Oh, goody! Eric Alterman’s starting a blog! And the nameless collective at TAPPED (wow, chew on that appellation for a bit) is creamy with joy: Holy crapola! Eric Alterman is joining the so-called ‘blogosphere‘ (though he hates the name) with ‘Altercation’ at MSNBC. Tapped is both surprised and pleased. Alterman has long been one of our favorite writers at The Nation, and he promises to bring top notch media criticism

How do you become a successful major league pitcher? Why, you find an esoteric religion (*cough cough Gameboy cough*) and give yourself over to it… Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling […] has attained the status of Level 51 monk in ‘EverQuest.’ ‘You can kind of immerse yourself in it,’ Schilling aid. ‘It’s got its own little society. There’s a hierarchy. ‘For me, it’s kind of a release. You get involved in

Was evolutionary theory’s shining moment a fraud? From the Guardian: In 1953, Bernard Kettlewell, ‘a loud, eager man’ who was invariably dressed in shorts and sandals, began an experiment that would transform the peppered moth into ‘evolution’s number one icon’. Camping in woods near Birmingham and sustained by a diet of gin and cigars, Kettlewell set out to prove that birds really did eat more pale moths in darkened, polluted

As the Senate holds hearings to determine what to do about our “obesity crisis” (quick, more taxes!), the ladies on “The View” this morning revealed that Tom Cruise, by current “obesity” guidelines for body mass and height, is a himself a “fatty.” Which raises the question: Shouldn’t “scientists” who influence public policy by setting “guidelines” have to pass a test or something…? I mean tests specific to their fields —

No guns in the cockpits: Undersecretary of Transportation Security John Magaw said today he would not allow commercial airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, a move that’s been considered for months as a potential defense against September 11-style hijackings. The government has yet to weigh in on non-lethal weapons like stun-guns and Tasers. To be fair, Magaw has also decided “hijacking is not allowed,” and that potential hijackers

No guns in the cockpits: Undersecretary of Transportation Security John Magaw said today he would not allow commercial airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, a move that’s been considered for months as a potential defense against September 11-style hijackings. The government has yet to weigh in on non-lethal weapons like stun-guns and Tasers. To be fair, Magaw has also decided “hijacking is not allowed,” and that potential hijackers

Two sad passings to report. First, Stephen Jay Gould, noted paleontologist and author, whose ideas on “punctuated equilibrium” invigorated the scientific debate over macroevolution. I quite enjoyed his (often heated) exchanges with Richard Dawkins, a more traditional Darwinian evolutionist (whose views I tend toward). Dr. Gould was 60. [link via Robert Musil] Second, David Berg, cartoonist of Mad Magazine fame, whose strip “The Lighter Side of…” I grew up with.

Nice, casually droll dismissal of the latest “TV is the Devil”-junk science — courtesy of Reason’s Nick Gillespie. Here’s a bit: This latest study [by Dr. Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, which equates time spent in front of the TV with propensity toward violent outbursts] is, of course, the same claptrap that we

So “Philly” is gone. Same with “Undeclared,” “The X-Files,” “Spin City,” and “Dark Angel.” Oh. And let’s not forget “Politically Incorrect,” a show that — whether you love Bill Maher or hate him — was eminently watchable. Because face it: anything’s preferable to Jay Leno… Here’s The National Review’s Jay Nordlinger, in his latest “Impromptus” column, paying modest tribute: […] What about ‘Politically Incorrect’? It is due to expire at

Now this is the kind of essay I try to get my students to write, but all they ever want to write about is the first time they got drunk and vomited cheese-steak into their own hair, then “hooked up” with somebody who “didn’t respect” them the next morning. From The New Yorker’s “Shouts and Murmers” Department, here’s Andrew Barlow’s pithy “All I Really Need To Know I Learned By