MetaFilter posts tagged with theatlantic

Oh, Daddy and Mommy keep their boat down by the house on Martha's. More Gin?

leotrotsky — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:16:21 -0800

The Atlantic takes a look at the American Class System: a look at Paul Fussell's Class 25 years later. Of particular interest is the movement of Class 'X' from outside the system to the core of the status-obsessed center. Not that I'd know anything about it, of course, I'm too busy riding my fixie around Portland twittering for my ecopreneur gig.

End Times?

netbros — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:37 -0800

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? New York Times stock performance over the past five years.

Think. Again.

Non Prosequitur — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:40:38 -0800

From The Atlantic, a fun bunch of montages of interesting people answering questions like "What is the cost of being a nerd?", "When is evil cool?" and "Are good books bad for you?" (Accompanies a redesign of magazine as well as of the web site. In seeking readers and advertisers, publications like The Atlantic and The Economist, known as thought-leader magazines, have long tried to make up in cleverness what they lack in wallet power.)

College is too expensive; but is it necessary?

SeizeTheDay — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:07:04 -0800

The Atlantic: Is college necessary? Fascinating article on a growing concern. Does college really generate a good ROI?

Countdown to a Meltdown

pheideaux — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:24:15 -0800

Countdown to a Meltdown : long but fascinating speculative retrospective on the causes and impact of the 2009-2016 economic collapse. [via Marshall Brain]

Anonymous Group Suicide in Japan

jason's_planet — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:52:16 -0800

Why is anonymous group suicide so popular in Japan? From 2003 through 2005, 180 people died in 61 reported cases of Internet-assisted group suicide in Japan . . . All but two of these cases have proceeded according to a common blueprint: The victims meet online, using anonymous screen names, and then take sleeping pills and use briquettes, charcoal burners, and tape to turn a car or van into a mobile gas chamber.

“Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am seriously considering an attempt to rescue the hostages.”

Kwantsar — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 17:07:59 -0800

The Desert One Debacle

Ten Years After

timsteil — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 14:12:57 -0800

A Picture of the Future, You're not in It An address to the John F. Kennedy School of Government...September 11th, 2011

Slash-and-burn

four panels — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:45:52 -0800

American Savagery. "Our role was to try to keep people motivated about [the] election and then to undermine the other side's support by casting them as liars, cheaters, stealers, immoral—all of that." The brutal chicanery of Karl Rove.

Are We Still A Middle-Class Nation & A Poor Cousin Of The Middle Class

y2karl — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 14:45:15 -0800

...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following are among the occupations with the largest projected job growth from 2000 to 2010: combined food-preparation and serving, including fast food; customer-service representative; registered nurse; retail salesperson; computer-support specialist; cashier, except gaming; office clerk; security guard; computer-software engineer, applications; waiter; general or operations manager; truck driver, heavy and tractor-trailer; nursing aide, orderly, or attendant; janitor or cleaner, except maid or housekeeping cleaner; postsecondary teacher; teacher assistant; home health aide; laborer or freight, stock, and material mover, hand; computer-software engineer, systems software; landscaping or groundskeeping. Are We Still a Middle-Class Nation? comes from The State Of The Union section in The Atlantic. Compare and contrast A Poor Cousin Of The Middle Class

Stepford Children

Armitage Shanks — Mon, 29 Dec 2003 17:54:20 -0800

Stepford children as the new Stepford Wives? Margaret Talbot in The Atlantic makes the case for a more appropriate Stepford movie circa 2004.

Displays plenty of spicy oak, black currant, cherry, and plum-like notes

Wet Spot — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 19:35:30 -0800

The Million-Dollar Nose. Fascinating profile of wine critic Robert Parker (publisher of The Wine Advocate) by William Langewiesche of Atlantic Magazine.

The State of the Union & The Super Bowl

grrarrgh00 — Thu, 30 Jan 2003 13:22:12 -0800

The State of the Union & The Super Bowl: Two of the biggest television events of the year occurred at almost the same time in 2003, and from where I'm sitting, each seems about as relevant as the other. Both events are pageants of performance and strategy, featuring a lineup of carefully selected special guest stars, played to an audience that mostly supports one of two sides, whose preference is largely dependent on geographical and demographical influences.

So, now that both are over, for your continued entertainment, I present The Real State of the Union, as posited by the good folks of the Atlantic Monthly. If no more relevant than the other two, I hope this one's at least more enjoyable.

