Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
This NYT piece talks about why natural disasters of the future will be even more catastrophic than the Dec. 26 earthquake-triggered tsunamis. An excerpt: N seven hours last week, great ocean waves scoured shores from Thailand to Somalia, exacting a terrible price in wealth and human lives. But unimaginable as it may seem, future catastrophes [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
The pickings do not look good for January at my main movie houses, although perhaps all is not lost. A preliminary skim of the listings for the Royal, Revue and Paradise theatres had me thinking I won't be idling away much time at any of them. It looked to be a steady parade of humdrum [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
From the Dec. 28 Media Culpa column of the Village Voice. An excerpt: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and from the White House to the Meadowlands, the press opened its stocking to find the usual lump of coal—Santa/Jesus' payback for ignoring the good news about Iraq and the Jets' offense. Explaining why polls show an [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
Life's funny. Here I am thinking it's been a while since I've read a good Knights Templar/Holy Grail story, and then I click on the Guardian Web site, and lo and behold! An excerpt: One of the problems with secret societies – especially the kind whose members exert a shadowy influence on the course of [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
From the NYT. It's about a Chinese hamlet whose young women predominantly end up working in the sex trade abroad. An excerpt: ANGLE, China – There are two kinds of families in this village: the relatively rich, who live in tiled villas with air-conditioning, and those who still hunt in the wooded hills with bow and [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
J. Dennis Hastert is the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, which makes him a key guy in advancing Dubya's legislative agenda. The NYT profiles him. Here's an excerpt: J. Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, is accustomed to legislative requests from President Bush. But as he was escorting Mr. Hastert to the [...]
Tue, January 4 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off