The Abacus and the Cross

The popular perception of the Dark Ages is wrong. Nancy Marie Brown, author of The Abacus and the Cross, explains why in the latest Failure Interview.

Can the lost art of whistling make a comeback?

Failure magazine's latest feature (Whistling Past the Graveyard) explores this subject, and includes interviews with many of the world's most accomplished whistlers.

December 30: Anniversary of the Iroquois Theatre Fire

Billed as “absolutely fireproof,” Chicago's Iroquois Theatre went up in flames less than six weeks after opening. Upwards of 600 people perished in the blaze, and today it remains on the records of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as the deadliest single-building disaster in U.S. history.

I Love Charleroi, Belgium?

Tour group offers sightseeing tours through Charleroi, Belgium, which has been called "the ugliest city in the world." The so-called “adventure city safari” includes stops at a vandalized, never-used metro station, a giant pile of coal waste, and the former home of a serial killer. Sound like fun?

Beware of the Urkel

Saggy pants are no longer an issue at one Memphis middle school, not since Principal Bobby White started The Urkel Initiative.

Scroogenomics

Failure magazine wishes you a happy -- and efficient -- holiday season!

The Dead Sea is drying up

Every year the shoreline of the Dead Sea retreats a little more. With the region's tourism industry suffering, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians are teaming up to try to save it. But will their efforts accelerate the destruction?

Fruitlands

In 1843 a small group of eccentric men and women founded a utopian community in east-central Massachusetts. By January 1844 the community had dissolved. What went wrong?

Disaster Deferred?

Two-hundred years ago a series of large earthquakes hit the Midwestern United States. But despite apocalyptic predictions, the New Madrid Seismic Zone isn’t likely to produce a devastating quake anytime soon, says Northwestern University geologist Seth Stein in a new Failure Interview.

The 35th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Wednesday November 10 marks the 35th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Failure magazine revisits the disaster - and examines the prevailing theories about why the Mighty Fitz sank - in its latest feature, The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Phone Book

An interview with Ammon Shea, author of The Phone Book: The curious history of the book that everyone uses but no one reads.

The Subaru 360

The worst car ever sold in America? Ed Parsil, cofounder of The Subaru 360 Club, begs to differ.

Awkward School Pictures

AwkwardSchoolPictures.com features bad haircuts, bad fashion choices, and more than its share of awkward situations. Read more about the site's launch.

The Five-Year Party

College faculty member and former education reporter Craig Brandon on why hundreds of American colleges and universities are fostering a party atmosphere in an effort to retain students and maximize profits.

People of WalMart: The Book

Failure magazine interviews Luke Wherry, co-founder of peopleofwalmart.com, about his new book Shop and Awe.

James Buchanan $1 Coins issued

Earlier this week, the United States Mint released the latest coin in the ongoing Presidential $1 Coin Program, this time featuring our “worst president,” James Buchanan (1857-61).

Read more: James Buchanan Dollar Coin

The Great Typo Hunt

Jeff Deck, Benjamin Herson, and the other members of the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) are out to change the world, one correction at a time. Read more about The Great Typo Hunt.

Golden Gate

Failure magazine reviews: Golden Gate - The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge, by Kevin Starr, Bloomsbury Press.

Sudan: Darfur, Islamism, and the World

“This book is about one of the greatest humanitarian and political disasters of our age,” writes Richard Cockett, Africa editor of The Economist, in the introduction to “Sudan.” Read Failure magazine's book review.

Today's Google doodle: The Wizard of Oz

Today's Google doodle celebrates the 71st anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.

Downstream: Death of the Mighty Colorado

Failure interviews photographer Brian L. Frank, who won the 2010 Global Vision Award for his photo essay Downstream: Death of the Mighty Colorado.

Success Made Simple

Only half of newly-opened American companies are still around after five years. But if the business is Amish, the success rate is ninety-five percent. What accounts for such a high success rate? Independent Amish expert Erik Wesner has the answer.

When Failure is Tolerable

My co-editor pointed out an interesting post yesterday in the blog section of Harvard Business Review titled When Failure is Intolerable. The gist of the post is that while there is value in “positive failure,” there are also times when failure should be considered unacceptable. In the midst of making his argument, though, Scott Anthony brings up an important point — that part of the reason organizations (and the individuals who work for them) fear failure is because “Too frequently people reward (or punish) outcomes when they should reward (or punish) behaviors.” There’s a lot of truth in that; workers tend to act conservatively because they fear being scolded (or fired) for bold initiatives that don’t work out as planned. As a result, there’s a lot less innovation than there should be — or could be. Organizations need to empower individuals to push the envelope, with the understanding that things will not always unfold as planned.

Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Entirely too much intellectual energy has been — and continues to be — devoted to the Shakespeare authorship controversy. Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains the arguments of Shakespeare doubters, and what’s at stake in a dispute that has been re-energized by the rise of the Internet.

The race to discover the Mount Everest of caves

Find out what it's like inside the world's deepest caves, and which cave holds the title as deepest in the world in Failure magazine's new feature To the Supercave.

The Rise and Fall of Baseball Cards

Dave Jamieson, author of the recent book “Mint Condition,” on the 1994 crash of the baseball card industry — and the outlook for a once-popular hobby.

Awkard Family Photos: The Book

If you think your family is awkward, compare your clan to the families on display in Awkward Family Photos, a LOL-funny book of pictures and stories culled from the pages of awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

New York City Museum of Complaint

The book New York City Museum of Complaint features 132 representative letters written to the Mayor of New York between 1751 and 1969, all urging the city’s leader to address one municipal problem or another.

Meet 'Be Grateful for Obama' guy

Lenny Kates, a retired social worker from the blue-collar town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, got fed up with all the disrespect being shown to President Barack Obama by Tea Partiers and the right-wing media. So he decided to counter the negativity with a message of his own. Once a week he stands in the middle of a busy traffic circle in his hometown holding a sign that reads: “Be Grateful for President Obama.”

Notably, his message isn’t really addressed to right-wingers, who are mostly unreachable anyway. It’s addressed to those on the left and in the center, who may be taking Obama for granted or frustrated that he hasn’t been able to effect more change (somehow forgetting that Obama inherited a long list of complex problems from the previous administration, problems that will take years to fix).

Says Kates to Americans: “Join with the president and stand up for him. He’s doing a wonderful job in a very difficult time.” Read more about Lenny Kates here.

Richard Whittle interview

Today Failure published its interview with Richard Whittle, author of "The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey."

Obamasfailures.com: A miserable failure

The Tea Partier-in-Chief at obamasfailures.com discovers that equating a president with failure isn’t as easy as George W. Bush made it appear.

Other People's Rejection Letters

A book filled with rejection letters you'll be glad you didn't receive.

MRSA: Superbug

Failure magazine interviews "scary disease girl" Maryn McKenna, author of "Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA" (Free Press).

Victor Gruen's Shopping Mall

Architect Victor Gruen denounced suburbia, hated traffic, and had little interest in shopping. So what possessed him to create the shopping mall?

Age of the Castrato

In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy, thousands of pre-pubescent boys were castrated to preserve their youthful, high-pitched voices and allow them to pursue singing careers. Was getting castrated better than the alternative?

Life imitates Paul Newman's 'Slap Shot'

Johnstown, Pennsylvania loses its failing hockey team -- the Chiefs -- to Greenville, South Carolina.

Utility truck fail

Here's what can happen when you fail to put (or keep) the downriggers out on a utlity truck. This accident occured on Friday March 26 in Ketchikan, Alaska. The worker in the bucket at the end of the truck's extended boom suffered a bloody nose and bruised ribs.

Conn. girl wins Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest

Trinette Robinson, 11, of Bristol, Connecticut, won the 35th annual National Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker contest this morning.

The 2010 Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker contest is March 23

The Odor-Eaters National Rotten Sneaker Contest is a unique competition held annually in Montpelier, Vermont.

If ET calls, who answers for humanity?

Meet Paul Davies, chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Group, and author of the new book The Eerie Silence.

This Day in Failure - Isabella Gardner Museum heist

On this day in 1990, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston was robbed by two men dressed as police officers, who made off with artwork worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The case remains unsolved and the artwork missing.

The Eerie Silence

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is 50 years old next month. Yet still no sign of E.T. Theoretical physicist Paul Davies says it's time to re-think the search.

The Viking in the Wheat Field

Failure magazine interviews author Susan Dworkin about the late scientist Bent Skovmand, and her new book The Viking in the Wheat Field.

Remember Up With People?

The new Behind the Music-like documentary Smile Til It Hurts captures the essence of the ideologically-motivated singing group Up With People.

Living Off America's (Food) Waste

Filmmaker Jeremy Seifert hopes to inspire you to eat trash.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship

"The Illusions of Entrepreneurship," by Scott A. Shane, is now out in paperback (Yale University Press).

"Fallen Giants"

"Fallen Giants," a remarkable history of Himalayan mountaineering, is now available in paperback from Yale University Press.'

Rhoda Janzen interview

Six days after her husband left her for a man he met on gay.com, Rhoda Janzen was seriously injured in a head-on motor vehicle accident. Then she went home to the Mennonite community of her youth, and started writing.

