Thought

Josiah Warren

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Public influence is the real government of the world.

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No Exaggeration Necessary
SharingArtful exaggeration is a part of good writing. Take this example …
Division and Democracy
SharingRecalls of elected officials are said to be “divisive.” And, …
The Battle Ahead
Paul Jacob worries about the foreign policy challenges that face …
Initiative-Crippling Law Clobbered
The right of citizen initiative is the right of voters …
The Oklahoma Three, Free at Last
SharingIt seemed hardly necessary. The handcuffs and leg-irons, I mean. I wasn’t …

Abolish. Or Set in Stone
November 13, 2024
Paul Jacob knows what to do with hypocrisy on at …Read More »
Destroying Dane Farming
November 12, 2024
Paul Jacob on Europe’s ongoing suicide over “greenhouse gases.”Read More »
Disaster Relief Pass-Over
November 11, 2024
Paul Jacob on partisanship at FEMA.Read More »
Exemplary Rejections
November 8, 2024
Paul Jacob celebrates voters in three states who protected their …Read More »
Not Now
November 7, 2024
Paul Jacob on political lessons to be learned — or …Read More »

Arnold Loses His Strudel
SharingCalifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger no longer likes term limits. He …
Getting to Know You
SharingThe Fourth Estate is coming undone. Obviously. But little did I know …
They’re Called Term Limits
SharingLooking for an exemplar of condescending witlessness? Take Steve Benen, …
Resigned in Disgrace
SharingThe political insider’s method of dealing with scandal since President …
If This Be Blackmail…
SharingThe Republican Party now boasts of more positions of power …

After Them, the Deluge
SharingOne might be forgiven for finding Sen. Kamala Harris the …
Socialism Is Anti-Democracy
SharingCommon sense politics must peer beneath the superficial attractions of …
Systemic Refocusing
SharingEveryone comes into this world with advantages and disadvantages. In the …
Courage and Wisdom?
SharingPresident Donald Trump responded to the weekend’s two shooting atrocities …
MediocreCare — Guaranteed!
SharingWhen Senator Bernie Sanders demands that the government “guarantee health …

On this day in 1833, Denison Olmsted was alerted by his neighbors to something truly amazing, a night sky filled with shooting stars.

Not just a one or two or a dozen or a hundred: 72,000 or more per hour. Though recognizing where among the constellations meteors came from was ancient knowledge, it had not been recorded by modern-era scientists, at least in this case. What Olmsted noticed was that the meteors were coming from one point in the sky, the constellation Leo. This regular meteor event is now called the Leonid meteor stream.

In the morning, Olmsted wrote a brief report on the meteor storm for the New Haven Daily Herald newspaper, which elicited correspondence from around the country, thus beginning a social storm, in a sense: crowd-sourced science.