Archimedes
Archimedes I I woke up, looked at the clock to the side of my bed. It was flashing. The only information it gave was that the power had blinked off more than two hours ago. I looked at the letter...
View ArticleButter Michael Jackson: The Final Transformation
Michael Jackson’s sudden death set off such an overwhelming overflow of national emotion and pride that the planners of the Iowa State Fair were moved to commission a butter sculpture of the pop icon....
View ArticleA Tribute to the King of Pop, 1958-2009
I, like many of my peers, have spent the better part of the last three weeks listening to a steady stream of news and music of, about, and by Michael Jackson. For this reason, I, like many of my peers,...
View ArticleGay Rights in Texas on Stonewall’s 40th Anniversary
June 29, 2009, marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, New York. The riots were a spontaneous refusal of patrons at a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn to be cowed by...
View ArticleThe Obama Betrayal
Ah, how joyous the mood was when the new administration took over. Many of the new, young liberals who had worked so hard for Obama, who had texted and e-mailed all of their friends about Obama, who...
View ArticleLaws and the Legislating Legislators Who Make Them: Al Franken Comes to Power
Al Franken’s long-delayed arrival at the U.S. Senate is a milestone for the current Democratic caucus in the Senate – bringing the Democrats to an unfilibusterable 60 senators – but it is an even more...
View ArticleTeenage Wildlife
Hours before he took the stage with his band, Ian Anderson sounded uncharacteristically cautious. “I’m gonna try to keep this a little more family-oriented,” he said, stroking his beard. “This might be...
View ArticleInterview: Peter Singer
It was with good cause that The New Yorker once referred to Peter Singer as “the world’s most influential living philosopher.” The Australian ethicist has been instrumental in raising public...
View ArticleIowa’s Smoking Ban: One Year Later
On the last afternoon of June one year ago I sat at a table in Thumbs sipping a beer. A half-dozen or so regulars were gathered up front inside the popular West Street bar that day, drinking and...
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