Jun 30
The income inequality discussion continues at the Aspen Ideas Festival. In a program moderated by David Gergen, Harvard professor Robert Putnam and libertarian and author Charles Murray battled it out (or at least what passes for a battle among the intellegentsia) over the growing class division in America. Putnam argued that the poor in America …
Jun 29
Some of the best minds in sports (ESPN President John Skipper, journalist Robert Lipsyte, columnist Christine Brennan) have dissected the role of sports in America at the Aspen Ideas Festival in the last three days. On the whole, the dissection has been an ugly and smelly one, particularly at the college level. But before we …
Jun 29
In less than a month, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will kick off in London with more than 10,000 athletes from 204 nations competing against each other in 302 individual and team events. The Olympics have always captivated spectators and viewers around the world, as athletes vie for not only gold, silver and bronze medals, but …
Jun 29
What drives some people to brave harsh, often life-threatening conditions to climb the highest peaks on Earth? Famed British mountaineer George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, allegedly quipped, “because it’s there.” Those three words still carry a lot of weight among mountaineering circles, but there are deeper reasons why humans …
Jun 29
The Aspen Ideas Festival is now well into its third day and there is an issue, often unspoken, that has made the rounds at a number of the programs: Income inequality. It was there when David Brooks, Joe Klein, and others discussed the Supreme Court’s decision on health care reform and whether or not the …
Jun 29
Last night’s NBA draft saw yet another impressive group of athletes make the jump from college to the professional level. The 2012 national champion Kentucky Wildcats saw a record six players selected in the first round, including the number one and two overall picks– freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. A third freshmen from Florida, …
Jun 28
Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, we’ve seen the fall of dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya, along with protests of varying degrees in virtually every other Middle Eastern country. Aside from NATO’s intervention in Libya, the Western world has largely sat back and watched as these events unfolded. But meanwhile in Syria, …
Jun 28
Chalk it up to uncanny timing…a festival that is all about discussing big ideas just happened to be in session for one of the biggest ideas to come along in decades: the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare. In the last few days, organizers of the Aspen Ideas Festival quickly switched around the agenda and put …
Jun 28
Over the past few weeks, a drama unfolded at one of America’s most venerable institutions of higher learning that sparked a nationwide debate. On June 10, the University of Virginia president Teresa Sullivan announced her resignation, citing a “philosophical difference of opinion” with the university’s Board of Visitors. After an uproar from almost every corner …
Jun 28
The next time you find yourself walking on a lava lake (a thin crust of dried lava covering a pool of molten goo), be careful. Scientists wondered what would happen if a human fell through the crust and into the really hot stuff. At Ethiopia’s Erta Ale volcano, they dropped a garbage bag filled with …