The nation's political system is dysfunctional with partisan gridlock, writes Thomas L. Friedman. That's why he wants his own tea party — a tea party without the nutjobs, a tea party of the radical center.It's a good Seattle Times story, and the mentioned author has an NYT profile page. See also: Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America
, Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism
, From Beirut to Jerusalem: Revised Edition
The growing popularity of e-books has raised a difficult question in the publishing marketplace that used to have an easy answer: What's a book worth? Because they cost less to produce, consumers think e-books should be cheap. But publishers are afraid that if the price goes too low, they may never recover from the diminished expectations. Some observers wonder if the publishers' pricing strategy is short-sighted. Jason Epstein, a well-known editor, publisher and author who has worked in the business for more than a half-century, says e-books are "the most exciting event, as far as books are concerned, in 500 years." [...] The $9.99 price per e-book, set by Amazon for its Kindle e-reader, was a major source of frustration for publishers. So when Apple unveiled the iPad, which includes an e-book reader and store, they seized the opportunity to make prices more competitive. Most of the major publishing houses have negotiated a higher price for newly released e-books. But McQuivey says the inflation is a mistake.Listen to the NPR Morning Edition podcast here. Check the full NPR feature story out here.
Stephen Colbert spoke with Mika Brzezinski from Morning Joe last night about her new book, "All Things at Once." She explained to Stephen how she struggled for a long time trying to be the perfect correspondent, mother, and wife all at once, and how it just didn't work. Brzezinski explained: I wasn't doing anything right because I was trying to do everything too much. She and Stephen also discussed why she chose not to remain "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen," as Colbert suggested she should have.What the HuffPo posted video here.
Last week's election of the photogenic Scott Brown in Massachusetts has been greeted with stupefaction. How could the unaccomplished Brown take over the seat of the Lion of the Senate? Was it because Martha Coakley was a fabulously inept campaigner? Was it because the White House didn't pay attention to the local dynamics until it was much too late? Was it health care or was it taxes, big government or the poisonous appearance of the words "Yankee Fan?" There is no shortage of theories or explanations, but there is consensus about one thing: the voters were angry, and Scott Brown channeled that anger. In Sunday's New York Times, Sam Tannenhaus recalled some of the populist movements that drew on rage against entrenched institutions. From Huey Long during the Depression to passionate Goldwater devotees in the 1960s, there have always been plenty of citizens who felt that 'extremism is no vice' when they're ticked off. [...] The literary critic Philip Fisher, in a marvelous book entitled The Vehement Passions, writes that "something is disclosed to us in states of vehemence." Anger, he notes, has given rise to calls for justice, for better laws or for a more equitable distribution of the things we care about. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote that...The Huffington Post is such a mixed bag, but there are gems like these in there. You've got to read this piece. There are a handful of references out to other authors and texts that you should look into as well. We can't list all of them here; it's better to read of them within their original context. Thank God Vehement is available on the Kindle (though we have a paperback as well).
The man who gave a name to the American century: The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century. By Alan Brinkley. Knopf; 544 pages; $35. Buy from Amazon.com: AT 14, though not later in life, Henry Robinson Luce was a great supporter of a revolution, the Chinese revolution of 1912. He wrote to a friend who was visiting Luce’s missionary parents in China, welcoming him to “a great land, peopled by a great nation, endowed with a great past, overshadowed by a greater future.” It was, he added, “the greatest and most stupendous Reformation in all history.” ...Read the Economist piece on the book, here (subscription required, or you can do a cache search on Google for the bulk of it). Check this YouTube video out as well (from the Book TV channel).
Author K.C. Cole writes about physicist and Exploratorium-founder Frank Oppenheimer in Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens. Cole, a friend of Oppenheimer's, digs into FBI files and personal memories to describe the complex man also called the "Uncle of the Atomic Bomb." Originally broadcast Aug. 7, 2009.Download the podcast here.
TEL AVIV, Israel—Amram Aharoni has a serious résumé, but he has the mien of a comedian. On Sunday at the Globes' Israel Business Conference, Aharoni, who teaches investment theory and finance at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, ran through his many qualifications—degrees from Tel Aviv University, a doctorate in finance from New York University, many years of experience in the financial sector—before throwing up his hands. "I'm supposed to be a specialist in the capital markets, but I want to confess that many times I know nothing. How can I not foresee the future and any junior analyst can tell me what's going to happen?" In laying out the modern case against active asset management, Aharoni name-checked the efficient markets hypothesis, Nassim Nicholas Taleb's The Black Swan, and ran through a bunch of gems from the behavioralist playbook (like those surveys that show most people think they're above-average drivers). Aharoni assembled a series of analysts' quotes making foolish and wrong short-term market projections, and displayed a chart showing that out of a few dozen Israeli investment funds, only three beat their benchmark indices over eight years.Read the full Slate article here.
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" producer David Javerbaum joins us to discuss his new book, "What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters." We'll also talk to Javerbaum about his work writing the lyrics for the special "A Colbert Christmas," which was recently nominated for a 2010 Grammy. Javerbaum is also one of three principal authors of the bestselling textbook parody "America: The Book."Download the podcast here. See also: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race
, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book)
President Obama was in China this week and he did speak out on the country’s human rights record. On today’s first Underreported segment, we’re taking a look at China’s expansive prison system, formerly called Laogai. We’ll examine how it was modeled after the Soviet gulag system and the accusations that forced labor is used in the camps. We’ll speak with Harry Wu, founder of the Laogai Research Foundation and Nicole Kempton, who edited the foundation’s book Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China.
1.To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce.
2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish.
Quotes:
An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves.
-- Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men" review of Heroes: Saviors Traitors and Supermen by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Independent , October 19, 2004
Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will.
-- Evan Thomas, "Look Ma! No hands!'", Time , December 23, 1985
Feed no more blossoms
to the wind, abnegate the constellations,
negate the sea and what is left
of your world? What is left then?
-- Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication", American Poetry Review , July/August 2003
, Heroes: A History of Hero Worship
, Cleopatra: The First Woman of Power
