en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2565375 Comments by Robert Travers http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/tuesday-evening-open-thread-2/#IDComment144398071 Sounds like everyone is having a swell day. Let me add to it. Just found out my mom's CNS Primary Lymphoma tumor is back in her brain, seven years after her first tumor. She lost about 50 percent of her cognitive functioning after that one, and she'll probably lose half of what little ability she hs now. No treatment means certain death within two months. We're fighting, of course. I just feel sooo bad for her."Will I lose my dignity/Will Someone care/Will I Wake tomorrow from this nightmare." Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:52:08 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/tuesday-evening-open-thread-2/#IDComment144398071 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/tuesday-evening-open-thread-2/#IDComment144395623 What day are your tix? I have three for the 27th. Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:39:27 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/tuesday-evening-open-thread-2/#IDComment144395623 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/meet-the-new-crasstalk-editorial-team/#IDComment143141132 Cool! Thanks for your time, everyone. I need to start writing again. I've been away because of a family health crisis and a heavy teaching schedule, but I want to get going again. My mother has been in and out of the hospital with a brain tumor and the chemo is not going well this time. Do not get old, CT Nation, do not get old. ____Anyway, the problem is I had my login info on a hard drive that has since crashed and I can't remember the submission details. Something something on WordPress something or other. I think. ____So can one of the editors email me that info and I'll start submitting fascinating stories of great human pathos and insight once again? I'm at rtravers63@gmail.com. Or who can I email to get the login information? Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:29:37 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/meet-the-new-crasstalk-editorial-team/#IDComment143141132 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/question-of-the-day-favorite-nonfiction-book/#IDComment143136099 Not cliched at all. That book is a classic. What gets me about the book is the reporting. Krakauer knew almost nothing when he started. Just that a hiker was found in a bus in Alaska. He worked backwards from there. Brilliant book. Phenomenal movie. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:05:21 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/question-of-the-day-favorite-nonfiction-book/#IDComment143136099 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/question-of-the-day-favorite-nonfiction-book/#IDComment143135360 "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote "Into The Wild" by Jon Krakauer "Too Big to Fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin Couldn't pick just one. But all three are so good. The Capote book is the most frightening thing I've ever read to this day. The Sorkin book let me understand The Great Recession and the Krakauer is an amazing piece of forensic reporting, one of the most compelling adventure stories/cautionary tales ever. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:01:51 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/question-of-the-day-favorite-nonfiction-book/#IDComment143135360 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/dispatches-from-canada-election-v-4-0/#IDComment143134261 Just watch the playoffs. A good overtime game will make all the mess go away. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:57:07 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/dispatches-from-canada-election-v-4-0/#IDComment143134261 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/friday-happy-hour-open-thread-3/#IDComment139254213 I so need to write something for Crasstalk. I haven't done anything in three weeks. Partially because work took over my life and partially because of a family health emergency, but both issues have settled back into their normal states of low simmer and I need to be creative again. So, my goal is to have one or pieces completed by the end of the weekend. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 01:33:29 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/friday-happy-hour-open-thread-3/#IDComment139254213 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/no-one-should-ever-go-to-grad-school-ever/#IDComment138158885 Yeah, I still want my medical doctors to have graduate degrees. I really don't want a 22-year-old with a degree in Biology from Pepperdine operating on my brain. Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:04:27 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/no-one-should-ever-go-to-grad-school-ever/#IDComment138158885 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-evening-open-thread-3/#IDComment135464377 I have the NCAA watching at work piece in the morning, and then I want to do a couple of newsy/feature type stories. Anyone have have any ideas? Something that's been under the radar, but needs to be out there? Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:31:40 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-evening-open-thread-3/#IDComment135464377 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135411006 That's the one thing this site has been missing. A bit o' the old attitude, eh? Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:36:19 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135411006 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135410742 The University of Georgia is fabulous and Athens, GA may be the best college town in America. I love that place and I'd like to retire there. What a great campus, great school spirit and a wonderful town. