The New Yorker, 2007-08-06

[fiefoe]

"Rip Van Golfer" / John McPhee

__ His father.. is the only golf coach that Bubba has ever had. "he's right-handed, so we used, like, a mirror."
querencia, dromedary caddies

"Damn Spam" / Michael Specter

__ In 2001, spam accounted for about 5% of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than 70%.
__ Spammers usually need to send a million e-mails to get 15  positive responses; for the average direct-mail campaign, the response rate is 3000 per million.

"Stung" / Elizabeth Kolbert

__ A single pound of clover honey represents the distilled nectar of some 8.7 million flowers. In a week, a productive hive can add seventy pounds of honey to its stores.
__ (An apple has ten ovules, each of which can produce a seed; unless at least six are pollinated, the apple will be misshapen.)
__ Almonds, in particular, have extremely high pollination requirements—nearly all the flowers in an orchard must be cross-pollinated to produce a commercial crop

Louis Menand: the premise of biographies... that the subject's accomplishments map onto his or her psychic history
 
David Denby:  I used to be a purist about action sequences, demanding that bodies in combat be seen in full frame and without too much cutting. A few directors are still capable of that kind of classicism (Wolfgang Petersen in “Troy,” David Cronenberg in “A History of Violence”)

Sara & Gerald Murphy

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