[jjbrr]

I've stolen this from another forum, but there are some great things here that I think many of you would enjoy.

Washington Post - Pearls Before Breakfast
One of the most famous and interesting magazine articles of the last decade, the Post put one of the world's greatest violinists, equipped with a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius, in a metro station during rush hour. If he played it for spare change, incognito, would anyone notice?

New Yorker - The Apostate
Don't be intimidated by how (ridiculously) long this new article is, it's great and describes not only the insane beliefs of the cult of Scientology but also the physical abuse, bigotry, child-labour, prisons and other insanity. Crazy, crazy stuff. I knew more than a bit about Scientology before, but a lot of the stuff in here really surprised me.

The New Yorker- The Mark of a Masterpiece
Essay about people using crime scene-esque technology to figure out the source of unknown paintings, ends up being a fantastic read.

Art of the Steal: On the trail of the world's most ingenious thief
"Gerald Blanchard could hack any bank, swipe any jewel. There was no security system he couldn't beat."

The Return of Superfly
"Frank Lucas, once the city's biggest, baddest heroin kingpin, the original O.G. in chinchilla, now seems like just a very likable guy. But don't be fooled."

The Falling Man
"In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow." Amazing 9/11 article.

How Companies and Brands get named
Hilarious article.

DFW Essays:
NYTMag - Federer as Religious Experience
The Atlantic - Host
Gourmet - Consider the Lobster

Share more

[jjbrr]

From the How Companies and Brands Get Named article:

Spoiler

It's this sort of chutzpah that makes the namers at Landor see red. "The Internet is filled with arrogance," says Amy Becker coldly. "You might have a provocative, fun name. But do you have the basis for a lasting brand? We still don't know how compelling a brand Yahoo will be 10 years from now. I sense a real missed opportunity."

"Let's put it this way," says Redhill. "Over the years, we have created and sustained many of the world's most durable brands. We make a lot more hits than companies who think up their own symbols and names. I'm not suggesting that a company couldn't get it right with a stroke of insight or genius or luck. But if it's your own brand, how can you possibly be objective? I mean, would you name your own baby?" Redhill thinks for a minute, then backpedals. "I mean, of course you would name your own baby. But wouldn't you ask your friends and family for suggestions and recommendations? Perhaps they would open your eyes to a name you'd never considered."

[BunnyGo]

That's a brilliant quote, and I very much enjoyed the New Yorker and Washington Post articles when they first came out--the others look great, I'm looking forward to reading them.

[y66]

From The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson:

Quote

Back in the early seventies, there were many "brands" of dope in Harlem. Tru Blu, Mean Machine, Could Be Fatal, Dick Down, Boody, Cooley High, Capone, Ding Dong, ***** Me, ***** You, Nice, Nice to Be Nice, Oh -- Can't Get Enough of That Funky Stuff, Tragic Magic, Gerber, The Judge, 32, 32-20, O.D., Correct, Official Correct, Past Due, Payback, Revenge, Green Tape, Red Tape, Rush, Swear to God, PraisePraisePraise, KillKillKill, Killer 1, Killer 2, KKK, Good Pussy, Taster's Choice, Harlem Hijack, Joint, Insured for Life, and Insured for Death were only a few of the brand names rubber-stamped onto cellophane bags. But none sold like Frank Lucas's Blue Magic.

What's Gerber doing in there?

The guy writes colorfully. Enjoyed that story. The Federer story was pretty good. Hard to believe that was almost 5 years ago. I think that Pearls Before Breakfast story was discussed in the WC.

[jjbrr]

I assume this has been discussed in the WC also, but in case it hasn't, I strongly recommend this story about autistic piano savant Derek Paravicini. Sorry it's not a magazine article, but it's great nonetheless. If you missed the 60 Minutes interview, I strongly recommend doing a little work on Google and finding it.

Some Rolling Stone (Probably NSFW language/drug use):
The Airplane Thief
The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders

The Secret Sharer - The New Yorker
The story of whistle blower facing 35 years for bringing attention to waste and potentially illegal activity within the NSA.