Masha Gessen interview

New Science & Technology feature published today: An interview with Masha Gessen, author of 'Perfect Rigor: A Genius + the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century' - a biography of Grigory Perelman, who in 2002 solved the Poincare Conjecture.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party feature

Just posted a new feature about Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties on our home page. While we didn't feel it was appropriate to use the photo at right with the main article, we do hope you find it compelling enough to make you read the article.

New Jersey Nets tie NBA record

Last night the New Jersey Nets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 106-87 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, tying the NBA record for most consecutive losses to begin a season.

'Significant' crack discovered in Bay Bridge

The bridge is likely to remain closed beyond its Tuesday morning scheduled re-opening.

At one NY hotel, it's the guests offering the spectacular views

Apparently, beautiful skyline views aren't the only visual attraction at New York's Standard Hotel.

St. Adolphe Bridge collapsing (close-up #2)

The St. Adolphe Bridge on Saturday, August 22. Photo courtesy of Tereina Neubauer.

St. Adolphe Bridge collapsing (close-up)

The St. Adolphe Bridge on Saturday, August 22. Photo courtesy of Tereina Neubauer.

St. Adolphe Bridge on the verge of collapse

The St. Adolphe Bridge. Photo courtesy of Christian Clavelle, Canadian First-Aid Training Ltd.

Truck's boom snares utility wires (photo #2)

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Photo by Failure magazine.

See another photo of the truck (from a different angle).

Truck's boom snares utility wires

This was the scene in Lenox, Massachusetts, on Friday morning when a concrete truck attempted to pass under utility lines without lowering the truck's boom. The boom became entangled in the lines and pulled them down, leaving them tangled and draped across the truck. The utility lines belong to National Grid, Verizon and Time Warner Cable. Miraculously, no one was hurt in the accident. Photo by Failure magazine.

See another photo of the truck from a different angle.

'The Teeth May Smile But The Heart Does Not Forget' in the New York Times book review

This weekend's New York Times book review features a review of The Teeth May Smile But The Heart Does Not Forget, by Andrew Rice. For additional insight into the book, read Failure magazine's interview with Rice.

'Fordlandia' in New York Times book review

Tomorrow's edition of the New York Times book review features a review of "Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City," by Greg Grandin. For additional insight into Ford's failed jungle city, read Failure magazine's interview with Grandin.

Meet Mr. Irrelevant 2009 - Ryan Succop

This year's Mr. Irrelevant (the last player selected in the NFL draft) is Ryan Succop (pronounced "suck-up"), the South Carolina Gamecocks placekicker who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 256th and final pick of the 2009 draft. Presumably he can expect to be celebrated (as the ultimate underdog) during Irrelevant Week, at which time he will be presented with The Lowsman Trophy (see photo at right).

Fail: KTLK radio host Chris Baker falls for April Fools joke

In the department of 'I can't believe he said that on national television' ... On the April 14 edition of CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, Minneapolis radio host Chris Baker actually said the following: “The craziest expenditure [of economic stimulus funds] I’ve seen so far is [Governor] Ed Rendell … hiring comics, magicians, and mimes … to cheer up the people of Pennsylvania.” Baker apparently obtained his information from an April 1 editorial by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which, in an April Fools’ joke, announced that Rendell was going to spend $15 million of federal stimulus funds to hire all manner of street performers to change the mood in the state.

Rush Limbaugh's 'failure' billboard debuts

A traveling billboard with the slogan "Americans didn't vote for a RUSH to failure" made its first appearance earlier today in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Dancing Woz

Last night I tuned in to ABC’s Dancing With the Stars for the very first time, solely for the purpose of watching Steve Wozniak dance. I’m not a Woz fan or anything (although we do have a soft spot in our hearts for him here at Failure as he did one of the first-ever Failure interviews ), but I kept hearing about Dancing Woz, and finally decided to tune in.

As it turns out, what I’d been hearing seems to be true; Woz is the ultimate underdog. And it’s quite brave of him — or perhaps masochistic — to keep going out there even when it’s clear that he can’t dance worth a lick. If it was up to the judges, he’d have been booted off the show long ago.



Last week, Woz and his dance partner (who is almost an afterthought, by the way) scored just 10 out of 30 points. And last night they did only marginally better, earning 12 out of 30, prompting the judges to refer to Woz’s routine as “long — there wasn’t much going on there,” and to say, “This is an improvement from last week … but last week was so terrible almost anything would be an improvement.”

As you may know, though, the judges aren’t the sole decision makers in regard to who “wins,” as viewers get to vote too. And thanks to the efforts of Vote Woz! and his army of geek fans, Wozniak (and dance partner, I don’t even know her name) are garnering enough votes to dance another day. While I’m not quite sure how the voting process works, I believe we learn whether Woz advances again on tonight’s episode. Stay tuned.

