http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists Tony Norman's column en-us Copyright 2010, post-gazette.com. Tue, 7 Sep 2010 21:39:30 -0400 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10250/1085547-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml A few days ago I had a very strange dream. In this dream, B.B. King had just died and the world was going about the necessary business of mourning his death. For those who don't know B.B. King from Martin Luther King, the blues giant is very much alive, but for purposes of my dream, he was dead. Tue, 7 Sep 2010 14:50:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10246/1084733-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml A few months ago, I stumbled across author Nicholas Carr being interviewed on NPR about his new book, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains." I've long suspected our brains were undergoing rapid evolutionary changes because of the Internet. Fri, 3 Sep 2010 13:36:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10243/1083808-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml These days our favorite television characters often display a moral ambivalence we refuse to tolerate in our elected officials, our friends or members of our family. We call this moral ambivalence "character complexity" and consider it a good thing when it is grounded in popular narratives. It's what keeps us coming back. Relentlessly virtuous characters quickly wear out their welcome. Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10239/1083014-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml On Aug. 19, the Port Authority driver of the 68G I catch every morning had to do a lot of fancy driving to beat the Downtown congestion around the perimeter of The Pennsylvanian. Instead of merging into a bottleneck on Liberty Avenue, the bus driver steered onto Penn Avenue and Smallman Street in an inspired bit of strategic maneuvering. Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10236/1082117-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml I'm looking forward to voting for America's first atheistic or agnostic president. We've had presidents who weren't religious, of course, but none, with the exception of Thomas Jefferson, were honest about it. Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:40:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10232/1081253-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml Some Americans believe that the planned Park51 Islamic Cultural Center two blocks north of Ground Zero is insensitive to the memory of the victims of 9/11 and their families. "It is too soon," they say with solemn exasperation. "It is hallowed ground. It is selfish for Muslims to invoke the name of Allah where so many Americans were massacred." Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:10:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10229/1080485-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette was the leading newspaper of Colonial America and the early American Republic. Would you guess that such a journal had an advice column? Ben himself penned it, under the pseudonym "Dr. Poor Richard." A cache of recently discovered columns shows that today's political controversies are but an echo of yesteryear's: Dear Dr. Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:17:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10225/1079665-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml Bad ideas and stupid moves proliferate in August. Think of all the pointless wars that began in the haziest month of the year (the Peloponnesian War in 414 B.C., World War I, the India-Pakistan war of 1965, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Georgia versus South Ossetia, etc.). Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10222/1078863-153.stm?cmpid=norman.xml On June 22, the Anti-Defamation League released the following statement about Arizona's draconian immigration law: "The bill is a manifestation of anger and frustration, fueled by exaggerated fears of violence and passed against a backdrop of increasing xenophobia. It is ill-conceived, misguided, and should not be implemented." Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400