June 2012
51 posts
“…there’s something knowingly comic and very British about the bathos of trying to wow the world with some sodden ducks and a wet plough.”
—“London’s Opening Ceremony Might Actually Be Good”, The Atlantic
Monica Potts: Pressing On the Upward Way →
prospect.org
A profile of life in one of the country’s poorest counties
The American Prospect || June 12, 2012
ICYMI, one of the best long-form pieces I’ve read in ages. And I’d say that even if Monica didn’t make a delicious, delicious apple cake.
“operations for the D.E.A., told me a story about the construction of a high-tech fence along a stretch of border in Arizona. “They erect this fence,” he said, “only to go out there a few days later and discover that these guys have a catapult, and they’re flinging hundred-pound bales of marijuana over to the other side.” He paused and looked at me for a second. “A catapult,” he repeated. “We’ve got the best fence money can buy, and they counter us with a 2,500-year-old technology.”
—How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions - NYTimes.com
“I always think it’s weird when people talk about sex work being the “easy way out” or like it’s something lazy people who don’t want to work do. Because imagine walking around your office completely naked while your co-workers grab at you and your boss is all like “Show me them spreadsheets, honey!” and sometime during your PowerPoint presentation, you’re pretty sure he came in his pants. And while all this is happening, you have to smile and act like you’re incredibly turned on and really like spending time with these people. Strippers should get free coffee at diners and possibly parades, like cops or firefighters.”
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“Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It’s a scream. It is written like this: “I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn’t enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google had told me it wasn’t enough. He was right.”
—Raymond Chandler does not have time for your stupid sci-fi writing. (via Letters of Note)
“The way I see it, my customers are putting a lot of trust in me that my products — eggs and chickens — are handled right, that they’re safe and of high quality. Why shouldn’t I trust my customers, too?”
—Barb Clerici on the honor system at farm stands (via NPR)
