The little spat in Washington over NPR’s new headquarters has gotten plenty of attention after an article last week in the Washington Post. Conservatives have had a field day with the $201 million headquarters, using it to renew and old debate over whether public broadcasting should get any government assistance (this ignores the fact that Read more →
Like Justice Sonia Sotomayor did yesterday, Justice Antonin Scalia read his dissent to today’s DOMA ruling from the bench. It’s a symbolic but otherwise pointless exercise, given that in 2013, live cameras and microphones are still not allowed in the High Court. Read more →
A neurological wake-up call, drone journalism, the Texas filibuster, end of the playoff lawn, and the beginning of the ‘Should Kevin Love be traded?’ season. Read more →
It’s an old-school filibuster that’s underway in Texas today as a legislator tries to kill an abortion bill by running out the clock in the legislative session. Unlike Congress, the filibuster that Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth is engaged in actually demands both physical and mental challenges. The rules require her to remain standing, Read more →
Today’s signal that the apocalypse is not upon us comes from Melanie Mozingo, who describes what happened to her in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis after the trees came crashing down. She says the young man’s name is Blake and he’s about 8 or 9 years old.
Minnesota DFLer Ryan Winkler followed a pretty predictable script today when he referred to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as… well, here: Winkler deleted his tweet, then provided a fine example of digging oneself deeper. First with the non-apology apology: And then with the “I didn’t know it was racist” tweet. Which stresses believability. Even Read more →
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act today, it noted that the doomed section of the Act is no longer constitutional partly because the method of determining which states should be subject to it is outdated. Here is the explanation in the opinion of Supreme Court Justice John Roberts: Read more →
Lessons of the power failure, PTSD and moral injury, whatever happened to the bullied bus lady, why are tailgaters such pigs, and The XXXXXX Monologues? Read more →
I’m back in the cities after a great weekend in Cleveland. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow. I like a good storm and the challenges one presents, so to be honest, I’m a little sorry I missed the wind and rain of last week. The power outages? I’m not sorry to have missed out Read more →
This Sunday, the moon will be at its closest all year AND it will be full. That’s a recipe for a supermoon, NASA says. Here’s what that looked like last year: Wired has tips on photographing the moon. Let’s just hope for a clear night.
Connor Sheets of the International Business Times reports: A group of employees at Cincinnati’s beleaguered Internal Revenue Service field office used IRS computers and email accounts to exchange dozens of emails during the months leading up to the 2008 presidential election among a group of friends and colleagues dubbed the “Neanderthals,” discussing national politics in Read more →
Turner Barr has been traveling around the world for six years, funding his adventures by working along the way. His blog Around the World in 80 Jobs offers tips and documented his travels, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBhZlaIrJc It was a great success. Then Adecco, a multinational human resources company, started using “Around the World in Read more →
Today’s dispatch from comes from Nagaland, in the north of India. Mary Roach from the Smithsonian Magazine visited a pepper-eating contest there and reports on the science of eating spicy peppers. First, the video: The contestants here are eating Naga King Chilis, often ranked as the world’s hottest. These guys are pros: Competitors have 20 Read more →
I used to host a daily show about new digital technology that intended to illustrate and explain how our lives were being revolutionized by computers, the Internet, smart phones, etc. But in the back of my mind I always thought the bigger revolution was the juice that made every single device and network run. Electricity. So Read more →
The word “sincere” and Stephen Colbert are not usually associated with one another, but there isn’t a better way to describe this clip. Lorna Colbert died last week. Stephen Colbert said this about her in a very good a New York Times profile last year: “She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless Read more →
Bob Collins
Nate Minor
Jon Gordon