Tonight I brought my iPod on my run, because I wanted to hear Marketplace, the little gem of a show from 6:30 to 7:00 on NPR. It’s the prefect combination of economics and culture, delivered always in fabulously interesting reports. For such a short show, they manage to cover intriguing subjects and highlight aspects of the economy [...]
I’m at work on what should be a national holiday, because I can barely concentrate on work anyway. I’m an NPR junkie and I love to learn, and I especially like to hear lots of opinions and reasons and viewpoints on issues that matter on this planet. (And yes, I mean this planet, because what [...]
I know the Atlanta/Metro Area Transportation Referendum is old news; the vote was July 31, 2012, and it went down in a blaze of glory. Citizens again voted against solutions to our clogged traffic and lack of alternative transportation options. The plan was not perfect, and in fact still included for many surrounding metro counties, plans for [...]
This week I was assigned a reference request for a naturalization that took place in Miami in the 1980s. This is a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill request, where a person writes or calls the National Archives at Atlanta to request the Petition for Naturalization of a person, for whatever reason they need it. I’ve had people [...]
I have been fascinated by Ai Weiwei, the 54-year-old provocative artist and voice of dissidence in China, since May, when I heard an interview with his English translator on one of the my favorite podcasts. He was detained and questioned and kept by the government for 81 days this year, after his blog incited uproar from citizens who agreed [...]
My brother and I don’t have cable, but I subscribe to Netflix Instant, and he subscribes to Hulu Plus, so we get access to a truly massive amount of material for less than $20/month between the both of us, via the PS3. So, for the first time in about five years, I’ve been able to [...]
I made a special effort to listen to yesterday’s broadcast of The World, my favorite radio program, as I wanted to listen to as much commentary and reflection on the death of Osama bin Laden as I could. Sunday night became a sweeping stretch: hours of news broadcasts, Twitter basically exploding with records numbers of [...]