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What Democrats and Republicans believe. Plus, the best of the web.

A comparison of the party platforms. A rant against organic food. A quiz to tell you what kind of Pepperidge Farm cookie you are. A look at today's Nerf guns (this ain't the Super Soaker of your youth). And more. Enjoy!


Politics and World Affairs

How The Party Platforms Differ / Michael Cooper / The New York Times

The beliefs and policy proposals of each party, in their own words, side by side.




Are Entitlements Corrupting Us? Yes, American Character Is At Stake / Nicholas Eberstadt / The Wall Street Journal

"A half-century of unfettered expansion of entitlement outlays has completely inverted the priorities, structure and functions of federal administration as these were understood by all previous administrations." (via Maurice)




Are Entitlements Corrupting Us? No, Entitlements Are Part Of The Civic Compact / William Galston / The Wall Street Journal

"Since the Ford administration, both political parties have usually agreed on the proposition that people who work full-time, year-round, should not live in poverty, and neither should their families." (via Maurice)




Why I Had No Choice But To Spurn Tony Blair / Desmond Tutu / The Guardian

The Archbishop pens a letter. Scheduled to sit on a panel about leadership with Blair, he withdraws because of Blair's conduct on Iraq, writing, "leadership and morality are indivisible."




If You Think Obama's First Term Was Bad, Imagine A Second / Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg

Argues that, contrary to President Obama's stated belief, Republican obstruction will be even greater and lead to even more gridlock should he win another term.




Arts and Culture

The Serious Eats Guide To Sandwiches / Jed Portman / Serious Eats

An amazing glossary of sandwiches. From the U.S.: the Dagwood, the Elvis, the Mother-in-Law. Abroad: the Arepa, the Banh Mi, the Chip Butty. Yum.

U.S. Guide

International Guide




I Ate Every Variety Of Pepperidge Farms Cookie / Leon Neyfakh / Slate

A very fun read. Includes a witty slideshow, and even a quiz to determine what kind of cookie you are...which correctly determined that I was a Chessmen kind of guy.




The Organic Fable / Roger Cohen / The New York Times

"Organic has long since become ... the romantic back-to-nature obsession of an upper middle class able to afford it and oblivious, in their affluent narcissism... to the challenge of feeding a planet whose population will surge to 9 billion before the middle of the century."




Beyond The Matrix / Aleksandar Hemon / The New Yorker

The team behind "The Matrix" takes on "Cloud Atlas," one of my favorite novels, and one that seems unfilmable. The author's pleased, though, and so are the directors. Fingers crossed.





Business and Economics

How Nerf Became The World's Best Purveyor Of Big Guns For Kids / Jason Fagone / Wired

Forget the Super Soaker of your youth. Today's Nerf "blasters" (the company's term for guns) come with fully automatic firing, ammo drums, and more. Fascinating read.





Facebook Handled Their IPO Exactly Right / Mark Cuban / Blog Maverick

Cuban at his best, bluntly destroying the commentators who have criticized Facebook's CFO for botching its initial public offering.




The Economics Of Magazines And Diversity / Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic

Excellent context on why so few minorities make it onto the mastheads of major American publications.





The US Economy May Surprise Us All / Roger Altman / Financial Times

Five glimmers of hope — housing, energy, banking, competitiveness, and politics — that could bode well for our struggling economy.




Science and Technology

How Google Builds Its Maps — And What It Means For The Future Of Everything / Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic

Great post: "The secret to this success isn't, as you might expect, Google's facility with data, but rather its willingness to commit humans to recombining and cleaning data about the physical world."




My Way / Christoph Niemann / The New York Times

Speaking of maps, these cartoons using maps to deliver jokes are witty and worth a quick scroll.




Lunch With The FT: Tim Berners-Lee / Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson / Financial Times

The low-key inventor of the World Wide Web takes the author to a food truck at MIT, then discusses why he kept the Web open, and why he won't say what he was typing during the Olympics opening ceremony.




How Children Succeed / Paul Tough / Slate

What several studies tell us about the relative importance of intelligence versus motivation in success. (via Bo)




Exactly How Screwed Is Paypal? (Hint: Very) / Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily

Its customer service is terrible, its main source of strength—its partnership with eBay—is becoming less relevant, and its founders are investing in new competitors.




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The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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And then there are the kids were simply born for the spotlight. You know them when you see them.

When Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen hopped on stage with all of the other brothers and sisters of the dance students at René’s Art of Dance in South Africa, no one expected a viral sensation. According to Capetown Etc, it was the school's year-end concert, and siblings were invited to come up and dance to Bernice West’s Lyfie—a popular song in Afrikaans. And Dirkco, who goes by Klein Kwagga, took the assignment and ran with it.

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Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People share the most practical ways to support new parents

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Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

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Identity

Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."

The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

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