ArcaMax

We're living in divisive times. It's something said so often that it's become cliche. But collaboration across divides still happens, and the International Space Station is a great place to witness this in action. The ISS is entering its 25th year with crews on board modeling scientific collaboration on global research projects. Crew members ...Read more

President Narrowly Elected Donald Trump wants to buy/annex/conquer/steal the entire country of Canada.

There is a lot to be said for this idea, principally because it's so magnificently stupid. It's not average stupid, like eating in a restaurant with rat traps in the dining room. It's stupid like ordering the ratatouille in a restaurant with...Read more

Young men are not launching -- that is, growing up as traditionally holds -- at the same rate as young women. Among Americans ages 25 to 34, about 20% of the men are still living with their parents compared with 12% of the women. Fewer young males than females are attending college or job training.

There are theories on why more girls are ...Read more

This year, Jan. 6 was a routine day. Congress certified the election of Donald Trump. They did it in 30 minutes, instead of the overnight session in the wake of riots four years ago. As one Democrat put it, there were no election deniers on the Democratic side. The rule of law triumphed, routinely. Imagine how different it might have been had ...Read more

Yes, I was there on Jan. 6, 2021, in the sacred temple of democracy when a mob's deadly rampage darkened democracy and injured 140 police officers in a president's plot to undo the election he lost.

That was the best day of President-elect Donald Trump's life: crowd size, TV ratings, a siege, all of it for three hours. That tragic day burns ...Read more

You're not fooling me, Jimmy Carter. You did that on purpose! Dying when you did, I mean.

You chose last month to grab the global political spotlight once more to make a statement with the only Earthly move you had left: checking out. What better way to make people ponder the state of political integrity in America than to reflect on how the ...Read more

Shamsud-Din Jabbar's mass murder of innocents in New Orleans on New Year's Day, "inspired" by ISIS' exhortations to wage war against "non-believers," reminded Americans about the existence of evil. In our comfort, in our security, we don't see evil up close all that frequently.

Unfortunately for Israelis, they see it every day. Evil in the form...Read more

New York has been named the most traffic gridlocked city in the world with Midtown Manhattan the most congested part. For years, the city has tried to install congestion pricing to reduce the number of vehicles. The money collected would be used to fix the crumbling subway system.

How bad was the congestion? The intersections were so blocked ...Read more

Fifteen years ago it was unfathomable -- and a bad idea -- to imagine that your digital messages could automatically self-destruct. Once your message is on someone else's machine, you simply cannot guarantee that it will be destroyed when you want it to be. Fooling people into thinking they have more security and privacy than they really do ...Read more

According to figures released last month, there are a grand total of 19 Black students in the first-year class at Harvard Law School, down from 43 in last year's entering class. You have to go back to the 1960s to find so few Black students in the entering class. In the years since 1970, the number of first years, or 1Ls, who were Black has ...Read more

Elon Musk's aggressive defense of the H-1B visa program -- which permits his companies Tesla and SpaceX to bring engineers and other workers from overseas -- has aroused fury among his erstwhile admirers on the far right. Despite his ongoing efforts to identify himself with the most extreme nationalists, xenophobes and racists both here and ...Read more

You can't understand the presidency of James Earl Carter Jr. unless you contextualize it within the framework of the hysterical aftermath of the 1972 election. While the Republican Party brand suffered tremendous damage due to Watergate, Richard Nixon's decision to prolong the Vietnam War and his resignation, the GOP proved improbably resilient....Read more

NEW ORLEANS QUESTION: What did you do for those beads?

ANSWER: I got run over by a truck and now I'm lying in the street like a busted Barbie.

Yeah. I know. It wasn't Mardi Gras, though everything in the United States now leads uphill to the cross.

I call 'em "Watermelons," those columns that come in like a slow ball over the plate, aimed ...Read more

I enjoy crafting and sewing, but lately I've become hyperaware of the waste produced to sustain this hobby. When I walk into a craft and fabric store, I feel like I could pick up the entire store and dump it directly into a landfill. It's mostly plastic -- yes, even the fabric -- and it likely won't get recycled. But I love to craft and sew. I...Read more

What's wrong with Sriracha? And, by the way, what is Sriracha? Sriracha is a hot sauce of Thai origin made from chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. The rap against it centers on its high levels of sugar and sodium. But Sriracha is normally used in tiny amounts, so where's the problem? The other complaint, that it's "too hot,...Read more