Dr. X's Free Associations

Overheard

Yes, I'm always the third wheel, but I'm the front wheel on this tricycle.

Hobart Grinder

I spotted this Art Deco coffee grinder at the place I had lunch yesterday.

Brooks Today

David Brooks on Edward Snowden:

Though thoughtful, morally engaged and deeply committed to his beliefs, he appears to be a product of one of the more unfortunate trends of the age: the atomization of society, the loosening of social bonds, the apparently growing share of young men in their 20s who are living technological existences in the fuzzy land between their childhood institutions and adult family commitments.

If you live a life unshaped by the mediating institutions of civil society, perhaps it makes sense to see the world a certain way: Life is not embedded in a series of gently gradated authoritative structures: family, neighborhood, religious group, state, nation and world. Instead, it’s just the solitary naked individual and the gigantic and menacing state.

They Aren't Twinkies

They're Twinkie Food^TM

It's not about the nail

HT: EZ

Lunch Shots

I'll get back into writing mode soon. Lately, I've been in a seeing mood more than a saying mood.

Some color behind the curtain.

It Tastes Like Chicken

AM Central, Part II

Color below the fold.

AM Central Shots

Color below the fold.

An Upset at Ribfest

DNAinfo Chicago:

Joey Chestnut, ranked No. 1 by Major League Eating, said he hoped to put down eight pounds of ribs in eight minutes, but could only muster a hair over 2.5 pounds in the truncated six-minute contest, good enough for just third place.

In a major upset, Miki Sudo bested the entire field, packing away 2.9 pounds of ribs and earning a $2,000 payday in the process. In an impressive display of girl power, Michelle Lesco took second place with 2.62 pounds.

"This is absolutely surreal," Sudo said of her victory, the smell of smoked meat still on her breath.