The New Yorker, 2006-07-10,7

[fiefoe]

"Nattering Nabobs" / David Remnick
__ ... (strangely, wonderfully) "vultures who sit in trees". Never before or since has a populist attack comes swathed in such purple raiment.

"Where Hip-hop Lives" / Ben McGrath
__ Hot 97, whose original slogan, “Where Hip-Hop Lives,” was being taken perhaps too literally. During the blackout in the summer of 2003, ... a group of rappers and basketball players, including LeBron James, sought refuge in the lobby of 395 Hudson.

"The Agent" / Lawrence Wright
__ The squad also constructed an ingenious satellite telephone booth in Kandahar, hoping to provide a convenient facility for jihadis wanting to call home.

"Going Long" / John Cassidy

• The forces behind the long tail are largely technological: cheap computer hardware... ubiquitous broadband...; and elaborate “filters,” such as search engines, blogs, and online reviews, which help to match supply and demand.“
• Back in 1980, another futurologist, Alvin Toffler, anticipated the “de-massifying” of society in his best-selling book “The Third Wave”
• The long tail has meant that online commerce is being dominated by just a few businesses—mega-sites that can house those long tails.
• Has the New Economy really moved past the familiar “winner take all” dynamic? That depends on whether you’re looking at the long tail—or at who’s wagging it.
  

"Briefly Noted: Horace Greeley": an unhappy marriage made bleaker by the couple's fascination with utopian communities and dietary fads

David Denby: a smile wider than the Brooklyn Bridge, harlequin eyes

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