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November 12, 2009

Today's Web Grab

Web_grabYou might enjoy:

  • Mike Smithson in Political Betting: Is this a man who could cross sides?
  • Kyle Trygstad in Politics Nation: Why 2010 doesn’t look good for the Democrats
  • Michael Goldfarb in The Blog: A study in contrasts
  • M.T in Matthew Taylor’s Blog: Time for a bit of Gove and take
  • Peter Stothard: Frank Johnson remembered

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 05:05 PM in Web Grab | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Is the food you're eating liberal or conservative?

In the States, eating and politics have recently seemed to go together like, well, Obama and arugula.

The Washington Post worries that:

War and tragedy are putting President Obama through the most wrenching period of his young administration. Visibly thinner, admittedly skipping meals, he is learning every day the challenges of a wartime presidency.

But most interestingly, a website called Hunch has surveyed the eating habits of conservatives and liberals more generally, and found that political adversaries view each other with suspicion across a gulf in eating habits too...

Preferred style of kitchen?

Conservatives: country-style

Liberals: modern-style

Pizza What’s for lunch?

Conservatives: Burgers, Pizza

Liberals: Thai, Indian

What’s for supper?

Conservatives: Fried chicken, meatloaf, steak

Liberals: Green curry, Ethiopian dish, Veggie burger

Fries Best kind of fries?

Conservatives: McDonald’s fries

Liberals: ‘Bistro-style’ frites

Favourite chain restaurant?

Conservatives: Subway

Liberals: Pret a Manger

Fast How often do you eat fast-food?

Conservatives: 63% say “at least a few times a week”

Liberal: 92% say “rarely or never”

Favourite cheese?

Conservatives: Velveeta or Colby

Liberals: Brie

Pizza Preferred thickness of pizza crust?

Conservatives: thick/deep pan

Liberal: regular crust

White bread or multigrain?

Conservatives: White bread

Liberals: Multigrain

Corer Do you know what this is? (shown picture of a traditional apple corer)

Conservatives: Most have one and use it

Liberals: Most “have no clue” what it is

Ever spent more than $100 on a bottle of wine

Conservatives: 16% say yes, 36% don’t drink wine at all

Liberals: 17% say yes, 26% don’t drink wine at all

Plate Portion size vs presentation

Conservatives: 26% more likely to prefer “bigger portion, plainly arranged”

Liberals: 40% more likely to prefer “small portion, artfully presented and garnished”

(Hat tip: The Awl)

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 04:33 PM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Goldman Sachs abandons kittens (and then saves them)

Kittens

For a while, months of suspicions appeared to reached their inevitable and perfect climax. Investment bankers abandon helpless baby animals.

But of course they do.

Earlier today, the Naked Capitalism blog found this report in The Villager, a Lower Manhattan paper:

[Goldman Sachs] has not yet paid a few thousand dollars of vet bills for the five kittens born in its headquarters building nearing completion in Battery Park City.

In August, after our sister publication Downtown Express reported the kittens’ discovery, Goldman offered to pay the bills...

Alphaville took up the crusade and helpfully pointed out, (tipping its hat at a Times story), that abandoning kittens was almost certainly not 'doing God’s work'.

The internet was abuzz with kitten love. “Why does Goldman Sachs hate kittens?” wailed one blogger.

But we can all put down our projectiles. “They are now the luckiest kittens in Manhattan” according to a Goldman spokesman.

The bank has paid the vet fees and found homes for all the little fluffy balls of love. Bonus (if that's not an overly inflammatory word...)

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 03:33 PM in Miscellaneous | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Magazine Rack - Issue 534

Magazine_rack

You might enjoy:

  • Edward Cody in The Washington Post: Philosopher of taste
  • The Economist: Cross my palm with euros?
  • Krista Smith in Vanity Fair: Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr Fox
  • Jeremy Kessler in The New Atlantis: Creating Frankenstein

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 02:27 PM in Magazine Rack | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The best Obama souvenir EVER

You remember Mr Cress Head?

The legendry children’s toy that was, basically and in hindsight, one of your mum’s tights tied up, filled with soil and cress seeds and adorned with two googly eyes and a bulbous nose.

