftain to assist, which winched the crew on board. Earlier a helicopter had been scrambled from Shannon Airport helicopter, Wendy Touton was airlifted for medical attention due to the effects of hypothermia and the four remaining crew were taken to Baltimore Harbour where they were re-united with the 16 crew rescued by the Baltimore Lifeboat.

"It was a scary moment. One that I will never forget," admitted Mick Harvey. "I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am that all of the crew are safe. The town of Baltimore has given us a wonderful welcome. I can not thank our rescuers and the people of this lovely village enough. Wendy is in Kerry Hospital and doing fine, I am just so relieved that everybody is okay."

 

[Laurel]

Wonderful piece by Mark Steel on the birth of the royal baby:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...commoners-to-be-in-your-presence-8732026.html

haha! Excellent.

 

[Laurel]

He is goddamned lucky to be alive. As the article states, he drifted some 38 miles from where he went overboard. It's a bloody miracle they found him. Somebody from the Coast Guard really earned their money.


He was smart to use his sea boots for flotation. I recall one survival course I took advised us to remove our pants, tie a knot in the bottom of each the legs, invert and inflate them (by blowing air into them). As crazy as it sounds, it actually works.




*reminds self to check sea boots*


__________________


ETA:
It reminds me of this story from a couple of years ago:




It is a goddamn miracle they found the five folks who were floating around in 15-foot swells. Color me amazed. These folks are extremely lucky to be alive.

I know a couple of fellows who were aboard various boats in the 1979 Fastnet Race.




Original article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...ued-after-yacht-capsizes-in-fastnet-race.html

http://fastnet.rorc.org/downloads/images/2011-news/2011-rfr-rambler-100-capsized-near-fastnet-rock-cb.jpg​

Video: http://fastnet.rorc.org/news-2011/race-updates-2011/video-rambler-100-and-monohull-record.html

http://fastnet.rorc.org/



Ex-United Technologies Chairman David Rescued After Yacht Capsizes in Race
By Aaron Kuriloff
Aug 16, 2011

I love survival stories!

 

[Laurel]

http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full-width/images/print-edition/20130309_FND000_0.jpg

WHEN her two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, Judy Mollica spent hours in a nearby medical library in south Florida, combing through journals for information about her child’s condition. Upon seeing an unfamiliar term she would stop and hunt down its meaning elsewhere in the library. It was, she says, like “walking in the dark”. Her daughter recovered but in 2005 was diagnosed with a different form of cancer. This time, Ms Mollica was able to stay by her side. She could read articles online, instantly look up medical and scientific terms on Wikipedia, and then follow footnotes to new sources. She could converse with her daughter’s specialists like a fellow doctor. Wikipedia, she says, not only saved her time but gave her a greater sense of control. “You can’t put a price on that.”

Measuring the economic impact of all the ways the internet has changed people’s lives is devilishly difficult because so much of it has no price. It is easier to quantify the losses Wikipedia has inflicted on encyclopedia publishers than the benefits it has generated for users like Ms Mollica. This problem is an old one in economics. GDP measures monetary transactions, not welfare. Consider someone who would pay $50 for the latest Harry Potter novel but only has to pay $20. The $30 difference represents a non-monetary benefit called “consumer surplus”. The amount of internet activity that actually shows up in GDP—Google’s ad sales, for example—significantly understates its contribution to welfare by excluding the consumer surplus that accrues to Google’s users. The hard question to answer is by how much.​

- read the full article Net benefits: How to quantify the gains that the internet has brought to consumers (from The Economist)​

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full-width/images/print-edition/20130309_FND000_0.jpg

WHEN her two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, Judy Mollica spent hours in a nearby medical library in south Florida, combing through journals for information about her child’s condition. Upon seeing an unfamiliar term she would stop and hunt down its meaning elsewhere in the library. It was, she says, like “walking in the dark”. Her daughter recovered but in 2005 was diagnosed with a different form of cancer. This time, Ms Mollica was able to stay by her side. She could read articles online, instantly look up medical and scientific terms on Wikipedia, and then follow footnotes to new sources. She could converse with her daughter’s specialists like a fellow doctor. Wikipedia, she says, not only saved her time but gave her a greater sense of control. “You can’t put a price on that.”

Measuring the economic impact of all the ways the internet has changed people’s lives is devilishly difficult because so much of it has no price. It is easier to quantify the losses Wikipedia has inflicted on encyclopedia publishers than the benefits it has generated for users like Ms Mollica. This problem is an old one in economics. GDP measures monetary transactions, not welfare. Consider someone who would pay $50 for the latest Harry Potter novel but only has to pay $20. The $30 difference represents a non-monetary benefit called “consumer surplus”. The amount of internet activity that actually shows up in GDP—Google’s ad sales, for example—significantly understates its contribution to welfare by excluding the consumer surplus that accrues to Google’s users. The hard question to answer is by how much.​

- read the full article Net benefits: How to quantify the gains that the internet has brought to consumers (from The Economist)​

In the 80s I spent Friday nights and weekends at the medical school library collecting journal articles, then spent the week sifting the articles for even more articles. It was my life for 8 years. Don't gotta do that no more. Don't gotta jump in the car ro race thru the night to Atlanta or Nashville to snag a piece of obscure info or pay someone 200 dollars to do it for me.

