The A-Bomb Kid

The A-Bomb Kid | Village Voice:

Phillips was no Lex Luthor. He was the mascot who ran around in the Tiger outfit at Princeton games, a duty he acquired after being fired as cowbell player in the marching band. His academic prospects were none too bright. "If I flunk another course," he admitted, "I'll be bounced out of the Big U right on my ass."

Report: Millions Of Courageous Americans Overcoming Media Pressure To Be Thin

Report: Millions Of Courageous Americans Overcoming Media Pressure To Be Thin | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

AUSTIN—According to a groundbreaking report released this week by researchers at the University of Texas, tens of millions of citizens across the United States are bravely resisting the relentless pressure from the media to be thin and active.

Back to the Future musical coming to London in 2015 - Telegraph

Back to the Future musical coming to London in 2015 - Telegraph: A West End musical version of Back to the Future will open in London in 2015 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the hit Michael J Fox film.

The Rise and Fall of Professional Bowling

The Rise and Fall of Professional Bowling: In the "golden era" of the 1960s and 70s, they made twice as much money as NFL stars, signed million dollar contracts, and were heralded as international celebrities. After each match, they’d be flanked by beautiful women who’d seen them bowl on television, or had read about them in Sports Illustrated.

The Secret History Of The War On Public Drinking

Fascinating article on why we can't have a bottle of wine in the park or a beer on the beach. I've always thought it amazing that one could drink on the LIRR, but it turns out the LIRR are the normal ones; everyone else has changed...

The Secret History Of The War On Public Drinking: But to ask how these places were independently able to legalize public drinking is to fundamentally misunderstand the situation. Towns like New Orleans and Butte didn't have to take specific steps to allow public drinking -- they just never banned it.

The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party - Mischa Fisher - The Atlantic

His larger point is that neither party has a compelling claim to be "pro-science". But as the comments demonstrate, it's not really about who's for or against science, it's about scoring political points.

The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party - Mischa Fisher - The Atlantic: Set aside the fact that twice as many Democrats as Republicans believe in astrology, a pseudoscientific medieval farce. Left-wing ideologues also frequently espouse an irrational fear of nuclear power, genetic modification, and industrial and agricultural chemistry—even though all of these scientific breakthroughs have enriched lives, lengthened lifespans, and produced substantial economic growth over the last century.

Why Last Action Hero failed—and why it deserves to be rediscovered � The A.V. Club

I really liked this movie, and never understood the hate it gets...

Why Last Action Hero failed—and why it deserves to be rediscovered - The A.V. Club

A Home for Disneyphiles

I'd move here, if I had the dough...

A Home for Disneyphiles:

Some 980 acres are being carved up for as many as 450 homes on the Lake Buena Vista site, a few within eyesight of the famous Cinderella Castle fireworks.

After Rivera, who's next for the Grand Farewell? - Baseball Nation

Sue and I were talking about this the other day, about Mariano's farewell being rather unusual. But in a good way...


After Rivera, who's next for the Grand Farewell? - Baseball Nation: What sort of player gets the Grand Farewell? And what does a Grand Farewell look like?

Astronaut and a Writer at the Movies - NYTimes.com

I probably won't see the movie, as I don't have much time to watch movies that aren't animated and good for five-year-olds, but this is an interesting point:

Astronaut and a Writer at the Movies - NYTimes.com: Unfortunately, with all this verisimilitude, there is a hole in the plot: a gaping orbital impossibility big enough to drive the Starship Enterprise through.

Taking the ‘free’ out of free school meals | Rob Lyons | spiked

Our school's kitchen has been out of commission since the beginning of the year (the short story is that it doesn't meet federal guidelines), so the kids all have had to brown bag it. Seems to be working just fine...

Taking the ‘free’ out of free school meals | Rob Lyons | spiked: Implicitly, the suggestion is that leaving lunch up to parents is just too damn risky.

Vanity Project: Why Fancy Architecture Won’t Save Penn Station | The New York Observer

Vanity Project: Why Fancy Architecture Won’t Save Penn Station | The New York Observer: BEHIND the multibillion dollar plans lie a shaky fiscal reality and a bureaucratic morass of railroads and political interests that don’t seem to be up to the task of creating a 21st-century railroad station.

Jeep Plunges Off Parkway in Forest Hills – Vehicle lands on roof, driver, passenger walk away with minor injuries | The Forum Newsgroup

Yikes, I'm at this intersection all the time!

Jeep Plunges Off Parkway in Forest Hills – Vehicle lands on roof, driver, passenger walk away with minor injuries | The Forum Newsgroup: Motorists traveling on the Jackie Robinson parkway on Saturday morning shortly before noon, say what happened there was nothing less than a miracle, after an out of control Jeep plunged through the rail and fencing of an overpass, landing on the busy roadway below.

