An Era in Ideas. "To mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks,
The Chronicle Review asked a group of influential thinkers to reflect on some of the themes that were raised by those events and to meditate on their meaning, then and now. The result is a portrait of the culture and ideas of a decade born in trauma, but also the beginning of a new century, with all its possibilities and problems."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Aug 13, 2011 -
11 comments
"I never was one to like to be intimidated. So I just take it off the table. If it's not on the table they can't use it."
Charlie, not a man for small gestures, took his secret off the table and put it on the front page of the Houston Post, whose October 7, 1988, edition carried the headline
"Transvestite Now Claims Probe Linked to Lifestyle" and a color photograph of McGuire in full drag.
[more inside]
posted by rtha
on Feb 7, 2011 -
24 comments
Andrée Peel, Rescuer of Allied Airmen, Dies at 105. Andree Peel, (born
Andrée Marthe Virot) who was known as Agent Rose, helped 102 British and American pilots escape from her native France. 'She was
the most highly decorated woman to survive the conflict and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by her brother, General Maurice Virot.
Mrs Peel was awarded the War Cross with palm, the War Cross with purple star, the medal of the Resistance and the Liberation cross. She also received the American Medal of Freedom from US President Dwight Eisenhower, as well as the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, presented to her by King George VI.'
'She fed information to the Allies on German shipping and troop movements and on the results of Allied bombing in the region. She also guided British planes carrying intelligence agents to nighttime landings at secret airstrips marked by torchlight.'
[more inside]
posted by VikingSword
on Mar 16, 2010 -
18 comments
The
Academy of Achievement brings students face-to-face with the extraordinary leaders, thinkers and pioneers who have shaped our world. Through profiles, biographies, and interviews Achievers in
The Arts,
Business,
Public Service,
Science, and
Sports teach us how the Academy's core values of
passion,
vision,
preparation,
courage,
perseverance, and
integrity can, and will, lead to success.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Jan 1, 2009 -
6 comments
Through a Lens Darkly - on September 4, 1957, when 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford tried to enter Little Rock Central High, she was blocked by the National Guard and surrounded by a screaming mob of 250:
"Lynch her! Lynch her!" "No nigger bitch is going to get in our school! Get out of here!" "Go back to where you came from!" Looking for a friendly face, she turned to an old woman, who spat on her.
Photos. Dramatic
news footage. Ernest Green, another of the Little Rock 9
recalls the first day of school.
[more inside]
posted by madamjujujive
on Sep 25, 2007 -
48 comments
Automotive journalist, cartoonist and architect Earl Ma
passed away this week after a three year battle with cancer. But you would never have known it from how he lived his life. Last month, he refused to let his partial paralysis keep him away from the Indianapolis 500 (though fellow Hawaiian
Jim Nabors was too ill to attend), and with the help of friends
covered the race from his wheelchair. His boundless energy, generosity and wide range of talents earned him many friends and admirers, and he is already greatly missed.
posted by Scram
on Jun 12, 2007 -
2 comments
This heart-wrenching 4 part story of the lives of some of the severely wounded US soldiers brought tears to my eyes - the descriptions of what these kids are enduring, the difficulties faced by their families, the courage they display under circumstances that would reduce most of us to useless blobs. These are the true costs of an illegal, immoral war. Truly tragic in scope.
posted by dbiedny
on Mar 26, 2006 -
44 comments
39 Pounds of Love "is the inspirational and humorous non-fiction account of Ami Ankilewitz, who was diagnosed with an extremely rare and often fatal form of SMA/2 that severely limits his physical growth and movement yet at 34 years of age, he continues to outlive a doctor's prediction of life expectancy by 28 years and counting. Ami, who weighs only 39 pounds, works in Israel as a 3D animator and creates his art despite the fact that his bodily motion is limited to a single finger on his left hand."
posted by Gyan
on Dec 9, 2005 -
14 comments
MyGastricBypass.com "This doctor feels that I have 25 to 30 lbs of excess flesh to come off. All the dieting the world won't remove that, so now I have some major decisions to make....Never did I think that this would be happening to me....Granted, it's better than weighing 500 lbs, but it's pretty nasty looking....The frightening thing is what happens to this skin when I get in the pool. OMG! It floats!!" - A long and actually heroic saga of self-disclosure, somehow Zen too, of one woman's successful attempt to remake her body and so her life - this rises at times to sublime heights :
"I believe in a force called the Cosmic Shoe....Moorings are loosened and our boat feels adrift. When that doesn't get us moving, the Cosmic Shoe finally KICKS our ass into the direction he was trying to nudge us in the first place."
posted by troutfishing
on Apr 26, 2005 -
96 comments
"In every existing government we find clamor, abuses of power, newspapers with triumphant, lying headlines, lies of every kind in public life. This being the case, someone like me, who understands nothing of politics, is compelled to think about politics and despair of ever understanding it, is compelled to envision something entirely different."
Natalia Ginzburg, Member of the Italian Parliament,
writer, and
critic.
posted by semmi
on Mar 24, 2005 -
4 comments
"I'm not a brave guy," says Tom Nagy. And Bill Quigley is "scared of flying." But like the
Cowardly Lion in
The Wizard of Oz, they're doing something braver than almost anybody else would: They and other pacifists are going to Baghdad to put themselves in harm's way in the event bombs start dropping. I
think this is brave, but I still don't think it's a good idea. Do you? And is this something that happens all the time, that I've missed, or is it, well, remarkable?
posted by soyjoy
on Oct 1, 2002 -
38 comments