Quote

The other document, which touted the success of Turbulence, was officially declassified in July, 2010, three months after Drake was indicted. “After charging him with having this ostensibly serious classified document, the government waved a wand and decided it wasn’t so classified after all,”

[Phil]

I'm through the art authentication piece and the branding article. Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing.

[y66]

I wouldn't call this a great article. And it's not a magazine article if that matters to you. But it's definitely a good story about an amazing athlete which I am posting mainly for the reading pleasure of boxing fans, health nuts and west coast LSAT tutors who may not have seen it in the Times.


Christinne Muschi/Reuters

Bernard Hopkins, 46, became the oldest fighter to capture a significant belt when he defeated Jean Pascal last month.

[jjbrr]

Not sure what's taken me so long to finally read it, but I made it through Talese's Frank Sinatra has a Cold, Esquire April 1966. I guess it's a pretty highly celebrated article.

Working on some Hunter S Thompson now.

[WellSpyder]

y66, on 2011-June-03, 19:14, said:

What's Gerber doing in there?

Dunno, but I guess it explains some of the Gerber bids I've seen over the years....

[y66]

Looking Back, Gates Says He’s Grown Wary of ‘Wars of Choice’

[y66]

The Checklist

If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do?
by Atul Gawande



If a new drug were as effective at saving lives as Peter Pronovost’s checklist, there would be a nationwide marketing campaign urging doctors to use it.

Just finished reading the book after seeing barmar's post last week. Highly recommend this.

[y66]

Related story to the one above.

How American Health Care Killed My Father

After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem.

By DAVID GOLDHILL

Quote

Indeed, I suspect that our collective search for villains—for someone to blame—has distracted us and our political leaders from addressing the fundamental causes of our nation’s health-care crisis. All of the actors in health care—from doctors to insurers to pharmaceutical companies—work in a heavily regulated, massively subsidized industry full of structural distortions. They all want to serve patients well. But they also all behave rationally in response to the economic incentives those distortions create. Accidentally, but relentlessly, America has built a health-care system with incentives that inexorably generate terrible and perverse results. Incentives that emphasize health care over any other aspect of health and well-being. That emphasize treatment over prevention. That disguise true costs. That favor complexity, and discourage transparent competition based on price or quality. That result in a generational pyramid scheme rather than sustainable financing. And that—most important—remove consumers from our irreplaceable role as the ultimate ensurer of value.

These are the impersonal forces, I’ve come to believe, that explain why things have gone so badly wrong in health care, producing the national dilemma of runaway costs and poorly covered millions. The problems I’ve explored in the past year hardly count as breakthrough discoveries—health-care experts undoubtedly view all of them as old news. But some experts, it seems, have come to see many of these problems as inevitable in any health-care system—as conditions to be patched up, papered over, or worked around, but not problems to be solved.

[jjbrr]

This is a nice, quick read. Really enjoyed this article.

Three-Man Weave
"There are underdog stories...and there's what happened in North Dakota in 1988"

[jjbrr]

One more then I'll stop bumping this thread:

New Yorker - Trial by Fire
A story of a man convicted of killing his three children via arson. It may have been discussed in another thread about the death penalty, but it's a fascinating read.

[BunnyGo]

jjbrr, on 2011-June-24, 19:18, said:

One more then I'll stop bumping this thread:

New Yorker - Trial by Fire
A story of a man convicted of killing his three children via arson. It may have been discussed in another thread about the death penalty, but it's a fascinating read.

This was a very interesting read. Not the least of which because Gov. Perry didn't pardon him or commute his death sentence to life in prison while people investigated further.

[jjbrr]

BunnyGo, on 2011-June-24, 19:23, said:

This was a very interesting read. Not the least of which because Gov. Perry didn't pardon him or commute his death sentence to life in prison while people investigated further.

It really is amazing how his final appeals were handled (or not handled).

[jjbrr]

New Yorker - The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America
What a character.

[Phil]

jjbrr, on 2016-August-25, 12:26, said:

New Yorker - The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America
What a character.

I read this too, but other than the seemingly phony 10 year waitlist, is he really a fraud?

LOL at the foodie establishment licking this guy's boots.

[Thiros]

And I thought we were getting rough treatment with the 3-5 hour waits at Din Tai Fung.....