Hostage etiquette

You can ask them for basic questions like –
toilet, drinking, eating
In case of failure, do not mind
You can try again later.
In any case you do not have to threaten terrorists
phrases such as ‘You will still all be killed’
‘Soon comes your end’
This could cause psychological disruption
and the worst consequences.
Do not humiliate the terrorists.
Do not take weapons thrown by the terrorists.
Often the terrorists hide among the hostages.
Therefore all are suspected.
Always remember
if you are ready
calmly and confidently
to resist to the misfortune,
it will never HAPPEN to you.

Taken from a list of instructions found in a Ykaterinburg hotel, as described in the Financial Times article, A grim warning in the Russian regions, 3rd December 2013. Submitted by Grace Andreacchi.

What I’m drinking

Last month, I was invigorated
by an 11 a.m. restorative Vieux Carre
at the Courosel Bar
in New Orleans.
Fill a shaker with ice and add
a dash each of Benedictine,
Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters
and a shot each of rye whiskey,
cognac and Punt e Mes. Shake,
then strain into a glass
filled with fresh ice and garnish
with an Amarena cherry —
then let the late-morning voodoo
do its work.

Taken from an interview with Mario Batali in The New York Times Magazine, December 1, 2013. Submitted by J. R. Solonche.

Backspace

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What happens when you accidentally leave a keylogger tracking your keystrokes while you compose a Facebook message. March 2012. Submitted by Jacob Dodson.

In no great hurry

In order to build
a career
and be
successful,

one has to be
determined.
One has to be
ambitious.

A window
covered
with raindrops

interests me
more.

Seeing is
a neglected
enterprise.

Taken from the New York Times article, Saul Leiter, Photographer Who Captured New York’s Palette, Dies at 89, The New York Times, 27th November 2013. Submitted by Howie Good.

Melody pitfalls

I KNOW – I Can Write a Hit
I – KNOW – I Can Write a Hit
I Know I CAN – Write a Hit
I Know I Can WRITE a Hit
I Know I Can WRITE a HIT

Straight from The Top 5 Melody Pitfalls—and How to Avoid Them, BMI, 25 November 2013. Submitted by Mark Dzula.

Curriculum

Traumatic images,
queer looks,
dangerous texts.

African slave trade: introduction to proof.

Environmental disasters,
face of the land:
terrorism, intelligence and war–

Games and simulations,
advanced taxation,
cyberinfrastructure (the language of medicine)

Shakespeare the dramatist
(art of dying)
Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler.

discrete mathematics: prostitution and vice
major issues in criminal justice.

American deaf history,
human centered requirements,
special populations — thinking about making

power and influence,
options and futures,
boundary
value
problems.

sounds of protest,
vibrations and waves:

introduction to intelligent systems.

Course titles from the course catalog of Rochester Institute of Technology. Submitted by Rebecca Charry Roje.

Taxi driver

I like
to imagine myself
as the lion of the road,
prowling
the streets
for prey.

In the pecking order,
taxi drivers
rank pretty
highly;

pedestrians
are like chickens,
cyclists
are the monkeys

and buses
are wildebeests,
grinding along
in packs.

From What I’m really thinking: the taxi driver, Guardian Weekend, 16 November 2013. Submitted by Ailsa Holland.

Definitions

Extremely elderly Benedictine monk
Irrational predilection for performing surgery
Of, like or pertaining to lava
One who habitually enters many competitions

Local judge among miners
Provisional name for a plant whose flowers are unknown
Expression of joy among Arab women
Muscle by which the testicles are suspended

Government by superior firepower or by cannons
Part of a bullfighting arena where the bull makes his stand
Ancient syrupy medicine that is licked off a spoon
Doctrine that the wicked are utterly destroyed after death

Some definitions from The Phrontistery, a free online dictionary of obscure words. Submitted by Howie Good.

Praise Yeezus.

And it works.

It works because it’s beautiful
You either like it or you don’t
There’s no reason why it’s beautiful.

Either it moves you too,
Or it doesn’t,
And that’s that.

It’s all the same shit,
It’s all music —
If you like sound, listen.

Taken from a review by Lou Reed of Kanye West’s album, “Yeezus”, published by The Talkhouse on July, 2 2013. Submitted by Charles Githua.

One of the things about working on capital cases all your life is that you keep things in proportion.

Unless
you’ve got
an execution date,
it can damn well wait
until Wilf
has had
his bedtime story.

If there is
an execution date,
Wilf
will understand.

Taken from an interview with Clive Stafford Smith, ‘My Family Values,’ Guardian Weekend, 16 November 2013. Submitted by Ailsa Holland.