I think there may be a cultural reason for the self-enforced stupidity we’re seeing in American youth, and moreover, for a stubborn failure to perceive that mouth-breathing ignorance as a failing.
Who is this Paul McCartney guy?
america
San Francisco’s tourist pitfalls
I take you to San Francisco, which is already a good-value city for vacations, and show how to make it into an even better value.
You’re not a very good capitalist
Too many people seem to think hard work is the same thing as ‘capitalism.’ In truth, almost all of us work hard to put the fruit of our labor in an investor’s pocket. Look at your life if you doubt me.
A mesmerizing HD drive through South Dakota’s Badlands
This video of Badlands National Park in South Dakota is seductive. It’s a nearly four-minute, uninterrupted shot of the driver’s view as he travels east on Badlands Loop Road (240) as it prepares to intersect with 377 near Interior, South Dakota.
Beautiful mistakes my camera made
My digital camera is an artist. It didn’t screw up my pictures in some mundane way. It inserted some wry counterpoint and some beautiful geometric juxtapositions. It elevated my own commentary into works of art that I now happily claim as my own creations.
Real recordings of bygone people: Actual voices of Queen Victoria, Houdini, and Lenin
Many historic recordings have finally migrated online so we can all hear them. Because it’s so energizing to close your eyes and feel these printed names come alive again, I’ve linked a few here.
When gangs of thugs put out your fires: Boss Tweed, Obamacare, and Big Pharma
The GOP presidential aspirants are getting a lot of mileage by demonizing the potential of a civic health care system, but they clearly don’t know history. We’ve actually done something like this before in another area of our health and safety. Take this example from the history books: Boss Tweed. The refrains from the nattering… Read more »
A radical proposal to save the U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service lost $3 billion last quarter, and now its masters intend to cut overnight delivery, slow down mail, and close facilities (particularly in poor neighborhoods). Government-hating Teabaggers whinge, but the fact is that while the Postal Service is federally mandated, it does not receive taxpayer money. So if we’re going to… Read more »
Mount Rushmore souvenirs that don’t look like Mount Rushmore
Girl, you know it’s true. Mount Rushmore is empty-calorie patriotism, but it’s pretty. Local concerns overbuilt the amenities so much in the 1990s so that they’re still paying them off. Merely parking a car costs $11. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum took extreme care in rendering his four subjects accurately, but the piles of tourist junk hawked… Read more »
Minnesota State Fair: see all the foods on a stick
I visited the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul and thinking of you, of course, I had my camera with me. I created this kind cool, kinda quiltlike portrait of what it’s like to go, with a special emphasis on all the many foods on a stick you can find there. And, oh yes, there… Read more »