Puzzle that makes you weep softly and twitch: Cryptic crosswords

blueshammer — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:18:38 -0800

Puzzle that makes you weep softly and twitch. Cryptic crosswords are mostly unappreciated on US shores, but those who have learned to seek them out have struck upon perhaps the best wordplay puzzles ever. Instead of rewarding a solver's grasp of trivia, cryptics are truly a battle of wits in which each clue is a riddle that plays by a few simple rules. Part of the riddle is a straight definition of the final word; the rest is subtly disguised wordplay. It's hard to know just why these haven't caught on — it may be that the most readily available ones, such as those in Harper's or The Atlantic, are extra-tricky affairs that cater toward expert solvers. But online, there are plenty of puzzles suitable for those interested in giving cryptics a whirl, including this gem, written for a 12-year-old audience.

Albert Schweitzer and SIV

the fire you left me — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 09:12:42 -0800

The Hunt for the Origin of AIDS "The notion that AIDS arose from a polio vaccine made with contaminated chimpanzee cells is far from the only theory about how the epidemic started, and it is hotly disputed. The quest for the source of the epidemic is intensifying, as researchers scour the jungle for clues and try to "walk back" the disease genetically with the help of the world's most powerful computers."

Searching for Bobby Fisher

hughbot — Thu, 21 Nov 2002 07:03:01 -0800

"Bobby Fisher's Pathetic Endgame." An interesting account of Bobby Fisher's decline from greatness to absolutelycrazyness. I used to really like Searching for Bobby Fisher when I was younger, but for some reason I always thought he had disappeared or something mysterious. The truth makes me sad. (Via Plastic.com)

arco — Fri, 01 Nov 2002 07:59:19 -0800

Time was, American society had at least a loose pecking order, with the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, et al, setting standards for snobbery and WASP-y elitism. Now, says David Brooks, “we’ve democratized elitism in this country,” with everyone finding their own niche in which to be a snob. [more inside…]

rhyax — Tue, 28 May 2002 22:32:13 -0800

The author of this story argues that by disallowing same-sex marriage, social conservatives are actually working to undermine the function marriage plays in society "The last thing supporters of marriage should be doing is setting up an assortment of alternatives, but that is exactly what the conservatives are doing, and not only for gays." Interesting views i thought, not that i'm so pro-marriage.

luser — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 12:21:57 -0800

D-Day was 57 years ago yesterday. It was 16 years before an article in the Atlantic finally provided Americans an unvarnished account of the carnage that was Omaha Beach that day. I'm in awe of what these 19-year-olds went through.

aaron — Tue, 29 May 2001 14:41:18 -0800

Is this Andrew Sullivan's ass? This morning, Jim Romenesko made a questionable publishing decision. He ran a link to an article in last Friday's edition of the newspaper LGNY, in which Michelangelo Signorile makes a very serious allegation: That Andrew Sullivan has been advertising for "bareback" sex online (anal sex w/o condoms). Such actions on Sullivan's part would be seen by many as exceedingly hypocritical given his voluminous writings of a moral conservative bent and his "arrogance toward the ghettoized gay scene" (as Signorile puts it), if not downright dangerous given his HIV+ status.

If true, this brings up plenty of ideological and moral issues, which I'm sure will be discussed in this thread. But that's not why I'm bringing it up here. I'm posting because of the vaguely Kayceeish nature of the whole thing. If you look at Signorile's article, you'll see that all the evidence is circumstantial. Several people who Signorile really really trust say they answered the ads and Sullivan was the guy that showed up when they met. The photos in the ads look like what most people expect Sullivan's body to look like (minus his head, of course). Also, Sullivan hasn't responded to anyone's questions about this, and after all, if the accusations were false wouldn't Sullivan be loudly denying them (wink wink)?

Complicating the whole mess is Signorile's own journalistic history - he made his name during the late '80s-early '90s running gossipy columns outing famous people against their will - and that Romenesko decided to publicize this article in the first place, thus ensuring that every single person in the national media is fully aware of the allegations, true or not. Is this actual proof that Sullivan is guilty of barebacking, or is he being Borked (Kayceed?)? Should it have been publicized like this in the first place, since a mention in Romenesko is the best way to start up a classic pack journalism action short of running a front-page story in The New York Times? Will other media outlets jump on this now and sully Sullivan's reputation, whether the allegations are true or not?