Reading

Pralus

Photo: Tony Cenicola
NYTimes:
Chocolate from 10 far-flung sources, for the intellectual taster on the gift list to compare, includes Tanzania (fruity), Venezuela (hinting of coffee) and Papua New Guinea (suggests grilled almonds). A set of the colorfully wrapped 1.8-ounce bars, all 75 percent cacao bittersweet and made by Pralus in Roanne, France, is $49.95 from worldwidechocolate.com and $48 at Takashimaya.

Agostino Arrivabene

Sebastiane, psiconauta: 2006

National Museum of Iraq

Photo: Michael Kamber for The New York Times

"Intricately patterned stone panels were among the artifacts that proved too heavy for looters to haul off when the Baghdad Museum was overrun in 2003. The executive director, Amira Eidan, said today that she could not forecast when the museum might reopen again since restoration efforts had been slowed by insufficient funding. The cost of recovering the artifacts has consumed the bulk of her museum’s budget, and pieces sometimes turned up at foreign auctions but were too expensive or difficult to retrieve, she said."

John Lennon 1940-1980

Working Class Hero
Music/Lyrics: John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

Los Angeles International Airport

Theme Building Restoration

Georges Simenon

“Attention should be paid to the New York Review of Books' continuing reissues of Georges Simenon. Simenon was legendary both for his literary skill–four or five books every year for 40 years–and his sexual capacity, at least to hear him tell it. What we can speak of with some certainty are the novels, which are tough, rigorously unsentimental and full of rage, duplicity and, occasionally, justice. Simenon's tone and dispassionate examination of humanity was echoed by Patricia Highsmith, who dispensed with the justice. Try one, and you'll want to read more.” –The Palm Beach Post

Obstruction of Justice

1. 18 U.S.C. sec. 1502(c): “Whoever corruptly . . . alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”

18 U.S.C. sec. 1505: “Whoever corruptly . . . obstructs or impedes or endeavors to obstruct or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress. . . Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.”

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/index.html

Zegna

NYTimes: Zegna Sport’s Solar jacket, the company’s next step in high-function design. Tricked out with solar cells mounted on the collar, the jacket converts sunlight into energy that will recharge the battery in a cellphone, hand-held device or iPod in four hours. For urban outdoorsmen who don’t have much time to bask in the sun, the panels and battery element are detachable, so they can bask independently. In black or silver microfiber and neoprene, in bomber, $995, or three-quarter length, $1,095, at Ermenegildo Zegna Boutiques, (888) 880-3462.

NYTimes: The umbrella stand with a sponge base is $99 from (262) 884-0226 or www.designhousestockholm.com.

Pierre Paulin

Ribbon Chair
ca 1970

Supreme Court of the United States

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Protesters outside the Supreme Court, where lawyers for Guantánamo Bay detainees were arguing that federal judges have jurisdiction to review their cases.

Barrow, Alaska

Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times

A bone from a Bowhead whale skull rests on the arctic shore outside of Barrow as monument to the defining role that whaling plays for this coastal community.

Cady Noland

Photo: Jason Schmidt
“Log Cabin Blank With Screw Eyes and Cafe Door (Memorial to John Caldwell)”