Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
My house has disappeared. It’s invisible. You can’t see it. It’s gone from view. Poof! All you see now in Google Street View is a six-story blur. I think one of my neighbors is responsible. The building we live in, and the building down the street where he works, are the only houses in the area that have been censored. … >>
We all knew this day would come. Last Friday, the Münchener Filmpassage shut its doors. This wasn’t just any video-rental place. It had the largest selection of English-language films anywhere in Germany, including numerous titles released directly to video that no one would have known about otherwise. I’d go in looking for one film and come out with four or … >>
You’ve just turned 17. You’re at your dad’s fiancée’s house, watching a basketball game. There’s a break, so you take a walk out to the local convenience store to buy some Skittles and a can of iced tea. On your way back, you notice a stranger in a car is watching you. You walk away from him, but he follows … >>
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. It’s shocking to see how so many people still believe that he did. The real inventor was in fact James Bowman Lindsay, almost 50 years earlier. Edison is generally thought of as the inventor because he experimented and found a longer-lasting filament. And Edison, it must be said, invented or developed all … >>
One of the brilliant themes in George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 is the way that the government of Oceania always succeeds in distracting people from the real problems they face — like shortages and malnutrition. When cocoa supplies are disrupted, for example, the government is forced to cut each individual’s chocolate ration from 30 grams a week to 20. But … >>
I have mixed feelings about this. The stated purpose of this column is to explain what America is really like, not to dwell on its extreme aspects. For example, I try to convince you that most Americans do not walk around carrying guns. But then something like this happens: once again, some deranged kid has brought a gun to school … >>
John F. Kennedy was America’s first Catholic president. But in order to become that, he had to reassure people that the White House wouldn’t be taking orders from the Vatican. Rick Santorum hopes to become the second Catholic president. Although he’s far more Catholic than Kennedy pretended to be, he won’t have to reassure anyone. In recent years, Catholics have … >>
Suppose your country were offered unlimited energy for the rest of your lifetime (and beyond). What would it be worth to you? The recent discovery of a way to extract natural gas trapped within layers of rock has the energy industry and the politicians excited. In just the past five years, thousands of gas wells have sprung up above shale … >>
Back when I was a newsreader for my college radio station, I was shown one of the thickest books I’d ever seen: a binder containing, I guess, about 500 pages. Those were all the rules an American radio station had to follow, as laid down by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While I found the book daunting, my contemporaries found … >>
One of the most famous men in Pennsylvania died on Sunday. Joe Paterno, 85, had been the head coach of the Pennsylvania State University football team for the last 46 years. He was one of the most successful college football coaches ever. To sports fans, he was like one of the gods on Mount Olympus. There is even a statue … >>