Monday Medley

What we read while waiting in line for gas…

• So, there was some kind of storm last week. Hurricane Sandy made landfall last Monday, cutting off power to millions along the East Coast and killing over 100 people. New York City and New Jersey were hit the hardest, as public transportation was down for days and is still not fully operational. Images from the storm were harrowing, including these from Coney Island and two different amusement park rides caught in the water. Power in lower Manhattan was gone for days, leaving it a kind of ghost town. And, of course, the storm left behind stories of tragedy, but also amazing stories of survival.

• Of course, in the wake of the storm, there were other concerns: What was the role of global warming in the hurricane? Will any politicians, besides NYC Mayor Bloomberg that is, talk about the issue now? What is the proper role of FEMA? Has Occupy Wall Street outperformed the Red Cross in its recovery efforts? Will local businesses recover or sink in debt? How can New Yorkers get gas? How long with the recovery last? How could the flooding have been prevented? Did Twitter spread false information or not? Is this a victory for “Big Government”? Will people need to use vacation days if they work for James Dolan? How did New York’s talk shows go on? And what happened to all of New York City’s rats?!

• New Jersey’s own Star-Ledger delivered remarkable covers throughout the week.

• “By midnight, the worst is over. By dawn, it is visible.”

• Now for some non-Sandy stuff: Louis C.K. hosted Saturday Night Live!

• Joe Posnanski on the baseball playoffs.

• Disney bought LucasFilm and announced plans for a new Star Wars movie. Here’s an old look at the original film. At least some good will come out of it…

• Chris Hedges endorsed Jill Stein for President.

• Will Leitch endorsed the Knicks.

• The government appears to be winging it at Guantanamo Bay.

• Did the press cover up important facts about Benghazi?

• Will college football decide tomorrow’s election?

A Word of Advice to Environmental Advocates: Stop Saying “Game Over”

It’s not helping…

The phrase “Game Over” has recurred several times over the last few months when scientists talk about the environment: Most famously, James Hansen of NASA said it about the potential impact of the Keystone pipeline; recently, Jane C.S. Long told The New Yorker that it would be “game over” if Arctic permafrost started to melt; the phrase has appeared in headlines and op-eds about seemingly every environmental issue.

I’m not sure if one scientist said it first, and everyone else thought it sounded cool, or if some liberal Frank Luntz-type sent some memo about the phrase to environmental advocates everywhere, or if it’s just a coincidence. Either why, though, they should really stop, for at least six reasons:

 

1) Saying “Game Over” makes you sound like you are talking about a video game

Louie Louie Louie: Subway/Pamela

As Season Two of Louie continues on FX, John S and Josh will be offering NPI readers their reactions to each episode. At the end of the season, they will rank the episodes. Get excited.

Monday Medley

What we read while ironing out our Olympic Medals…

• John S has been enjoying, and recapping, the final season of Lost over the last few weeks. Hopefully, he’s been able to offer more insight than this blog. (Although we do love their layout.)

• Hey, it’s been a while since we linked to any David Foster Wallace stuff, right? Well, Ryan Walsh collected a bunch of great DFW audio files here.

• The Top 13 came out with its list of, well, the top 13 guest stars in the history of The Simpsons. Usually, we’d consider devoting a whole post to critiquing the list, except that our friends at the Dead Homer Society already said everything we would have.

• Louis Menand investigates the “science” behind psychiatry over at The New Yorker.

• We weren’t the only ones tired of hearing the whole “It’s snowing so global warming is a myth” argument. You know who else got sick of all the lame Al Gore jokes? Al Gore.

• There’s been a lot of discussion about ChatRoulette, the newest Internet sensation. This is another topic we considered writing a post about, but to be honest, all of us were pretty terrified of the thought of actually going on ChatRoulette. Especially since, not being hot girls, we would probably be nexted as quickly as, you know, contestants on that old MTV show, Next.

• Plan your Halloween costumes early: Norwegian curler.