new articles to eat lunch to

[WAC]

Ever see the Frontline "Ghosts of Rwanda"? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

[WAC]

This is a few years old but it's pretty interesting

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/is_this_woman_paranoid_or_are_people_really_out_to_get_her/

Is This Woman Paranoid? Or Are People Really Out to Get Her?
Dianne Wilkerson is the state's highest elected black official—and one of its biggest mysteries.

[saranclaps]

What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones?
By Charlie LeDuff

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/aiyana-stanley-jones-detroit

[Spoilt Victorian Child]

Ever see the Frontline "Ghosts of Rwanda"? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

After watching this I just sat there and cried for a while.

I posted this the other day but in case anyone missed it: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

[port]

James Frey: Once a douchebag, always a douchebag
http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/books/features/69474/

[wintergreen]

James Frey: Once a douchebag, always a douchebag
http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/books/features/69474/

is andy spade (at right) david's evil twin?

[wolfie]

I posted this the other day but in case anyone missed it: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

well now i'm depressed

[intheyarbles]

I posted this the other day but in case anyone missed it: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

well now i'm depressed

Oh god, this one left me crying in my beer at happy hour. Just watched the Frontline ep last week - didn't have the same scope as the new yorker article, but still left me absolutely gutted

[Merciel]

James Frey: Once a douchebag, always a douchebag
http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/books/features/69474/

I'd seen this story getting a ton of snark on publishing blogs but hadn't actually read it until now. Having done so, I'm mostly just flabbergasted that so many MFA students thought it was a remotely acceptable deal on any level at all. Jesus. What do they teach these people?

[WAC]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&ref=business

For DecorMyEyes, Bad Publicity is a Good Thing

[WAC]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&ref=business

For DecorMyEyes, Bad Publicity is a Good Thing

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/devil-details/online-retailer-charged-with-fraud-threats/3478/

DecorMyEyes founder Vitaly Borker — also known as Tony Russo and Stanley Bolds — was arrested Monday and charged with defrauding customers of his online eye wear company and making repeated and violent threats to customers who attempted to return defective goods.

Borker, who was the subject of a recent expose in the New York Times, apparently profited by understanding that a glitch in Google’s search algorithm didn’t differentiate between complaints and comments about his luxury eye wear firm. As a result, DecorMyEyes appeared high in every designer eye wear search because of a massive number of complaints filed against his company. Google has since changed its search formula to push bad actors down in the search results.

However Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said DecorMyEyes’ business practices, which already allegedly involved selling counterfeit and broken eye wear, turned particularly sinister when Borker physically threatened customers who disputed credit card charges for the fake and broken goods he sold or filed complaints at online sites. Borker often used the aliases Tony Russo and Stanley Bolds, according to the complaint, but his business practice was consistent.

According to the complaint, numerous New York area consumers –those who lived closest to Borker’s Brooklyn operation — were threatened with death or rape in obscenity-laced phone and email messages when they attempted to return merchandise. Borker consistently told these local consumers: “Remember that I know where you live.” And even sent one complaining customer a photograph of the outside of her building, leaving her certain that her life was in danger.

“Online consumers should never be in fear for their safety simply because they have chosen the convenience of online shopping,” said Bharara in a prepared statement. “But that’s what allegedly occurred in this case.”

Borker, 34, was arrested Monday at his home in Brooklyn, New York. A search of his residence found several firearms and ammunition, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Calls to DecorMyEyes were not returned prior to press time.

You guys should read that article if you haven't

[wolferine]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&ref=business

For DecorMyEyes, Bad Publicity is a Good Thing

love this article

[Durham]

Yeah I was glad to hear on the radio that he had been arrested, the nyt thing is pretty nuts

The 10 Most Ridiculously Entertaining Reads of 2010
http://bestof2010.longform.org/#entertaining

[JUGLIFE]

http://www.guernicamag.com/features/213 ... y_11_1_10/

La Violencia

[jbiz]

Yeah I was glad to hear on the radio that he had been arrested, the nyt thing is pretty nuts

The 10 Most Ridiculously Entertaining Reads of 2010
http://bestof2010.longform.org/#entertaining

thanks for this

[WAC]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/12/21/the_hidden_war

You couldn't read a newspaper this year without catching a story about Afghanistan or Pakistan. These two countries, the focal points of U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy, were in the news every day -- from the capture of Taliban No. 2 Mullah Baradar to a major coalition offensive in Marja, from more than 100 drone strikes in northwest Pakistan to devastating floods across the country. Afghan civilians voted and NATO in Afghanistan got a new commander. A Pakistani-American man attempted to set off a car bomb in Times Square, and U.S. troops pulled out of the bloody Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. But despite this blanket of coverage, some important stories have flown under the radar -- the growing Barelvi opposition to the Taliban in Pakistan, for example, and deteriorating security conditions in northern Afghanistan; the women's rights movement in Pakistan and Karachi's inept security services. As the year comes to an end, the AfPak Channel asked its contributors to list the "Stories You Missed" in this troubled region -- and to explain why these will be the ones making headlines in 2011.

