Jason Kottke makes an apt comparison: the laser-like concentration of Barack Obama and that of Roger Federer. Both are sort of inscrutable too. And awesome.
Archive for November, 2008 Page 2 of 2
Here are two words that come together in an unpleasant way to describe a food that I want nothing to do with:
Butter braid
Anyone else experience queasiness at this phrase? What about it is so awful? I mean, I like pastries as much as the next blogger, but for some reason, butter braid threatens to let loose the contents of my stomach.
While I really hope your child raises enough money to go on his soccer trip, I will not be buying anything called a “butter braid.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been unsettled by the typical electoral map, with its vast swaths of red and small blue fringes.
So this map makes me happy.
Via Kottke
Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job
WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”
Pretty flippin’ awesome.
My beard is itchy.
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
Set in Hong Kong in 1925 in the waning days of the British Empire, The Painted Veil tells the story of the short, tragic marriage between Walter Fane, a an emotionally distant yet kind government scientist, and Kitty Fane, an immature and adulterous socialite.
Against his better judgment, Walter truly falls in love with Kitty, who agrees to marry him only to avoid being upstaged by the marriage of her younger sister.
Later, when Walter learns of her infidelity, he coerces her into joining him on a risky (potentially suicidal) trip to a village battling a cholera epidemic. I’ll leave the plot summary there.
Emotionally rich, psychologically astute, and a real page-turner to boot. Read it in a weekend and savor it long after.