New Yorker magazine alert thread

do people do that dumb shit outside of major cities? can you get away with a support llama in topeka?

xxxpost - Captain Underpants books are funny, entertaining and better written and constructed than a lot of the garbage that adults read. Their author Dav Pilkey does a lot to get kids into reading, drawing and creating their own media. There are some truly appalling books out there for children though. Captain Underpants is a bad example to choose because they're actually pretty good.

That gluten article seems like it's trying to have its cake and eat it too. On the one hand it displays a lot of skepticism to the idea that gluten-free diets help most people who go one them, but on the other hand it uses a lot of innuendo and loaded descriptions of adding gluten to bread to suggest it may have some nefarious effects.

I think it implied that there are lots of reasons to be wary of lots of things, gluten among them, but that the anti-gluten people were anti-gluten for many of the wrong reasons, or at least for totally unproven reasons. Like, it does acknowledge that there has been an increase in celiac, for example, but it stresses that nobody knows why, and that people (overwhelmingly not celiacs) self-diagnosing are going down a slippery slope of assumptions. A la anti-vax folks, or anti-GMO folks. Its OK to be suspicious, but acting with no basis other than gut (hah) instinct is an irresponsible reaction.

xpost I've been very lucky that both of my kids are advanced readers, so they pretty much skipped Captain Underpants, a series that I understood was written to appeal to a really broad (in every sense) strata of readers, from the non-reader or barely reader to early readers to (a common target) reluctant readers. What little I've seen of them seemed pretty LCD, the book equivalent of Twinkies (food for reluctant eaters?).

Notes from the Underpants

One thing I will definitely agree with that gluten article about is that "100% whole wheat" bread should never be soft and fluffy and if it is, that's a sign that something has gone horribly wrong. I buy whole wheat bread that doesn't have added gluten and the flavor is much better and the texture is like what whole wheat bread should be.

Question about what I like about the New Yorker's restaurant reviews: I think it's that they are usually reviews of the atmosphere (other patrons, servers' remarks, decor) as much as, if not more so, than the food.

due to brevity those restaurant reviews integrate the atmosphere into food description. most longer reviews insert a few paragraphs about the room and crowd before the food comes and i'm like "please bring the first course, what's taking so long, how bout a drink etc"

That gluten article seems like it's trying to have its cake and eat it too.

well done

There are a couple of allusions to the dangers of going gluten-free for no reason in there, but iirc all that was mentioned was the concern of consuming too much bad for you stuff thinking it good for you or, more extreme, gradually excluding all food from your diet until I guess you die? Neither of which seem like dangers unique to going gluten-free. GF is of course largely bullshit, like most self-diagnosed dietary stuff, but the article does concede that something is going on, and some of the folks interviewed insist they feel better GF. So ultimately, what's the harm? It's not like people going GF reduced our herd immunity to gluten.

I think the point was that in lieu of gluten they are typically jacking up one of the three other "seller" components—salt, sugar, or refined carbs (which turns to sugar)—all of which in excess are more dangerous than gluten is to the average non-celiac, gluten-insensitive eater.

So ultimately, what's the harm?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, October 30, 2014 9:44 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

um they will talk to you about it

OTM

cosign

^^^

other thing is that people who believe that garbage are also likely to be people who believe all sorts of other garbage

i mean the people i know who have gone gluten free (and who don't actually have any particular sensitivity) are among the stupidest, most gullible people i know

why do you know stupid people

i am related to some of them :(

I know one otherwise-normal guy who was way ahead of the curve re: gluten (and went from 120 pounds soaking wet to a normal weight when he eliminated it) but everyone else is definitely down with Ron Paul, Crossfit, essential oils, hatred of GMOs and most of them think Jesus got his six-pack via avoidance of bread.

he gained weight going gluten-free?

one of the effects of gluten intolerance is diarrhea so that's not shocking

maybe "soaking wet" is a phone autocorrecting "overweight"?

i bet they got a ~ton~ of letters on the marx service animal article

interesting that 1 pts out that 16 states have passed laws defining the misrepresentation of a service animal as a crime -- then the next letter, the women confesses to exactly that

Amazing: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/crystal-ball-3

xpost They did print three letters re: the Marx piece, which usually implies a deluge.

I liked the Alex Ross Beethoven piece a lot, about how he's been deified into shorthand but really should be praised in deeper detail to justify as well as promote his genius.

Amazing: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/crystal-ball-3

They could've labeled that as a Shouts & Murmurs and I would've been none the wiser.

'everyone should be talking about HoMo'

this guy is a fuckin' treasure

/Amazing: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/crystal-ball-3/

They could've labeled that as a Shouts & Murmurs and I would've been none the wiser.

article about this fuckin _modern farmer_ magazine lady is hilarious http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/read-reap

yeah, i thought the modern farmer piece carefully walked the line between "young entrepreneur in transition" and "can you believe these fuckin people" until it didn't and then it got funny
the part where she was unwilling to carry the recently killed chicken (but not to buy and have someone else prepare them for her to eat!) was A++

yeah the authorial "I" during that bit carried a disdain for the article's subject that teetered on the edge of unseemly, new-yorker-wise

at least in the remnick era

loved the rachel aviv piece on the sex abuse and the hasidic jews

Aviv is so good.

must have been a nightmare to fact-check

Rachel Aviv's underutilized Twitter also pretty special https://twitter.com/RachelAviv/with_replies

The drone war in Pakistan

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/unblinking-stare

good article. i assume we can expect boycotts and hysterical cries of genocide any minute now?

i just bumped into anthony lane's scarlett johannson profile whilst flipping through the backlog. Good lord is that thing ever embarrassing.

so embarrassing, like being naked in front of a bunch of people, soft shoulders and toned body in full display??

are you... are you watching me right now?

listen i just love film

i've been really enjoying the recent spate of hipster takedown articles lately: the emotional-support animal one, specter's pieces on GMOs and gluten intolerance. nicely sums up most of what i hate about vermont

although the food issue had an advertisement for an "integrative cancer center" so there's that

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/double-jeopardy-3

this was a fantastic piece of reporting. the judge's justifications at the very end almost made me physically ill

osnos: i shall build this profile of samantha power around the theme of her astounding height

fact-checker: 5'9" is above average but hardly unusual

osnos: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes but over 6' when wearing heels

o shiii

I also like how they found room to add a paragraph describing the horny French diplomat's feelings