VP Biden Accidentally Suggests U.S.-Asia Influence Waning

December 5th, 2013, Vice President of the U.S. (VOTUS) Joseph R. Biden, speaking to a conference room-full of PRC diplomats and dignitaries after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, made an accidentally revealing comment: The United States has a profound stake in what happens here, because we need—we are, and will remain—a Pacific power, diplomatically, economically, and … Continue reading “VP Biden Accidentally Suggests U.S.-Asia Influence Waning”

Brontosaurus, you shan’t be forgotten

Part 3 of 4 of my D-cember: Dino-cember! series I heard on NPR’s TED Radio Hour in an offhand comment in the first segment of a November episode called Misconceptions, that the brontosaurus name is no more, and that kids today learn that it’s an apatosaurus (older name, same dinosaur). Taken aback, I searched for … Continue reading “Brontosaurus, you shan’t be forgotten”

Tananim Gedolim: “great reptiles,” the dinosaurs in the Torah

Originally written December the 5th, 2006, I’ve revised and re-named it to be part 2 of 4 of my D-cember: Dino-cember! series Tananim Gedolim, in English, “Great Reptiles” The Spiritual Can Illuminate The Scientific. The Scientific Can Illuminate The Spiritual. There has been (and will continue to be) debate about evolution and the age of … Continue reading “Tananim Gedolim: “great reptiles,” the dinosaurs in the Torah”

The Griffin Was Based On A Real Creature!

UPDATE: Apparently the Top Search term leading people to my blog is still “griffin.”  If you’re one of the griffin-seekers, Welcome! feel free to browse, there are lots of posts here, lots of history essays, on everything from Chinese history to the weird story of top-hat gangsters taking over 1850s Baltimore. Without further ado, here … Continue reading “The Griffin Was Based On A Real Creature!”

New news items related to my blog posts, November 2013

Updates on stories I’ve presented As we say goodbye to November, here is a summary of November news items that add to, echo, or relate to, past posts from my blog. 1. Tea Partier fears about being in China’s debt On November 11th, I published an essay on the blog: Beijing’s Marshall Plan for the … Continue reading “New news items related to my blog posts, November 2013”

A Few Thoughts on Theme in Popular Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels

In an incidental comment in a previous blog post, I wrote: Personally, I think the novel is best used when your/my/the author’s ideas about something large (our past, our future, technology, childhood, humanity, the soul, big stuff) are deep enough that you need an entire novel to explore them in proper detail. Length of a … Continue reading “A Few Thoughts on Theme in Popular Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels”

The Accursed 113th Congress: Are Our Democratic Institutions Broken?

ac·cursed 1: being under or as if under a curse 2: damnable Source: Merriam-Webster’s dictionary – accursed I am probably one of the few bloggers who would notice our worst. Congress. ever. is also the 113th Congress, and feel a gut feeling that the correlation isn’t really… entirely coincidental.  Too many horrendous events have happened … Continue reading “The Accursed 113th Congress: Are Our Democratic Institutions Broken?”

That Time Mobile, AL Made The Front Page of the New York Times

And how The Times missed the story It’s not exactly surprising that the New York Times missed the story: their writers too often cling to conventional wisdom like a drunk grabbing a lamppost, not for illumination as much as desperately-needed support.  Don’t get me wrong, the Times sometimes has great coverage and is valuable as one of the … Continue reading “That Time Mobile, AL Made The Front Page of the New York Times”

Recommended Seasonal Fruits for Autumn

I’m a bit late on this one… the holiday season’s crowding in on us, and soon people will consider it winter instead of fall, but I want to cover this anyway since few know there are autumn seasonal fruits. The source for this, primarily, is the Greatist.com list 19 Seasonal Fruits and Veggies to Eat … Continue reading “Recommended Seasonal Fruits for Autumn”

Turning Around America’s “Food Deserts”

Tackling the problem: two videos about creative solutions The last time I wrote about food and food policy, it was in the context of the invisible fist… commenting on one of the most Orwellian stories to date, the brutal closure of raw food sellers by SWAT teams enforcing draconian regulations against non-corporate unpasteurized milk and cheese. … Continue reading “Turning Around America’s “Food Deserts””

