I never tried as hard as I could
I've seen more than I've understood
Take my father who came back from the dead
"I needed just one more drink," he said
He sat there reading books
While my mother slowly lost her looks
And even though we were poor
The sun still shined on our door


Natasha Drewnicki, 2010

* From Harper's September 2010:

-- Number of people in India who currently have access to a mobile phone: 617,500,000

-- Number who have access to a toilet: 366,000,000

-- Percentage change in new home sales in the month after a federal first-time homebuyer program expired in April: - 33

-- Number of prison inmates who received tax credits under the program: 1,295

-- Rank of BP among the largest fuel suppliers to the Defense Department: 1

* Soft Focus: Ian Svenonius interviews Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.

* "An entire life spent reading would have fulfilled my every desire; I already knew that at the age of seven. The texture of the world is painful, inadequate; unalterable, or so it seems to me. Really, I believe that an entire life spent reading would have suited me best. Such a life has not been granted me." -- Michel Houellebecq