Joel On The Road

Spiking the Super Bowl pizza

Joel — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:55:16 +0000

Here, slightly edited, is my annual Super Bowl story: By Joel Thurtell I’m no sports writer, so it was neat to think my byline would appear over a Super Bowl story. What a drag that my first-ever Super Bowl piece failed to meet the exacting publication standards of the Detroit Free Press. Yes, my Super [...]

Morounopoly

Joel — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:42:59 +0000

By Joel Thurtell The answer: MOROUNOPOLY. The question: How do you spell Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority? According to Gongwer News Service, Gov. Rick Snyder might use the port authority to bypass the Legislature in his quest to build a new international bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Gongwer reported in Volume #51, Report #1, Article #3, [...]

Guts on the floor

Joel — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:57:32 +0000

eviscerate vb 1. (tr) to remove the internal organs of; disembowel 2. (tr) to deprive of meaning or significance 3. (Medicine / Surgery) (tr) Surgery to remove the contents of (the eyeball or other organ) 4. (Medicine / Surgery) (intr) Surgery (of the viscera) to protrude through a weakened abdominal incision after an operation adj [...]

My natural experiment

Joel — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:42:14 +0000

By Joel Thurtell For years — decades, in fact — I’d been telling the same story. I was trained as a historian and I ought to know. The famous dictum of the great medieval historian Marc Bloch that “history is the science of change” simply is not true. How can history be science? Why, the [...]

The Newt & The Con

Joel — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:33:28 +0000

By Joel Thurtell Bottom line, what’s the difference, speaking ethically now, between Newt “The Newter” Gingrich and John “The Con” Conyers? First, I need to own up to having a bias. Rather, I have two biases. I think The Newter is a jerk. And, I think The Con is a jerk. Don’t you think my [...]