I didn’t know a simulated explosion could include a 20 to 30-foot “fireball” that lasts for 2 minutes. I thought that would fall into the category of an actual explosion.
Well, we’ll find out Wednesday morning apparently, as DC continues its inexorable march to TV fame and flame-out. The following alert is being sent around to various DC-area residents and buildings:
For the filming of a TV pilot, there will be a simulated explosion
on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, between 9:30 a.m. and noon near
…
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Check out Hanna Rosin’s Atlantic piece about the deep, dark gap between the rhetoric and the data on breastfeeding. It’s a classic example of how emotion can trounce facts, especially when it comes to parenting.
After all, the brain is wired to rank emotion over facts, which is why we fear airplane crashes more than heart attacks--and why we end up with a generation of yuppie women knocking themselves out to breastfeed, even if it’s not working for them or their children. It’s a reminder that whenever emotion is high, it is…
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Yesterday’s education speech by President Obama left me on the edge of my seat. The man is saying all the right things. The man knows how to talk, and he made some bold declarations about national standards, merit pay, and getting rid of bad teachers.
On standards, Obama was pretty clear. All the recent talk of accountability means nothing if we’re keeping score with 50 different sets of rules:
“Today’s system of fifty different sets of benchmarks for academic success means 4th grade…
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I’m honored to hear that the Swiss Infantry School has made The Unthinkable mandatory reading for its staff. Very cool.
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When I got to the office today, there was a big sack of books waiting for me from my publisher. Inside, I found the Brazilian, Korean and Swedish versions of The Unthinkable. I’d never seen them before, so it was kind of a cool moment. For sure, my favorite of the the three is the Swedish version (in irridescent green).
That said, I have no idea what they say. I can only hope for the best.
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Craig Fugate has been nominated by Pres. Obama to head up FEMA. My first instinct is: Damn. Nice pick. My second instinct is: God help him.
Fugate is a man who tells it like it is. He was a firefighter before he became an emergency manager and rose through the ranks to become head of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management in 2001.
The last time I saw him was in the summer of 2006 when he spoke on a panel alongside (get this) the then-disgraced former FEMA head Mike Brown at the University of Colorado, Boulder,…
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Here’s something that I never thought I would see happen: A DC voting-rights bill is moving to the Senate floor as of today. Putting aside the fact that it’s 200 years late, it’s a good day to be an American. Or almost American, that is.
I live in a city with the second highest taxes in the nation, a city with more people than Wyoming, a city that is home to the nation’s most precious symbols and now apparently in charge of the banks, the car companies and holding up the sky. But we don’t have a member…
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Today, I’m happy to introduce Kaitlyn Andrews-Rice, my research assistant and sleuth extraordinaire who will be posting from time to time on this blog. Kaitlyn is a writer who lives in the DC area with her fiance and her puppy. Unlike me, she actually has a graduate degree--a Masters in Fine Arts--and has written a novel about military life. When she’s not investigating disasters, Kaitlyn writes for TV and does hot yoga. Please welcome her to the blog.
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