..probably not, but it can go for a Guinness World Record of "Most software downloaded in 24 hours".

To help achieve this goal, today is "Download Day". To help people check the progress of this undertaking, firefox has a map showing how many download have been made, per country.

It paints a fascinating...

I've begun to notice that cultural anthropology has a tendency to be very external in nature. The analysis of what makes an area's "culture" is often performed by someone who has no childhood connection to that place. And yet, time and time again, experts on an "area" call upon their experience with...

There must be a municipal ordnance that comes across the City Council of small towns across America: Item 2361-D Move to Classify Our Town as "Liberal". Upon passage, the street sweepers start spraying patchouli-scented oil into the air, and a food Co-op springs up overnight.

Either way, I love...

"Better'n a sharp stick in th'eye," she says to the ever discontent child, his sour tears mourning the slightest infractions; a lost doll, a denial of treats, or a wholly unfair task ("Clean you damn room!"). The words bounce off the child, because he is certain such astatement is nonsense.

Ungratefully...

I've foolishly neglected doing any kind of research for my journey to England. It seems too obvious. Thankfully, Rough Guides does not make this mistake, and has updated their guide to England. The British-based Telegraph took note:

"As a glance at the tabloid newspapers will...

I've long been a hard-headed skeptic of the Internet. As a writer, the internet and I share a love-hate relationship, a delicate economic and social tango. I read articles about online writing with a hypocritically raised eyebrow. Pieces such as Michaela Lola's "When...

My father embraced technology a long time ago--a fact that I'm not sure is to society's benefit. His communications from his new home in New Orleans are succint and cryptic, often leaving us to discuss their meaning for days after. One such gem:

Following a run-in with some barbed wire, a friend once told me, “Chicks dig scars.”

A few months ago, during an interview with Ben Schumaker for the Matador piece "Portrait of Hope: Lessons from The Memory Project", I expressed a personal interest in participating in the...

"The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else." --John W. Gardner

Seeking Love and Fortune...

I can't imagine a more apt name for a city, than Plainfield, Illinois. It is plain and it has fields. It is in Illinois. And it is in this quiet city where fortune sits for the taking. Onward I travel, to fortune and glory.

But it is never that simple, is it?

At 6:45 on...

The Bodega Brew Pub in La Crosse Wisconsin has the greatest slection of beers and ales in, dare I say, the entire midwest. Normally, the flow of good conversation is evenly paced with the flow of good beer and tonight is no exception. It is in this setting that we're talking about life, death...

The mark of any good city is its ability to be rediscovered time and time again. Unfortunately for me, I require a catalyst for that rediscovery. In this instance, it was a visit to an old friend's new apartment in Little Italy.

On this relatively warm (32°F) afternoon we've opted to ride Chicago’s...

Dr. Love is the tuning fork I use to guage the soul of New Orleans. Today she is tuned down, maybe a little flat, and singing a sad, soulful dirge with a cracking voice.

"Come to think of it, I didn't see him out today," my mother tells me about Dr. Love, "You can tell he was sad. We talked him out of...

The River taxi pulls away from the dock, bringing me and my shame along for the ride. I don't even know what--or where--Livingston is, I just need to get away. The Taxi's attempt to show us "sights"--instead of jetting out of Fronteras with utmost haste--only exacerbates by self loathing.

I am now just...

My wife and I were giddy when we woke up this morning. Today was the little one’s first ultrasound and—with any luck—we would find out the sex. We could finally begin solidify a name, and choosing non-neutral colors. 

We just had to make it 25 miles through some horrendous flurries. Hello,...

It's -°12 F outside. At 2:00 in the afternoon, the sun is already making its descent. Natural light has a yellowing hue, even when it's not filtered through our windows. I don't want to go out, but if I stare at this screen any longer, I'll lose my god damn mind.

My wife and I are finding our individual...

For the first time in over 5 years I have a dishwasher. It's an absolute blessing--my soft delicate hands hate the feel of grime. The dishwasher frees me (and, vicariously, my wife) from this burden.

Yet it concerns me greatly and I didn't know why...until now.

...Then someone publishes one of these articles.

Yakutsk: Journey to the Coldest City on Earth

Go Packers!

I would love to turn this into a metaphor for the eternal struggle of man. A symbol of the secret male desire to conquer and to be victorious. I'd like to lay my heart out there and say that, in a way, I feel that we are all Brett Favre and that Seattle represents all that is unholy.

But...

http://www.littlehavenonline.com/

I was thumbing through an old journal when I realized something: I'm supposed to tell everyone to stay at Una's Little Haven, in Dundalk, Ireland. No questions asked.

If you care to know, here's why:

It's 2005, and I'm about to land in Ireland. Up to this point, I have...