Beijing’s Marshall Plan for the United States

So, I’ve been considering the real causes of “red state” radicalism, and wrote an entire post on my attempts to grok the rapidly changing political landscape. I learned a great deal from my investigation, which you can read here.  But I want to go deeper on the economic roots of the situation, so I’m writing … Continue reading “Beijing’s Marshall Plan for the United States”

Tech guy on House Committee Hearing on Healthcare.gov: “it’s like watching my 1-year-old argue with my cat”

Two Deeper Issues to Consider So, I’m a little behind the curve on this one, as it happened in the late morning of October 24th and has been blogged and tumbl’d and tweeted about a bajillion times and now is a week old and largely forgotten… but that’s all right, since my blogging is all … Continue reading “Tech guy on House Committee Hearing on Healthcare.gov: “it’s like watching my 1-year-old argue with my cat””

What Right-wing Radio Reveals About the Shutdown Fiasco and the Republican Party

Learning about views you disagree with iTunes gives you the ability to tune in to pretty much any radio station across the country, so during the government shutdown I listened in to the right-wing echo chamber that is talk radio, trying to understand what’s going on, what’s driving the Tea Partier rage. Very few activists … Continue reading “What Right-wing Radio Reveals About the Shutdown Fiasco and the Republican Party”

Insightful Blogging in the Wake of the Gov’t Shutdown

October 2013 Roundup: Acts of Bloggery in the Shutdown’s Wake My picks for the blogosphere’s most valuable insights into the shutdown insanity: Moral lens: The 8 immoral ways the government shutdown is hurting the needy | On Faith – the shutdown inflicted pain on people already struggling and making due on government aid amidst the post-2008 “economic realignment,” … Continue reading “Insightful Blogging in the Wake of the Gov’t Shutdown”

My Take on the Great Gov’t Shutdown of 2013

I’ve blogged about many historical events over the years, deeply exploring significant events for Medicaid and health care reform, for state politics, for national politics…and I think the current federal government shutdown is one of the most significant political events I’ve covered.  I think it represents a major turning point. Fiorello LaGuardia famously said “There is … Continue reading “My Take on the Great Gov’t Shutdown of 2013”

Some Thoughts On The Power of Speech

Obviously I lean heavily on written communication, both in texting basic needs and writing long-form when ideas need room. Personally, I think the novel is best used when your/my/the author’s ideas about something large (our past, our future, technology, childhood, humanity, the soul, big stuff) are deep enough that you need an entire novel to … Continue reading “Some Thoughts On The Power of Speech”

A Summer of Metabolic Disease-related Updates…So Far

Summer 2013 This year from June to present (mid-August) I’ve been deep in the diagnostic jungle, repeatedly going back to Columbia Presbyterian hospital in hopes of answers, a diagnosis, a treatment, anything… and I’ve written a series of long Facebook posts/epic mito updates, trying to make sense of life, the universe and everything as we … Continue reading “A Summer of Metabolic Disease-related Updates…So Far”

Masculinity, Southern Gentlemen, and the Strange Story of Alabama’s First U.S. Senator, William Rufus DeVane King

OR John Kerry Should’ve Grown A Beard: The North-South Manliness Inversion A Post That Cites Its Sources…with Footnotes! As I mentioned in the preceding post, the Nick’s Crusade blog is a history blog too. I think delving into history can be very valuable, not just because the strange doglegs and twists in the American story—history … Continue reading “Masculinity, Southern Gentlemen, and the Strange Story of Alabama’s First U.S. Senator, William Rufus DeVane King”

Famous 8th century Umayyad mosque destroyed in Syrian crossfire

Over the years, this blog has covered many things, and one of those, historical blogging, has accounted for a lot of my best stuff, like my essay on Zheng He and the Chinese Age of Discovery, my six-part series “Are We Rome?” (examining the Roman invasions of what’s-now-called Iraq) and most recently, my in-depth exploration … Continue reading “Famous 8th century Umayyad mosque destroyed in Syrian crossfire”

Journeys with mitochondrial disease

It’s a new world, and those of us who have rare disorders are able to connect with and advise each other like never before. For me and my brother Jamie, the rare disorder is mitochondrial myopathy, and back in 1985 we were told we were among JUST 24 cases identified worldwide of what was then … Continue reading “Journeys with mitochondrial disease”

