Michael Lewis’ 2003 best-selling novel Moneyball has redefined the legacy of Oakland Athletics manager Billy Beane. In movie form, Beane had the dubious honor of being played by Brad Pitt (Peter Brand, who was played by Jonah Hill, wasn’t so lucky) but has seen his team struggle since the rest of the league caught up … Read more
Foreign Policy is out with a superb online special feature titled “Who Won the Great Recession?”, featuring a diverse cast of eleven pieces with such esteemed bylines as Slavoj Zizek, Joseph Nye, and Tyler Cowen. And while there’s no shortage of soft-power indulgence in the lineup (McDonald’s; Hollywood; Cheapskates, Pessimists & Food Trucks), where the … Read more
A similar version of this article originally appeared in King’s College London Politics Society’s journal Dialogue, which can be found here. A short five years ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama condescendingly equated his primary opponent’s experience as first lady of the United States to only sipping tea with foreign leaders. One year later, after a … Read more
The West Nile Virus outbreak this year has been one of the worst on record. As of September 25, there have been 3,545 cases, with almost 40 percent of those in Texas. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a deceleration in the number of new West Nile Virus cases, which suggests the season … Read more
Two days have gone by since the first presidential debate. Since, we have political pundits decrying Obama’s passive tactics, a new Twitter account for Silent Jim Lehrer, and a series of Big Bird memes. Public backlash was strong against Obama, and commentator Andrew Sullivan even suggested that Obama might have lost the election Wednesday night. … Read more
“You’ll enter a pitch black corridor and meet your guide. Introduce yourselves coherently and speak up during the tour. Tell your guide if you don’t feel well and you’ll be accompanied to the exit,” instructed an elderly gentleman. This is all I knew before I entered the “Dialogue in the Dark,” a unique interactive museum … Read more
The Presidential debates are here, the first on Wednesday, October 3rd. We’ve seen Obama against McCain, but his performance against Mitt Romney was underwhelming. By turning to old footage, we see Romney’s strengths (numbers, playing defense, refined answers) and his weaknesses (changing positions, being aggressive, surprises). While viewers saw many of these on Wednesday night, … Read more
Imagine NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as Governor, NFL Owners as state senators, referees as police officers, and suddenly you have the situation facing some states. The comparisons continue on to an unprecedented degree: Goodell’s family has deep Republican connections, everyone loves the police and referees until they interfere with their lives, Wisconsin seems to care more … Read more
A coalition known as Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF) has called for the Harvard Management Company to divest from fossil fuel companies. Citing concerns about the environment and the energy industry’s outsized lobbying influence, they’ve started a campaign known as “Divest for Our Future.” Their goal is to persuade university endowments to wind … Read more