Browser Newsletter 1075
Best of the Moment
The Art Of Fiction: Imre Kertész
Luisa Zielinski | Paris Review | 5th August 2013
Hungarian Nobel-prizewinning novelist (and Auschwitz survivor), 85 and dying of Parkinson’s disease, gives his last interview. "I created a work representing the Holocaust as such, but without this being an ugly literature of horrors. Perhaps I’m being impertinent, but I feel that my work has a rare quality — I tried to depict the human face of this history, I wanted to write a book that people would actually want to read"
The Play’s The Thing
Alexander McCall Smith | New Statesman | 4th August 2013
At the Highland games. "Most people associate Highland games with what are called 'heavy events'. These are feats of strength in which kilted figures throw heavy objects as far as they can manage. You can spot these contestants very easily, as they are all built like oxen. There is vertical throwing, too, in which people throw a 56-pound weight over a bar. It is important to remember to step aside after you have thrown this weight"
Managing Your Lifespan
Max Strom | Medium | 1st August 2013
On lateness. Pithy and practical advice as to how and why you should be punctual. "Your ability to arrive and depart according to your commitments is one of the ways people ascertain if they can rely on you or if they will respect you. Running late may be a passive-aggressive way of controlling those around you. But whatever the cause of your lateness, there is always damage done to others and to yourself"
Taken: The Power Of The Police
Sarah Stillman | New Yorker | 5th August 2013
Disturbing account of civil forfeiture in US. Police can seize anything you've got — your cash, your car, even your children — on the most trivial of pretexts. In Tenaha, Texas, it's enough to have been driving in the wrong lane. "You needn’t be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with probable cause is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one"
Video of the day: My Keynote Address
Thought for the day:
"It's like Wikipedia, but for facts" — Evgeny Morozov