Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Whenever a new and wonderful social program is enacted, its architects see themselves as do-good fairy godmothers, granting wishes to an adoring crowd. But it can take many months, years, or even decades before the actual results of a program are known. By then the original goal may be forgotten, and all that is left
Friday, November 15th, 2013
All around the world, “smart” women are foregoing children in favor of career, ambition, or personal endeavors. That was the conclusion London School of Economics researcher Satoshi Kanazawa made in his book The Intelligence Paradox, Why the...
Thursday, November 14th, 2013
Dear Congress, it has come to our attention that the voters would like you to put a stop to inexpensive foreign competition from stealing their jobs. With this in mind, we have a wonderful opportunity for you....
Tuesday, November 12th, 2013
Typhoon Yolanda, may very well have been the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines, at least measured in wind speed. The devastation, and cost to human life are truly tragic, and the people of the...
Saturday, November 9th, 2013
This is the world we live in. If we weren’t surrounded by it everyday, if we didn’t take it for granted, we’d be dumbstruck by it’s intricacy and brilliance. This is an ordinary, familiar wooden pencil. You...
Friday, November 8th, 2013
We’ve lost track of all the nutty statements made by Paul Krugman. Besides being a columnist for the New York Times, and a Nobel Prize winner, Krugman is also a fantastic writer. This combination is quite dangerous,...
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
Think about it. Our brains are fabulous tools, the thing that makes us human, but our brains also hold us back, from being all we can be. Sometimes we are fooled, and sometimes we fool ourselves. We...
Friday, November 1st, 2013
According to George Carlin: “When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley. Fascism—Germany lost the Second...
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
In the 1950’s America was, superficially at least, happy. The war was over, and while Europe and Asia rebuilt themselves, American’s delighted in toasters, Chevys, and Joe Dimaggio. Men and women married. The men went to work,...
Tuesday, October 29th, 2013
Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway. Something like that happens among people. There have been...
Sunday, October 27th, 2013
It might seem like we’re living at a uniquely rich moment for conspiracy theories. Over the last few years, we’ve seen it claimed that Osama bin Laden didn’t really die, that Barack Obama is covering up the...
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013
Thomas Hobbes said that words are wise men’s counters, but the money of fools. This is as true today as it was 400 years ago when Hobbes said it. Using words is very different from taking words...
Friday, October 18th, 2013
All around the world, food availability, income, and life span are up, while disease, child mortality, and violence are down. Though the world is still far from perfect, nearly everything is more affordable, not always in dollar...
Tuesday, October 15th, 2013
The curious affair of Fred Mudgeon began in 2015 when he, age 67 and largely blind, walked onto the field of the Washington Miquetoasts, the capital’s football team, and announced that he wanted to try out for...
Friday, October 11th, 2013
When someone says, “that’s cool,” it is a signal that all thinking has ceased. Therefore ‘cool’ has become a national addiction, for getting things done, that really don’t need doing. Take NASA for instance. It wasn’t so...