Lady Blaga is away this week on an likely much-deserved vacation, so I’m bringing you the poem of the week in her stead. Here we have Edna St. Vincent Millay, who was probably the coolest poet this side of Oscar Wilde. Here is one of my favorites of hers. Afternoon on a Hill I WILL be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one. I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch the wind bow down the grass, And the grass rise. And when lights begin...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Gail \”The Colander\” Collins, who in her column \”The Trends of August,\” writes: This...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Gail \”The Colander\” Collins, who in her column \”The Trends of August,\” writes: This...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 26 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Miley and Liam broke up. Now, your morning constitutional: An aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai who is being investigated for corruption is actually paid by the C.I.A. The Security and Exchanges Commission has approved new rules giving shareholders of companies more power to nominate board members. Food inflation is unexpectedly low, despite the rise in commodity prices. A solid case on how raising interest rates could be better for the economy than the ultra-low rates now. Will Wilkinson: How Reason Imperils Our Fake Libertarian Heritage. Choice passage: There is no form of libertarianism that...
Continue reading...Sounds familiar…
There was a cool story in the Times yesterday celebrating the history of women’s suffrage. Definitely recommend reading it. One part of the story really speaks to my 2010 self. Doesn’t this sound familiar? That year (1918) the 19th Amendment passed the House. It stalled in the Senate — blocked by conservative Southerners — but Wilson muscled it through in 1919.
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Unfrozen Caveman Center-Fielder will stay in Detroit. Now, your morning constitutional: John McCain fends off a challenge from the right, Ben \”Obama\’s the Worst President Ever\” Quayle wins his crowded primary, and Lisa Murkowski might need to find a new job. Also, nobody\’s quite sure what happened in Vermont. Jimmy Carter is in North Korea on a mission to secure the release of an American prisoner and, quite possibly, break an impasse in U.S.-North Korean relations. The Mexican Navy has discovered 72 dead bodies on a ranch in Tamaulipas, the largest discovery of dead...
Continue reading...What it would be like in your backyard
Sometimes I find it hard to know exactly how large a country is without looking at a globe (When I was a kid, I was convinced Germany was the size of New York. Oops.). Sometimes, even after looking at a globe, it isn’t so clear. So, when big events happen, it’s really hard to know how big the event is, exactly. Dimensions, a new project from the BBC, looks at helping with that problem. Above, you can see how big that major flooding in Pakistan (where there are reports of 8,000-10,000 victims sleeping in mud in 118-degree...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from David \”Yawny Pants\” Brooks, who in his column \”A Case of Mental Courage,\” writes:...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Good morning, folks. It\’s primary day in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and Vermont. But now, your morning constitutional: Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked President Obama\’s executive order that expanded embryonic stem cell research. At least 33 were killed after Somali insurgents disguised themselves as police officers and stormed a Mogadishu hotel. According to an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor, Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers\’ base near remote eastern Congo...
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