Blog 3 Columns

Ronald Reagan Challenged Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ‘Tear Down’ the Berlin Wall 31 Years Ago 0
- History
- June 12, 2018
On this day (June 12) President Ronald Reagan gave what is probably his most famous and influential speech — the “Berlin Wall speech” — at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987. It was in this speech (at about 12:00 in the video below) that Reagan made his famous and history-changing
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How Hitler Could Regret He’d ‘Been So Kind’ in a Letter Days Before His Death 1
- History
- June 12, 2018
In a bunker in Berlin on April 27, 1945, just three days before he’d take his own life—either by cyanide or the pistol (historians still debate which killed him)—Adolf Hitler reflected on his shattered dream of creating a thousand-year Third Reich. As the Red Army encircled the German capital, the 56-year-old Hitler, weary and defeated,
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5 Facts About the Kim Dynasty of North Korea 0
- Politics
- June 12, 2018
President Trump began a historic summit with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Here are five facts you should know about the Kim family, the secretive autocratic regime that has ruled North Korea for more than sixty years. (Note: To avoid confusion, I’ve labeled each of the Kim dictators with a numeric designation: Kim
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Twitter CEO Apologizes for Eating Chick-Fil-A Sandwich 0
- Culture
- June 11, 2018
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Sunday expressed regret over eating at Chick-fil-A because of the chicken company’s CEO’s personal views on gay marriage. Dorsey tweeted a screenshot from his phone that showed a purchase he had made at Chick-fil-A using a mobile application. After a liberal backlash, however, Dorsey apologized for eating at the popular
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Suicide: I’ve Heard its Siren Call 0
- Culture
- June 11, 2018
For ten years now, I have suffered from chronic pain after ripping apart my abdominal wall, causing permanent nerve damage. I generally keep it private, but in the face of the mounting despair and hopelessness in our society, I feel I ought to pull back the veil. One day I was fine, wrenching a toilet
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Scientists Have Created a Flux Capacitor 0
- Science
- June 11, 2018
The technology that allowed Marty McFly to travel back in time in the 1985 movie Back to the Future was the mythical flux capacitor, designed by inventor Doc Brown. We’ve now developed our own kind of flux capacitor, as detailed recently in Physical Review Letters. While we can’t send a DeLorean car back in time,
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A (Manageable) Summer Reading List for the Beach 0
- Culture
- June 11, 2018
At the beginning of summer, we often are treated to a spate of “Summer Reading” lists that we are supposed to read “at the beach.” The trouble is, the lists are either so overstuffed with long books or are just so long that any attempt to read them at the beach will result in sun
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‘You Aren’t That Big a Deal’: A Message the Self-Esteem Generation Desperately Needs to Hear 0
- Culture
- June 11, 2018
There is a meme that speaks directly to the hearts and minds of the overly self-conscious. Perhaps you’ve seen it; it goes something like this: ‘Brain: “I see you are trying to sleep. May I offer you a selection of your most embarrassing memories from the past 10 years?”’ At first, it seems odd to
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Why California’s Drinking Water Tax Could Be the Last Straw for Californians 0
- Politics
- June 8, 2018
California governor Jerry Brown wants to impose the state’s first-ever tax on drinking water, tacked onto monthly bills, and accompanied by “fees” on fertilizer and dairy farmers. For embattled Californians, this new tax will come as no surprise. Forty years ago in 1978, property taxes were on the rise and the People’s Initiative to Limit
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Ronald Reagan Challenged Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ‘Tear Down’ the Berlin Wall 31 Years Ago 0