* Behind the Chaos, Obama's Plan Is Finally Coming Into Focus
By Steve Coll
* Actually, the U.S. Gave Up on COIN Ages Ago
By Anand Gopal
* While You Were Distracted By Marja, Northern Afghanistan Fell Apart
By Joshua Foust
* It Matters that Karzai Is Crazy -- Just Not In the Way You Think
By Martine van Bijlert
* There Were More Drone Strikes -- And Far Fewer Civilians Killed
By Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann
* Pakistan's Minorities Come Under Fire…
By Kalsoom Lakhani
* … But Some of Them Are Fighting Back
By Rania Abouzeid
* Karzai Is Pardoning Taliban and Drug Lords
By Kate Clark
* The Real Story Behind the Ban On Contractors
By Matthieu Aikins
* Truth And Reconciliation Are Coming to Afghanistan - Really
By Sari Kouvo
* How The Floods Could Help Pakistan In the Long Term
By Amil Khan
* Karachi Explodes in Ethnic Warfare
By Huma Imtiaz
* Pakistani Women Have It Bad, Too
By Madiha Sattar
* Pakistan's Criminal Justice System Needs Fixing -- Now
By Samina Ahmed

[Swelling Itching Brain]

sorry if it's already been posted but Randy Quaid and his batshit wife going crazy and running to Canada is the weirdest thing I've read in a while
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/fea ... ntPage=all

[Albus]

Yeah I was glad to hear on the radio that he had been arrested, the nyt thing is pretty nuts

The 10 Most Ridiculously Entertaining Reads of 2010
http://bestof2010.longform.org/#entertaining

thanks for this

[jewels]

nothing new to add, but i love this thread

[Parnelio]

this is probably the most scathing review of the hour:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n01/eliot-wein ... ght-i-said

More generally, the DP Bush bears little relation to the George W. Bush of memory. The DPB is always poring over reports; GWB insisted on one-paragraph summaries, usually delivered orally. (Rumsfeld, who knew his man, presented his daily reports with shiny colour covers that had a stirring combat photo accompanied by an inspirational line from the Bible.) The DPB continually mentions his favourite books and maintains that he read two a week while president; GWB was rumoured to be dyslexic, and read no book other than the Book (much like his counterpart, that other wealthy bad boy, Osama bin Laden). GWB famously never asked anything at meetings, but the DPB claims:

I learn best by asking questions. In some cases, I probe to understand a complex issue. Other times, I deploy questions as a way to test my briefers’ knowledge. If they cannot answer concisely and in plain English, it raises a red flag that they may not fully grasp the subject.

[psyduck]

The LRB Hitch-22 review is also pretty ruthless: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n12/david-runc ... lot-of-fun

[ahungbunny]

top

[okl]

After the Genocide
When a people murders up to a million fellow-countrymen, what does it mean to survive?
by Philip Gourevitch

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1995/1 ... ntPage=all

Not new, but probably the best magazine article I've ever read. It's grim stuff, but the biblical analogy is incredibly elegant.

Encouraged by political and civic leaders, the massacring of Tutsis spread from region to region. Following the militias’ example, Hutus young and old rose to the task. Neighbors hacked neighbors to death in their homes, and colleagues hacked colleagues to death in their workplaces. Priests killed their parishioners, and elementary-school teachers killed their students. Many of the largest massacres occurred in churches and stadiums where Tutsis had sought refuge—often at the invitation of local authorities, who then oversaw their execution. In mid-April, at least five thousand Tutsis were packed in the Gatwaro Stadium, in the western city of Kibuye; as the massacre there began, gunmen in the bleachers shot zigzag waves of bullets and tossed grenades to make the victims stampede back and forth before militiamen waded in to finish the job with machetes.

there is no way these people are as fully developed as me

[1986]

i've been rocking longform pretty exclusively these days. their quality can be hit-or-miss but generally there's at least one good thing per day, and if there's not, occasionally there are days where like 4 awesome things get posted that i save for later

[jbiz]

yeah i hit up the big think every day and there's usually some good stuff there too, though not really as long so you can read a couple during lunch

http://bigthink.com/idea_feeds/latest

[dog liver]

The Lost Canadians - They should be living in Manitoba, but due to a map-maker’s error they’re living in Minnesota. The Americans of Angle Township


http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.01-history-the-lost-canadians

[Robert]

Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_lottery/all/1

[WAC]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/02/where_do_bad_ideas_come_from

Where Do Bad Ideas Come From?
And why don't they go away?

BY STEPHEN M. WALT | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

Those who think that humanity is making steady if fitful progress might point to the gradual spread of more representative forms of government, the largely successful campaign to eradicate slavery, the dramatic improvements in public health over the past two centuries, the broad consensus that market systems outperform centrally planned economies, or the growing recognition that action must be taken to address humanity's impact on the environment. An optimist might also point to the gradual decline in global violence since the Cold War. In each case, one can plausibly argue that human welfare improved as new knowledge challenged and eventually overthrew popular dogmas, including cherished but wrongheaded ideas, from aristocracy to mercantilism, that had been around for centuries.

Yet this sadly turns out to be no universal law: There is no inexorable evolutionary march that replaces our bad, old ideas with smart, new ones. If anything, the story of the last few decades of international relations can just as easily be read as the maddening persistence of dubious thinking. Like crab grass and kudzu, misguided notions are frustratingly resilient, hard to stamp out no matter how much trouble they have caused in the past and no matter how many scholarly studies have undermined their basic claims.

[darger]

Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_lottery/all/1

i like that fact that he gave it up because it became too boring and liked his day job better.

[chandler]

http://consumerist.com/2011/02/how-this-philly-homeowner-foreclosed-on-wells-fargo.html

Wells Fargo Meeting Today With Philly Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Them (Here's How He Did It)
Feb: 18th

Wells Fargo is meeting today at noon with the Philadelphia homeowner who "foreclosed" on them, The Consumerist has exclusively learned. Patrick says he "received a call from upon high" late yesterday and that he now has an appointment, "with a very senior Wells Fargo person." It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But how did Patrick go from embattled and ignored homeowner to seated across the negotiating table with leverage? I spoke with him to find out more about both how and why he did what he did. His story is an inspiration to anyone who's dreamed of going toe-to-toe with the big banks and winning. Turns out that armed with persistence, and a little legal know-how, Davids can take down Goliaths

Update: Dude basically won

http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20110222_Consumer_10_0__Borrower-bank_dispute_is_settled__borrower_wins.html