Mostly from New York Times.
Egghead Alert at Confirmation Hearings By JUDITH WARNER
Before Elena Kagen’s grilling by the congress for her supreme court position, she was advised to dumb it down a bit to make herself more relatable to the common folk. Unfortunately, that’s a good thing. When in the century did the word ‘elite’ became so bad?
QUESTIONS FOR HUGH HEFNER Sex and the Single Man Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON
In this interview, it was made note on how playboy from being associated as a magazine, became being associated as a brand.
Playboy’s circulation, which peaked in the ’70s at 7 million, is down to about 1.5 million. Is there money to be made in magazines these days?
Certainly in Playboy’s case they make money by being in other businesses. To begin with, it was the magazine that carried the brand; now the brand carries the magazine.
and of course the question of retirement.
What are you planning for the future?
More of the same.
and the erection.
Do you take a lot of Viagra?
I don’t take a lot, but I take it when it’s called for.How often is it called for?
I make love a couple of times a week, and I take the Viagra when I’m going to be making love. I would say at 84 it helps. It’s God’s little helper.You’re not paid by Viagra to say that, are you?
No, they get that advertising from me for free.
Is Jousting the Next Extreme Sport? By DASHKA SLATER Published: July 5, 2010
Jousters are not only fighting to make jousting a legitimate sport, but are also in battle amongst themselves as to which kind of jousting play will it be: the historically accurate one ala fencing, or the contact one ala football. Of course you like carnage. I prefer the earlier one.
Brad Swonetz/Redux, for The New York Times
Oh that’s manly…
“The sport of jousting is only going to survive in the United States if there is that ferocity in it,” Adams says. “If it’s just a bunch of guys hitting each other with balsa-wood lances, the only people going will be the Renaissance crowd.”
Lurking under the surface of the debate over jousting styles are deeper questions about masculinity itself. “American culture is a certain way,” Nowrick says. “The hubris and the braggadocio about how tough I am, the whole Rocky Balboa thing. But when you go to Europe, there’s a different yardstick by which men are measured.”
Is Yemen the Next Afghanistan? By ROBERT F. WORTH Published: July 6, 2010 (Slideshow)
its a long read about Yemen’s very fragile situation in between a fight of the Yemeni Government, Al Qaeda, and the US Government. Besudes the greusome battle between tribes and whatnot, the pictures were stunning. It’s as if Yemeni buildings grew in the middle of the sand.
Besides the unrest, the author made note of the fact that most people don’t even know what the concept of a country is. (it is the Arab world’s poorest country)
I asked Ahmed Abdu Abdullah al-Haithami, a bent old farmer in a tattered green jacket, what country he was living in. He looked up at me with imploring eyes. "All I know is that God rules above, and the sheik rules here below," he said. All of this, I later learned, was documented by Yemeni lawyers, who have been working on behalf of the people of Jaashin for years to little effect. As one lawyer, Khaled al-Alansi, put it to me, "If you can't fight sheik Mansour, how can you possibly fight Al Qaeda?"
Its really odd, that we read fiction to escape this world, when this world itself is much more exciting than fiction. Odd really.
Al Qaeda also has an English online magazine called “Inspire”. The writer also notes on how professionally it is published. (Excerpts from The Atlantic, from this article: “It is possible, although not likely, that the magazine is a fabrication, a production of a Western intelligence agency that wants to undermine Al Qaeda by eroding confidence in its production and distribution networks.”)
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Al Qaeda Starts Inspire Magazine | ||||
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Until Cryonics Do Us Part By KERRY HOWLEY Published: July 5, 2010
The article focuses on spousal battle that happens when one decides to be frozen and preserved for the future, to extend their lives or for other worldly purposes. Some to ‘preserve data’ and whatnot. I think I might sign up, but I’m terrified at what comes waiting for me at the other side. Vanilla Sky anyone?
The air of hurt confusion stems, in part, from the intuition among believers that cryonics is a harmless attempt at preserving data, little different from stowing a box of photos. Of the nonreligious white males who predominate in the ranks of cryonicists, many are software engineers, a calling that puts great faith in the primacy of information. “If you have a hard drive on a computer with a lot of information that is important to you, you save it,” says J.S., a 39-year-old cryonicist and software engineer who lives in Oregon and who will not allow his full name to be used out of fear that his wife would divorce him. “You wouldn’t just throw it into a fire. It’s clear to me that memories are stored as molecular arrangements. I’m just trying to preserve the memories.”