All the great savings made Bernie Madoff rich and Jon Corzine rich and paid for Chelsea Clintons 10 million dollar crib.

 

[Laurel]

When Detroit last week, news accounts were filled with troubling stories of urban decay in the city: vast areas of vacant lots and abandoned houses, shuttered parks, nonworking streetlights and police response times close to an hour.

But Bruce Katz, vice president of the Brookings Institution, says that many American cities show promising signs of renewal. He's written a book with Brookings Fellow Jennifer Bradley called The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy. The book argues that metro areas — or, cities and suburbs together — are powerful economic engines with considerable political influence, and that local leaders are more likely to take on the nation's big challenges than politicians in Washington.

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/07/25/174015230_wide-0d81b58d9f705c6c1a2372a7465dc60d7aa9eea7-s40.jpg

Northeast Ohio — not just Cleveland, but also the Cleveland metropolis, plus Youngstown, plus Canton, plus Akron — [is] very challenged because of the de-industrialization over the last several decades. The major innovation that happened was that philanthropy and business came together and said, 'We have unbelievable assets here, small manufacturing firms that are really good at what they do in the manufacturing of quality products. We need to help them in this global environment, sharpen their business plans, attract private capital, retool their facilities, retrain their workers so that they can produce new products for new markets.'

And that's exactly what has happened in the last 10 years. In less than 10 years, we've seen the growth of about 10,500 jobs, over $300 million on payroll, $2 billion in private capital. This is the kind of smart post-recession economic development that we need to participate in. And most importantly, because of the shale gas revolution, because of other global dynamics — rising wages in China — we can make things again in the United States. We can participate in an advanced industry economy, rather than just an economy of consumption.​

- read the full article A Metro 'Revolution': Cities, Suburbs Do What Washington Can't (from NPR)​

 

[Laurel]

Financial books are not renowned for their literary merits. Neverthless, the reader is still entitled to expect something better than the following (from Philip Mirowski's new book "Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste"):

Yet the nightmare cast its shroud in the guise of a contagion of a deer-in-the-headlights paralysis.​

That is not just a mixed metaphor; it is meaningless and pretentious at the same time. One would nominate it as the world's worst-written sentence but it is only the opening clause. After a semi-colon, the author drones on for a further 32 words, from which Economist readers should be spared.​

- read the full article The world's worst sentence? (from The Economist)​

 

[beetlebum]

i read this last night, it's an older nytimes article about jean paul sartre and albert camus in new york. i have always been fascinated by the contrast between these two brilliant minds. i'm more camus than sartre, personally; without a doubt, both were simply fantastic authors.

 

[Laurel]

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/03/130207_TGW_bridezilla_2.jpg.CROP.article250-medium.jpg

I am appalled by Bridezillas. I should make it clear that I have never seen an episode of the reality show. I hate Bridezillas for one simple reason: Bride does not rhyme with god. Ergo, Bridezillas is not a functioning pun.

The point is significant because bridezilla appears to be symptomatic of a wider malaise: the death of the American pun, replaced by something grosser, dumber, uglier. Examples abound: Take one of the most read websites in the world, Wikipedia, a “pun” on encyclopedia that shares nothing but its suffix. Or techpreneur, the loathsome fusion of technology and entrepreneur. Likewise mansplain, a coinage popular with Internet feminists that adroitly glosses a man addressing a woman in a condescending fashion (e.g., “Akam mansplains that mansplain is not a functioning pun.”) but is still not a functioning pun. Manscaping, the removal of all or part of male body hair, is better—there is at least assonance between the vowel sounds in man and land—but as a pun it remains perilously borderline.​

- read the full article Please Do Not Chillax: Adjoinages and the death of the American pun. (from Slate)​

 

[Laurel]

i read this last night, it's an older nytimes article about jean paul sartre and albert camus in new york. i have always been fascinated by the contrast between these two brilliant minds. i'm more camus than sartre, personally; without a doubt, both were simply fantastic authors.

This is very good! I'll linkie:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/15/sunday-review/15CAMUS/15CAMUS-articleInline.jpg
In December 1944, Albert Camus, then editor of Combat, the main newspaper of the French Resistance, made Jean-Paul Sartre an offer he couldn’t refuse: the job of American correspondent. Perhaps, in light of the perpetual tension and subsequent acrimonious split between the two men, he was glad to get him out of Paris. What is certain is that Sartre was delighted to go. He’d had enough of the austerities and hypocrisies of post-liberation France and had long fantasized about the United States. Camus himself would make the trip soon after, only to return with a characteristically different set of political, philosophical and personal impressions.
...
Sartre wrote dozens of articles for Combat while in the States, often phoning them back to Camus in Paris, and eventually went on to talk philosophy at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and elsewhere. In the process, he acquired an American girlfriend (about whom he wrote abundantly and explicitly to Simone de Beauvoir: “I am killed by passion and lectures.”). But the very personal article he wrote for Town & Country, “Manhattan: The Great American Desert,” records that he suffered on arrival from “le mal de New York.” He never really recovered.​

- read the full article Sartre and Camus in New York (from The New York Times)​

 

[Laurel]

http://www.trbimg.com/img-51396c85/turbine/la-sci-bees-caffeine-30-jpg-20130307/600/600x450

Think coffee's just the drug of choice for humans looking to stay alert? Scientists have some eye-opening news for you: Bees get a buzz when they drink nectar laced with a little caffeine, and it supercharges their long-term memory.

