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From September 1968.

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Jackie Rousseau-Anderson: Originally the internet was a great “unknown.” We saw marked increases in the time spent online as people began to try out this new medium and become acquainted with it. The amount of time people were dedicating to the internet grew significantly because it took people time to sit down and figure out how to use it and where they should be going. These were the days of “hard-core surfing”; people just floating through the internet, not really sure what they were looking for, but just spending time looking around. Now people’s use is more defined. People who have been online awhile understand how to use the internet sufficiently and can maximize the time they have to spend on it. They generally know which sites they are going to when they log in. For new people starting out, the proliferation of website advertising (i.e., websites listed in commercials, affiliated with brands, etc.) helps direct people to where they want to go. Similarly, Google and other search engines have become staples of internet use so instead of surfing around to find what you’re looking for you can simply go to Google, type in your search terms, and all the hard work is done. —“The Web Is Flat: Why time spent online is leveling off,” Abbey Klaassen, Advertising Age

The German Army, mocked and criticised by its NATO partners because of the many caveats limiting its operations, has been taking serious casualties in the north of the country, especially around the Kunduz region. German politicians, aware of an approaching general election that could give voice to pacificist sentiment, are still avoiding the K-word — Krieg (war) — and no modern German government can expect to be re-elected on a war platform. The reality looks a lot like war, and the new rules of engagement adapt to it. The seven-page booklet has been trimmed down to four pages and soldiers are not as hamstrung by regulations. Up until last week it was, for example, forbidden to shoot a fleeing assailant, even though every civilian policeman in Germany has the right to shoot an armed fugitive in the arm or leg after barking a short warning. —“New Rules Let Germans in Afghanistan Stop Shouting and Start Shooting,” Roger Boyes, Times Online

To be quite candid, I don’t see the point in poetry that reveals or revels in the poet’s unhealthy sexual preferences. I would find a poem about rape or sexual abuse to be repugnant, no matter how perfect its technique. Similarly, poetry about the mind of a psychopath, a vampire, or a serial killer would be highly offensive to my sensibilities. I think American contemporary poetry has lost its way in a dark wood, to paraphrase Dante. Like a mole, American poets are snuffling in the dirt of the psyche’s underground, sniffing out every dark crevice of their own subconscious. They have turned away from light and beauty in search of the ugliest layers of human nature. —“On Poetry: Contemporary American work has turned from beauty,” A.S. Maulucci, Norwich Bulletin