While we’re on the subject of the importance of design to the success of nonprofits, let’s take a moment to contemplate the standard bearer: 826 National. The pros behind this tutoring center—where each location (there are seven) features a fake retail store, selling whimsical items against theme like “pirates” and “time travel”— have just released a monograph of every odd and wonderful product they’ve ever offered. The combined effect of seeing them collected in one place…

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The harsh and brutal cowardice of newspapers

In the age of Dubya, it was hard to say whether enemy combatants or the English language were tortured more: the stream of torture euphemisms was in constant and heavy flow, not unlike the flow of water that near-drowned our waterboarding victims.

Anyone interested in prisoner or language abuse had a bursting notebook, spilling over with terms such as extraordinary rendition, stress positions, special methods, sleep adjustment, exceptional interrogation techniques,…

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The English language is an imperfect instrument. Actually, it isn’t really an instrument at all. English (like any language) is more like a monster with many tentacles, about eight heads, and countless contagious viruses that spread and mutate in our brains. Williams S. Burroughs famously said, “Language is a virus from outer space.” Who am I to argue?

Because word evolution is as weird and wooly as biological evolution, sometimes the life of a word goes in…

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Of course, Obama didn’t personally kill any pirates, but just so you know:

Then again, consider this:

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This pirate-hunting business is heating up. Emphasis on the word “business,” too. After a few decades of quiet operations attempting to crack down on piracy, more and more companies seem to be cashing in on the crisis. In a recent feature, we reported that Blackwater Worldwide (excuse us, “Xe”) would be getting in on the pirate-nabbing game, sending warships to the waters near Somalia—a hotbed of pirate conflict that came to a head just the other day.…

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We hope you’ve had a lovely week, whether you’ve just celebrated Passover or are just about to celebrate Easter—or whether you’re just glad you’ve made it to the weekend. As recent events in Italy and off the coast of Africa remind us, it’s always worthwhile to take joy where you find it.

On Tuesday, we celebrated the online launch GOOD’s fifteenth edition, The Transportation Issue. With stories ranging from a rundown of the nation’s best emerging bike scenes to the…

Read & Discuss

The pirates have struck again, and this time, they’ve taken an American ship with a fully American crew. Not that we don’t care about all kidnapped sailors equally, but that sound you hear is a lot of U.S. warships chugging towards the Maersk Alabama (it’s even named after a state, for God’s sake) and maybe some Jack Bauer-esque figures getting ready to meet some pirates. I don’t imagine this one is going to end well for…

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What do you do with a captured pirate? In the murky world of pirate hunting, it’s anybody’s guess. The morning after pirates hijacked the North Korean freighter Dai Hong Dan off the coast of Somalia, the North Korean government got Noel Choong on the line. They’d never dealt with him before, but he has..
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You may remember the case of the Sirius Star oil tanker. The ship was carrying two million barrels of black gold when it was hijacked by the infamous Somali pirates back in November. The BBC reports that the ship was just ransomed for $3 million. A plane dropped a parachute of cash onto the ship and..
Read & Discuss

The New York Times has a story on Majora Carter’s new for-profit environmental consulting company, the Majora Carter Group.

Parts of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi, the two hotels attacked in last month’s terrorist siege, are scheduled to reopen this coming Sunday.

In case you haven’t seen the weekend’s biggest display of uncivil disobedience, here’s the video of the Iraqi journo heaving his shoes at President Bush.

The U.S. is running out of time to host its own pavilion at…

Read & Discuss

While we’re on the subject of the importance of design to the success of nonprofits, let’s take a moment to contemplate the standard bearer: 826 National. The pros behind this tutoring center—where each location (there are seven) features a fake retail store, selling whimsical items against theme like “pirates” and “time travel”— have just released a monograph of every odd and wonderful product they’ve ever offered. The combined effect of seeing them collected in one place…

Read & Discuss

The harsh and brutal cowardice of newspapers

In the age of Dubya, it was hard to say whether enemy combatants or the English language were tortured more: the stream of torture euphemisms was in constant and heavy flow, not unlike the flow of water that near-drowned our waterboarding victims.

Anyone interested in prisoner or language abuse had a bursting notebook, spilling over with terms such as extraordinary rendition, stress positions, special methods, sleep adjustment, exceptional interrogation techniques,…

Read & Discuss

The English language is an imperfect instrument. Actually, it isn’t really an instrument at all. English (like any language) is more like a monster with many tentacles, about eight heads, and countless contagious viruses that spread and mutate in our brains. Williams S. Burroughs famously said, “Language is a virus from outer space.” Who am I to argue?

Because word evolution is as weird and wooly as biological evolution, sometimes the life of a word goes in…

Read & Discuss

Of course, Obama didn’t personally kill any pirates, but just so you know:

Then again, consider this:

Read & Discuss

This pirate-hunting business is heating up. Emphasis on the word “business,” too. After a few decades of quiet operations attempting to crack down on piracy, more and more companies seem to be cashing in on the crisis. In a recent feature, we reported that Blackwater Worldwide (excuse us, “Xe”) would be getting in on the pirate-nabbing game, sending warships to the waters near Somalia—a hotbed of pirate conflict that came to a head just the other day.…

Read & Discuss

We hope you’ve had a lovely week, whether you’ve just celebrated Passover or are just about to celebrate Easter—or whether you’re just glad you’ve made it to the weekend. As recent events in Italy and off the coast of Africa remind us, it’s always worthwhile to take joy where you find it.

On Tuesday, we celebrated the online launch GOOD’s fifteenth edition, The Transportation Issue. With stories ranging from a rundown of the nation’s best emerging bike scenes to the…

Read & Discuss

The pirates have struck again, and this time, they’ve taken an American ship with a fully American crew. Not that we don’t care about all kidnapped sailors equally, but that sound you hear is a lot of U.S. warships chugging towards the Maersk Alabama (it’s even named after a state, for God’s sake) and maybe some Jack Bauer-esque figures getting ready to meet some pirates. I don’t imagine this one is going to end well for…

Read & Discuss

You may remember the case of the Sirius Star oil tanker. The ship was carrying two million barrels of black gold when it was hijacked by the infamous Somali pirates back in November. The BBC reports that the ship was just ransomed for $3 million. A plane dropped a parachute of cash onto the ship and..
Read & Discuss

The New York Times has a story on Majora Carter’s new for-profit environmental consulting company, the Majora Carter Group.

Parts of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi, the two hotels attacked in last month’s terrorist siege, are scheduled to reopen this coming Sunday.

In case you haven’t seen the weekend’s biggest display of uncivil disobedience, here’s the video of the Iraqi journo heaving his shoes at President Bush.

The U.S. is running out of time to host its own pavilion at…

Read & Discuss

Pirates are back in a big way thanks to the recent news from the Somali coast. Scientific American probes the zeitgeist with pirate expert Peter Leeson, author of the book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. The big revelation: Piracy is a means of employment, like any other job, and..
Read & Discuss

What do you do with a captured pirate? In the murky world of pirate hunting, it’s anybody’s guess. The morning after pirates hijacked the North Korean freighter Dai Hong Dan off the coast of Somalia, the North Korean government got Noel Choong on the line. They’d never dealt with him before, but he has..
Read & Discuss

Nontraditional politician Steve Novick is running an insurgent campaign for the Senate in Oregon.
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