US Represented

Nonfiction

Quantitative Easing: A Simple Explanation

Although “quantitative easing” sounds complex, the idea is relatively simple in economic terms. The central banking system, the Federal Reserve in America, buys bonds from private or commercial banks. As the Wall Street Journal explains, “Bonds are a form of debt. Bonds are loans, or IOUs, but you serve as the bank. You loan your […]

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Low Tastes I – John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots ripped into my groin and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life!” – Max Shulman, *Sleep ‘Til Noon* Shulman’s parody of Mickey Spillane’s tougher than tough guy style probably represents what most people thought of “detective stories” when I was young. They were considered one of

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Reflection of a Latent Form: The Source of Consciousness

Whatever concept an artist imagines Is a reflection of a latent form that lies within A block of marble; the hand alone, Guided by the intellect, can give it form. from Michelangelo’s Sonnet 15 The “reflection of a latent form” Michelangelo characterizes in his poem has inspired debate among artists, aesthetes, and philosophers for thousands of

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These Are Not Maggots: A Self-Help Manual for the Tenuously Still-Employed

In Sergei Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin, that ship’s crew finally rebels over its working conditions, in particular over the food they’re given. They haul a side of beef, writhing with maggots, before the ship’s doctor: “Dr. Smirnov’s eye peering through the doubled pince-nez fills the screen. (Cut to . . . ) “White maggots swarm

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