There is static above the dinner table many Democratic families
I did not realize just how deeply families across the country are divided over who should be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Fortunately the air will clear within a few weeks.
In Democratic Families, Politics Makes for Estranged Bedfellows
By JODI KANTOR
Maria Shriver woke up Sunday morning and decided to surprise the audience at a rally for Senator Barack Obama in Los Angeles, materializing alongside Oprah Winfrey and telling the crowd she was there because she sought “an America that’s about unity.” But not the family kind. Ms. Shriver is a member of the Kennedy clan, and in the past week, her relatives have split over the Democratic race, publicizing their preferences on opinion pages and at campaign events.
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Sarah Silverman “I’m F*cking Matt Damon”
To appreciate this funny episode on Jimmy Kimmel Live, you need to understand the running spat between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon. Watch the first two episodes before you see Sarah Silverman sing her song “I’m F*cking Matt Damon.”
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Henry Hertzberg on the Clintons vs. Obama
During the four or five weeks leading up to February 5th—“Tsunami Tuesday,” when voters in states with half the nation’s population participate in a not quite national primary—the emotional texture of the Democratic side of the Presidential campaign changed profoundly. For most of Year One of this insanely elongated process, the Democratic Party had been a peaceable kingdom. Its voters were proud of and pleased with the array of choices before them: proud of its diversity, pleased with its unity.
Charlie Wilson’s War
Hollywood gives you an entertaining history lesson on how the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a likable congressman who is more interested in alcohol and good-looking women than passing any law. While he lacks diligence and determination on the congressional floor, he recruits what he regards a dream-team staff: all staffers are female and one is looking better than the next. Wilson has no legislative record whatsoever until he becomes aware of the plight of the Afghani people who are fighting the Soviet Army at enormous costs to their own population. After sleeping with a rich Texas Redneck (Julia Roberts), Charlie becomes serious and maneuvers Congress into providing the Afghani people with all the money they need to win the war. The most enjoyable character in the film is Philip Seymour Hofmann who plays iconoclastic CIA officer in charge of helping the Afghani effort against the evil empire.
Juno
It is difficult for me to write these lines about such a charming film. The plot has a number of unfortunate flaws. Juno, the character and the actress playing the role, are magnificent. But the story feels constructed by a writer rather than based on real lived experience. Juno is barely sixteen and seduces a nerdy classmate into having sex. She is not using any contraceptives and falls pregnant. The entire film is devoted to her struggle with figuring how to deal with her situation. What she does do in the end does not make sense to me. Her stepmother and her father were an option that she did not consider at all. It is great fun to watch Juno and her family compete with one another hurling out comic lines. You don’t hear regular family dinner conversations the way they occur at Juno’s house.
The Smell of Romantic Attraction
Different languages have come up with a way to express that the smell of other people has a profound effect how attracted we are to them. English talks about the “chemistry” that two people have. In German, you literally say “I cannot smell you” (Ich kann dich nicht riechen) to express that you don’t like another person. The Economist reports on the latest developments in the science of smell and interpersonal attraction.
How to find a mate: The scent of a woman (and a man)
A new kind of dating agency relies on matching people by their body odour
ONE of life’s little mysteries is why particular people fancy each other—or, rather, why they do not when on paper they ought to. One answer is that human consciousness, and thus human thought, is dominated by vision. Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, regardless of the other senses. However, as the multi-billion-dollar perfume industry attests, beauty is in the nose of the beholder, too.
We Need More Nerds!
I had forgotten that Bill Gates is a nerd’s nerd. Gates is the living proof that we need more nerds. He is now going to focus his attention and wealth on getting rid of some the biggest health problems in the world. From what I can tell, he may succeed. See this funny last day at Microsoft video with Gates.
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How the Brain Makes Moral Judgments
STEVEN PINKER pulls together in the New York Times magazine evidence that suggests that the human brain is pre-wired for developing a moral instinct. The article is a bit long but well worth reading.
The Moral Instinct
Which of the following people would you say is the most admirable: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug? And which do you think is the least admirable? For most people, it
Continue ReadingHillary’s problem
Today I read for the first time in a major newspaper (the Washington Post) the key argument against Hilary Clinton’s run for the presidency.
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