Month: July 2009

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Rewrite

This article by Robert Kaplan in the Atlantic discusses the lessons of the Sri Lankan government’s victory over the Tamil Tigers, and bizarrely tries to use them to explain why the U.S. shouldn’t engage in the same practices against the Taliban in Afghanistan (and Pakistan).

The thing is, Sri Lanka’s government (representing the ethnic majority, which is not an excuse for its behavior) was engaged in a civil war, while the war in Afghanistan is an invasion by the U.S. To equate Tamil Tigers :: Sri Lanka to Taliban :: U.S. Marines is to somehow imply that the Taliban are trying to secede from the United States. Or it’s an effort to fill a column on deadline. Either way, please re-write.

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What It Is: 7/6/09

What I’m reading: I finished The Hunter, and I’m waiting for delivery of David Mazzucchelli’s decade-in-the-making comic, Asterios Polyp. (Boy, do I hate the term “graphic novel.”)

What I’m listening to: My new Mad Mix CD, “Stix Stigma,” which I’ve started sending out to select friends.

What I’m watching: Apollo 13, Roman Holiday, and Federer’s impossibly long Wimbledon finals match against Andy Roddick. Congrats, Rog!

What I’m drinking: Plymouth & Q Tonic.

What Rufus is up to: A little of this, a little of that. Basically, back to the old days. I even left him for a full work-day (about 9 hours), and he was just fine.

Where I’m going: Maybe down to the shore for a day with my brother and his family. Maybe to the Frick or the Met, to see some art.

What I’m happy about: That I finished the July/August ish of the magazine  last Thursday and then managed to win my Fight With the Forsythia over the weekend! Since I’m taking this week off from work, perhaps I’ll engage the Battle of the Mulch. (Actually, I have a To Do list of about 20 projects, chores, and errands; I’ll have to juggle those with spending time with my aforementioned brother and his family, who are here to visit for the week.)

What I’m sad about: Even Gil Thorp has a Twitter feed, and I still refuse to use that site/service. It really is my first “you goddamn kids and your crazy new technologies!” moment. Our IT dept. set one up for each of our magazines, so I evidently have to start posting things there during the workday, in order to boost traffic to our site. I’m thinking posting “Whoa! I’m editing now!”, “I should probably cut down on the office pretzels”, “I’m going to stand up now.”

What I’m worried about: That something going tragically awry if I rent a chipper to take care of the forsythia branches. That said, I did manage to reclaim around 225 square feet of my backyard, so I’ll take the risk to life and limb.

What I’m pondering: If I stop posting on this blog regularly in order to focus on a few topics that deserve long-form essays, will I discover that I’m not really capable of insightful writing and be forced to admit to my own puerility?

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Home at last

Last year, one of my Montaigne posts included his description of his library, which is one of the few things in life I’m envious of.

But now the New York Observer tells me it can all be ours — on Central Park West, no less — for a mere $7.5 million!

Seriously, go over to the architect’s site and check out the pix of this gorgeous duplex. Then send me money so I can buy the place. I promise I’ll let you come over.

(But I bet the co-op board has a “No dogs” policy. Grr.)

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Last day!

The production schedule read, “Final Materials to Printer – July 2,” and I’m gonna get those final materials to the printer by July 2! Just a couple hundred words more about Pfizer and a brief writeup about Abbott Laboratories, and this year’s Top 20 Pharma / Top 10 Biopharma ish will be finished!

So don’t expect any more posts today.

In other news, it looks like the constant dreariness and rainfall of June has had at least one positive effect: the deer have had enough to eat in the woods and have (mostly) left my tigerlilies alone!