Half a dozen compelling things to read during a Wednesday break
Can't say we loved reading all of these, but they certainly were all interesting.
Our data show that swearing emerges by age two and becomes adult-like by ages 11 or 12. By the time children enter school, they have a working vocabulary of 30-40 offensive words.
—"To Obama With Love, and Hate, and Desperation," Jeanne Marie Laskas, New York Times
President Obama was the first to come up with a deliberate and explicit practice of 10 letters every day. If the president was home at the White House (he did not tend to mail when he traveled), he would be reading constituent mail, and everyone knew it, and systems were put in place to make sure it happened. The mail had currency. Some staff members called it “the letter underground.”
—"Why Elites Always Rule," Hugo Drochon, NewStatesman
“There is always the domination of the minority over the majority. History is just the story of one elite replacing another.”
—"Lessons From Playing Golf With Trump," David Owen, New Yorker
A friend asked me later whether Trump wasn’t “in on the joke” of his public persona, and I said that, as far as I could tell, the Trump we were used to seeing on television was the honest-to-god authentic Trump: a ten-year-old boy who, for unknown reasons, had been given a real airplane and a billion dollars.
—"Michael Joyce's Second Act," Sam Riches, Racquet
In 1996, David Foster Wallace profiled tennis player Michael Joyce in one of the most celebrated pieces of sports writing ever published. Who has he become since?
—"'Daddy, Can You Tell Me More About the Superheroes?'," Evan Narcisse, io9
I’d been waiting years for my daughter to show an organic interest in superheroes, video games, and the other stuff I write about as a professional nerd. It’s happening, at long last... but it’s taking us to some unexpectedly poignant places.