Choire Sicha
Most Recently: Some Advice for Young People
Oh hi. I work here and enjoy cats and cat-related news.
A Photo History of Occupy Wall Street
I would very much enjoy this book of photography by always-working photographer Stephanie Keith; it's organized as a chronology of Occupy Wall Street. (To date. Obviously.) It is definitely... art-book priced. (Not cheap!) But that seems reasonable, also, for great documentation of a serious six-month project. Something for Valentine's for the armchair radical in your life?
George Clooney Has Those Terrible Doors
Hate those doors.
But! From elsewhere in this bizarre video tour of his house: "That’s Einstein, that’s my dog. I was given the dog from a lovely shelter, but they’d gotten it from a place where they... take ’em out. He’s a fun dog." Which, aww, yay.
Some Advice for Young People
From time to time I am asked by young people for advice in matters of work and life, generally by people who have mistaken my age for seniority. I don't really have any advice, though, is the problem, beyond some basics and also "don't do what I did," but usually it goes like: READ MORE
The Dumbest Funnest Things to Do--And Who Did Them First
IMHOOF: I came to Queenstown on a snowboarding trip. I’d been living in Hawaii, surfing. READ MORE
Bizarre Candidate Warns Against American Executions of Monarchs
Potential American president Rick Santorum isn't even pretending to make sense anymore: "When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights, then what’s left is the French Revolution. What’s left is the government that gives you right, what’s left are no unalienable rights, what’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the guillotine."
"The Greening of Gitmo"
"In this remote corner of Cuba that is better known as a lab for Pentagon justice and interrogation, the U.S. Navy has been quietly engaging in more low-profile offshore experimentation — seeking environmentally friendly alternatives to reduce its whopping $100,000-a-day fossil fuel dependence." READ MORE
"Fatal Feline Attraction": Slaves to Cats
As we unhappily knew and noted way back in mid-2010, it is extremely worrisome to live with cats, because they are trying to infect us with a parasite that changes our behavior. And here is a new substantial review of the lastest thinking on Toxoplasma gondii and human behavior. If you have ever been near a cat, it'll FREAK YOU OUT, at first. Everybody run! Cats are in control of our minds! (And here, try this on for size: "infected men like the smell of cat pee.") But then... it's possible that those of us who have been infected by our cats have an evolutionary advantage? And it might not be that bad? And also, really, we can't even blame the cats: most people who do get it, which isn't everyone at all, won't get Toxoplasma from cats, but from meat, vegetables or drinking water. VEGETABLES ARE CONTROLLING OUR MINDS. QUICK, PANIC FASTER.
Thought for the Day
Exceptalism or decline.That is the choice. Maybe too late but can we gather forces to return social cohesion?Close the divide. READ MORE
Sharon Van Etten Just Going to Be the Latest Lady to Leave Us
I just don't know if I can commit to a new lady with a guitar again. I feel so burned, by the Tiffany Anders (she was going to save folk-pop!), the Gillian Welches, the Tara MacLeans, the Marit Peters... My God, Laura Veirs alone! Why did you leave me and go and put out a childrens' album, Laura Veirs? You used to write songs about heroin! So can I really do all this emotional work again, with Sharon Van Etten? Maybe, maybe not. I'll take a long look inside myself and see how strong I really am.
