Daily Office: Tuesday
¶ Matins: A solid editorial at the Times takes the smart view of health-care reform and regards the new legislation for what it is: a beginning.
¶ Lauds: Steve Almond discusses his discovery of the “Music Critic Paradox.”
¶ Prime: If you want to sell your widget globally, James Surowiecki advises you to aim for either luxury or economy, and to steer clear of the the “Mushy Middle” (f/k/a “Big”), a market that may be shrinking even as its profitability dwindles. (The New Yorker)
¶ Tierce: Interesting findings at Johns Hopkins: the common anti-acne medication known as minocycline targets HIV-infected immune cells. (via Joe.My.God)
¶ Sext: Food for thought: Jonathan Harris hears from a friend at SXSW. (Wikipedia on SXSW)
¶ Nones: Last week, Rand Richards Cooper complained about poor RSVP etiquette (online, that is). This week, some responses. Most of them mention a resistance, on the part of an invitee, to commit to one event when (it is alleged) better offers may come along. Phui, say we. Margaret Moore, of Portland, Oregon, has it right: we’re not sure that we’ll be in the mood to go out at all when the date comes round. (NYT)
¶ Vespers: Randolyn Zinn interviews Jonathan Dee, author of The Privileges, a book that, ahem, the Editor ought to be writing up (he liked it quite a lot.)(3 Quarks Daily)
¶ Compline: Tom Bissell announces at the outset that he is writing under the gun, having spent the day glued to the subject of his essay, Grand Theft Auto. Not altogether coherent, the page is nevertheless dense with unexpected but lucid sense impressions. (There is also a good deal of ill-digested cocaine.) (Guardian)