In laboratory experiments, honeybees were roughly three times as likely to remember a floral scent a day later if the nectar had a minuscule amount of the stimulant than if it was caffeine free. They were also twice as likely to remember a caffeine-laced scent a full three days later. Pretty impressive for an insect that lives only a few weeks.​

- read the full article Caffeine amps up bees' memory, study finds (from Los Angeles Times)​

 

[KRCummings]

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/03/130207_TGW_bridezilla_2.jpg.CROP.article250-medium.jpg

I am appalled by Bridezillas. I should make it clear that I have never seen an episode of the reality show. I hate Bridezillas for one simple reason: Bride does not rhyme with god. Ergo, Bridezillas is not a functioning pun.

The point is significant because bridezilla appears to be symptomatic of a wider malaise: the death of the American pun, replaced by something grosser, dumber, uglier. Examples abound: Take one of the most read websites in the world, Wikipedia, a “pun” on encyclopedia that shares nothing but its suffix. Or techpreneur, the loathsome fusion of technology and entrepreneur. Likewise mansplain, a coinage popular with Internet feminists that adroitly glosses a man addressing a woman in a condescending fashion (e.g., “Akam mansplains that mansplain is not a functioning pun.”) but is still not a functioning pun. Manscaping, the removal of all or part of male body hair, is better—there is at least assonance between the vowel sounds in man and land—but as a pun it remains perilously borderline.​

- read the full article Please Do Not Chillax: Adjoinages and the death of the American pun. (from Slate)​

This is very true. People suck at puns anymore. They don't even seem to know what a pun is, they just say something silly and call it a pun. Not that I'm any expert on them, I actually sorta suck at them but at least I know what the fuck it is.

 

[beetlebum]

This is very good! I'll linkie:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/15/sunday-review/15CAMUS/15CAMUS-articleInline.jpg
In December 1944, Albert Camus, then editor of Combat, the main newspaper of the French Resistance, made Jean-Paul Sartre an offer he couldn’t refuse: the job of American correspondent. Perhaps, in light of the perpetual tension and subsequent acrimonious split between the two men, he was glad to get him out of Paris. What is certain is that Sartre was delighted to go. He’d had enough of the austerities and hypocrisies of post-liberation France and had long fantasized about the United States. Camus himself would make the trip soon after, only to return with a characteristically different set of political, philosophical and personal impressions.
...
Sartre wrote dozens of articles for Combat while in the States, often phoning them back to Camus in Paris, and eventually went on to talk philosophy at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and elsewhere. In the process, he acquired an American girlfriend (about whom he wrote abundantly and explicitly to Simone de Beauvoir: “I am killed by passion and lectures.”). But the very personal article he wrote for Town & Country, “Manhattan: The Great American Desert,” records that he suffered on arrival from “le mal de New York.” He never really recovered.​

- read the full article Sartre and Camus in New York (from The New York Times)​

glad you think so too! i just finished reading 'nausea' by sartre a couple of weeks ago. i was glued to that book, simply marvelous. although like i mentioned, camus has been more familiar to me since i read him during adolescence and well, you know how that can be. all of those authors i read then (mainly him, plath, wilde, dostoevsky and borges) still, to this day remain the favorites.

 

[Laurel]

11. Danzig on Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Danzig as a cartoon is just plain funny. Just look at those animated pecs. But him buying a house with a pool of blood is even funnier because it’s very likely that Danzig has actually done that at some point. Prove he hasn’t.

10. Danzig on Beavis and Butthead
Danzig was famous enough in the 90s to get the Beavis and Butthead treatment not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times, including two versions of “Mother.” Beavis and Butthead raise an interesting point: Who would win in a fight, Danzig or Danny Bonaduce?

9. Danzig on Fox News
You could tell Danzig was like, “I’m gonna go on Fox News with my dumb sunglasses and leather jacket and badmouth Obama. That’ll show everyone that DANZIG DOESN’T PLAY BY ANYONE’S RULES!” And the brainless podpeople at Fox News just eat it up. Just look at the smug look on his Aspergersy face. It’s wonderful. Danzig, you are wonderful.

8. This Guy Singing a Misfits Song on American Idol
Glenn doesn’t even make an appearance in this video and it still made the list. Such is the power of Danzig. Here’s a guy auditioning on American Idol with the Misfits’ ‘Die, Die My Darling’ to the bewilderment of Paula Abdul and the British dude.​

- read the full article The 11 Most Glorious Danzig Videos on the Internet (from JadedPunk)​