Overthinking the New Fall TV Lineup: Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Overthinking It

Overthinking the New Fall TV Lineup: Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Overthinking It: Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the most promising new shows to roll out this fall, and one aspect of it in particular seems worth mulling over.

The Slow Hit Movement: Year-Old Songs On The Pop Charts : The Record : NPR

I'm a chart geek; I love it...

The Slow Hit Movement: Year-Old Songs On The Pop Charts : The Record : NPR: What makes a song catch on months, or even a year or two, after its initial release? Obviously there is no formula for giving an aging single the boost it needs to become a smash — if record labels knew what it was, they'd try to bottle it.

How Junk Food Can End Obesity - David H. Freedman - The Atlantic

The angry comments from the food fascists tell me that Freedman is on the right track...

How Junk Food Can End Obesity - David H. Freedman - The Atlantic: In virtually every realm of human existence, we turn to technology to help us solve our problems. But even in Silicon Valley, when it comes to food and obesity, technology—or at least food-processing technology—is widely treated as if it is the problem.

Don’t make fun of renowned Dan Brown - Telegraph

Don’t make fun of renowned Dan Brown - Telegraph: Renowned author Dan Brown woke up in his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house – and immediately he felt angry. Most people would have thought that the 48-year-old man had no reason to be angry. After all, the famous writer had a new book coming out. But that was the problem. A new book meant an inevitable attack on the rich novelist by the wealthy wordsmith’s fiercest foes. The critics.

Two adjacent houses, seven miles apart | Price Tags

Imagine having to drive seven miles to get to your neighbor's house...

Two adjacent houses, seven miles apart | Price Tags

Harvard band dresses like security guards

The Princeton Band never had this problem...

Harvard band dresses like security guards: The Harvard band showed up at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City wearing nearly the same uniform as the security guards hired to protect the court.

Is the pope Catholic? | Brendan O’Neill | spiked

He gets the doctrine of papal infallibility wrong (as most do), but otherwise gets the problem right:

Is the pope Catholic? | Brendan O’Neill | spiked: In the back-slapping for Benedict we’re really witnessing the breathing of a mass, global sigh of relief that pretty much the last institution which elevates its own needs over the needs of its occupant, which demands unwavering, total, literally Christ-like commitment, has now allowed the reality of frailty to creep into its hallowed halls. Today’s fashionable allergy to the pope, and to the Catholic Church more broadly, is driven more by a petit-bourgeois disdain for firm commitment to a cause and belief in something bigger than ourselves than it is by a grown-up critique of Catholic theology.

The Pope Abdicates - NYTimes.com

Ross Douthat puts into words my unease at the Pope's retirement:

The Pope Abdicates - NYTimes.com: There is great symbolic significance in the fact that popes die rather than resign: It’s a reminder that the pontiff is supposed to be a spiritual father more than a chief executive (presidents leave office, but your parents are your parents till they die), a sign of absolute papal surrender to the divine will (after all, if God wants a new pope, He’ll get one), and an illustration of the theological point that the church is still supposed to be the church even when its human leadership isn’t at fighting trim, whether physically or intellectually or (for that matter) morally.

Genius: The Nickelback Story - Businessweek

I never understood the Nickelback hate bandwagon. I don't love them, but they don't seem particularly hateable to me...

Genius: The Nickelback Story - Businessweek

Buttersafe - Acoustic Guitar

Buttersafe - Acoustic Guitar

Made in the Bronx, Exiled From Manhattan and Queens, Statue Will Head to Brooklyn - NYTimes.com

"Civic Virtue" is by far the best sculpture in the neighborhood; it's a shame it's being taken away.

Made in the Bronx, Exiled From Manhattan and Queens, Statue Will Head to Brooklyn - NYTimes.com: The statue, known rudely as “Fat Boy” or “Rough Boy,” is about to become the best traveled public monument in city history, moving from the Bronx (where it was carved) to Manhattan (1922 to 1941) to Queens (1941 until the present) to Brooklyn, where it is to settle indefinitely in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Happy 35th, Atari 2600! | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games

Happy 35th, Atari 2600! | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games: October 14 marks the 35th birthday of the legendary game console, which landed with a bang in 1977. It wasn't the first home video game system -- that honor belongs to the Magnavox Odyssey -- but it quickly became the most widely adopted and set the standard for many, many years.
To celebrate the console that revolutionized home entertainment, we dug up 35 factoids you might not have heard about while you were busy playing Asteroids and Pitfall.