Big-money prize challenges are not exactly a new concept: Think “challenge” grants, The X Prize, the Millennium Prize, or your local public-radio station. [The
Author: Gloria Shur Bilchik
Gloria Shur Bilchik is a freelance writer and community volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the editor of Occasional Planet. She views the preservation of democratic values and progressive programs as vital to making the US a humane, livable place for her children and grandchildren.
Banned or burned, the Koran’s in good company
By the time you read this, an extremist Christian minister in Florida may or may not have burned copies of the Koran. He is
Corruption hurts: Who, where, how much?
“Corruption hurts everyone, and it harms poor people the most.” That basic principle underlies the work of Transparency International [TI], the Berlin-based international group
Information is beautiful
David McCandless loves pie. And he loves information, too. But he hates pie charts. So, he’s doing something about that. Calling himself a “data
Revealed: the political party circuit
What, you weren’t invited to the Fenway Park bash for Rhode Island’s Democratic Congressman James Langevin on August 25? It must have been a
A YouTube for documents and government transparency
Document storage meets social media—with potentially positive effects for government transparency. At Scribd [don’t ask us how to pronounce it], you can upload and
Charting questions for Supreme Court nominees, 1939 to 2010
What do Senators on the Judiciary Committee really want to talk about, when they interrogate nominees for the US Supreme Court? In recent years,
College rankings with a difference
Ask not what college can do for you; ask what your college is doing for America. That’s the Kennedy-esque premise on which Washington Monthly
Who am I? And what’s my claim to progressive fame?
Progressive-history and trivia buffs, this one’s for you. Occasional Planet is introducing a new feature, called “Who Am I?” After this one introduces the
City+River+Arch: a citizen’s view of the options
A river runs alongside it, but if you’re in downtown St. Louis, you’ll have a hard time getting to it. In fact, you can