In the New Yorker...

[Front-Ranger]

Hurrah, the annual food issue has arrived!! 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Speaking of food, I loved the article on chef Sean Brock in the Oct. 31 (Cartoon!) issue. (Loved the pic of him with the piglet on page 44!  )

Made me hungry to try some Hoppin' John! 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Jill Lepore's article on the attack on Planned Parenthood in the Nov. 14 issue is absolutely essential reading.

[serious crayons]

Jill Lepore's article on the attack on Planned Parenthood in the Nov. 14 issue is absolutely essential reading.

I'm in the middle of reading it now.

[Front-Ranger]

Yes I agree about the Planned Parenthood article.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yes I agree about the Planned Parenthood article.

I'm going to be saving this one for the historical points that Lepore makes, such as the one about the percentages of Americans in 1972 who favored leaving the control of a woman's body up to her self and her doctor.

[serious crayons]

I'm going to be saving this one for the historical points that Lepore makes, such as the one about the percentages of Americans in 1972 who favored leaving the control of a woman's body up to her self and her doctor.

I'm still reading it. But it's amazing how much our attitudes toward contraception have changed over a century -- whereas once it was immoral and criminal, it's now acceptable or even favorable (even to many -- or most? -- Catholics).

Without drawing any explicit parallels (at least as far as I've read) Lepore subtly suggests how drastically today's opinions might eventually be similarly overturned.

(Also, not that I should need an article for this, but it caused me to pause and marvel at the fact that today we're further from 1960 than 1960 was from 1910 -- at least in time if not in culture.)

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm still reading it. But it's amazing how much our attitudes toward contraception have changed over a century -- whereas once it was immoral and criminal, it's now acceptable or even favorable (even to many -- or most? -- Catholics).

And not only that. Once it was Republicans who were in favor of "a woman's right to choose" (my words, not Lepore's or the Republican Party's), and now the Party has reversed itself solely in the quest for political power. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

I liked Malcolm Gladwell's article on the new biography of Steve Jobs in the November 14 issue. I'm not surprised that the genius was also a perfectionist who continued to tweak everything (Gladwell makes Jobs sound like someone I know), but, miserable offender that I am, I must confess to some schadenfreude in learning that the genius was also a jerk and a bully, and someone who stole other people's ideas and also took credit for other people's ideas. He is not someone I would have liked to have known personally.

And I thought it grandly ironic that Jobs, who stole the mouse and the screen icons from IBM, claimed that Bill Gates never created anything new, just stole from other people.

[serious crayons]

Malcolm Gladwell had a piece a couple of months ago about how genius is rarely all about one person coming up with some great invention in isolation. The central anecdote was about how IBM developers in a lab setting came up with some great ideas for computers but didn't know how to produce and market them effectively to the masses, and Jobs took those ideas and turned them into consumer-product gold.

I smell a book in the works. Something about how creative genius doesn't exist in isolation, but relies on building upon other people's ideas.

Too bad Steven Johnson recently published a book about that same idea.

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-Innovation/dp/1594485380/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1