The Measure of Manhood, Pt. 2: Crisis

In Part 1, I mentioned that the current election cycle is bringing the meaning of manhood into the national conversation, and discussed the biological roots of the differences between males and females. This is basic knowledge, but why is it important now? For most of our history, the collective was more important than the individual.


The Measure of Manhood, Pt. 1: Roots

Donald Trump’s media-circus candidacy has been bringing plenty of cultural taboos to the fore for all to see. This being the USA, any contest between a man and woman for the highest office in the land was doomed to draw trolls and patriarchs out of the woodwork, but the Trump vs Clinton contest has been


Malheur vs Standing Rock: A Scary Future

Today is Hallowe’en, a traditional time to scare each other and scry into the future. And what a perfect time to do so, with a frightening verdict to report, and mischief that is sure to follow!  Unless you’ve been stuck in a dungeon for the last several days, you’ve probably heard that Ryan Bundy and


The FBI and Clinton: A Ruling Class in Disarray

In a surprising intrusion into the 2016 presidential election, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Director, James Comey, issued a letter to Congress on Friday indicating that the Bureau is again investigating emails associated with Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state. Whatever the merits of the investigation, its announcement 11 days prior to


Considering the Future of the Internet

There is no doubt that the internet is an incredibly useful invention, arguably one of our greatest innovations as a species. Without it, how could we use Facebook to “check-in” at WalMart, see pictures of the surface of Pluto while we’re waiting for the bus, or reset our home thermostats while on vacation in Hawai’i?


Gold King Mine: Animus over the Animas

In August 2015, contractors working for the EPA were attempting to clean up the Gold King mine near Silverton, Colorado. Acidic water, laden with harmful metals like lead and arsenic, was backing up inside the abandoned mine. The entrance to the mine had been plugged on the cheap, and the force of the backup of


Special Education is Failing in Texas

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) was signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975. Renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, with amendments added in 1997, this law included provisions that required schools to provide appropriate, individually tailored special education programs for children with disabilities at no (direct)


Crowdfunding for Civility

It’s been a particularly vicious election season, and it’s not over yet. Dangerous rhetoric, including Trump goading his supporters to violence, has produced an environment of rancor that seems designed to bring out the worst in people. Yet among each day’s new stories of political grandstanding and admissions of sexual assault, two stories of people


Bob Dylan and the Nobel Prize

Don’t get up, gentlemen, I’m only passing through. —”Times Have Changed” The news that Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature brings with it, appropriately enough, a conundrum: Does Dylan deserve the Nobel, and does the Nobel deserve Dylan? The answer is that, like a pair of lovers from one of


Dead Men Do Bleed!

I was wandering down the internet rabbit hole the other day when I came across one of those jokes that can be found in various versions in several places around the web.  One version goes like this: A man is convinced he is dead. His wife and kids are exasperated. They keep telling him he’s not