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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair. We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. The day our town nearly drowned
Josh Dean on what happened to Prattsville, New York, when the rains of Hurricane Irene hit (NYMag).
For the first time in the fifteen years she had lived in her house, Pam watched as a red-brown flow came up the back steps and into the house. That’s when she knew it was too late. She was trapped.
2. I tried extreme meditation. Here’s what happened
Michael Finkel on his experience at a silent meditation centre in western India (Men’s Journal).
I have – we all have – signed a pledge to observe what’s called “noble silence.” This means no speaking, no gestures, no eye contact. “You must live here,” we’re told, “as if you’re completely alone.” There is also no exercise permitted, except walking. No cellphones. No computers. No radios. No pens or paper.
3. Venus and Serena against the world
John Jeremiah Sullivan on the most powerful sisters in tennis (New York Times).
When we returned to her apartment, she asked, “Do you want a drink drink?” She had just flown in, and there was nothing in the place but Jack Daniels, which she poured for me on the rocks, showing a nonshowy graciousness I didn’t expect. “That oughta get you going,” she said with a laugh.
4. Fighting the underage sex trade online
Geraldine Sealey on the advertisements for underage girls online, and the people who look at them (Marie Claire).
“For ages, I ate the same exact McDonald’s value meal because that was the only thing my pimp at the time would let me eat,” she says. “I’d think, I am not worth $5. That’s about the price of condoms. I didn’t think I was worth a pack of Magnums.”
5. How young Western men are lured into jihad
Özlem Gezer on the people recruited by radical Islamists, and the techniques at work (Spiegel).
“Why don’t you come and sit with us, brother?” one of the new ones asked. He was part of a group of five men between 18 and 30. For Bora, it seemed perfectly normal to be meeting these men, but for the others it was a well-practiced procedure.
6. Life in a gun shop
Jeanne Maris Laskas went to work at an Arizona gun store, to see how people shop for their weapons (GQ).
“But they’re assault rifles,” I noted. I knew that much from TV. ”Assault is one of the worst things the media has ever done to us,” he said. “Have any of these rifles ever assaulted anyone?”
… AND A CLASSIC READ FROM THE ARCHIVES…
In 2010, Simon Braund wrote for Empire magazine about the tragic, twisted tale of comedy legends The Three Stooges.
The beating was so savage, in fact, that the following day Healy fell into a coma and died. There was little or no serious investigation into Healy’s death, and a farcical autopsy, performed after his body had been embalmed, concluded that he had died of acute alcoholism, noting that his organs were soaked in alcohol — as of course they would have been, having just been embalmed.
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“It’s not necessary to censor the news, it’s sufficient to delay the news until it no longer matters” – Napoleon
These 30 year secrecy rules do not serve the interests of the people of Ireland.
They only protect the elites from accountability.
Why do you think they chose 30 years?
Because most politicians are in power in their 50′s and 60′s, and by the time 30 years has elapsed, they’re either too old to be jailed, or dead.
@Franklin Roosevelt:
IF (a big if) the rumours about King Gerry are true it makes one think about the timing of his stepping down.
@Franklin Roosevelt: In any government as in any large business have to have some secrecy…Cant publish every cabinet discussion that day for instance…Or every ministeral email…It would damage trust in the government… 30 years seems ok….
@P.J. Nolan: who is King Gerry? I know of no monarch with that name.
And what are the rumours?
@John003: I’m not asking for that.
But for the big decisions… like what was the correspondence of the government between 2008 and 2010? When Ireland issued a blanket bank guarantee, then forced us to pay a 150 billion debt.
Surely it’s in our interest to know all the details of that? And not wait until 2040 to find out.
And what about the friendship that bankers had with Brian Cowan?
In the 1930′s, when businessmen and politicians colluded, it was called fascism.
@P.J. Nolan: and do you believe these rumours spreaded by a priest?
@John003: time to release the Dublin Monaghan bombing files so
’87 – Cov city won the FA cup
Glad they were able to maintain their form :(
The current car registration system in Ireland started in 1987
I was born 3 years later so i am going to let myself away with that disastrous score.
@Con O’Driscoll: I can’t work out how you were two different ages in the same year…. I’ve tried to do the equation several times and it just doesn’t seem possible. Please inform us mere mortals of your ingenious reasoning!!!
@Paul Linehan: because he was 3 for the first part of the year and 4 after his bday…
@Karen NíDhochartaigh: That makes perfect sense now, thanks Karen….
The Reagan question answer is wrong. Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall was in 1987. Not the answer given in the question
I was at Slane and Bowie that year. It was pretty damn good !!!
@Catherine Sims: Oh, I hated missing it in Slane so much, the Glass Spider tour. But I got to see him play in Wembley that year! I always envied older people who saw him years ago, & never thought he’d hit the road again. It was great to hear him live.
Had my first ciggie in 1987 , puked outside the exam hall lol
8/10 and I only turned 9 that year.
5/10. Hard to believe that more people went to see Three Men and a Baby than Good Morning Vietnam. I doubt those figures.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: it had magnum P.I and Sam from cheers left minding a baby. Definatly the safest movie of the 4 for families at that time. The other 3 are movies that still have appeal to this day, no one of any age or gender could be arsed sitting through 3 men and a baby now.
have your say