Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Every classroom contains a few kids who are bored and like to cause trouble. When I was in school, our teachers would threaten them by saying, “This will go on your permanent record!” The threat was effective: none of us wanted to be prevented from going to college or from getting a job. It was also credible: we had no … >>
It seemed like one of those news stories that would come and go quickly — but the media and the politicians aren’t letting it die. Two weeks ago, the city of New York agreed to let a private organization build a $100 million mosque and Islamic community center in Manhattan. This in itself is nothing unusual. People from 190 countries … >>
The tiny African country of Sierra Leone recently did something that even the United States hasn’t been able to do. It stopped using the traditional English system of measurements. While the Leoneans enjoy the convenience of the metric system, Americans continue to toil with inches, feet, yards, miles, ounces, pounds, gallons, acres, barrels and bushels. “I’ve been living here for … >>
Do you know the difference between nationality and citizenship? A lot of people use these words to mean the same thing — but they don’t. The word “citizen” comes to us from Latin civitas, meaning “city”. The French took that word centuries ago and made the word citeain — someone who lives in a city. Today, a citizen is a … >>
The past week in the office has led me to one conclusion: there are better places to spend the summer than in a German industrial park. It’s nice to open the window to catch a breeze, but it’s never long before you hear: hammers, saws and other construction equipment jackhammers trucks that run their engines all day in order to … >>
Parents never have an easy time. Children are always asking questions that demand scientific answers — questions like “Why is the sky blue?” But for the past 100 years, American parents have had an easy alternative when small children ask complex questions about geology, like “How was the Grand Canyon formed?” and “Where do the Great Lakes come from?” Instead … >>
The film took three and a half years to make. It involved dozens of interviews, contributions from thousands of individuals, 44 terabytes’ worth of digital footage and filming on at least three continents. And it asked the question that has haunted a generation: Who owns Star Wars? For those who haven’t seen them — and, strangely, I keep meeting people … >>
Here’s a little history quiz for you. Which war was the longest in American history? If you answered “Vietnam,” you’d have been right until about three weeks ago. US combat there officially lasted eight years and eight months. But this June, it was overtaken by Afghanistan, where fighting has gone on uninterrupted since October 2001. The arrival of this fact … >>
Earlier this month, a news headline caught my eye: Kim Yong-il had stepped down! Finally, the winds of change had reached the distant shores of North Korea. Finally, its self-imposed isolation might end. Finally, there was a chance that the last relics of the Cold War would be swept away. Only it turned out that the story was about Kim … >>
Well, the iPad’s been on sale — depending on where you live — for a couple of weeks now. Much has been made of the things it can do (such as be operated by cats and two-year-olds) and the things it can’t (such as multitask and display countless websites that use Flash). But only now are we hearing the question … >>