Those lil red headphones are gold - reminds me of the Little Red Engine that could! 'I think I can. I think I can. I know I can. I know I can.' #choo-choo
Super cute. That's our VP of Online Marketing!
Six months after the last American troops left Saigon, Washington Monthly contributing editor James Fallows revisited his experience with the draft as a Harvard undergraduate for an essay on how the Vietnam War had deepened America’s class divide. Fallows argued that while privileged young men like him believed at the time that they were fighting the war machine by escaping military service on technicalities, such draft deferments actually prolonged the conflict by lowering the stakes for the elites who could have actually done something to stop it—which was why the Johnson administration quietly but deliberately allowed them. The class divisions that determined who did and didn’t fight in Vietnam, Fallows warned, would haunt America for years to come.
n the fall of 1969, I was beginning my final year in college. As the months went by, the rock on which I had unthinkingly anchored my hopes—the certainty that the war in Vietnam would be over before I could possibly fight—began to crumble. It shattered altogether on Thanksgiving weekend when, while riding back to Boston from a visit with my relatives, I heard that the draft lottery had been held and my birthdate had come up number 45. I recognized for the first time that, inflexibly, I must either be drafted or consciously find a way to prevent it.
In the atmosphere of that time, each possible choice came equipped with barbs. To answer the call was unthinkable, not only because, in my heart, I was desperately afraid of being killed, but also because, among my friends, it was axiomatic that one should not be “complicit” in the immoral war effort. Draft resistance, the course chosen by a few noble heroes of the movement, meant going to prison or leaving the country. With much the same intensity with which I wanted to stay alive, I did not want those things either. What I wanted was to go to graduate school, to get married, and to enjoy those bright prospects I had been taught that life owed me.
[...]
We returned to Cambridge that afternoon, not in government buses but as free individuals, liberated and victorious. The talk was high-spirited, but there was something close to the surface that none of us wanted to mention. We knew now who would be killed.
Fallows is the only person I religiously follow; consistently read. Cannot get enough of this man's writing. Still waiting for confirmation of my wish to come true...
Thanks, Jim Norris, for always sending over quality content.
Q: You make the point on your blog that sometimes it’s the small and unexpected things that can have a big impact on happiness. Is there a business application for that thought?
A: Even a small treat can boost people’s happiness. And people get a bigger kick from an unexpected pleasure. [...] This might seem kind of childish, but we’ve all seen adults scrambling for little freebies in very undignified ways. People love a treat!
#littlethings ht @guykawasaki
More like, the 11 Reasons Why I LOVE LA -- this type of behavior is pure comedy :)
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. - Samuel Johnson #fridaywisdom (via @avflox and Priscilla Scala)
"Spent a few hours at Brooklyn Kitchen yesterday, while Eric Ripert, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and David Bouley reminisced about restaurants past and peered into the future of food. They all had wonderful stories about the chefs they’ve worked with and the kitchens they’ve been in.
Bouley fed me that amazing sea urchin/caviar/dashi creation – a dish I’ll be dreaming about. The roe was suspended in a barely-jelled broth that seemed held together by little more than a wish. It was as lovely as a Florentine paperweight, and for one crazy moment I felt as if I was inside the terrine, wandering around in a wonderful new world. The flavors pushed each other forward, and if you concentrated, each bite provided a different experience.
Meanwhile, what were the chefs eating? Robust and juicy sausages, lemony kale salad and fat chunks of hearty bread. And what did they drink? Cans of beer."I would've killed to be in that kitchen.
[written by Ruth Reichl - if you do not know who she is, educate yourselves. Follow her on Twitter @ruthreichl]
U.S. Department of Transportation reported that the nation's 10 largest airlines collected nearly $770 million in checked baggage fees in the first three months of the year, a 33% increase over the same period last year.
Wow. So UPS is offering alternative called 'luggage boxes'. Undecided if it's worth it.
