Thanksgiving is in some ways the best holiday because it is all about … gravy. But when you dig a little you find racism and religiosity and other icky stuff. Here’s an example of what can go wrong:

Obama will pardon Cranberry but there will be a speech. Hat tip Julia

“It is in these labs — often late at night, often fueled by a dangerous combination of coffee and obsession — that our future is being won. For in a global economy, the key to our prosperity will never be to compete by paying our workers less or building cheaper, lower-quality products. That’s not our…

The State Canvassing Board of Minnesota met today to “certify” the election results from earlier this month, and to affirm that the vote was within one half of one percent in the gubernatorial race between Democratic Farm Labor candidate Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer. Part of that process involves a discussion, which as of…

Right?

Ronald Reagan would spin in his grave.

There is no down side to this, and viewing it s a political move is cynical and unacceptable. From the White House: Earlier this year, President Obama called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create new rules for Medicare and Medicaid hospitals that would allow patients the right to choose their…

Aaron Huey’s effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people — appalling, and largely ignored — compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later, his haunting photos intertwine with a shocking history lesson in this bold, courageous talk…

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve written a handful of blog posts that are based primarily on the local news in the Twin Cities or Minnesota. Either we have stranger news than other places (which I think is true), we are going through a strange period (which I think is true) or I’ve got…

Labor activist Auret van Heerden talks about the next frontier of workers’ rights — globalized industries where no single national body can keep workers safe and protected. How can we keep our global supply chains honest? Van Heerden makes the business case for fair labor.

In some societies, men hunt together and this is probably a part of male bonding. Before you write off the idea of male bonding as facile pop psychology, please step back a moment from the term, which is so overused in mostly cynical contexts that it has probably lost its meaning. Let me try to…

If you ever get to see “Millhouse” do so! I’d love to watch it along side any similar documentary on George Bush. I don’t have the film, but here is a documentary about the documentary. Part I

Ecologist Eric Berlow doesn’t feel overwhelmed when faced with complex systems. He knows that more information can lead to a better, simpler solution. Illustrating the tips and tricks for breaking down big issues, he distills an overwhelming infographic on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to a few elementary points.

We laugh at the idea of you burning in hell and we hope you get hit by a church van tonight!!” … Richard Dawkins reads some of his hate mail while relaxing at the hearth.

From rockets to stock markets, many of humanity’s most thrilling creations are powered by math. So why do kids lose interest in it? Conrad Wolfram says the part of math we teach — calculation by hand — isn’t just tedious, it’s mostly irrelevant to real mathematics and the real world. He presents his radical idea:…