Welcome to The Faster Times update. In today's edition, we bring you intervention in Libya, City Slicker Farms, a sexy Edgar Allan Poe, iPads galore, and a new column aptly titled "What the Fork?!?!". Enjoy!

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates urged Congress last Wednesday to consider the potential ramifications of intervention against Qaddafi in Libya. “Let’s just call a spade a spade,” Mr. Gates said. “A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses. That’s the way you do a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that’s the way it starts.”

Every Saturday on a sleepy side street in the industrial neighborhood of West Oakland you’ll see an unlikely site: a farm stand bursting with fresh, organic produce. Cabbage, collards, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, and cilantro spill out of oversized tin buckets; fresh eggs—from the hens who live not three yards away—are tucked in cartons, ready for sale. At first glance, this looks like your typical farmers’ market stand. Yet, look closer and you’ll see a bright yellow sign describing the farm’s unique sliding scale. If your unemployment check hasn’t come or “for whatever reason, cash is not flowing in” you should help yourself to veggies, no explanation needed.

As if ABC’s upcoming Poe TV series didn’t sound like enough of a bastardization—“It has an element of Guy Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes, an element of steampunk and a real sense of fun”—the network has announced it will be casting the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pretty-boy actor Christopher Egan to play the dark-haired, brooding and, frankly, kinda ugly Edgar Allan Poe. The TV series imagines Poe as a fun-loving crime fighter in a steampunkish 19th century Boston.

Will the Original iPad Soon Be Much Cheaper?

Apple released the second iteration of their iPad tablet yesterday, and much as was expected, the changes were mostly incremental. Aside from the integration with the very cool Airplay, there were not too many iPad 2 features to get the tech bloggers typing.

The premise of this irregularly recurring column is simple:

I am going to read every review that Pitchfork publishes each week.

Whenever I have to stop in my reading and wonder what in the name of Pavement the author is talking about, I will copy and paste the portion of the review here.