2014-11-30T17:20:18-05:00

Trolls–those who make harsh and nasty comments just to take over and disrupt discussions–are the bane of the internet.  It turns out, some trolls are paid for their work. (more…)

2014-10-13T18:32:18-04:00

Mollie Hemingway has written (way back in October) a piece in the Federalist about what she calls “The War on Advent.”   Besides having the makings of a holiday classic, it makes a fine introduction to this all-but-forgotten season. (more…)

2014-11-30T17:16:24-05:00

We old fogies are always complaining about “the younger generation.”  But today’s teenagers and young adults actually have a much better record than their peers from the past (including when we old fogies were young fogies).  Crime rates, promiscuity, substance abuse, bullying, and suicide rates

2014-11-30T17:17:13-05:00

The British mystery writer P. D. James has died at age 94.  She took a popular conventional genre, the mystery story, and brought to it her gifts as a serious literary novelist.  Drawing on her work in a police forensics unit, she perfected the “police

2014-11-29T09:43:58-05:00

It won’t be released until about this time next year–December 15, 2015–but a trailer has been released for Star Wars Episode 7:  The Force Returns.  The movie will pick up the story of the galaxy far, far away beginning 30 years AFTER Return of the

2014-11-27T17:02:29-05:00

An essay in the Washington Post about the non-spontaneous riots in Ferguson, Missouri, included a digression on another kind of uprising:  the “party riot,” what some college students do when they lose or win a big game or what breaks out at Mardi Gras or

2014-11-27T17:36:57-05:00

Japan, where people enjoy a good cut of whale, is pushing back against international anti-whaling rules, which are allegedly nothing more than “eco-imperialism.”  According to the Japanese, it would be as if people in India who believe cattle are sacred would impose punishments on nations

2014-11-27T17:37:46-05:00

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carla Fiorina is starting a run for the Republican presidential nomination.  She is pro-life, fiscally-conservative, and of the female persuasion.  Then again, she has never held public office and her tenure at Hewlett-Packard was not completely successful.  Still, maybe she could give

2014-11-25T20:33:09-05:00

Folklorist Jack Santino observes that Thanksgiving is pretty much the only national holiday that hasn’t shifted its focus to children.  In fact, they are often shunted off to the “kids’ table.”  The emphasis instead is on grandparents, patriarchs and matriarchs, family traditions going back for

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