Helicopter commuting used to be something even middle class New Yorkers could afford. That is, until a fatal crash at the Pan Am building killed multiple people. With the rise of Uber, BusinessWeek documents the resurgence of affordable helicopter travel in Gotham.
Real Life Hot Shots: The Michigan Air National Guard has its own Topper Harley. Captain Brett DeVries’s A-10 Warthog experienced a malfunction that caused it to lose its canopy and forced DeVries to land hard … without landing gear. Everyone is fine, and the plane will be returned to service once it’s repaired. The A-10 is amazing, and so are our pilots.
TWS writers elsewhere: Contributing editor Micah Mattix at the WSJ reviews ‘The World Broke in Two’ by Bill Goldstein. And senior editor Christopher Caldwell writes at Mosaic about why there is no secular substitute for Alcoholics Anonymous.
My brother-in-law is an advanced sommelier and it took me a year or two to truly get the hang out of what he does (other than know a lot about wine). The Wall Street Journal has a brief foray into what it takes to pop corks for a living. Hint: being a good listener, and not a lecturer, is a good start.
At reason, frequent TWS contributor Cathy Young interviews former Googler James Damore about his now infamous memo. (A tip for Mr. Damore, probably best not to tout the support of controversial far-right bloggers like Katie McHugh or Mike Cernovich when promoting your work on Twitter.)
Proof America is already great: In your freezer aisle, there are now Flamin’ Hot Mac n’ Cheetos, which are basically Cheetos-flavored mac-and-cheese sticks.
In a newly released Conversation, Harvey Mansfield tells our editor at large Bill Kristol that there was never a funnier man than Jonathan Swift.
There may be a lot of obscure holidays out there (how many are for pets, seriously?), but one holiday that is absolutely worth remembering that isn’t well known is National Navajo Code Talkers Day, which is today. One of the personal highlights in my previous life before journalism was getting to meet some of the last remaining code talkers on Capitol Hill. If you don’t have movie plans tonight, perhaps it is time to revisit Windtalkers, or this brief video interview with Chester Nez.
In a letter to the editor, a North Dakota father sends a public statement to his racist, prodigal son: “Peter Tefft, my son, is not welcome at our family gatherings any longer. I pray my prodigal son will renounce his hateful beliefs and return home. Then and only then will I lay out the feast.”
MEANWHILE, in Harper’s Bazaar, Jennifer Wright encourages people to divorce their spouse if they support President Trump. Wright is a purveyor of feminist clickbait for the site and will probably get the clicks she’s paid to generate.
Arizona-based GoDaddy has evicted the white nationalist website Daily Stormer, telling them they have 24 hours to find a new host. The move comes after previous failed attempts by activists to pressure the web host to cut ties with the group, which GoDaddy said they “detest” but found acceptable to host under First Amendment grounds. Of course, this had nothing to do their decision to continue to do business with them, as 1A has to do with government censorship. Better late than never, I guess.
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