In the opening scene of the new Aaron Sorkin show, "The Newsroom," a news anchor goes on a tirade when asked why "America is the greatest country in the world."
"It's not the greatest country in the world," he fumes. "We're seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, No. 4 in labor force, and No. 4 in exports. ... So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the f*** you're talking about."
It's another slab of "Network"-esque bravado from Sorkin -- the creator of "The West Wing" -- but the point is well taken, even if his statistics could be a bit off. By a number of objective measures, America is not No. 1.
Good luck in saying that aloud, however. Forget Social Security. The third rail of American politics is acknowledging we may not be the greatest country in the world.
"If you can think of a politician who can say consistently 'We're not No. 1; we're not No. 1,' then I'd be very surprised," says Melvyn Levitsky, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer and former ambassador to Brazil.
It's not like acknowledging flaws is the same as acknowledging failure. The business sector seldom rests on its laurels. Successful companies assume there's room for improvement, and they'll put themselves through ISO 9000, Six Sigma, benchmarking, best practices and any number of other assessment programs to get there. (Some sectors of government -- which is often unfavorably compared to business by critics -- do that, too, but it doesn't grab anyone's attention unless its Vice President Al Gore illustrating his '90s "Reinventing Government" initiative by smashing an ashtray on the David Letterman show.)
If businesses don't evolve, they end up like Atari, Pan Am and Woolworth's, onetime industry leaders that crashed against the rocks of strategy, innovation and competition. So the successful ones aren't shy about borrowing good ideas from others.
Then why is it so hard for the United States to admit its shortcomings and do the same?
Mayor Cory Booker waits in his wood-paneled city hall office for his next visitors. His life, even on a Sunday, is tightly scheduled. He checks the time on his cell phone and lets the ribbing of his two friends, who are now late, begin.
“Jewish time is even worse than black time,” he says, “although I should never drag all the Jewish people down with Shmuley.” And then, about the other guy: “I thought Mormons were always 15 minutes early?”
If the friendship between these men – a black Christian mayor, a rabbi running for Congress and a Mormon university president – wasn't so real, this would sound like a bad joke. Instead, it’s a reflection of how three men from profoundly different backgrounds met 20 years ago, connected and changed one another.
I’m not exactly sure why I hoped that General Conference would have a change of heart this year and, after ten times getting it wrong, finally come around to the Jesus side on the issue of homosexuality in the church. After all, every four years since 1972 without exception we’ve heard the same refrain from our elected denominational leaders — “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
This is a bit long for a blog post, but some may find it to be a helpful resource. I wrote the piece for another project and it just wasn't a good fit. Honestly, if you are well read on the issue of the Bible and its take on homosexuality (or lack thereof), there is little new in here. For you, I hope this can be a quick reference. If you are not well read on such things, this may be a bit of a bumpy ride, but bumpy rides can be a lot of fun. Either way, I hope I was able to take what is sometimes thick reading, albeit important reading, and make it at least bearable and mostly straight forward.
The coon caricature is one of the most insulting of all anti-Black caricatures. The name itself, an abbreviation of raccoon, is dehumanizing. As with Sambo, the coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon. The coon differed from the Sambo in subtle but important ways. Sambo was depicted as a perpetual child, not capable of living as an independent adult. The coon acted childish, but he was an adult; albeit a good-for-little adult. Sambo was portrayed as a loyal and contented servant. Indeed, Sambo was offered as a defense for slavery and segregation. How bad could these institutions have been, asked the racialists, if Blacks were contented, even happy, being servants? The coon, although he often worked as a servant, was not happy with his status. He was, simply, too lazy or too cynical to attempt to change his lowly position. Also, by the 1900s, Sambo was identified with older, docile Blacks who accepted Jim Crow laws and etiquette; whereas coons were increasingly identified with young, urban Blacks who disrespected Whites. Stated differently, the coon was a Sambo gone bad.
