Friday’s Reading List

By Taylor Marvin

Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633.

The best links of the week:

The “Arab Spring” in a historical perspective (via Andrew Exum).

Mitt Romney’s corporate idealism: Mitt Romney drove the creation of the modern, hyper-competitive economy.

No he didn’t.

Demolishing the myth that the average student can pay their way through college without loans (via Andrew Sullivan).

Midnight Sun | Iceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo, via Sarah Kliff.

Defending Zooey Deschanel’s melancholic rendition of the national anthem (via Robert Farley).

Possibly related: “Zooey Deschanel’s character in The New Girl is probably the clearest example of this right now, as that entire show is based around how quirky and eccentric and, as a result, lovable, Zooey’s character is. Except she’s not so much ‘eccentric’ as much as she is ‘bad at being alive and functioning socially, in the present.'”

The Economist calls for generational warfare: “Another reason OWS may want to shift their focus is that the elderly (or at least the their most effective lobbby, the AARP) has declared war on them.”

Ben Harper – Excuse Me Mr / Burnin’ & Lootin.