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:35:00 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135410742 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135360249 It's funny how college sports brings out the irrational, most intense hatred in people. Like when the Alabama fan poisoned the Auburn trees. I don't think even a Ravens fan would destroy trees in Pittsburgh. I do hate Duke, but my real passionate hatred is reserved for Penn State. They are in a class by themselves for me. I hate their football, basketball, volleyball and swim teams. I hate their chess team. If they had a varsity curling team, I'd root against them, too...Penn State. Oh man, how I loathe those Nitany Lions. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:06:01 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135360249 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135359062 I hate Duke as much as the next guy, but... I visited there a few years ago when we were doing college visits with my son, who waqs looking around for a school, and I must admit Cameron Indoor is amazingly impressive. That Hall of Honor, the bleachers, the architecture of the building itself. You can feel the history. That said, I still hate Duke. It's their arrogance, I think, that does it for me. I mean, Notre Dame is just as good a school, they have an even better tradition and history in football than Duke does in hoops, yet ND fans and students don't come across as douchy as Duke does. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:59:57 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-properly-nurture-your-duke-hatred/#IDComment135359062 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135357160 OK, makes sense. It's really a simple idea then, yet it's so complex to actually pull it off. Heat water, make steam, power engine. So easy even Homer Simpson could do it. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:51:18 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135357160 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135356680 I think he's losing his mind. He is so offensive. But, yeah, it must be nice to have a national television and platform and not even have to make sense or be logical. Just talk random nonsense for a few hours a day and be paid millions for it. And he freaking complains about a country that lets him do this??? Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:49:00 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135356680 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135309184 I should have done that--I ordered two shoes from Amazon last night. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:02:04 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135309184 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135308768 "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Ooooh, and a great mystery--"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:59:44 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135308768 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135308265 Rue Mouffetard early on a Saturday morning, Jim Morrison's grave, Ile de Citie, the Marais district, some local cafe not frequented by tourists that you go to more than once, the catacombs, some neighborhood way far from the city center--your pick, and the area around Sacre Coeur--I forget the name. Oh, and if you have the nerve--it's fun, a little crazy though and probably illegal, cross L'Etoille on foot and climb the steps of the Arc de Triomphe. No, that's bad advice about crossing that street. Don't do that. But do climb the stairs. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:57:01 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/wednesday-morning-open-thread/#IDComment135308265 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-survive-the-coming-obamacolypse/#IDComment135306715 I know this post is written largely tongue-in-cheek, but some people--a lot of people not smart enough to be on a site like this--believe end times are here, because of religion or politics or whatever, and that belief may cause them to be irrational. But I'm an optimist. I think overall thinks are great and they are overall getting better. Yeah, yeah, the future's so bright, I gotta shades. Not quite, but, this... Not that I get much of my philosophy from Billy Joel, but there is a kernel of truth in "We Didn't Start the Fire." Looking at history at the microscopic level, every week of any year you care to name seems chaotic. I remember in college reading a Tom Robbins novel that was written in the late 70s-early 80s and he keeps repeating the line "The international situation, as always, was desperate." Things are, from every perspective, much better than they were during the Cold War. We are richer, we have more opportunities for education and employment, the world is more connected, and a far, far higher percentage of people on the globe are living in freedom than in the 1970's. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:48:06 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/how-to-survive-the-coming-obamacolypse/#IDComment135306715 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135303663 That was great, thanks. Most clearly written piece I have read about how this works. But I still have a basic question--so the steam that's generated and then converted back to water, is that water then used to drive the turbine engines into moving whech then generate electricity? And then are nuclear-powered submarines basically underwater, fast-moving nuclear power plants? Or do they work with a different process of heating rods? Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:27:54 +0000 http://crasstalk.com/2011/03/effin-nuclear-power-how-does-it-work/#IDComment135303663