David Byrne
I live happily in LA with my beautiful wife, walking, writing, relaxing and exploring. Strip the world of contemporary shopping malls and mind-dulling technology, and you'll find the world a magical place to be.
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Displaying Results 1 - 52 (of 52) for All Content
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5 Dark Days in American HistoryFew days in American history have wounded the nation more deeply than September 11, 2001. Yet a handful of horrible days did open wounds just as grievous.
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The Sayings of Confucius: Collected by His StudentsConfucius' students collected his sayings into a slim volume that westerners call the Analects of Confucius. What does it say? Let's ask Confucius himself, who still lives in that book.
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Ancient Chinese HistoryReady to take a slow boat to today's Beijing, where - unlike today's Pyongyang - BMWs share streets with bicycles and Stalinist slogans sit by Starbucks?
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Overview of the Nobel PrizeThere's as much irony as honor and money in the Nobel Prizes. Why? Because, during his life, Alfred Nobel worked as much to blow people to pieces as he did for peace.
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America, 1790 - The Year of the First U.S. CensusWe're turning the clock back further - to 1790, the year of the first U.S. census.
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What is an American? by J. Hector St. JohnYou know there are now more than 300 million Americans. But do you know "What Is an American?"
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What is the Mahdi Army?The militia is clearly tied to Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but al-Sadr says he can't disband it. Why? Because, he says, it "belongs to the Mahdi." The Mahdi? Who's the Mahdi?
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A History of How Daylight Saving Time StartedDaylight Saving Time ends this weekend across most of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. But we're more interested in how the practice of "springing forward" and "falling back" got its start.
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Who Fights American Wars? Conscripts or Volunteers?Here's how various American armies - with a mix of volunteers and conscripts - came to be.
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Before Bush, Before the Ottomans: A History of Ancient BaghdadOnce upon a time - before the war, Saddam, the British, or even the Ottomans - Baghdad was the Middle East's Big Apple. Here's a look at old Baghdad.
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How North Korea Went NuclearWe look at a timeline of North Korea's nuclear program - and review the key science behind nukes and ballistic missiles.
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300 Million and Counting: Population and AmericaAmerica passed a major demographic milestone this week: the U.S. population reached 300 million people. (At least, so say the best estimates - no one knows the exact population at any given time.)
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What Congress Can't DoIn "What Congress Can Do," we enumerated the powers that Article I, section 8, of the U.S. Constitution grants to Congress - the powers the Congress Americans elect in November will wield. Now, Article I, section 9 - what Congress can't do.
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What Congress Can DoWhat part is Congress supposed to play in steering the ship of state?
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Mexico, from Revolution to Revolution, Part 2We surveyed Mexican history from the war for independence, to a war against the United States, to a war for reform, to a war against a French-imposed emperor.
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Mexico, from Revolution to Revolution, Part 1It can be confusing, because there is a specific "Mexican Revolution," which started in 1910. But truth is, Mexico's history is full of revolts, rebellions, insurgencies, and coups.
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Old MexicoWe're turning to Mexico's early history, from the first Mesoamericans to the fight for independence. Turns out, "old Mexico" really is old - at least if you include the ancient cultures that once flourished there.
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Attack in Damascus, SyriaIslamic terrorists attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, using automatic rifles, grenades, and at least one car bomb. Four people were killed, including three of the terrorists and a Syrian guard.
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The History Behind Baseball's Best PitchesWe've got a brief rundown on baseball's best pitches for you.
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Pluto Officially a "Dwarf Planet"Friends, our solar system has eight planets, not nine as you've been told all your life - or 12 as a committee of experts suggested last week.
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Birth of the Republicans: A History of the Republican PartyWe track the rise of the Republican Party and see how its first president - Abraham Lincoln - won the White House. (Now just imagine if your local mid-term election pitted that Democrat against that Republican.)
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Birth of the Democrats: A History of the Democratic PartyWe'll see how the Democratic Party was born and how its first president got elected. Tomorrow, we'll turn to GOP history.
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Seeking the SikhsThere are more than 23 million Sikhs in the world. You'll find far more Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, but fewer Jews.
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Profiles of Supreme Court JusticesSleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Doc may not wield the judicial power of the United States, but they're still better known than the Supreme Court justices.
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A History of American Cars, Henry Ford and EdisonThese are tough times for U.S. automakers. Faced with higher gas prices and stiff competition from abroad, both GM and Ford are struggling to restructure.
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More Nicotine: A History of CigarettesEveryone knows that nicotine is what gives cigarettes their habit-forming power. But not everyone knows what a Massachusetts Department of Health study revealed on Tuesday: the nicotine content of cigarettes is going up.
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A History of Labor DayMonday is America's Labor Day, a tradition that got its start in 1882, when the Central Labor Union of New York proposed a "workingman's holiday."
