13 August 2011 • 6:45 pm 0
The last days of a missing Rockefeller
Originally appeared in The Daily.
Michael Rockefeller, heir to a fortune in the hundreds of millions and the son of the governor of New York, was last seen 50 years ago tying a pair of empty red gas cans to his back and swimming for the shore. “I think I can make it,” he said. Then he swam away from his capsized catamaran into the Arafura Sea, toward the coast of New Guinea, where cannibalism may still have been practiced.
12 August 2011 • 6:16 pm 0
Originally appeared in The Daily.
In November 1947, after five years of service, the Polish army discharged a soldier by the name of Wojtek at the rank of corporal. Wojtek’s record had its moments of distinction, including heroism under fire in the brutal battle against the Nazis at Monte Cassino, Italy. But overall, it was blemished with insubordination, including drunkenness, theft of women’s clothing, and attempted murder. For another soldier, these crimes would have meant a court-martial, but the army let them slide, because Corporal Wojtek was a 500-pound brown bear.
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8 July 2011 • 7:32 am 0
I reviewed Janet Reitman’s Inside Scientology in the Wall Street Journal.
Filed under: Wall Street Journal, books, religion
30 June 2011 • 7:36 am 0
I filed a post for TheAtlantic.com from Tahrir.
Filed under: Atlantic Monthly, Egypt, Middle East
27 June 2011 • 6:39 pm 0
Alamo deserter lives on to become Texas’ most infamous coward
Originally appeared in The Daily.
In August 1990, when President George H. W. Bush wanted to send a message to Saddam Hussein, he used the toughest language he knew: that of his adoptive home state of Texas. Bush warned Saddam that “a line has been drawn in the sand,” and that the U.S.-led coalition would remove him from Kuwait by force if necessary. Saddam was not a man of rhetorical subtlety in any language, but he could be forgiven for wondering what “line in the sand” his adversary was talking about. If the dictator did not know his Texas history, the imagery would have perplexed him — and if he did know his Texas history, it might have perplexed him even more. Was he supposed to cross it, or not?
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Filed under: Daily, history, Texas, United States
26 June 2011 • 1:38 pm 0
24 June 2011 • 6:35 pm 0
An accused Salem witch pays for the right to say nothing in court
Originally appeared in The Daily.
The right to remain silent is a beautiful thing. In 1692, at the height of the Salem Witch Trials, a gray-bearded farmer was asked whether he was a wizard and he refused to say. He was brutally executed. But if the Constitution has secular martyrs, that old farmer, Giles Corey, is surely the patron saint of its Fifth Amendment, and one of history’s greatest champions of keeping one’s trap shut. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Daily, history, relig, United States
12 June 2011 • 6:09 pm 1
Originally published in The Daily.
The most important rule of magic — other than remembering to check for rabbit-droppings before putting your hat back on — is never to perform the same illusion twice on the same occasion. The temptation can be excruciating: The trick has already proven its ability to fool, and the audience has proven its susceptibility. But the magician who gives his audience a second chance to catch him out always slips up eventually, especially if the audience includes an eagle-eyed fellow magician.
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