Blog 3 Columns

Design Regulations Helped Ruin American Cars 8
- Culture
- May 24, 2019
Your car looks like a box. So does every other car. It’s boring, even shocking when you consider how awesome cars used to look. What’s gone wrong? And to what extent has the design mess contributed to the decline of American auto manufacturing? A letter to the Wall Street Journal comes close but misses the point.
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A Slow Learner Looks at Anti-Semitism 0
- Culture
- May 24, 2019
Long ago, I was enrolled in Staunton Military Academy’s Junior School, which consisted of about 50 seventh and eighth graders. Now long defunct, SMA was a tough place. Copying the practices of the Virginia Military Institute, first-year SMA students were called “rats.” These new cadets faced some hazing, and our barracks saw more fights every
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What Amazon’s Documentary ‘Lorena’ Teaches About American Society 0
- Culture
- May 23, 2019
Over the past several years, America has been deluged with documentaries, movies, and limited series revisiting the great media frenzies of the 1990s (OJ Simpson, Waco, Tonya Harding, etc). These shows are entertaining, but they also play a more significant role. This is the way Americans are learning history now. I watched the Paramount Networks’
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The Forgotten Family Ritual That Bonds Parents and Children 0
- Culture
- May 23, 2019
A friend of mine told me how as a child she informed her neighborhood playmate one evening that she had to go home. It was time for dinner. Her playmate gave her a confused look. “Don’t you eat dinner with your family?” my friend asked her. “No, we never do that,” came the answer. Unfortunately,
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Six Stats That Show Americans Are Drowning in Stuff They Don’t Need 0
- Culture
- May 23, 2019
The other day I discovered a YouTube channel, Wild We Roam. It depicts a couple who lives a very simple but vibrant life in a van in Europe. They have an incredible video (see below) showing how they converted a Mercedes van from 1980 into a home! When I saw this video, the first thing
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On War With Iran, It’s Trump Versus the Founding Fathers 0
- History
- May 23, 2019
War between the United States and Iran looms, even though the latter poses no threat to the former. President Donald Trump says he doesn’t want war but for the Iranians to call him. Perhaps his entire campaign is an elaborate effort to scare Tehran to the negotiating table. Or perhaps he hopes to win political
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Marriott Finally Realizes That Competing With Airbnb Beats Lobbying Against It 0
- Economics
- May 23, 2019
The hotel lobby is at least partially responsible for the pushback Airbnb received in several states in the recent past. But despite the hospitality industry’s continuous push to destroy the home-sharing business, it seems that Airbnb won’t be losing the war that easily after all. According to multiple sources, hotel chains like Marriott are now entering the home-sharing business.
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Treat Others the Way Chick-fil-A Treats You 2
- Culture
- May 22, 2019
I sit down on a plush, blue-grey booth seat and admire the freshly cut daisies on the table in front of me. It’s a rainy day in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so the warmth of the spicy crispy chicken sandwich I prepare to sink my teeth into enlivens me. Unthinkingly, I tune in to a conversation
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Remembering the Original Meaning of the American Dream 0
- Culture
- May 22, 2019
In the 1999 film Fight Club, Tyler Durden addresses what he sees as the problem with the American Dream. “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars,” he says. “But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed
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Design Regulations Helped Ruin American Cars 8