archive

What comes to mind

From Vanity Fair, the shocking thing about Kenneth Starr’s alleged Ponzi scheme wasn’t the amount — $59 million, pocket change by Madoff standards — but his client list: Bunny Mellon, Barbara Walters, Al Pacino, Caroline Kennedy, Martha Stewart, and Matt Lauer. When you think Jews and Las Vegas, what comes to mind? Jews do wondrous things in the desert. A review of A Short History of Celebrity by Fred Inglis (and more). From Psychiatric Times, Jerry Coyne on the evolutionary calculus of depression. The Wisdom of the Mulla: Sheikh Jamal Rahman on the well-loved trickster from Islamic folklore. Why is David Lynch pimping this handbag? Sasha Watson on the new trend of "advertising films". Andrew Cuomo grew up in the shadow of his distant, cerebral father, and became his enforcer to get close to him — now poised to become the second Governor Cuomo, he hopes he’s finally perfected the balance between Mario’s intellectualism and his own aggression. The evolution of beach culture: A look at the people and places that have shaped seaside culture. You are what you eat: How your diet defines you in trillions of ways. So much for the wisdom of crowds: People often become more confident in their beliefs when they find out the majority of others disagree with them, a new study finds. Is the desire to know other people’s secrets a natural instinct — or a vulgar vice? A review of Philip Carr-Gomm's A Brief History of Nakedness.