If the Berlin Wall could fall, so can the N.F.L.
Alex Koppelman on the replacement referees and the N.F.L. dictatorship:ย http://nyr.kr/RfNVTa (via newyorker)

I keep telling you people, it doesnโ€™t work that way. As the piece itself says, football fans have nowhere else to go. Ratings havenโ€™t been touched, sponsors are happy. Probably even more people will tune in to see what officiating disaster or nearly-fatal helmet-to-helmet hit happens next week. Itโ€™s bread and circuses all the way. My guess is that the NFL will replace these officials with ones who are even worse, just to create more buzz. It turns out that incompetence, violence, and the resulting outrage are all bankable. Cool!

mwfrost:

(via Ottoโ€™s Dance of Death - 50 Watts)

Any time the 50 Watts blog mentions โ€œthe collection of Richard Sica,โ€ you know youโ€™re in for some excellent and morbid woodcuts.

Christaraksha

May the cross of the Son of God,
which is mightier than all the hosts of Satan
and more glorious than all the hosts of heaven,
abide with you in your going out and your coming in.
By day and night, at morning and at evening,
at all times and in all places,
may it protect and defend you.

From the wrath of evildoers,
from the assaults of evil spirits,
from foes visible and invisible,
from the snares of the devil,
from all passions that beguile the soul and body:
may it guard, protect and deliver you.
Amen.

(A prayer from India of unknown origin, often said before sleep, and incorporated into some of the liturgies of the Church of South India. We use it at my church, All Soulsโ€™ Anglican, as a benediction at the conclusion of the Eucharist.)

poetrysociety:

โ€œMad Libsโ€ of Shakespeareโ€™s Sonnet 130 from the Brooklyn Book Festival.

mwfrost:

Got bored with the view in my mirror, swiped down to refresh.

Since the iOS 6 ungrade, swipe-to-refresh doesnโ€™t work on my rear-view mirrors anymore. Stupid Apple.

In Mental Exercise, Variety Matters - Alan Jacobs - The Atlantic

Learning to Write is Painful (And Maybe Has to Be) | The American Conservative

โ€œWhere Shall a Man Find Sweetness to Surpass His Own Home?โ€ | The American Conservative

buzz:

Mapping Americaโ€™s Fast Food Regions

Iโ€™m pretty sure this is the least informative infographic ever created.