Chaining down the money you’ve earned: the debate over Chained CPI

The debate over Chained CPI has been heating up all over the country and all over the web. What’s Chained CPI? Congressman Ellison explains. Rep. Ellison recorded this video in December. If he were recording today, he’d mention that PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA is the driving force behind Chained CPI, despite its intense unpopularity on all … Continue reading “Chaining down the money you’ve earned: the debate over Chained CPI”

A Note on Robert Bork and the End of Busing as a Desegregation tool

It’s been a while since I blogged about racism, but this blog has a broader mission to shine a light on the concerns of unheard, marginalized groups everywhere, which is why, in the past, I’ve written about things as far-flung and diverse as an effort to fund safehouses for LGBT youth being hunted down by … Continue reading “A Note on Robert Bork and the End of Busing as a Desegregation tool”

Video: “Aging Out” of the health care needed to survive at 21 threatens future of two Florida college students

The 21 cut-off, the policy that I fought hard to change in Alabama with a full campaign that I began two years before the cut-off would hit on my 21st birthday, and now I fight on this blog, is still a threat to many around the country. As people with severe disabilities are saved by … Continue reading “Video: “Aging Out” of the health care needed to survive at 21 threatens future of two Florida college students”

How ACA “ObamaCare” Exchanges Work: A Nick Animation

I made the above animated vignette to explain how the health insurance exchanges being established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), online marketplaces for “shopping” for health insurance, roughly, will work. People will begin signing up for health insurance plans on the exchanges October 1st, and those plans will go into effect Jan 1st, 2014. … Continue reading “How ACA “ObamaCare” Exchanges Work: A Nick Animation”

High-Speed Rail Vital for PWD and the Nation; Why Have the Promises Evaporated?

High-Speed Rail (HSR) would help everyone and boost the economy but would disproportionately benefit PWD—people with disabilities—because for a significant percentage of us, it’s difficult to impossible to use the airlines. And with the TSA confusing the grit you get on your hands operating a manual wheelchair with “bomb residue” again and again, fewer PWD … Continue reading “High-Speed Rail Vital for PWD and the Nation; Why Have the Promises Evaporated?”

Public Policy and Activism: The Harm of Denial

The bulk of this post was taken from a piece of my upcoming memoir I’ve left on the cutting room floor. It’s like 12-step programs say, “the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.” So just getting people to understand that people with disabilities exist and admit that there are multiple, severe … Continue reading “Public Policy and Activism: The Harm of Denial”

What Is ObamaCare? 2013-2014: Overview Part 2—Medicaid expansion

An ObamaCare Overview 2013-2014 Part 2: Medicaid Expansion This is the second part of a two-part blog post: click here for Part 1 In the 2013-2014 period, states must decide whether to opt-in or opt-out of the “Medicaid expansion.” Though it pains me deeply that the Affordable Care Act doesn’t fix any of the problems … Continue reading “What Is ObamaCare? 2013-2014: Overview Part 2—Medicaid expansion”

What Is ObamaCare? 2013-2014: Overview Part 1 (Insurance Subsidies)

An ObamaCare Overview 2013-2014: Part 1 Oh man, I am so frustrated that people misunderstand ObamaCare—the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—and continually frame it as something it’s not. They frame it as some sort of universal health care coverage, or as some vague new program that replaces Medicare and Medicaid, or at least fixes their most … Continue reading “What Is ObamaCare? 2013-2014: Overview Part 1 (Insurance Subsidies)”

Chris Week: Ninth Anniversary—RIP Chris

I’ve been thinking about my friend Chris a lot this week, especially in the days preceding and following March 4th, when the tragedy that took him happened. When I was little, Chris was the bigger kid, both in age (four years older) and heft (kids with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy—DMD, which I don’t have—tend to be … Continue reading “Chris Week: Ninth Anniversary—RIP Chris”

Bribeocracy Update: the Quid Pro Quo status quo—Revolving Door

Bribeocracy Update Winter/Q1 2013 I want this blog to be a useful source of information you’ll not get from TV or other web sites. You certainly don’t hear about Medicaid issues like “aging out” of most in-home support at age 21, and how it impacts the ventilator-dependent population, on other blogs. You won’t get in-depth … Continue reading “Bribeocracy Update: the Quid Pro Quo status quo—Revolving Door”