smarts

Jonah Goldberg has a great op/ed today about what makes America exceptional:

The interesting question isn't "Why is there poverty?" It's "Why is there wealth?" Or: "Why is there prosperity here but not there?"

[Note: After posting this, I discovered (via Merlin Mann) the video I’ve embedded below. In it, Ira Glass describes the gap between our taste and our ability to execute at that level when we begin working in a new medium.

Why do some people with lots of smarts and talent seem to flame out and never quite make it?

BAC posted something I didn’t know. In all the hoopla recently over Tim Russert and George Carlin passing away, she alerts us to the passing of a comedienne that I really thought was fun.

Sometimes we get on a roll. You know, jump on a hot streak where nothing can go wrong for a few minutes. Then,

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W H A M !

The NHL just handed down the suspension for Scott Nichol's cross check to the face of Patrice Brisebois the other night. 5 games. I guess that's about right, though I expected less and would have been ok with more.