This article is part three in a series. Find the first part here and the second here. As I have already discussed in this series, opioids can have a detrimental effect on towns and communities. By now, we know the effects of opioids, but our country’s current healthcare system makes treatment options inaccessible and inefficient. The most realistic approach […]
Archives for March 2017
Explaining the “Failing” Fourth Estate
Post-truth, fake news, the failing New York Times, very fake news, and “democracy dies in darkness.” Politics has never been more obsessed with the medium through which it is reported. Since President Trump took the oath of office on the west front of the Capitol, periphery of his right eye trained on the sparse Washington Mall […]
Barca’s Comeback Is Further Proof That We Are Living in a Computer Simulation
What a night in the world of soccer. On Wednesday, F.C. Barcelona actually erased a 4–0 first leg deficit to knock off Paris-Saint Germain 6–1 at home and advance to the Champions League Quarterfinals. No team has ever come back from four goals down in the knockout round of the Champions League, but Barcelona […]
Book Review: Version Control
Imagine you are sitting in a coffee shop on a Sunday afternoon. You open your laptop and pull up a Word document, preparing to begin a history paper that is due the next day. Suddenly, a live video feed of President Donald Trump fills your screen. He is staring directly into your eyes. “Hello, good […]
Defensive Luddism: North Korean Nukes and Cyber-Resiliency
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons, but one—due to its perceived irrationality—elicits fear in even the most powerful military in the world, and for good reason. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, North Korea has doggedly pursued a nuclear weapons program since 2003 and has conducted at least twenty-four missile or nuclear tests […]
Indiana “Rand Paul” Jones and the Temple of Healthcare Reform
On December 23, 2015, the United States Senate cast a final vote, 52–47, to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The repeal bill, proposed by Congressman Tom Price, was similar to bills proposed by Republicans on a regular basis since the Affordable Care Act became law in 2009. It intended to roll back the major measures […]
Art and Soul: Remembering Jazz Photographer Chuck Stewart
You can almost hear the photograph. It’s an image of Dinah Washington, taken in 1963. Draped in a thick fur coat and armed with a heavily annotated score, she is shown in profile: her eyes tightly shut, her mouth open wide. The shot is as loud and colorful as the “Queen of the Blues” herself, […]
Who Best to Play Dracula?
My favorite cereal growing up was Count Chocula. Cereal was, of course, a special occasion—specifically for the late-night pajamas hours or, for some of you weirdos, the “red-light district” hours. It had marshmallows in it that were probably made of plutonium, but they gave Count Chocula that perfect radioactive zing which tickles the tongue in […]
Demarcus Cousins and the Power of Unintended Consequences
On February 19, Demarcus Cousins was traded from the Sacramento Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans. Cousins is, by consensus, a top player in the NBA. Indeed, he is one of the most talented scoring centers the game has seen in years. Yet, for a multitude of reasons, the Kings felt obligated to trade him. […]