They boast heated seats, a bidet function for a rear cleanse and an air-purifying system that deodorizes during use. (And remember, gift givers, the holiday season is approaching.) “For those who own Japanese toilets, there is a cultish devotion. If you’d rather not read on, head elsewhere in the Times, where high-tech Japanese toilets are on parade.It’s unlikely that the insignificant opportunist who passes for our head of state, or the congenital moron who plays the part of our prime minister, or even the ‘stars of the opposition’ (LOL) will emerge from the test looking any brighter.” There are people, political people, who are responsible for the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in today, and sooner or later their responsibility will have to be examined. Instead, their main flaw is a kind of forgetful frivolity that necessitates jogging their memory from time to time. Houellebecq is on the Times Op-Ed page, up to his usual tricks: “ Despite the common perception, the French are rather docile, rather easy to govern. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast has landed the number-one spot on the French best-seller list-spurred in part by an interview with a woman known only as Danielle, who said the memoir helps the French “hold high the banner of our values,” even if it was written by an American.From a Penguin edition of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, retitled Carol.

Fair game by josh lanyon