So, is Venice going to secede from Italy?

Secession always seems to be an issue somewhere around the world at some point, even in the good ol’ United States. It makes perfect sense: the “big man” (government) vs. “small man” (individual citizens/cities) narrative has become pretty dramatic in the… Continue Reading

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Twenty years after Kerrigan vs. Harding vs. Baiul, this week could be Yuna Kim vs. Julia Lipnitskaia vs. Gracie Gold

I watched The Price of Gold last night, and it was really solid — I almost forgot how big a three-ring circus that whole period of time was, especially Kerrigan screaming “WHY????” and then Oksana Baiul actually winning the gold, and the… Continue Reading

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How do figure skaters like Gracie Gold, Yulia Lipnitskaya, and Ashley Wagner spin so much without getting dizzy? Thank Malcolm Gladwell.

I’ve been watching the Olympics semi-consistently and some pretty interesting themes have emerged over the first couple of days. I like skiing, for sure, and seeing Matthias Mayer get a gold was cool (sorry, Bode Miller), but what’s been the… Continue Reading

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Ultimately, does China or Russia (or the USA or Chile or someone else) stand to benefit the most from Antarctica?

Everyone is staking their claim to Antarctica these days; China just built its fourth research base there, which is shaped like a lantern. China’s now spending about $55 million per year on the Antarctic; 15-20 years ago, they were spending $20… Continue Reading

Brazil, Canada and Australia have some of the lowest homophobia rates in the world

That above chart is from The Atlantic Cities; as you may know, the Sochi Winter Olympics begin this evening, and Russia hasn’t exactly been the friendliest of places for homosexuals leading up to the Games. If you look at the map, red… Continue Reading

Torstein Horgmo and Shaun White are already out of slopestyle at Sochi. What’s going on with this course?

That’s a little teaser trailer for the official mobile game of Sochi, slopestyle edition. Slopestyle as an event is debuting at Sochi in terms of the Olympics, i.e. it’s never appeared at an Olympic Games before. Here’s a pretty brief… Continue Reading

Mikaela Shiffrin, Nolan Kasper and others will be big skiing names at the Sochi Olympics. You can thank Burke Mountain Academy.

Even though I don’t completely understand why a city would pay for the Olympics, they do start up in a few days — and that’s somewhat exciting, if only for my misguided feelings of nationalism. (I jest.) I’ve started trying… Continue Reading

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Facebook just got into bed with Russia (well, more specifically, with Yandex)

Yandex is, for lack of a better concept, the Google of Russia. It’s the top site in Russia (Google is No. 4) and now, it just got into bed with Facebook. Basically, posts from Facebook will be displayed in Yandex search results… Continue Reading