He grew cress instead of hair. He was brilliant in lots of ways. But was he presidential?

Someone in the States thinks so. Introducing the best Obama souvenir ever: Chia Obama.

Chia, I think, is American for cress. Chia Obama, a little snazzier than the original of my memory but in essence the same deal, costs just under $20.

The best line in the ad? "Your Chia Obama is a symbol of liberty, opportunity, prosperity and hope."

Ways in which Mr Cress Head and Mr Obama are similar:

Once universally adored, recently falling out of fashion.

Ways in which Mr Cress Head and Mr Obama are dissimilar:

Obama has legs. And a body. And (as far and we know) inedible hair.

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 12:02 PM in Obama | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Admitting to immigration "mistakes": a bad move for Brown

Immigration

The news that Gordon Brown is to admit errors over immigration policy is interesting from a political strategist's point of view.

Is this part of a "concede and move on" strategy? And if not, why not?

Clearly if the Government is going to reset its relationship with voters, it is going to have to accept it made mistakes and move on from there.

They can see that this is true if they are going to move forward on immigration. And if it's true in that field, why not more generally?

The phrase "concede and move on" was authored by Labour guru Philip Gould. And was much quoted in the early days of Tory modernisation. It's an obvious first move, but somehow I doubt it will be a successful strategy for Labour now.

Here's why.

First, Gordon Brown's departure would be necessary to make it work. Trying to protect him is not now consistent with a concede and move on strategy.

Second, Mr Brown is willing to concede error only where he is not personally to blame - mistakes were made, but not by me.

And third, while conceding is relatively easy, moving on is very hard. It takes years to persuade people you have done this and requires action that people can see, not just words. They haven't got long enough for that. 

Posted by Daniel Finkelstein on November 12, 2009 at 11:49 AM in Labour Party | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

Travel back in time...

... To 1920s London.

Claude Friese-Greene shot this film in 1927, with a process developed by his father called Biocolour.

Every other frame of ordinary black and white film stock was exposed through colour filters. Each of these alternate frames, once printed, was then stained red or green.

So we can get a flickering glimpse of a coloured London landscape from the past. Fantastic.

(Hat tip: Kottke)

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 12, 2009 at 11:16 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

November 11, 2009

Today's Web Grab

Web_grabYou might enjoy:

  • Liam Murray: It’s far from over but…
  • Tom Montgomerie in Conservative Home: The enemies of the next Conservative government
  • Amy Siskind in The Daily Beast: How Obama Sold Women Out
  • Kevin Drum in Mother Jones: Going Big in Afghanistan
  • Michael Moran: Modern Warfare 2: war is not a game

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 11, 2009 at 03:11 PM in Web Grab | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

How clever are you? Ask Google

Are your Google searches trying to tell you something?

An anonymous bit of brilliance doing the rounds on the interweb highlights the different suggestions thrown up by Google searches, depending on your language. For example: Clever2


Clever


Type in "How 2" and Google asks if you're wondering "How 2 kiss" or "How 2 get pregnant".

Typing "How might one" into the box, on the other hand, and Google politely suggests that your interests might lie in a more refined direction.

"How might one attempt to measure the effectiveness of a promotion" perhaps, or "how might one account for the rise of Andrew Jackson to victory in the election of 1828."

How indeed.

It's not just your hobbies that Google makes assumptions about. It judges the extent of your knowledge too:

Why

Why2

Type "why" and Google assumes you're being kept up at night scratching your head over "why is the sky blue", "why did I get married" and "why do men have nipples".

But begin your search more verbosely with "for what reason" and Google tips its hat and begs to suggest that you might be conducting an enquiry into:

"For what reason are biological classification systems needed."

One will be playing closer attention to one's syntactic arrangements in future.

(Hat tip: Slate)

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 11, 2009 at 03:06 PM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Johnny Cash on Sesame Street

OK, I know Sesame Street's birthday was yesterday, but it seems a shame to waste this video.

Johnny Cash sings "Five Feet High And Rising". Featuring Biff, the construction worker.

(Hat tip: Goings On)

Posted by Hattie Garlick on November 11, 2009 at 02:22 PM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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