I think China canceled the One-child program not because of the male shortage, but because of the age imbalance in the workforce. The “Shock of Grey” effect, where countries are running out of young workers to support elders, is a problem everywhere.

Birth rates are already flat and lower in the West. And all other developed countries, for that matter. The male shortage is only one element in the demographic revolution currently in progress.

How do reporters in the overflow room monitor the proceedings? Is there a CCTV feed for them that is not available for general broadcast?

I think you are right. What impresses we civilians about people like Yeagher, Sullenberger and Shults is the calm, the seemingly unflappable affect in the face of quick-moving disaster. Surgeons are like that as well.

Back in 1990 a version of GOW developed by Chicago’s famous Steppenwolf Theater won the Tony for best play. Somebody must have liked it.

Well, the book is a first-person narration by a child, written half a century ago. How would you squeeze in all these other perspectives without changing utterly the very tone that made the original so beloved?

Good intentions? Well, what more do you need?

Corbyn wants the air strikes against Tel Aviv instead of Syria.

So she’s Asian, but not Asian enough?

For sheer watery doom, its hard to beat the Great Chicago Flood of 1992. The Chicago River sprang a leak and flooded out most of the basements in the Loop, our central business district. The subways and the commodity exchange were offline for several weeks. learn more here.

Speaking of hands, look at Barack’s left hand:

Davis has been feuding with his federation and the USOC for years. I believe at Sochi his mom sat with the Dutch supporters in the speedskating arena.

There is a theory popular in African-American circles that Cosby is being hounded because he had the gall to try to buy the NBC network. It doesn’t get mentioned that this event took place 27 years ago, and he probably couldn’t raise the money anyway.. More here

Here’s a good one: my antivaxx cousin posted the other day that if you get the flu vaccine 6 years in a row, you will 100% get Alzheimer’s Disease. I told her that I would get it only 5 times and be safe.

I’m hoping this production will avoid one of the most common elements of the original coverage of Cunanan’s spree: the non-famous victims. Yes, Versace is the big draw, and here in Chicago the torture-murder of local tycoon Lee Miglin got a lot of press. But Cunanan killed three other people. I remember seeing some…

We passed disaster long ago,

“Patrick with some yellow water in a tube”

Odd fact: When Manson was a young jailbird he learned to play the guitar from Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, a former Public Enemy #1 bank robber and associate of the notorious Ma Barker gang. By that point Karpis was the last survivor of the Dillinger era of famous criminals.

It’s been done.....