SPIEGEL Surfs the Web Polo for the Digital Age
Bizarre sports watch: In California's Silicon Valley, enthusiasts of Segway, a motorized people mover, have invented a new sport: Segway Polo . On the pitch, the scooters replace horses as the mode of transportation and 6-inch Nerf balls replace the projectiles traditionally slammed by the Hermes-borne athletes. And whereas people like Prince Charles are associated with traditional polo, Segway polo is drawing a decidedly different crowd -- including Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Computer. As the Web site itself claims: It's "A lot like horse polo but nothing to shovel."
Trading in the Bong for the Bayonet
So how does one actually end up as a soldier in Iraq? It's not, apparently, all that difficult. A story in the March Esquire, written by well-known Iraq War blogger Colby Buzzell, describes the author's transformation from a dope-smoking skater to a front-line soldier. While Buzzell does seem awfully excited about his marijuana and beer consumption, his fast-paced and chatty piece -- written in a style not all that different from his blog -- offers a fascinating insight into a military that is often willing to set aside its own rules in order to bolster its numbers. His personal view of the frontlines is set to come out in book form in the autumn of 2005.
Dictator on the Psychologist's Couch
In 1943, the United States Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA, commissioned a psychological profile of Adolf Hitler -- still a very controversial figure here in Germany. The report was recently posted on the Internet by the Cornell University Law School after profile author Henry Murray was given permission by a family member. Little attention has been paid to the profile in the past -- and those who read it now say many of the theories have been debunked by modern psychological wisdom. But sections of it are prescient, including Murray's prediction of Hitler's fate. The author predicted he would commit suicide -- he would either arrange to have himself killed by a German or Jew, or he would find a bunker and shoot himself.
