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- Blog 3 Columns
‘The Hobbit’ Turns 800
- History
- October 5, 2017
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” When Tolkien wrote these words, which would become one of the most famous and most memorable opening sentences in all of literature, he could not have known what literary power would be unleashed by his creation of the diminutive hole-dwelling creature, Bilbo Baggins. This year,
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Why Tom Petty’s Music Will Last0
- Culture
- October 4, 2017
We don’t have royalty in America. All we have is celebrities. And at the top of the celebrity hierarchy is the rock star. So lofty a station do rock stars occupy in the celebrity firmament, that movie stars, presidents, and even real royalty must pay them obeisance. And of course we all know how the
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Trump Ready to Sign House-Passed Ban of Abortions After 20 Weeks0
- Family
- October 4, 2017
President Donald Trump is prepared to sign a late-term abortion ban, which the House passed Tuesday evening, if the Senate follows suit. A statement from the White House said the proposed law would promote a “culture of life.” Proponents say the measure, prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, would restrict the procedure at the
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The Reason So Many Americans Are Ungrateful1
- Culture
- October 4, 2017
From May through October, we buy our produce at a local farm stand owned by a farmer who is vocally anti-Trump. Recently, I overheard the farmer banter with a customer about Trump. To his surprise the customer was an avid Trump supporter. As I watched their interaction, I admired the farmer’s skill at backing off
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The Real Message Behind the Statue of a Naked Woman on the National Mall0
- Culture
- October 4, 2017
Washington D.C., a city that welcomes close to twenty million tourists each year, may get a new one: A forty-five-foot statue of a naked woman may be coming from San Francisco to spend several months on the National Mall. The artist, Marco Cochrane, described his intentions in creating this work as follows: “These sculptures are
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Statistician Rethinks Gun Control After Digging into the Data0
- Politics
- October 4, 2017
Statistician Leah Libresco said she used to be for gun control. Then she looked at the data. Writing at the Washington Post, the former newswriter for the data journalism site FiveThirtyEight explained her epiphany. “Before I started researching gun deaths, gun-control policy used to frustrate me. I wished the National Rifle Association would stop blocking
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How Music and Shakespeare Turned Around a Failing School0
- Culture
- October 4, 2017
We all want the best for our kids. Because of this desire, it’s quite discouraging to see when efforts to boost progress in reading, math, and other subjects flatline in schools across the country, as the chart below shows. On the other hand, this perpetual stagnation causes us to sit up and notice when a
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8 Climate Change Questions Scientists Should Be Asking0
- Science
- October 4, 2017
Dr. Arturo Casadevall and Dr. Ferric C. Fang correctly distilled down the scientific method into a five word query: “but what if I’m wrong?” One would hope that as these two microbiologists step out of the comfort zone of their field into the politically charged and messaging-driven world of environmental science and policy they ask
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3 Charts That Show Why Apprenticeship is Increasingly Popular0
- Economics
- October 4, 2017
For a number of years, college was the be-all, end-all goal toward which educators, parents, and government officials directed high school students. But as is becoming ever more clear, the wind has begun to blow in a different direction. Nowhere is this more clear than in a recent article from Education Week, which gushed over
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