Embracing Voyeurism

"Facebook overtook Google to become America’s most popular website. Figures for the week ending March 13th showed that the social-networking site accounted for 7.1% of the country’s traffic, compared with Google’s 7.0%, the first time it has had a weekly lead. However, with revenues of $23.7 billion last year, Google remains easily the more profitable of the two." -The Economist

Does this mean that we are more interested in each other than in anything else?!

Whole Walmart

I will freely admit that I adore shopping at Whole Foods and despise being in a Walmart park lot, but am equally fascinated by both institutions. The article published last week in the Atlantic is a must read for foodies and economists alike:

The Great Grocery Smackdown

The polar opposites of grocery stores seem to be not as far apart as we might think or maybe the power of perceived quality should never to be underrated. How about Walmarts ability to evolve? This is a strategy whose success is yet to be determined but a move towards sustainability and increased quality while maintaining the lowest price the market, seems to be good to be true.

What's in a Name

Having stepped down as Governor, Sarah Palin has written her memoirs entitled 'Going Rogue: An American Life,' which will be available in mid-November. I am admittedly very curious to see what Palin will have come up in the last few months which is ready for publication, and I am not alone. Amazon as well as Barnes & Nobles have seen significant pre-release sales.

When Palin's political career began to decline, maybe when she 'went rogue' I secretly hoped she would stay in the public eye. She makes Jon Stewart's life easier with her never ending supplying of increasingly comical poor decisions. Like the fact that she named her book after the title of a Slate article, which was less than flattering. I doubt John Dickerson has already ordered a copy of his namesake.

Americana: Indians Abroad

There are few minorities who have fought the politically correct battle as well as the Native Americans. Teachers across the US will correct their students when they refer to the many individual tribes as Indians. Sports teams have changed mascots in order not to offend misrepresented descendants in their fan base. And the stories of cowboys and Indians are mostly left to twentieth century Hollywood.

However apparently in the interest of selling CDs, not just one group but multiple groups of buskers at the Edinburgh fringe embraced all of the classic stereotypes. There were tomahawks, huge headdresses, dream catchers and plenty of flute dominated music, when these musicians clad in animal skins took to the streets.

Apparently the PC battle is yet to go global, but it might have to if the Scottish children keep crying out, "look Mummy, red indians."

Americana: Must Read

"So the birthers, the anti-tax tea-partiers, the town hall hecklers -- these are "either" the genuine grass roots or evil conspirators staging scenes for YouTube? The quiver on the lips of the man pushing the wheelchair, the crazed risk of carrying a pistol around a president -- too heartfelt to be an act. The lockstep strangeness of the mad lies on the protesters' signs -- too uniform to be spontaneous. They are both. If you don't understand that any moment of genuine political change always produces both, you can't understand America, where the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy, and where elites exploit the crazy for their own narrow interests." -Rick Perlstein, taken from:

In America, Crazy Is a Preexisting Condition

Birthers, Town Hall Hecklers and the

Return of Right-Wing Rage

Americana: Confusing Truth

"Over the past week, congressmen have been holding town hall meetings across the country. They’ve been disrupted by angry protesters who are against Obama’s new healthcare plan. And things could have gotten violent, but nobody could afford to get hurt. So, it was very peaceful protesting." -Jimmy Fallon

Americana: Not Everyone Deserves Paris

A tale from the blogosphere that is more cringe worthy than amusing:

When I lived in Paris, my sister and her husband came to visit. They were going to Deauville the next day and wanted to buy stuff for a picnic lunch.

I sent them to the still-open markets at Les Halles (this was the early ’80s). They came back empty-handed. “Disgusting,” they announced.

I sent them to the supermarché. “So much better,” they declared. “Everything was wrapped in plastic!”

SOURCE