We usually care little for news of prizes—we refuse to watch the Academy Awards, for example, and we’re always hard-pressed to name the regining National Hockey League MVP. But we can’t help but take note of this morning’s news regarding our president’s newly minted Nobel laureate status . Talk about a topic sure to stay on people’s lips for days or weeks…
Much of the …
Tags: · Barack Obama, Carl von Ossietzky, Nobel Peace Prize, politics
During my guest stint over at Ta-Nehisi’s place last week, a commenter reminded me of my all-time favorite Otto von Bismarck quote: “Politics is the art of the possible.” The unsmiling German statesman may have meant that all successful negotiations must end in compromise, but I’d like to think he also had faith in politics’ ability to tease out technological innovation. Politicians …
Tags: · gadgets, Horace Leslie Galbraith, Jamaica, music, Otto von Bismarck, politics, sound systems, technology, World War II
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hd6Wohi-97w
The greatest to ever do it
I have a heavy writing day ahead: I’m having serious problems with a transition in my lede, and experience has taught me that ironing things out will take a good eight hours. So I’m shirking my Microkhan duties for the day and just tossing up some rare footage of the greatest squash player to ever walk the Earth. …
Tags: · Jahangir Khan, Pakistan, sports, squash, writer's block, writing
https://www.youtube.com/embed/OqFOUioAz6k
Whenever I’m stuck on a writing project—an all-too-frequent occurrence—I usually try to find my way forward by contemplating a single question: How can I shift what I’m trying to say without reaching for cliches? Because a lot of the time, the reason I’m banging my head against the wall is because I’m taking an approach to the …
Tags: · creativity, George Lucas, movies, writing
The lyrics for national anthems are usually testaments to a country’s finer aspects—its gorgeous scenery, perhaps, or the indomitable fighting spirit of its longtime (though not necessarily original) residents. One notable exception is the anthem of Bikini Atoll , the South Pacific island that the United States destroyed with nuclear weapons tests in the early years of the Cold War. Just …
Tags: · Bikini Atoll, music, national anthems, nuclear weapons
I am a writer based in the former hat-manufacturing capital of America. I ’m currently a contributing editor at Wired , for whom I write in-depth stories about criminal justice, national security, biomedical research, and sundry other topics. I’m also the author of two books of narrative nonfiction: Now the Hell Will Start , the tale of an American G.I. who went native in …
Tags:
