Did a woman really whiff two of the greatest sluggers of all time … back to back? We’ll never know, but it’s plausible. My buddy Guy Saperstein sent this around last night. The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig One spring day my son came home from school and asked, “Do you know about the girl
Read moreIt’s been 15 years since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire. I don’t have anything new to say, but I thought that we ought to pause and reflect on that day and all that has transpired in its wake. Through the years I’ve written about Columbine several times, attempting to make sense of it, perhaps create a bit of
Read moreIt was 20 years ago today in Boulder, CO. Do you remember where you were on April 1, 1994? I do. I was sitting at a computer in an apartment at the corner of Colorado and Foothills in Boulder, launching this really new thing called a “Web site.” Today there are over 932 million of them (and counting) in the
Read moreLullaby Pit, one of the world’s oldest Web sites, marks its 20th anniversary today. As of this moment, there are more than 930 million Web sites in the world, and we’re projected to hit a billion by the end of the year. 20 years ago today, though, there were roughly 2,000. 20 years ago today – that would have been
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Photographers everywhere can identify with William Anders and the crew of Apollo 8. Our friend Frank Dilatush forwarded a YouTube link this morning commemorating the 45th anniversary of what many consider to be the most famous photograph in history: Earthrise, taken December 24, 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders. As it turns out, the iconic shot almost didn’t happen.
Read moreCourtesy of Upworthy and WGBH we get this audio of the moment when the audience learns that Kennedy has been assassinated.
Read moreA progressive utopia, World War 3 or something in between? Sensitivity to initial conditions means that each point in such a system is arbitrarily closely approximated by other points with significantly different future trajectories. Thus, an arbitrarily small perturbation of the current trajectory may lead to significantly different future behaviour. – Wikipedia Today marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s
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The original plan when we began this project was to offer the amendments individually, invite discussion, then produce a final document. The course of the process, though, has made a couple things clear. First, there needs to be a period to discuss the entire document in context, and second, while the original “Bill of Rights” approach perhaps had a certain
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Way back in March of 2008, as the campaign was running in high gear, I made clear that while I wasn’t in love with the Democratic frontrunners, the emerging alternative was worse: John McCain represented the third Bush presidency. I was undoubtedly right. But… You knew there was a “but” coming, didn’t you? Obama prepares for possible action against Syria
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Over the past few days, the New Constitution series has generated some interesting discussion. Objections, defenses and counterpoints from myself and other readers, in some cases resulting in planned revisions to the document. One particular issue, which I predicted in the prologue, has centered around the appropriate level of specificity employed in articulating the various rights and responsibilities. One of
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As I’ve noted before, I grew up working class in the South. My neighborhood, my school, my family and friends, it all oscillated between “redneck” and “white trash,” and yes, there’s a difference. I wrote not long ago about the challenges facing those of us trying to climb the socio-economic ladder when nothing in our upbringing had taught us which fork
Read moreIf you only read one thing today, make it this. Scott Fujita of the Cleveland Browns reflects on what it means in a society when some people are regarded as “less than” others. A snip: I support marriage equality for so many reasons: my father’s experience in an internment camp and the racial intolerance his family experienced during and after
Read more“You idiot! Get back in there at once and sell, sell!” As we set about the process of compiling and canonizing the 2012 election post-mortem, one thing we keep hearing over and over is how utterly stunned the Romney camp was at their loss. Republicans across the board apparently expected victory – the conservative punditry seemed certain of it – and
Read moreThis is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We’re stealing it back. – Bono When we hear talk about “markets” and “capitalism” and “business,” especially as such things are fetishized in the corporate media (think about how The Apprentice franchise has apparently made Donald Trump, a barking conspiracy theorist whose companies have declared bankruptcy four times and who has
Read moreEverybody seems to be so negative about campaign season. They hate the ads, they hate the mudslinging, they hate the lying, they hate the candidates. Not me – I LOVE campaign season. Why? Because it’s an opportunity to learn stuff that not only didn’t I know before, but that I’d never learn any other way.
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