popular culture

‘Do It for Bieber’

Sep 14, 2010
Here's a clever election-year trick: Get minors, who cannot vote, to hassle their parents, who can, to get to the polls this November. For optimal results, throw in the tween catnip that is Justin Bieber, who also cannot vote and is Canadian, and presto!
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The Gospel According to … the Boss?

Jul 1, 2008
Unitarian Universalist minister Jeffrey Symynkywicz is quite the Bruce Springsteen enthusiast, apparently. The Boston fan has studied Bruce Springsteen's lyrics as though they were Scripture, and the end result is Symynkywicz's new book -- wait for it -- "The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen."

It’s a Wonderful Second Life

Oct 13, 2006
Check out this mind-blowing story on Second Life, the simulated online world where people socialize, shop for actual products, attend legitimate university classes, even buy virtual real estate -- using real-world money. This head-spinning enmeshing of online/off-line interaction represents a new model for our Internet-addled society. It's like "The Matrix" (Version 0.1).

The End of the Electoral College as We Know it?

Jun 1, 2006
The California Assembly passed a measure to pledge the state's Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote (as opposed to giving its Electoral College votes to the winner of the California popular vote). This would come into effect only if enough other states passed similar measures. But if it happens, it will mean the end of the electoral college as we know it.

34%

Feb 28, 2006
In the last 30 years, only a Watergate-stained Nixon had a worse approval rating than Bush's current level of 34% Of course, CBS' polling methodology has its critics on the right.