Lawrence Lessig on Obama

Lawrence Lessig on Obama: 20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack — I realize that just about everybody else is linking to this, but Lessig makes such a civilized, coherent argument that I would like to point the 2 or maybe 3 readers of this blog to it, too (if they have not, as one would suspect, already been there.)

Duck! Bush Jokes About Cheney’s Bad Aim

Duck! Bush Jokes About Cheney’s Bad Aim: ‘While hosting the 2007 Stanley Cup winners at the White House, the President asked the Anaheim Duck hockey champs, “Like, have you noticed a lot of security around here? It’s because the Vice President heard there were some Ducks around.”’ Such a funny guy, too.

“Euros Accepted” signs pop up in New York City

“Euros Accepted” signs pop up in New York City : “In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain’t what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.”

Square America

Square America Snapshots & Vernacular Photography — via Old is the New New. Fascinating.

Seniors balk at ban on free doughnuts

Seniors balk at ban on free doughnuts: “It was just another morning at the senior center: Women were sewing, men were playing pool — and seven demonstrators, average age 76, were picketing outside, demanding doughnuts.” — via Darren.

US woman arrested over dry lawn

US woman arrested over dry lawn: “A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to caution her for not watering her lawn.”

Flickr: Photos from moriza

Some great photos on Flickr from moriza. Ah, NYC…sigh. (via)

A Book Review, of sorts

So who am I to even say anything about Jonathan Lethem’s “The Fortress Of Solitude”? Me, just another whiteboy from almost lilywhite Denmark? Yet, again, the book provokes a number of different attitudes. To get that out of the way: McSweeney’s has a page devoted to Lethem – much to see there; Jacob Siegel’s review in New Partisan is stimulating, and outlines what is wrong with a number of other reviews; and, why not, seek out the horse’s mouth and see what Lethem says in this interview from The New Yorker.

I suppose we can all find our own way to the book, and into it (or not: some hate it. Nevermind.) My own way came by a couple of coincidences: a co-worker mentioned it, and I recalled hearing about it, wanting to read it; we actually were in that part of Brooklyn only a few weeks ago; and, yeah, the wifey hails from those parts: Brooklyn (albeit not Boerum Hill. Still.)

At one point Abigale Ponder asks Dylan Ebdus why he is so obsessed with his childhood. And that is exactly the point, for me: I never played stoopball, never had a spaldeen. Never was yoked, not like that – but close enough in some, other ways. So, somehow, Lethem connects to something about childhood that goes a lot deeper than the games that were being played.