Column

Wait, what? Slow down, Mr. Trump Like many Breaking Bad fans, I found the new film sequel, “El Camino,” to be unnecessary but satisfying. It was nice to finally see Jesse realize his dream of starting a new life in Alaska, a seed that was planted back in the original series. Unfortunately, Jesse may not […]

Censorship of ideas will always have unintended consequences Banned Books Week is an annual campaign in which libraries, schools, bookstores and other institutions rally to show their support for books that have been censored and banned for often irrational reasons. There seems to be a very clear understanding that banning books tends to do more […]

The league owes it to its players to pursue any possibility of reducing impacts of a game this violent   Player health and concussions are the biggest problems facing the NFL today. They limit the longevity of players on and off the field and have created a public relations nightmare for the NFL. If players are […]

Why “drain the swamp” when profits from toxic pesticides are on the line? In the fifth season of Mad Men, Don Draper zealously pitches to executives at Dow Chemical in a desperate plea to prise their business away from a competing advertising agency. When the conversation reaches a perverse point on the virtues of napalm, […]

A robot probably won’t create the next Great American Novel, but attempts to move AI in that direction are nevertheless alarming   I came across a weird tech discovery while listening to Reset, a podcast hosted by Arielle Duhaim-Ross. There have been developments in artificial intelligence that have given it the ability to write stories and […]

In order to win in today’s NFL you must lose first. The Miami Dolphins have not won a playoff game in almost 19 years. They’ve lost each of their first seven games by an average margin of 24.7 points. Their roster is $26.2 million less expensive than the next lowest spending team. They are in […]

Self-proclaimed environmental champions have a ways to go Within the span of a few days last summer, I made the trip from Davis to the Bay area three times — twice by car, once by train. Each time I had a different view of the several massive oil refineries scattered throughout Richmond, Martinez and Benicia. […]

Library fines are every avid library patron’s nightmare, but they don’t have to be This summer I went back to my library to work as a co-coordinator running a month-long summer reading camp for elementary school kids. I noticed flyers across the library saying that the Alameda County Library (ACL) system had gone fine-free starting […]

Mike Vick: dog owner Michael Vick is the most divisive NFL player of all time. Before going to prison, Vick ran a dog fighting ring and killed underperforming dogs by hanging them, electrocuting them or drowning them. He is also the fastest player to ever play quarterback in the NFL, holds multiple NFL records and […]

“Koyaanisqatsi” (1982) stands the test of time The release of “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006 helped initiate a string of powerful new documentaries about the existential threat of climate change and the countless sustainability crises we face. I’m thinking of films like “Chasing Ice,” “Chasing Coral,” Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Ice on Fire,” “Before the Flood” and, […]

Chancellor May responds to The California Aggie’s editorial voicing concerns about the 2020 commencement To the Editor:  Re: “Students deserve a commencement that celebrates them, not a high-profile speaker” by the Editorial Board (editorial, Oct. 24): With regard to your Oct. 24 editorial, one portion of the headline is worth repeating: “Students deserve a commencement […]

Judging kids for what they read discourages them from exploring their interests I’ve talked a bit about how I’ve personally felt disgruntled with the reading curriculum throughout my middle school and high school experience. That isn’t to say that I didn’t appreciate the work and effort that my English teachers put into my education, I […]