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Book Clubbing
I almost left when the moderator told a newcomer who announced at the outset that she hadn’t actually read the book that doing so isn’t a participation prerequisite. This group had been assigned Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs, by Jamie Loftus (2023). Its publisher insists that it’s a travelogue-culinary history-capitalist critique combo.…
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Information and Attention
“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among…
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More or Less Right
The fuel-delivery driver stared at me through an elongated windshield. The riverwalk however was filled with others, so I proceeded along the path. He reversed just fast enough to remain ahead of me but eventually stopped after his partner signaled more pedestrians were coming. Maybe he thought that he had been blocking the sidewalk first.…
“There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.”
–Nikki Giovanni