Love, Newspapers, Star Wars, Stanford, Karachi
Romantic Regimes
Polina Aronson | Aeon | 22nd October 2015
A Russian emigré arrives in the U.S. and distinguishes two "regimes" of love: Choice and Fate. "The lifecycle of a Seventeen-approved relationship went through several clear stages. First, you developed a ‘crush’, normally on a boy a year or two older than yourself. Then, you asked around a bit to establish whether he was a ‘cutie’ or a ‘moron’. If he was the former, Seventeen gave you thumbs up to ‘hook up’ with him once or twice" (3,300 words)
Belabored Empires
Jason Boog | The Awl | 23rd October 2015
Pro-union take on Heywood Broun, 1930s newspaper columnist who "haphazardly transformed journalism" by starting local and national newspaper uinons after an unemployed reporter wrote to him about the folly of newspapermen denying "what they really are — hacks and white-collar slaves" while "the printers, because of their union, are getting on an average some 30 percent better than the smart fourth estaters" (3,020 words)
The Phantom Menace
James Lileks | National Review | 22nd October 2015
Conservative humour about liberals and Star Wars (re: complaints about Twitter users, actually trolls, "complaining about a black stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movie"). "According to my Twitter feed, gullible people are complaining — I should just stop right there and wrap it up, right? After breaking news like that, where could I possibly go?" With an ultimately unifying message (for Star Wars fans, at least) (1,160 words)
Stanford Business School’s Spiraling Sex Scandal
David Margolick | Vanity Fair | 18th October 2015
“So the policy that Stanford has actually says that where such a recusal is required you must notify your supervisor, department chair, or dean... What if the person involved is the dean?” A Stanford professor's estranged wife (also a professor) started seeing the school's Dean, who failed to declare the relationship correctly (and eventually resigned). He believes that the Dean, and the School, have since been "slowly squeezing him out" (7,140 words)
Karachi Vice
Samira Shackle | Guardian | 21st October 2015
Profile of a Karachi crime reporter – and of the city itself. Zille Hyder has reported live from shootouts (he has a lodged bullet to prove it), befriended gangsters and police, and proudly sits on a Taliban hitlist. Which is isolating: his daughter's school won't let him be seen there; old friends avoid him. Sometimes he goes to the sea at night with a fellow hitlist member "to escape from the limits of their daily lives" (5,660 words)
Video of the day: 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
What to expect: Hans Rosling on global progress (4'47")
Thought for the day
Happiness is not something you experience, it is something you remember
Oscar Levant