is a new site that claims to not be your 'grandma's phonebook.' This is because it pulls a ton of info about you from all over the web into one place. And I mean a ton. More than you might be comfortable with in fact. But luckily you can remove yourself from their database by following these simple instructions. Thanks for the heads up on that one Chris.
The parts list for this experiment is as follows:
>One used 20-oz plastic Coke bottle
>Three large-diameter styrofoam cups (or something similar; see below)
>A small kitchen sponge (1/2 inch thick)
>A short length of nylon fishing line (thinner is better; 1-pound test is good)
>A strong sewing needle
>Four straight pins
>One paper clip
>Some paper towels
Video Link. Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield star in a sketch from The One Ronnie. (Thanks, Simon!)
The London Review of Books checks out President G.W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points:
Occasionally, someone on Team DP will insert a lyrical phrase - the tears on the begrimed faces of the 9/11 relief workers 'cutting a path through the soot like rivulets through a desert' - but most of the prose sounds like this:
'I told Margaret and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Bolten that I considered this a far-reaching decision. I laid out a process for making it. I would clarify my guiding principles, listen to experts on all sides of the debate, reach a tentative conclusion, and run it past knowledgeable people. After finalising a decision, I would explain it to the American people. Finally, I would set up a process to ensure that my policy was implemented.'
There are nearly 500 pages of this...
A spot of Foucauldian analysis follows of Team DP, that being the authorial voice in both print and presidency: 'There are no decision points in Decision Points... [instead] a space into which the writing subject constantly disappears.'
'Damn right,' I said [LRB via Metafilter]
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