Last month Common Sense Media came out with research detailing somber news; current American teenagers are reading far less than teenagers from previous decades. Although the reasons for such a decline are not completely clear, the study does point to advancements in technology as playing a substantial role. Lacking data to present a comprehensive…
Most of us know the history, or at least the abridged version, of the Pacific Theater in World War II. Japan became increasingly militaristic in the 1920s and 1930s and went on to invade other parts of Asia before finally deciding to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor. In response, the Americans declared…
ゴーーールーーー !!!!!! Can you feel it? There is something special about to happen. There is electricity in the air, a growing rumble underfoot, a quickening of your heartbeat – and the cause is not the new Godzilla movie. In fact, it is the sporting event that puts all other sporting events to shame. It…
It’s time to pull out the old iPod, blow the dust off the touch screen, and plug in those headphones for a walk down memory lane. This month’s album anniversaries will take you back to a time when CD players were still the dominant medium for listening to music on the go and rather than…
Remember the days as a child when you would receive a shiny new bicycle and in all the excitement you would hop on and start pedaling as fast as you could? Forgetting the concept of danger, you would ride it all around the neighborhood hoping to make the other kids jealous, popping wheelies and…
Fireworks for the Ears When asking friends if they happen to be fans of Explosions in the Sky, one of two reactions often occurs. The first, and often more awkward of the two, is that a friend will slightly turn their head in puzzlement, cock an eyebrow, and nervously laugh while they ask for clarification,…
On December 7, 1970 in Warsaw, Poland, West Germany’s Prime Minister Willy Brandt laid a wreath and fell to his knees at a monument commemorating the lives lost during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. His gesture, appearing to be both spontaneous and genuine, came to symbolize the acknowledgement of past wrongs. Brandt’s act, although unpopular with…
As with the beginning of every new year, people everywhere look toward the future, hopeful that the year will be better and brighter than the last. Sadly in 2013 from January 16 to January 19 those hopes were cut short for 40 people when Algerian extremists attacked and overran the Tigantourine gas plant near In…
If there is one thing the year 2013 demonstrated, it is that the adage, “Secrets don’t make friends,†is as true for government as it is for people. Edward Snowden’s revelations of numerous National Security Agency programs, including those where the United States spied on its allies and collected enormous numbers of phone records, has…