Like many Americans, I look to the Bible for insight and comfort. Each day I try to glean wisdom from the well-worn pages. While I may never know who actually wrote the words, I still have trust because, well, it is the Bible after all.
Naturally, I’m referring to The Economist. The biting humor of the Brits continues to provide loads of entertainment. Here’s The Economist on Petraeus’s testiomony and Iraq:
The Democrats also have another, deeper problem. They won both houses of Congress last year by promising to end the war in Iraq. Despite strong public support, they have not even come close to doing so. Mr bin Laden, who has apparently been reading Noam Chomsky in his cave, says this is because America is ruled by large corporations. Others prefer a less sinister explanation.
I love it. bin Laden reading Chomsky in his cave. Only one publication would have the balls to say something like that in the middle of a serious article about Iraq.
On a related note, one of the negative consequences of having access to the second largest university library on the west coast is that I find myself reading all sorts of periodicals and newspapers from around the world. With basically every publication available free for reading, I can’t help myself. Control yourself, Ben, control yourself.
My boarding school had a gorgeous “Reading Room” with huge windows, comfy couches, and the latest issues of more periodicals than I could count. I miss that room more than I have ever missed anything in my life. Enjoy while you can 🙂
It’s too bad colleges don’t have a self-directed undergraduate program where they just turn you loose in the library for four years and let you research and blog. Once you’re done, they check your pulse; if you’re alive, you get a diploma, if not…
Self-directed undergrad programs? I like that. I really do. But, since I already have an undergraduate degree, that’s not where I’m headed with my life.
You got me really lost for the first 10 seconds…
I would say: Don’t control yourself.
Just let yourself go.;-)
Hunker down, Ben. A focused mind is a beautiful thing. Now to homework!
“Only one publication would have the balls to say something like that in the middle of a serious article about Iraq.”
I think you may need to start consuming more British media in general. 😉
Our broadsheets deal with issues which would never pass muster in the US; our political programmes and other TV software discuss issues which will have them given PG rating in the US even for adults.
As for the library:
There is no such thing as too much reading.
My Uni library in Cambridge is a copyright library and the first references to it date back to the 1400s. But for research, I prefer the British Library in London because it is “butlered”! They bring you what you want to read. In a day’s work, you can stroll over to the manuscripts section – without a pencil or pen in hand – and see Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.
You should visit it sometime!
“Down with cooperations who do coorporationy things in their coorporationy buildings”
– Michael Moore, a la Team America World Police
During my freshman year at Duke, I did the same thing, Ben. Every Friday night anyone who wanted to find me could come to the far corner of the top level of the stacks, where I sat with a collection of books to read through.
I still make trips once a month to sit in the periodicals section of the library for 2-3 hours.