As a scientist, engineer, and educator at a local university, watching Sarah Palin's speech was like entering a black hole going back in time - an absence of content, or considerations of the realities of the 21st century in which we live.
A role for science in society? Ooops, creationism and land-extraction rules over critical inquiry and the quest for new knowledge. A role for engineering and innovation in society? Ooops, maybe for drilling more holes in the earth or making higher-powered snowmobiles, but not for the innovative green technologies we need and in other areas where we've lost leadership and spirit.
A role for education in society? Ooops, eliminating books in libraries and educational material that we don't like in schools doesn't seem to be the meal ticket for preparing our young people for their futures in a changing world.
And no discussion on healthcare, our godless war, or our imbalanced economy - but discussion on how to cut up a moose. I'll go for qualities I find attractive in a leader: not a pretty-faced pit bull mentality but rather thoughtful visionaries for change that fits the 21st century and will be respected around the globe, and intrinsic listeners and life-long learners who work hard to enable problem-solving that uses our multitude of talents to best serve all those within our society. McCain blew it, and now it's even clearer where to find bull... and where to look to see light.
Remember when bands cared about albums as an art form? Instead of
slapping together a dozen tracks because, hey, they'll just end up on
everyone's iPod shuffle anyway, musicians considered how their songs
might congeal as a whole or form some sort of dram
Elvis Costello's frequent collaborator T-Bone Burnett produced Secret, Profane & Sugarcane,
an Americana-inflected album working with country and folk traditions
for images of sawdust floors set to mandolin and fiddle. Costello
intended one s
You wouldn’t expect to find T-bone and sirloin dinners at a place with stool seating and a location next to a shop hawking cell phones and cigarettes. But one of the city’s most evocatively named eateries, ZaZa Steak & Lemonade (4919 W. Capito
The enduring fantasy of older men is that a gorgeous
young woman will fall in love with them, find them sexually arousing
and long to imbibe their wisdom while sitting at their feet. That
fantasy is the spring driving Woody Allen's often-hilarious f
Away We Go, a droll comedy-cum-drama by director Sam Mendes (American Beauty),
perceptively explores the lives of more-or-less ordinary 30-somethings
lost in a world without much meaning. Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Bu
