links for 2009-04-14 : Uncertain Principles

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links for 2009-04-14

Category: Links Dump
Posted on: April 14, 2009 5:00 AM, by Chad Orzel

EDSBS » Archive » CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS COVERS THE NATIONAL TITLE GAME

"Like the tyrant who conjured a territory whole from the aether, so have we on this field two imaginary kingdoms wrenched forth from geographic oblivion. Florida, were it not for the intervention of a few real estate scamsters in the ‘20, the discovery of insecticide, air-conditioning, and the generous slathering of federal pork upon the state’s snake-infested swampwaste, would have descended into a kind of Sun Belt Lord of the Flies scenario, I think. I must also admit this may have happened despite all the best efforts I described in the following sentence."

(tags: silly football sports)
Class Dismissed - The Atlantic (March 2009)

I would like to like this article about class and class stereotypes, but it fails to resolve into anything more than a loosely connected assortment of things the author thought witty. If there's anything really worthwhile here, I'm too short on sleep to see it.

(tags: economics society culture class-war)
Reducing inequality: what’s the problem? — Crooked Timber

"Even if you don’t worry about exorbitant incomes in and of themselves, there’s no avoiding the fact that they have consequences for the incomes and well-being of Americans in middle and lower parts of the distribution. The social pie isn’t zero-sum. But our economy hasn’t grown faster in the past few decades than it did before, so the dramatic jump in incomes among those at the top has come in part at the expense of the rest of us. The following chart offers one way to see this. It shows GDP per family and median family income over the past six decades. Relative to growth of the economy, incomes in the middle (and below) have increased slowly since the 1970s."

(tags: blogs economics social-science class-war crooked-timber)
Paper Tigers: Books: The New Yorker

A fascinating look at the historical origins of the modern newspaper business, and where it might be headed.

(tags: journalism history business media)
MediaShift . Newspaper Cartoonists Engage Audiences (Including Haters) Online | PBS

"In a world where entertainment is increasingly fractured to cater to niche audiences, the newspaper comics are one of the few common experiences still shared by most Americans. The comics are one of the few things that are updated, without fail, every day. That constant exposure gives readers a lot of time to build up affection for their favorites -- and outright contempt for some others. That might account for the popularity of blogs, like Silent Penultimate Panel Watch and Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke, that follow and skewer comics. One of the best known is Josh Fruhlinger's Comics Curmudgeon, which has become an unofficial clearinghouse for comics-related news. Fruhlinger, who also writes Wonkette's Cartoon Violence column, posts running commentary on the latest developments in comics ranging from Marvin to Mary Worth."

(tags: blogs comics internet media)

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"it fails to resolve into anything more than a loosely connected assortment of things the author thought witty. If there's anything really worthwhile here, I'm too short on sleep to see it."

This is true for all Sandra Tsing Loh articles.

Posted by: Cryptic Ned | April 14, 2009 6:33 PM

The Atlantic article is weak because it ignores the actual American class system, though that isn't its fatal flaw. I found the satire, a technique based on exaggeration, weak and unimaginative. I found the lack of specificity diluted the focus. It would have been much better with personalized synthetic composites, rather than generic descriptions. I also felt the piece was cold, lacking in affection, dislike, or any emotion stronger than bemusement. To see how it should be done, check out Jilly Cooper's take on the English class system where it is hard to miss her affection for her victims even as she skewers their foibles.

I don't think that the problem was just sleepiness on your part.

Posted by: Kaleberg | April 15, 2009 12:19 AM

Uncertain Principles

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