FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts

Monday, October 5, 2015

What I Read Last Week: Mada Photo Museum, Ode to Sommeliers, Mondavi Crush, Post-prison meals, El Chapo and Hemingway's Writing process

Construction of Large Buildings in Madagascar
An online photo museum of Madagascar.  This has some great photos of original construction of many of the buildings around town...from the 50's and 60s.

An intriguing excerpt from Julia Siler's The House of Mondavi.  It reads like a soap opera and tickled my interests enough to add it to my Amazon wish list for Christmas.  


Why the sommelier watches how you attack the bread basket
An ode to the joys of of sommeliers.

You Just Got Out of Prison. Now What?
An inspiring look at the re-entry program headed by the Anti-Recidivism Coalition that focuses on relationships and which is led by former prisoners.

In which Hemingway says the "Racing Form" (with regard to the subject of going to the races) is the true art of fiction.

A working habit he has had from the beginning, Hemingway stands when he writes. He stands in a pair of his oversized loafers on the worn skin of a lesser kudu—the typewriter and the reading board chest-high opposite him.




Monday, September 28, 2015

What I Read last Week: Language Learning, Cobblers, South Sudan and Academics Fear of Actually Being Read

An unlikely story about a sector that sorely needs reform.
I've got mad respect for cobblers, much like the disappearing shoeshine stand, they are a dying breed. If you invest in nice dress shoes, a good cobbler is a godsend.  I've had several shoes resoled through the years and I personally preferred them in their repaired state to when I first bought them.  
Everyday Life in a Fragile State
Eye opening read on life in South Sudan.  
Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar’s presence in popular media.
I like the disruption suggestion of making academic literature more relevant...and more widely read.
On Learning & Losing Language: A Reading List
Six fascinating articles on learning languages.