Destined for 'World's Worst Criminals'

We don't often comment on the personal failures of individuals - but how's this for a "bad day"? According to the Connecticut Post, on Jan. 29 of this year David Maksimik, 59, a convicted bank robber, woke up and went to a local bank (People's United in Darien, Connecticut), brandishing a gun and fake grenade. He proceeded to rob the bank and escaped with $3,745 in cash. So far, so good.

But while fleeing the scene in his '92 Toyota he rear-ended another car, forcing him to ditch the Tercel. After a bus ride, a trip in a taxi, and a ride from his sister, he finally made it home, where he found his fifty-something roomate unconscious on the floor. He called 911, but it was too late. His roomate had successfully committed suicide.

Meanwhile, Maksimik's behavior made the police suspicious, and while tending to his roomate found the stolen $3,745 in a bag on Maksimik's bed. The flustered bank robber then proceeded to waive his rights and confessed. Now he's charged with bank robbery by force, a federal charge that carries a 20-year prison sentence, along with a long list of other state charges, including reckless driving.

20th anniversary of Exxon Valdez disaster

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster. KTUU (NBC Channel 2 in Alaska) has comprehensive 20th anniversary coverage.

"Avoid wearing any AIG apparel"

Two days ago AIG issued a memo to its employees advising them to "avoid wearing any AIG apparel with the company insignia," and to "avoid public conversations concerning AIG" -- to name just two of the many security-oriented safety guidelines listed. The memo seems prudent. After all, A.I.G. employees have reportedly been receiving death threats. And Connecticut Working Families is planning a bus tour of A.I.G. executives' houses on Saturday March 21, a "field trip" designed to give passengers the chance to vent their anger.

Ironic AIG magazine ad

While researching an upcoming Failure magazine article, I stumbled upon a particularly ironic AIG magazine ad, one that presumably predates the recent "strength to be there" campaign. This particular ad states: "Opting not to buy our insurance is your right. But we'll be taking your money anyway." If nothing else, AIG proved to be prophetic.

Fail: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer — at 146 years old, the city’s oldest newspaper — published its last print edition, commemorating its closing with a 20-page special section. However, the paper will continue to live on — online - at least for the time being.

Fail: Man goes over Niagara Falls, survives

Word out of Niagara Falls, Ontario, is that a man has survived a plunge over Niagara Falls. Prior to today, the last person known to have survived a plunge over the Horseshow (Canadian) Falls was Kirk Jones, a onetime auto parts salesman from Michigan who took the plunge on October 20, 2003.

But the story of the first person who went over Niagara Falls is perhaps most interesting. On October 24, 1901, an impoverished Annie Edson Taylor, 63, went over Horseshoe Falls in an oak barrel, believing the stunt would make her a wealthy woman. But her get-rich-scheme failed miserably as her manager stole her barrel, hired a young sexpot to play her, and took the Annie Taylor Show on the road without her. She died penniless on the streets of Niagara Falls.

Maytag Repairman is going to be busy

Today Maytag Corp. announced that it is recalling 1.6 million refrigerators due to the possibility of electrical failure in the relay component that turns on the refrigerator's compressor, a flaw that poses a serious fire hazard. Maytag claims that 41 incidents have already been reported, with 16 resulting in varying degrees of fire or smoke damage. To find out if your refrigerator is included in the recall or to set up a free in-home repair call 866-533-9817 (toll-free). Information is also available at repair.maytag.com.

Or if you're just feeling nostalgic about the good ol' days when the Maytag guy had nothing to do watch the original Maytag Repairman commercial.

"AIG: Is the Risk Systemic?"

Following is a link to a pdf of AIG's February 26 report to the federal government about the potential consequences to the U.S. and global ecomony should the firm collapse:

http://abcnews.go.com/images/Business/aig_systemic_090309.pdf

Connecticut School of Broadcasting fails

The 44-year-old Connecticut School of Broadcasting — a private broadcasting school with 26 campuses in 16 states — abruptly shut down yesterday and announced today that it will seek bankruptcy protection.

Furloughs better than layoffs

Last year “Bailout” (“a rescue from financial distress”) was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year. In 2009, “furlough” (“a leave of absence from duty …”) has to be to considered the early favorite to earn that same distinction. But if there’s anything positive to be gleaned from employers’ increasingly common use of layoffs, it’s that they reflect a new orientation towards sacrificing for the collective good. In the past, employers would have favored layoffs, which disproportionally affect the few while insulating the vast majority. In the case of furloughs, everyone takes a small hit, spreading out the suffering amongst an entire group, which reflects a ‘sacrifice for the greater good’ ethos that has been missing in American society in recent years. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.