The Way of the Chisa Fist: The New Magic, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Capitalism And Embrace Being Rich
Figure out how much money you *need*, and get there, and while you're getting there and once you're there, act like you're rich. Seriously. Thanks, @ftrain, for the link.
Double X: Get Your Kid Off Your Facebook Page by Katie Roiphe
Why are so many women willingly giving up their identities and letting their children take over? And are our children being overly coddled as a result?
Riff Market: Regarding Hipster Runoff's Animal Collective Post
"You can try to know, and own the fact that there are things you do not know, or you can be knowing, and hide your own ignorance with sideways shots of been-there done-that familiarity. You can understand that shit happens and try your best to keep things together and accomplish something against all odds — YOU CAN DANCE, as this album begins — or you can blow up the hospital just to show everyone that at any moment anywhere, a hospital can blow up for no fucking reason whatsoever."
Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Letting the Fur Fly: The Photographs of Brian Berman (Part One)
"Technically, these photographs are beautifully constructed and each one shows us a distinctive human personality underneath the costumes. Does the objective gaze of the camera necessarily leave us trapped outside or is it possible for us to see some of ourselves in these people? Do these images estrange us from these Furries (featured today) or Cosplayers (featured next time)? Or do they allow us to recognize the creativity and craftsmanship of their work, the ways that they draw together personal mythology to move beyond the more mundane aspects of their everyday lives? What do you see when you look at these images?"
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
The American Scholar: The Disadvantages of an Elite Education (William Deresiewicz)
How a school like Yale fails to teach a person how to want to think for themselves and be true intellectuals, how to interact with people from other walks of life.
A nicely designed list of the words of the year. Seems like half are from the election. Can't say I've ever heard of a "fish pedicure," but there it is.
The Economist: It's Time: An endorsement of Barack Obama
"America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world." A cautious but firm and thoughtful endorsement from an excellent publication.
"the Department of Health is considering plans to force tobacco manufacturers to sell their cigarettes in plain unbranded packets." "They'd be taking one of the most carefully branded products in the world, and de-branding it. And since they've already banned tobacco advertising, cancer sticks don't really have much else left except their branding. They'd be stripping them back to just their name, taste and cost."
Ars Technica: 750,000 lost jobs? The dodgy digits behind the war on piracy
How the two astronomical numbers most often thrown out by the intellectual property lobby are utterly bogus. Interesting: "When someone torrents a $12 album that they would have otherwise purchased, the record industry loses $12, to be sure. But that doesn't mean that $12 has magically vanished from the economy. On the contrary: someone has gotten the value of the album and still has $12 to spend somewhere else."