Last week, the FDA’s ban on cigarettes flavored with anything but nicotine went into effect. This new rule was presented as a way to keep kids from smoking, but Steve Chapman throws some cold water on that idea: When it comes to escorting kids into addiction, such cigarettes are more like the eye of a [...]
Archive for November, 2011
Drive-through bluff called. This was on the Daily Show last week, but I’m posting it here because it is a must see. It has to be one of the weirdest things ever said in a newscast. Pay special attention to the look on the female newscaster’s face. Eyebrows: more important than eyes? Make your own [...]
In an essay on the failure of Cultural Studies to achieve its loftier goals, Penn State English professor Michael Berube puts a pretty good hit on false consciousness, the idea that people are often fooled into voting against their own best interests: In an especially rich essay, “The Toad in the Garden: Thatcherism Among the [...]
Today is Bruce Springsteen’s sixtieth birthday, and although he has gotten plenty of accolades today and throughout his career, I think he remains one of the most underrated popular rock musicians of all time. Maybe this opinion is just a byproduct of my personal experience because I have so few friends that really like the [...]
I think I’m going to make this my new hobby. What can I say? The Unabomber’s letter inspired me. This short film was made by a friend’s boyfriend, and I think it’s pretty good. Check it out and vote for it if you agree. There is a common myth that there are no awkward moments [...]
Since the inception of Social Security and later Medicare, younger workers have been footing the bill for retirees. So why should they mess with a winning formula now? From the Washington Post: A 2008 study by the Urban Institute found that more than 10 million young adults ages 19 to 26 lack health insurance coverage. [...]
I just saw the Flaming Lips, who I consider to be one of the best bands playing today, on The Colbert Report, and I noticed that Michael Ivins was wearing a CCP shirt with a red star representing the Chinese Communist Party. (It’s possible it said CCCP, which would be the Cyrillic letters for USSR, [...]
So this has to be the most inappropriate sports article of all time, right? I see it now comes with an apology from both the author and the editors. Thanks, Barney. I’ll try that myself. I would totally disown this kid. Also, in the related videos to that one is this short bit of hilarity. [...]
So I just finished writing a study guide for Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, and I wanted to share a quote from the author–fabled rock critic Lester Bangs. Bangs is discussing the death of his friend Peter Laughner from acute pancreatitis brought on by drug and alcohol abuse at twenty-four years of age. (Bangs himself [...]
In the economics profession, mainstream opinion on the Federal Reserve System is mostly positive. However, at the Huffington Post Ryan Grim notes that there may be more than solid research and objective opinion behind that consensus. It may be because the Fed employs or publishes a large chunk of the country’s monetary economists: The Fed [...]
