New Yorker magazine alert thread

xposts

the impression that i got - and this is based almost entirely on listening to the guardian science podcast a month ago - was that she, while she was a biologist working for the US govt, heard from various scientific contacts that the mass use of pesticides on fields in the US was having a terrible effect, and that effect was travelling up the food chain, and that was what she wrote about. but, yes, i didn't get the impression that she was particularly thinking about the use of DDT to specifically combat mosquitos who spread malaria.

Lauren Collins, Wendell Steavenson, and Julia Ioffe.

here is another link about DDT and malaria control: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3186

That was a good piece, despite too much Hitler bait. However, it misses the point, at least rhetorically. Carson turned out to be right about resistance to DDT as well as its dangers ... but those weren't determined for several more years, if not decades. At the time of "Silent Spring," as I understand it, her warning was just that, a mostly unfounded warning.

Now, to argue for renewed DDT use, yeah, that would totally go against reason and science. But back then she effectively marshaled support with worst case scenario predictions. To our benefit! But if that New Yorker article was at all accurate, it sounds like the ban went into place right when that guy was making real progress on the anti-mosquito front. fwiw.

sounding the batuman klaxon: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/07/african-drumming-in-istanbul.html

lazy ass magazine on vacation all summer

just read the mosquito article - pretty exciting and promising stuff, and agree with balls's assessment itt

Anyway mosquitos are part of the food chain so, y'know, beware unintended consequences and whatnot. What will the bats eat?

― quincie, Sunday, July 8, 2012 3:36 PM (5 days ago)

the article goes out of its way a couple times to mention and cite that mosquitos, especially this particular species which is non-native to north america, aren't really essential parts of any food chain. i'll be interested to read further about this but it seems like the potential benefits pretty far outweigh the risks

a follow-up of sorts (free): http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/07/mosquitoes-and-nimbyism.html

mosquitos are worthless horrible people and should be banished from the earth if at all possible

2 good pieces in this week: forensic linguistics article (which is kinda pro forma but has an interesting subject) and the strongman competition article (which is great all around)

cool, hello cottage reading.

strongman 1 is not paywalled btw & yes, v good - http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/23/120723fa_fact_bilger?currentPage=all

forensic linguistics piece has a great detail about the early life of one its main subjects that's just kinda thrown in there but when you read it you're like WTF

ha yes

forensic linguistics article (which is kinda pro forma but has an interesting subject)

I agree with this. I found it a little disappointing, but only because it's something that's so ridiculously up my alley that I wanted more from it. But what, I dunno.

it literally took me 30 mins to remember what the wtf fact is & i read that article earlier today but yes v otm

goddammit you guys I was all happy with skipping the strongman article >:[

can we have a separate david grann alert thread? then i can stop checking this one.

I agree with this. I found it a little disappointing, but only because it's something that's so ridiculously up my alley that I wanted more from it. But what, I dunno.

― Never translate Dutch (jaymc), Wednesday, July 18, 2012 3:28 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all the cases were fascinating, the article couldve just been composed entirely of examples of past linguistic detective work and it wouldve been p fn sweet

strongman story is v v good.
this fucken guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEvpNMdOK6I

the dude lifts a half a ton and his nose starts bleeding i mean wtf

six foot eight, 430 pounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXr4es-KAs0
hi dere just lifting a car

nice loins, djp!

just pressing 285 pounds over my head while he's standing.
with one arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vv6EJBUCbc

that kind of stuff astonishes me really; this guy may be the strongest man who ever lived. what i want is video of him kicking over fire hydrants and throwing kindergartners like footballs but he seems to not be evil, which is a shame.

The Afghan Civil War article is great, eff the haters.

man this is fascinating:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/07/jose-rodriguez-on-torture.html

the guy's logical leaps i mean. "it's cool, it's totally as okay as using drones!" not really a winning argument.

I like that Afghan piece. Somehow I found it more engaging than a lot of other pieces on the same subject. It's also very immediate now, like "holy shit, we're really leaving, and the country is really going to fall apart, and there's really nothing we can do"

Afghanistan is always more on the verge of falling apart than not. When was the last time that country was considered stable?

Strongman article was great, first fun and informative New Yorker read in a while.

"the guy's logical leaps i mean. "it's cool, it's totally as okay as using drones!" not really a winning argument."

Yeah he's basically insane.

i liked that Obama bio review that Lapore did.

man this is fascinating:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/07/jose-rodriguez-on-torture.html

the guy's logical leaps i mean. "it's cool, it's totally as okay as using drones!" not really a winning argument.

― , Blogger (schlump), Friday, July 20, 2012 9:53 AM (11 hours ago)

i actually thought he held his own pretty well, or at least stuck to his script. he's scum of course, but he wouldn't be able to authorize the torture he did if there weren't a legal structure in place to all but shield from accoutability these actors and literally allow them to write their own rules as they go along, and their victims would have some legal recourse if the courts or congress had a spine; in the eyes of the law (at the time), the torture he oversaw was m/l analogous to the al-awlaki hit - both were signed off by the OLC, which is legally binding. there may be varying shades of moral justification, but both are/were ostensibly legal. it's a matter of political will and values, and we were lacking both at the time. still some work to be done obv

i liked that Obama bio review that Lapore did.

Wow, really? I thought it was incredibly pointless, and I generally like Lepore. Maybe it was hard for me to disentangle the review with the book.

Anyway, the forensic linguistics is fascinating, even if the field sounds like a lol return to Freud that is NAGL.

The strongest man article is definitely o_O.

I wonder why guys like him aren't playing on the offensive line in the NFL!

xp well tbf, i don't know anything about the book but what i read in that piece

i think guys like shaw are lacking an nfl skillset really

I thought the forensic linguistics piece was a good overview of the field; maybe I just wanted it also to be an unfolding mystery.

yeah p sure the strongman guys don't have NFL feet but that was one of the finest summer pieces i can remember in a long time.

junot diaz doing his thing too and seems like maybe an excerpt from some forthcoming post-wao stuff?

two thousand page remnick-on-springsteen profile in the new ish

Personal theory: high-profile writers keep returning to the Boss to guarantee stream of good free seats to hot-ticket Bruce in NYC/Philly/NJ shows.

well they are also all in the right demo where they genuinely idolize him & would go & pay crazy prices regardless

xxp - that story was the first junot diaz ive ever read & i liked it. picked up 'oscar wao' @ a book sale this wkend

David Remnick: The Promise: Springsteen at the Crossroads

it's good. no real specific links made between the biography & his work, so much, but nice all the same. His muscle tone approximates a fresh tennis ball.

round, furry

lol did bruce let him squeeze the guns

no surprise this appears in the NY:

“This is about the only live music left, with a few exceptions,” Cooper said. Lip-synchers are legion. Coldplay thickens its sound with heaps of pre-taped instruments and synthesizers. The one artificial sound in Springsteen’s act is a snare-drum sound in “We Take Care of Our Own” that seemed to elude easy reproduction.

got to get that snare just right

I am descending into a rabbit hole after discovering the world of professional arm wrestling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmwAUNDiySQ

that is v strange

that moment at 1:01 is like when you shit your pants again immediately after changing your pants

...DAMMIT