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Sliding into first base is dumb. Diving head first into a thick, immovable bag at top speed can result in injury and is almost always unnecessary. In baseball a runner can run through first base without the risk of being tagged out by the simple method of turning right after…
Read moreIt was a war nobody wanted. Even rabblerousers like Sam Adams and John Hancock agreed that tangling with the mother country would probably to lead to grief. The preferred method was to pressure the crown into repealing the acts the colonists found so intolerable. The Intolerable Acts, as the colonists…
Read moreIt was idealism that motivated them, idealism and a self-righteous belief in their own rectitude. Prickly is a word that might have been used to describe them, as well as narrow minded and intolerant. They were not easy people to get along with. They left England because they feared persecution…
Read moreNantucket is under threat. Like a humpback whale pursued by a skillful harpooner, the charming 18th century seaport is under siege from the modern world at every turn. Even the ferries that carry 1,600 visitors a day to the island each summer have been a target. In June of 2021,…
Read moreIn 1995 the richest casino in the world was not located in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. It was located in Ledyard, CT. Foxwoods Resort Casino operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe enjoyed gross earnings exceeding $1 billion, with net earnings in excess of $300 million. Because it was…
Read moreIn a country constituted of immigrants and the progeny of immigrants, immigration is surprisingly thorny issue in America. It is often said that Native Americans are the only real Americans. Everyone else is an immigrant. But even that’s not true. The ancestors of Native Americans arrived in North America 15,000…
Read moreCrime of the century? The words conjure up thoughts of a single shocking offense, a crime so appalling it stands out above all the others. But in fact, many crimes have been labeled as such. The O.J. Simpson case (1994), the Patty Hearst kidnapping (1974), the Manson murders (1969), and…
Read moreAndrew Jackson was a tough customer. At the age of fourteen, while acting as a courier for the American forces in the Revolutionary War, he was captured by the red coats. When a British officer tried to make him polish his boots, Jackson refused, whereupon the officer slashed him repeatedly…
Read moreFor three months in the spring and summer of 1993 rain pounded the Mississippi River basin relentlessly. From Minnesota to Missouri, rivers were out of their banks. Engorged tributaries carried flood waters into the Mississippi. The great river rose steadily. By July 13th the river was fifteen feet above flood…
Read moreThere are innovations that, when we first experience them, are so striking, so clearly a terrific idea, that we cannot conceive of their ever fading away. For anyone born before the year 2000, the indoor shopping mall was one of those things. Repositories of consumer culture and social engagement in…
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