The 2010 World Cup begins on June 11 in Johannesburg, with host South Africa playing Mexico. The following day the US kicks off its campaign against mighty England. This is going to be an exciting tournament, and if the US plays to its capabilities it should advance out of group play. A lot of folks are already look past this
Read morePresident Barack Obama yesterday took a shot at America’s culture of noise and the media and entertainment technologies that foster it. In addressing the commencement exercises at Hampton University, Obama said: “With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather
Read moreHey, I’m not making this stuff up. We have met Neanderthals, and they are us – or about 1 to 4 percent of each of us. That is one implication of a four-year effort to sequence the Neanderthal genome – essentially setting out in order some 3 billion combinations of four key molecules that together represent the Neanderthals’ genetic blueprint.
Read moreA few days ago FCC Chair Julius Genachowski suggested that the administration was seriously considering abandoning the president’s uncompromising pledge to enforce net neutrality. Some suggested at the time that the comments had the vague odor of trial balloon about them. If so, the president found out, quickly and unequivocally, what folks thought. Some reasoned, some entreated, while others of
Read moreThe legendary Ernie Harwell, perhaps the greatest baseball announcer who ever lived, is dead at 92. Perhaps nothing ever written better encapsulates the sacred place of the national pastime in American life better than his 1995 essay, “A Game for All America,” in which he notes: Baseball? It’s just a game — as simple as a ball and a bat.
Read moreWe love The Agonist. And we love poetry. So it’s only natural that we’d love The Agonist’s “A Poem for Tuesday” feature. Today Bruce Jacobs has some thoughts on one of my favorite poems ever, Yeats’ “The Second Coming.” By all means, click over there and have a look.
Read moreThere’s been an interesting upsurge in decidedly old-fashioned chorale-style music of late. Perhaps we should have seen it coming a few years ago with the emergence of the upbeat, multi-layered harmonies of The Polyphonic Spree, but now the trend is upon us in full throat, if you will. A capella is big enough that it spawned a TV show, The
Read moreDuring the campaign then-candidate Barack Obama kept reminding us that “politics is the art of the possible.” We were encouraged to understand “possible” in the same context as “Hope®” and “Change We Can Believe In™.” That is, the Obama presidency was to usher in a new age where the old business as usual politics of the Beltway wouldn’t be tolerated.
Read moreAs Chris noted earlier this morning, today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. The rules are simple enough, but I may need a bigger pocket. For one thing, I can’t make up my mind as to what my favorite poem is. And second, I have this bad tendency toward long poems. The wall on my office at work features portraits
Read moreOh. Oh dear. It’s hard to know where to start with this one. You’re just going to have to watch it for yourself. Trust me – it’s worth it. ALERT: This is not a parody.
Read moreIt was announced yesterday that Louisiana-based CenturyTel is buying Qwest, marking the second major takeover in ten years for the Denver telco. I have some history with the US West iteration of the company, having worked there from 1997 until the ill-fated Qwest “merger” in Summer 2000. I was fortunate enough to be a part of USW’s PR group, which
Read moreIt was announced yesterday that Louisiana-based CenturyTel is buying Qwest, marking the second major takeover in ten years for the Denver telco. I have some history with the US West iteration of the company, having worked there from 1997 until the ill-fated Qwest “merger” in Summer 2000. I was fortunate enough to be a part of USW’s PR group, which
Read moreI remember distinctly how I first discovered Jag Star. I was snooping around on eMusic for new bands and was using the old triangulation method – who sounds like band X? One of my favorite bands is VAST, and Jag Star turned up as a “Similar Artist.” That was both a great moment and a confusing one. On the one
Read moreThree years ago today Scholars & Rogues launched with two posts: Whythawk weighed in with a thoughtful critique of corporate charity and I reported on Joe Wilson’s speech at the Conference on World Affairs (Joe is Mr. Valerie Plame, by the way), where he said that “Fred Thompson is a member of the treason faction of the Republican Party.” The
Read moreLilac, lovelace / remind me of / your true grace About four years ago I tripped across a band called The Lost Patrol. Since then I’ve noted their work a number of times: they made my best CDs for 2007 and 2008 reviews; their music served as a key element in a piece on the nonlinearity of influence; and they
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