Thought

Granville Hicks

A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.

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Legislative Dreamin’
SharingCalifornia voters love their state’s process for placing initiatives and …
Townhall: Be Like China?
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The Natural State of Politicians
SharingRepublicans took over both chambers of the Arkansas Legislature, last …
Pity the Politicians?
SharingIn tough times, who get hit hardest? According to the …
Erecting Democracy
SharingThough I opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, I was not …

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 »

Saving Term Limits
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Term Limits for Thee
Last Sunday, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, now …
Your Victory
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Coming to Terms with A Logical Fallacy
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Minnesota Common Sense
SharingMinnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is a stepping down after two terms. At …

9 Dangers of “Democratic Socialism”
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Abolishing You
SharingIn a recent Washington Post essay — “Is the individual obsolete?” — syndicated columnist George …
Against Spying on American Journalists
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Ever Again?
SharingToday marks a solemn anniversary. Seventy-six years ago — on Feb. 22, 1943 — three …
Terms for Taxes
SharingYears ago, I dubbed Tim Eyman “America’s #1 freedom fighter,” and …

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.