“My diagnosis is simple, Roger: your friends and associates are terrible and boring. Being that you are a smart and interesting guy who would distill only the finest information from any social network, the problem is the garbage going into your feed, which can only come out as garbage in your column. And that garbage is being created by the people who you choose to follow and know.” — Alexis Madrigal, “Your Anti-Social Media Rant Reveals Too Much About Your Friends”
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“It’s frustrating that the internet has cultivated that particular urgency within the cultural conversation, one that encourages people to immediately speak out, as vociferously or hyper-analytically as possible, about any old topic that pops up in their Google Reader. Sometimes silence is best! I’m not saying say nothing if you have nothing nice to say, certainly not in most cases, at least. Criticism is good! Expressing a (well-reasoned) dissenting opinion is often admirable! But on the day that an old lady who wrote nice stories that millions of children adored? Yeah, maybe Slate doesn’t need to have a negative horse in that particular race. Or a bear, either.” — Richard Lawson
Newsweek’s Tumblr debuted a new feature called “also-rans” today, showcasing cover ideas that didn’t make it to print. All are different visual takes on “The Politics of Sex,” based on Andrew Sullivan’s story on the contraception culture wars. This is what sits on American newsstands right now:
And, for the sake of contrast, this is the current cover of the international editions:
Lisa Wade at The Society Pages has been keeping a semi-comprehensive running comparison of domestic and international Time and Newsweek covers, in an attempt to illustrate the “vicious circle” of Americans’ ignorance of global issues and the news media ceding to that ignorance by providing fluff. “The Politics of Sex” is not as fluffy as, say, “Who Needs Marriage?” or “My Life in Pictures,” but the point is the same. This week’s Newsweek covers may be worth a nomination.
“When Iyal is distressed, Chancer is distressed. Unlike Iyal, Chancer knows what to do about it. Iyal rages by crossing his arms, sitting down hard on the floor and screaming and kicking. Chancer unknots the crossed arms by inserting his wide muzzle through the locked arms from below, opening them up and nuzzling toward Iyal’s face, licking and slobbering, until the boy’s screams turn to tears of remorse or to laughter.” — From The New York Times, more evidence that dogs are the best.
Weiner famously aspired to be mayor of New York. Rumor has it that Eliot Spitzer does as well. Neither man will probably ever hold that office, but right now Spitzer has a better case than Weiner — because unlike Weiner, when he disgraced himself he actually resigned.
Uh, no. Right now, Ross, Spitzer has a better case than Weiner because Spitzer’s scandal happened three years ago and Weiner’s scandal happened in the past two weeks.
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Yep.
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Oh my.
(via housingworksbookstore)
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