Best of Kultura 2011-The Articles

2011 Articles of Note


1.  The Little Trick

By Anton Chekov

A beautiful short story by the celebrated Russian writer.
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/03/little-trick.html

2.  A Grief Like No Other

By Eric Schlosser

Excerpt:

Patty also found consolation at her son's grave. During the first year after the murder she stopped by the cemetery two or three times a day. Usually she'd visit the grave for fifteen minutes or so. At other times, including his birthday, she would sit there all day. His birthday was in February, when the weather was harsh and cold. One thing she could not bear was the thought of snow covering Tim's body. Whenever it snowed, she had to visit the cemetery and clear off his grave. One day after a snowstorm she arrived and found that someone who knew how she felt had already removed the snow from Tim's grave."
 http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/07/grief-like-no-other.html


3.  Why We Travel 

by Paul Theroux

“Don’t go there,” the know-it-all, stay-at-home finger wagger says of many a distant place. I have heard it my whole traveling life, and in almost every case it was bad advice. In my experience these maligned countries are often the most fulfilling. I am not saying they are fun. For undiluted jollification you bake in the sun at Waikiki with a mai tai in your fist, or eat lotuses on the Côte d’Azur. As for the recognition of hard travel as rewarding, the feeling is mainly retrospective, since it is only in looking back that we see how we have been enriched. At the time, of course, the experience of being a bystander to sudden political or social change can be alarming.
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/04/argument-for-travel-during-turbulent.html



4.  Living in the Moment Really Does Make You Happier 

By Ian Sample

They found that people were happiest when having sex, exercising or in conversation, and least happy when working, resting or using a home computer. And although subjects' minds were wandering nearly half of the time, this consistently made them less happy.
The team conclude that reminiscing, thinking ahead or daydreaming tends to make people more miserable, even when they are thinking about something pleasant.
 http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/08/living-in-moment-really-does-make.html 



5.  ...the last sentence

The last words of some pretty cool people.
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/08/famous-last-words.html


6.  Dummy Land

Writer Avi Steinberg visits a ventriloquist convention...great article.

http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/07/dummy-land.html


7.  The Oatmeal

Hilarious comics with a little social commentary added...  By Mathew Inmann
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.com/2011/07/oatmeal.html