In theory, Facebook could be the greatest tool in the history of human civilization. In practice, for now, it's great for sharing stuff from the internet. But what happens when Facebook makes its own memes?
Last night, while I was trying to catch the bartender’s attention just a few minutes after last call had been announced, a girl I didn’t know wedged herself between me and the next partygoer and said, “I just love your hair!” I smiled, thanked her, and kept my eyes on the prize. Just then she asked:
“Can I touch it?
A Dartmouth degree is a ticket to the top - but first you may have to get puked on by your drunken friends and wallow in human filth.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
Film editor Kevin Tent is up for an Oscar for "The Descendants"
Tent has edited all of director Alexander Payne's films
The relationship between a film editor and director is "like a marriage," says one observer
Film editing makes sense of story, director's vision; it's "the last rewriting process"
Gaming is a young industry, and gaming PR and serious game journalism even younger. It makes it an exhilarating industry to work in or to follow, but a perilous place for the unwary – as seen by a lightning exchange of shots over Christmas which leaves an American business in peril.
This gunfight all started innocently enough, with a customer email sent to a marketing department asking for confirmation on whether a gift would arrive in time for Christmas. The product was the Avenger Controller, a cross between a PlayStation game controller and a randy squid.
This remarkable contraption was originally designed by David Kotkin, an art teacher, to help one of his pupils, who suffered from epidermolysis bullosa, to play games for prolonged periods without irritation. When it became clear that its construction also provided benefits for gamers, with and without disabilities, a small business was born.
“Dave”, a customer, emailed to ask an update on his order. Initially brief responses from Paul Christoforo of Ocean Marketing, the PR contact for iControl (the manufacturers and distributors of Kotkin’s design), unfolded under further questioning into something entirely… other.
Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your (sic) 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself. Have a good day Dan.
And that’s where it all gets instructive…
Ted Haggard’s second coming, the end of marriage and monogamy, and other great stories about sex.
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.
These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
Science fiction is often used to show us the world through impossibly alien eyes. But there are fully human people who see the world in an alien way (to the rest of us) via current biological means. One of the most everyday versions of this is basic colorblindness. But what do people really see, when they see the world differently?
If you were to suggest that members of Elasmobranchii — the subclass of cartilaginous fishes that includes sharks, rays, and skates — look incredibly different from us humans, I doubt that many people would argue the point. In fact, one look at the alien-like skeleton of Leucoraja erinacea, the species of skate pictured up top, would drive your assertion home rather nicely, wouldn't you say?
But it turns out Elasmobronchii like L. erinacea (aka the "little skate") are even more alien than we once thought. Research published in today's issue of Science reveals that members of Elasmobranchii are the only known jawed vertebrates on Earth that are missing a portion of their genome known as the HoxC gene cluster — a crucial chunk of genetic information that, until now, was believed to be indispensable.
For those of you familiar with genetics, the fact that these animals are missing HoxC genes should immediately give you pause. For everyone else, here's what's up.
“I’m Ellen Feiss and I’m a student”. Back in the Spring of 2002, those words launched one of Apple’s more memorable, if not effective, ad campaigns. Known as the “Switcher” ads, the spots featured real people telling real stories of being fed up with the hassles of PC ownership, and their subsequent relief upon switching to the Mac. By far the most popular of the ads from this series starred Ellen Feiss, a 14-year-old girl who ended up in the commercial totally by chance. While other “switchers” quickly fell into obscurity, Ellen grew into an overnight internet cult hero of sorts, her fame spurred largely by the rumor she was high during the filming of her spot. Sites selling merchandise with her image sprung up on CafePress shops across the web, and fan sites declared their undying love for her.
Ellen recently started college, but not before taking a year off to star in an independent foreign film entitled Bed and Breakfast. We caught up with Ellen to see what she thinks of those Switcher Ads five years later, how she feels about acting, internet fame, and what she thinks about her image being on a Frisbee.