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Mapping MexicoMexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal has unanimously ruled that Felipe Calderon, of the ruling "National Action Party" (Partido Acción Nacional, or PAN), won the nation's July 2 presidential election.
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Mexico's Independence Day and HistoryWe're turning to Mexico's early history, from the first Mesoamericans to the fight for independence. Turns out, "old Mexico" really is old - at least if you include the ancient cultures that once flourished there.
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The History of Fascism and Benito MussoliniWe were wondering about fascism and fascists. Where did those terms come from? And what do they really mean?
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The Burning Issue of WildfiresBe careful where you make your sparks, because a raging wildfire can consume dozens of lives, thousands of homes, and hundreds of thousands of acres, including whole towns.
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A Bout with Bird FluScientists recognize three basic types of flu virus: type A, type B, and type C. Some type A flus can cause pandemics, and some are very lethal. Today's killer bird flu, labeled H5N1, is a nasty type A flu.
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An AIDS AppraisalAbout 40 million people worldwide live with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. Here's how the fight against AIDS is going in three key places: Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
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Human Evolution, Step by StepScientists say that arrival - the arrival of fully modern human beings - happened less than 200,000 years ago. Before long, humans were growing crops and writing down questions about where we came from - questions we argue over still.
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Inside Your BrainTo the naked eye, the monotonous surface of the brain yields no clue to its phenomenal specialization and organization, or to the self that lies inside.
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Smallpox, Big SuccessScientists have been so successful in boosting the body's defensive powers that they've virtually wiped out one of the greatest scourges humans have ever known: smallpox.
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Top 5 Ways Volcanoes KillIn the movies, volcanoes kill people by raining red-hot rocks down on them or by cutting off their escape routes with pools of lava. But real volcanoes don't need to resort to such theatrics. They have more effective ways to do you in.
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Virus or Bacteria?Viruses are only one kind of microbial invader. In fact, many of history's deadliest diseases have bacterial, rather than viral, causes. Here's a quick look at the not-so-microbial difference between the two.
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Cuba Before Fidel Castro, Part 2By the early 1890s, pro-independence forces had again begun to organize in exile. This time they were led by José MartÃ. One group, led by a young lawyer named Fidel Castro, raided a military base in the city of Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953.
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Cuba Before Fidel CastroCastro temporarily turned the government over to his younger brother, 75-year-old Raul, and hasn't been seen in public since. In the meantime, we're stepping up our efforts to ponder Cuba's past. Today, we'll investigate Cuba's colonial era.
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A History of Joseph Stalin in RussiaJoseph Stalin was born Ioseb Dzhugashvili on December 21, 1879, in a provincial Georgian town. His father was a cobbler-turned-factory-hand who was frequently drunk and probably beat his son.
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A History of India, Pakistan and Osama Bin Laden's WhereaboutsWho knows? But lots of experts think he's holed up somewhere in the arid, punishing, mountainous terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border - hiding in a tiny crack in colonial history.
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A History of Ancient BabylonStep into your time machine and set the date way, way back. Our destination is the ancient city of Babylon, whose origins lie in the 23rd century BC.
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A Look at a Shi'ite Grand AyatollahSo you've got your heart set on being a grand ayatollah. Get ready to burn the midnight oil, because it'll take years of scholarship to achieve the highest rank of Shi'ite clerics.
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A History of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam in the Sistine ChapelThe "Creation of Adam" stands as one of the world's most famous artworks. But in 1508, when Pope Julius II offered Michelangelo the job, the artist tried to pass.
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Why China Claims TaiwanIs Taiwan really part of China? It depends whom you ask. Those who say "yes" have political reality and a billion Chinese on their side. Those who say "no" have economic reality, and a different view of history.
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A History of Mao Zedong and Communist ChinaMao Zedong was born in December 1893, in the province of Hunan. His parents were peasants, but Mao didn't start out quite at the bottom. He eventually rose to become the ruler of China.
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A History of Rwanda's Genocide: Hutu Vs. TutsiThe Rwandan genocide of 1994 wasn't an isolated event. It was the most horrific in a string of mass murders perpetrated by the Hutu against the Tutsi, and vice versa, since 1962.
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Maple Story: Beginner Guide to the Popular 2D Side-scrolling GameThis guide outlines what the very basics of the popular 2D side-scrolling game Maple Story. It covers the basi builds, whether you want to be a warrior, magician, bowman, or thief. See you in game!
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A History of the French RepublicOn July 14, 1789, a throng of Parisian revolutionaries sent a message to France's ancien régime, storming a walled fortress - the Bastille. Here's a look at why France salutes its Fifth Republic today.
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The Ire in Northern Ireland: A History of UlsterYou've heard of the Irish Republican Army, or maybe even the Ulster Volunteer Force. But do you know how Ireland became so divided?
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A Visit to the Vatican in RomeAt just over 108 acres, and with fewer than 1,000 residents, Vatican City is the world's smallest fully independent nation-state. So, how did this tiny Holy See come to be?