I’m used to, not to put too fine a point on it, Gentile nonsense about the Holocaust, fetishization and minimization at once, the ways Holocaust deniers at once erase the existence of history and long for it to recur. But I am, despite myself, angry. Y…
A nice sit down
When most people choose a calendar to pin on their wall they would usually go for some cute animals or a famous film star. So Kevin Beresford was surprised when his calendar, celebrating the benches of his hometown, Redditch, became a runaway success. …
When foreclosing on farmers meant a merit bonus in pay
I think of the desperation that drove farmers to death by suicide and even, in some extreme cases, murder. I think of the empty eyes of the store windows. I think of the historical society in LeMars, where the second floor is a graveyard of pianos from…
The corrupt system behind US medical supply shortages
Today, with supply chains tangled in knots and shortages everywhere in the economy, it’s easy to blame what’s gone wrong merely on the disruptions caused by Covid. Indeed, David Frum at the Atlantic is the latest to mock the idea that there is somethin…
History’s most daring freediver
Natalia (Molchanov) was regarded as a sort of sage in the sport. “Freediving is not only sport,” she once said, “it’s a way to understand who we are. When we go down, if we don’t think, we understand we are whole. We are one with world.” Through deconc…
On singleness, self-sufficiency and masculinity
There is no real guidebook for a woman alone in her home. No one threw me a shower. To give me pots and pans. The ones I’d left behind and couldn’t afford to replace. No one to give me hammers and socket wrenches. No one told me about furnace filters o…
Marietta resident completes massive puzzle
County Public Defender Ray Smith, a US resident of Marietta, Ohio, has completed a massive puzzle with over 40,000 pieces, according to a non-satirical news source. “When Smith was working on the 32,000-piece puzzle, Judge Janet Dyar Welch asked if he’…
Design so dreadful you’ll be scarred for life
By the end of episode two, your Changing Rooms bingo card will be full to overflowing. There are room dividers, MDF panelling and feature walls. There is “colour!” being used to create “zones!” There is pink used in a room whose owner hates pink. There…
Back to School in a Pandemic
I am once again sending my kids to school in the middle of a pandemic. We live in Iowa, a state that passed a law preventing schools from mandating masks. I don’t know the vaccination status of my kids’ teachers. Cases in Iowa are rising, and they are …
When a family meal means something else
Baby sea stars may look innocent and adorable, but they’re teensy little cannibals and eat their own siblings for their own survival, according to a new study. Two researchers discovered this behavior among baby Forbes’ sea stars (Asterias forbesi) by …