Jun 4, 2023 | History, Salon.com
Abraham Lincoln referred to it as “the ludicrous incident of sewing up the hogs eyes.”
“As a youngster he shot a wild turkey and was so disgusted he claimed he never again raised a weapon to kill an animal.”
The story comes from a short autobiography that the future president co-authored for his 1860 election campaign....
Originally posted on salon.com
Jun 3, 2023 | Salon.com
Pterosaurs are perhaps the most popular dinosaur that isn’t actually a dinosaur.
The massive beasts, whose name is Greek for “winged lizards,” are so strongly associated with the age of dinosaurs that they memorably appear everywhere from natural history museums to movie franchises like the “Jurassic Park” series. Pterosaurs like the iconic pterodactyl are closely related to birds and other dinosaurs, and as such new discoveries about them regularly excited fans of science....
Originally posted on salon.com
Jun 1, 2023 | Salon.com
Acclaimed pop star Sia found herself in the middle of a negative publicity whirlwind in 2021, when her filmmaking debut “Music” was widely panned by both movie critics and autism activists for its perceived low quality and self-admitted “ableism.” (Full disclosure: I denounced the film at the time as both a movie critic and autism activist.)...
Originally posted on salon.com
May 31, 2023 | Salon.com
If you were to take a boat into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you would eventually stumble into a submarine fracture zone that is twice the size of India at roughly six million square kilometers. Known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), the region is rich in minerals like cobalt and nickel and therefore immensely attractive to deep sea mining interests....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 30, 2023 | Salon.com
Children in Western countries have long been taught the virtues of recycling. Because plastic products never decompose on their own, kids are instructed to dispose of them in specially-designated bins so they can be reused. The thinking is that if plastic products are continuously repurposed instead of being simply thrown away, it will lessen the plastic pollution crisis currently choking off life on this planet....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 27, 2023 | Salon.com
The last time I saw my great-uncle, he uttered six words that I will never forget. Struggling to speak, as he was already 102 years old, his mouth slowly formed each syllable with excruciating effort: “Nazis… are… bastards… Shoot… to… kill!”
My mother and I laughed. We were visiting Dr. Merrill Stern — retired New Jersey dentist and former officer in the United States Army Air Corps (a precursor to the Air Force) — after receiving a dire update about his health....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 27, 2023 | Salon.com
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may only regulate wetlands when they possess “a continuous surface connection” to other large regulated bodies of water. While this may on the surface seem like a mundane decision, experts believe it will have profound implications for environmental protection in America, putting some of its most vulnerable ecosystems at risk....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 26, 2023 | Salon.com
Visiting a zoo is one of the best places to ponder the points of view of animals. How do they feel about being locked in a cage? Are they happy or unhappy in their current lives? And, perhaps somewhat selfishly, what do these animals think of us — the humans who are observing them?...
Originally posted on salon.com
May 25, 2023 | Gun Control, Salon.com
When President Joe Biden referred to an “epidemic” of gun violence on the anniversary of the Uvalde shooting, he was not simply using a rhetorical flourish. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that one out of five Americans say they have been personally threatened with a gun (the figure is one out of three for Black Americans), while one out of six say they have personally witnessed someone being shot....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 23, 2023 | Salon.com
At the start of the third act of the 2004 sci-fi disaster flick “The Day After Tomorrow,” teenager and academic decathlon participant Laura Chapman shares her deep feelings of despair with her boyfriend Sam Hall.
“Everything I’ve ever cared about, everything I’ve worked for… has all been preparation for a future that no longer exists,” Laura (Emmy Rossum) tells Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) as she shivers due to combo of a recent blood infection and an apocalyptic snowstorm....
Originally posted on salon.com