Author: Adam Lee

So, it’s time we talked about Donald Trump. The improbable presidential candidate has been flying high since his speech at Liberty University, where he was warmly welcomed by president Jerry Falwell Jr. The speech itself was underwhelming: he flubbed a biblical reference, cracked off-color jokes and made his pandering laughably obvious. Yet none of it…

The whole East Coast is snowed in after last night’s blizzard. If you’re feeling a touch of cabin fever, I’ve got a suggestion for how to while away the time. Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a cult-classic TV show that came out of Minnesota in the late 1980s. It’s about a mild-mannered janitor named Joel…

Atlas Shrugged, part III, chapter VII, The Speech There’s a character who’s missing from Atlas Shrugged. His name is Father Amadeus, and while he was part of Ayn Rand’s early outlines, she jettisoned him from the final draft. He was to have been a Catholic priest affiliated with the Taggarts who heard James’ confessions. In…

Alive Inside is an award-winning documentary by Michael Rossato-Bennett about the work of Dan Cohen, a social worker from Long Island, and the charity he founded, Music & Memory. (Disclaimer: I know Dan personally, and I’ve contributed to his charity.) It spotlights a slow-rolling demographic crisis poised to overtake the Western world, and offers at…

I admit, I spend a lot of time browsing Cracked. From its origins as a comedy website about dick jokes, it’s grown into one of the most subversively intelligent and thoughtful sites on the internet, commenting not just on pop culture, but on politics, philosophy and religion. Among other things, they’ve published harrowing personal essays…

I last wrote about Chvrches, the Scottish synthpop band with the name I can never type, two years ago. They’ve since released their sophomore album, Every Open Eye, which is excellent – bigger, more expansive, more optimistic than their debut. Here’s one of my favorites: Another standout is “Empty Threat“, a defiant anthem that’s hard…

Atlas Shrugged, part III, chapter VII, The Speech John Galt is still talking. In this section of his doorstopper monologue, he lectures about Rand’s views on human nature: “Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His…

Summary: Not a new theory, but a new and strong case for an old theory, supplemented with up-to-date neurological evidence. Jack Wathey is a neuroscientist and computational biologist and the founder of Wathey Research, a scientific firm that focuses on problems like protein folding. His new book, The Illusion of God’s Presence, presents an answer…

The world needs more statesmen like Jimmy Carter. Since his presidency, he’s been an unflagging advocate for human rights. Through his Carter Center, he’s worked to oversee fair elections, release political prisoners, and negotiate peace accords in conflict-torn regions like Haiti, North Korea, Palestine, South Sudan and Bosnia. He’s well known for his work building…

OK, I admit it: I bought a ticket for the Powerball lottery this weekend. After multiple drawings with no winner, the grand prize hit $800 million, and could surpass $1 billion before tonight’s drawing. I’d argue that it’s not totally irrational to play. At $2 a ticket and jackpot odds of 1 in 292 million,…