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Obama's getting flak for bowing in Japan. Early Americans bowed all the time.

Not until the early 20th century, although by then it was uncommon. It's difficult to trace the history of gestures, but based on textual evidence, we know there was a fair amount of bowing during Colonial times. In tracts and sermons, 17th century ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  17 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Barack Obama,  Thomas Jefferson,  Andrew Jackson,  Edith Wharton,  In Style

How can we communicate the dangers of nuclear waste to future civilizations?

During a 2004 cleanup operation at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, personnel digging through a trench uncovered a safe containing a glass bottle. And inside the bottle, white sludge. Tests identifying the substance as a type of plutonium ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  16 Nov 2009

Related Topics: U.S. Senate,  David Anthony,  Harvard University

Is accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan a "terrorist?"

It's semantic. There's no precise, internationally accepted definition of terrorism or who qualifies as a terrorist. One 1988 study identified 109 definitions for terrorism, and it's a safe bet there are now many more. The U.S. States Code contains ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  11 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Nidal Malik Hasan,  United Nations General Assembly,  U.S. Republican Party,  Barack Obama,  Facebook Inc.

How can DeJuan Blair play without an anterior cruciate ligament in either knee?

With his fingers crossed. When an athlete (or anyone, for that matter) lands after a jump, the force of that impact moves up the leg to the knee. This force is dissipated or opposed by muscles, tendons, cartilage, and ligaments like the ACL, which ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  3 Nov 2009

Related Topics: DeJuan Blair,  University of Texas

Why can't the International Criminal Tribunal drag Radovan Karadzic to court?

Actually, it could. There's no law preventing the tribunal from dispatching security guards to a prisoner's cell and even carrying him into the court. He's been formally charged—with 11 counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—and ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  29 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Radovan Karadzic,  Osama bin Laden,  Charles Taylor,  Saddam Hussein

What are nuclear secrets, anyway?

Anything that's classified. The Mossad and intelligence agencies from other countries (both friendly and hostile) aren't looking for big picture information like how to build a bomb, but rather whatever details the United States government values ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  20 Oct 2009

Related Topics: IBM,  Texas Instruments

What did those people who died in the Arizona sweat lodge think they would get out of being so hot and uncomfortable?

It's purifying. It's a common practice among American Indian cultures to place hot rocks in a round dome to create a saunalike experience. Although the specifics of the ceremony vary from tribe to tribe, the general concept is that intense heat ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  13 Oct 2009

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby.

Keith Gessen, co-founder of n+1 and author of the novel All the Sad Young Literary Men, is brainy. His magazine gauges "the intellectual situation" in every issue, and his sad young men think—especially about themselves—far too much, incessantly ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  12 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Google Inc.

What will Barack Obama do with his Nobel Peace Prize money?

He may form his own charitable trust. (Perhaps he'll call it "The Obama Foundation for World Peace," says University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato.) Recent Democratic presidents have started their own charitable organizations upon leaving office: ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  9 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Barack Obama,  Hamas,  University of Virginia,  Clinton Foundation,  White House

How mean are drill sergeants in real life?

Not anymore. Drill sergeants of yesteryear did take a rough, discipline-and-punishment approach to preparing new Army recruits for combat. The disciplinarian tack seemed to make sense up through the Vietnam War, at least, because drafted soldiers were ...

From JULIET LAPIDOS, Slate,  22 Sep 2009

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