Archive for July, 2008
Touché
Thursday, July 24th, 2008He was a half-colonel in the Soviet Union’s KGB; his opponent, a sergeant in the British Army. It was the Cold War in microcosm at the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Boris Onishenko faced Jim Fox in the épée event during the Men’s Team Modern Pentathlon. Unlike regular Olympic fencing, the Pentathlon event only requires one […]
A Boy Named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008“A Boy Named Sue,” Johnny Cash’s 1969 hit, tells in hard-knuckle detail the story of a boy given the unlikely name. His dad burdened him with the moniker in order to toughen him, and it worked. When the son finally catches up with his father in a barroom brawl, the dad has this to say:
“Son, […]
Lost and Found
Friday, July 18th, 2008Years ago I signed up for Defenselink, the Department of Defense’s online and e-mail news service. As stories hit my inbox, I take a moment to reflect on soldiers and their families and say a prayer when casualty reports come in from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Several times a year I’ll see a news story on a […]
Letter to the Future
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008It sounds like a plot device from a Twilight Zone episode. A president of the United States discovers a letter written to him by another president in the past. The letter is strangely prescient, predicting a key event in American history and making a request that the sitting president takes to heart.
But it’s not science […]
Watch Your Wobble
Monday, July 14th, 2008Astronomers have discovered about 300 planets outside of our solar system. If you’re surprised to learn that, keep in mind there are an estimated 200 billion stars in the Milky Way. Chances are good there are plenty more planets out there.
But if you’re a backyard astronomer, don’t go trying to find any yourself. Jupiter and […]
The ‘Real’ Iron Man
Friday, July 11th, 2008Marvel Comics character Iron Man is enjoying renewed popularity, thanks to this summer’s blockbuster hit from Marvel and Paramount Pictures. Popular Science magazine recently took note of real-life research that mimics at least some aspects of the comic book legend.
The article examines an ongoing project of inventor Steve Jacobsen and the engineers at Sarcos, a […]
Dancing
Thursday, July 10th, 2008I’m in a rut with entry titles, I admit. I promise to avoid a motion verb on my next post, but there’s really no other title that would fit this one.
The New York Times dedicated two online pages to Matt Harding on July 8. His claim to fame? A simple, uninhibited “dance” the 31-year-old video […]
Running
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008Maybe you’re like me, and every now and again the running bug bites. You drag your battered shoes from the closet, hit the trail or the road or the sidewalk, and hope your blisters will quickly transition to callous.
I’ve sporadically slogged some miles since junior high school. This year I started running again on Memorial […]
Happy Fourth of July
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008Tomorrow marks our nation’s 232nd birthday.
When I was growing up, our little church in Virginia where my parents pastored in the ’60s would have a Fourth of July picnic at a local park. We lived close to Washington, and in 1968 my dad took us to the capital for the annual fireworks display. We found […]
The Rules of Fidelity
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008“ ‘What it means to be faithful’ blurred in modern world,” USA Today’s June 30 headline announced. Sharon Jayson’s article on the rocky state of modern marriage is thought provoking and worth a read. She examines the fuzzy definitions attributed to “infidelity,” and asks the reader to consider just how far a marriage partner must […]