May 2012
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“We know this about Mitt Romney…he’s not a job creator. When he was governor of...”
– Top Obama adviser Robert Gibbs, on Meet the Press Sunday. (via barackobama)
Under Mitt Romney, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts was 4.5%.
Under Barack Obama, the current unemployment rate is 8.2%.
Don’t know about any of you, but I prefer Romney’s unemployment rate to...
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The Time Groucho Marx Did the Charleston on...
mentalflossr:
Groucho Marx once visited the place Hitler committed suicide. And danced on it.
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April 2012
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“One lesson is that Washington really hasn’t been taken over by moneyed groups....”
– Democracy in America
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Robert Caro: "The Passage of Power"
Reviewed by Michiko Kakutani:
On Nov. 22, 1963, when he was told that John F. Kennedy was dead, and that he was now president, Lyndon B. Johnson later recalled, “I was a man in trouble, in a world that is never more than minutes away from catastrophe.”
He said he realized that “ready or not, new and immeasurable duties had been thrust upon” him and that he could not allow himself to be...
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In Praise of Backgammon
Vered Lee:
It’s not clear why backgammon and chess − which both originate in the East − are perceived in Israeli society in such an unequal and opposite way. The origin of chess was blurred in Israel, and it is considered a rational, European game with an intellectual aroma, a game of profound thought that requires strategy and long-term planning. On the other hand, backgammon is still...
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When Charles Dickens moved into Tavistock House in... →
thetinhouse:
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“Indeed, I simply can’t imagine competence as anything save admirable, for...”
– H.L. Mencken (via Terry Teachout).
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“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a...”
– Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813)
The 10 best first lines in fiction
Our guide to the greatest opening lines of novels in the English language, from Jane Austen to James Joyce
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I Heart Classics Quotes: James Joyce
iheartclassics:
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Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round →
jtotheizzoe:
If Earth is a blue marble, it’s certainly not one you’d want to depend on in the chalk circle. Instead of being a sphere, it’s actually far more irregular (and not just the mountains, duh). Charles Q. Choi lays out lots of oddities about our lumpy planet at SciAm.
Here’s some tidbits:
Earth is actually an oblate spheroid, bigger at the equator than at the poles.
Gravity is...
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W. W. Norton: Don't model your life after a circus... →
wwnorton:
Performing animals do tricks because their trainers throw them peanuts or small fish for doing so. You should aspire to do better. You will be a friend, a parent, a coach, an employee—and so on. But only in your job will you be explicitly evaluated and rewarded for your performance. Don’t let your…
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7 Downsides to Being Left-Handed
mentalflossr:
While we no longer force 10% of the population to learn to write with their right hand or burn them at the stake as witches, the world is still out to get lefties.
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Instagram: Spotlight: Paris →
instagram:
Since launching, we’ve seen Instagram spread from our headquarters in the Bay Area to every corner of the globe. In this series we’ll highlight top users from countries and cities with thriving Instagram communities.
This week’s spotlight takes us to the City of Light, one of the most…
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