“Close to 5 million Americans served in WW I, and Mr. Buckles, a cordial fellow of gentle humor, was the last known survivor.”
—Last U.S. World War I veteran Frank W. Buckles dies at 110
February 2011
21 posts
“Poll: If Jack Nicklaus is dead, what’s your favorite memory of him?”
—Nation Unsure If Slumped-Over Jack Nicklaus Is Dead Or Just Napping | The Onion Sports Network
“The comings and goings of blade core technology probably reflect a complex interplay of strategic considerations.”
—Refuting a Myth About Human Origins » American Scientist
“Calling a chill guy like Tim Lincecum “Mr. Lincecum” was pretty funny, but it also was decent.”
—No More Mr. (Or Ms.) Nice Guy - Wall Street Journal
“To classify Krassner as a social rebel is far too cute, wrote the agency. He’s a nut, a raving, unconfined nut.”
—Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Paul Krassner’s 50 Years of Misadventures in Satire and Counterculture | | AlterNet
The Slap Felt Around the World
Now seems a good time for us to remind ourselves that the match that ignited the Tunisian revolution, and this Arab Spring, was lit by Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit seller who set himself on fire on December 17. It was an act of martyrdom that the Times considered at length last month.
He did this due to continual harassment and poor treatment by municipal officials, in particular by Faida Hamdi, who slapped him when he was unable to pay a bribe. The conditions had to be right for Bouazizi’s act to spark revolution, but that was the slap felt around the world. And that was some damn important fruit.
“It’s also just another instance of Radiohead listening to more obscure music than part of their audience.”
—Radiohead’s The King of Limbs: What Happens When ‘Serious Listening’ Is Your Brand — Vulture
Post-Traumatically Stressed Dictators Continue to Fall After Being Deposed
This time last year I wrote “where politics and due process fail, nature eventually wins” due to how heads of state seemed so beleaguered by ill-health. But there’s an ill side to that sick coin that I didn’t consider.
After a revolution, deposed leaders seem to only get sicker. Tunisia’s Ben Ali is seriously ill after a stroke, while others suggest he is in a coma. Egypt’s Hosni Mumbarak is rumored to be very unwell, holed up in Sharm el-Sheikh. And as WikiLeaks revealed, Colonel Gaddafi is hardly in rude health, always traveling with a Ukrainian nurse by his side. Libya is second highest on the Economist’s Shoe-Throwers’ Index, which ranks the potential for unrest across the Middle East.
I for one hope that there are more occurrences of PTSD (Post-Traumatically Stressed Dictators) as illegitimate leaders continue to fall. No-one can predict what’s next, but everyone is trying: Muslim Brotherhood slowly building power in Egypt? Anti-American regimes replacing our strongest allies? A cultural renaissance in free Cairo, where East meets West? Whatever it is, at least the citizens will have a choice.
“I wasn’t born a vampire bat. There’s no way I can work as a writer during the day. There’s just too much happening.”
—The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | An Unpublished Interview With Hunter S. Thompson
“For love of country I won’t talk about it,” Mr Belusconi said.”
—BBC News - Silvio Berlusconi: Ruby sex trial ‘does not worry me’
“It’s very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman.”
—My Puny Human Brain - Slate
“The American foodie is forever projecting his own barbarism onto France.”
—The Moral Crusade Against Foodies - Magazine - The Atlantic
“After ‘Victory Friday’ in Tunisia & ‘Liberation Friday’ in Egypt Gaddafi has decided to abolish all Fridays.”
—Twitter / @Sultan Al Qassemi: Joke I got on my mobile ph …
“If you go out dancing, a fanny pack is very necessary. Especially if you don’t want other people dancing with you.”
—With Fanny Packs on the Runway, Can Mom Jeans Be Far Behind? - WSJ.com
“In Philadelphia, he remembers, I could eat anywhere in the bus station. By Maryland, that had changed.”
—Courage at the Greensboro Lunch Counter | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine
“That’s how Plummer’s football career ended, some would say fittingly: with a desperation pass picked off.”
—YOU HAVE TO WONDER WHY A RED-BLOODED - 02.14.11 - SI Vault
“Salinger was looking in through the window beside me. “Stop. Please come back!” He was shouting now in the street.”
—Paris Review – An Evening with J. D. Salinger, Blair Fuller
“It felt like something out of a William Golding novel, but they were, in fact, trying to protect me. Meet my local neighborhood watch.”
—A brief report in the New Republic on what happened when the Egyptian police were taken off the streets. There are many child vigilantes protecting Cairo’s neighbourhoods with anything they can get their hands on: guns, swords, and a tennis racket.
“If the converted were showing up at comedy clubs all the time, I wouldn’t be the comic I am now.”
—The Rumpus Interview With W. Kamau Bell - The Rumpus.net
“It took them nearly 100 years to appoint a woman, and they chose the worst economic moment.”
—Berlusconi Sex Scandals Fuel Anger of Italian Women - NYTimes.com
