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The typical white American woman in 1800 gave birth seven times; by 1900, the average was down to 3.5.
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A lot of camps and summer programs for kids seem to have discovered that among the most valuable things they offer is what they don't offer. No Wi-Fi. No grades. No hovering parents or risk managers or parents who parent like risk managers.
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America's presidents tend to die young. Maybe it is in the nature of the men who reach such heights, or of the job once they attain it.
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The crossroads of science and politics is a dodgy place.
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Terror works like a musical composition, so many instruments, all in tune, playing perfectly together to create their desired effect. Sorrow and horror and fear.
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The Reverend Jeremiah Wright would baptize Obama, perform his marriage to Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, baptize their daughters, and draw him into the raucous, restless family of faith that Obama had never known before.
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In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school.
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In 2001, President George W. Bush was condemned for politicizing science with his decision to limit federal funding for stem-cell research; in 2009 President Obama was praised for reversing it, even though his decision was arguably just as political.
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It is actually the neuroscientists and evolutionists who do the best job of explaining the reasons behind the most unreasonable behavior.
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I live in a dumb house. Which is not to say that I don't love its quirky charm, its drafty windows and leaky fireplaces and an electrical system that protests when too many people are trying to vacuum and microwave at the same time. But charm is not always user-friendly.
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Making distinctions is part of learning. So is making mistakes.
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Members of royal families are born into a world of indulgence and entitlement, and the princelings who grow up that way may never have to develop any discipline.
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When I was coming out of college, storytelling was very much something you did with pencil and paper, so the technological platform versatility, I think, is really valuable.
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The real luxury travel of the modern age is not through space; it's through time.
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High achievers, we imagine, were wired for greatness from birth. But then you have to wonder why, over time, natural talent seems to ignite in some people and dim in others.
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It's always been a luxury to be able to hop a plane to Paris, to Venice, to the Grand Canyon.
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Power is not just political. It can be cultural; it can be spiritual.
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Professor Obama has at least talked to us like we're adults.
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After 9/11, whatever the evidence of intelligence failures, many people still saw that attack as almost unimaginable, so brutal and brazen an assault.
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I come from a family of teachers, and I believe ideas matter; the good ones deserve reverence, and the bad ones, defiance.
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Hillary Clinton wants to leave behind No Child Left Behind.
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Teaching sometimes seems like not one profession, but every profession. We ask them to be doctor and diplomat, calf-herder, map-maker, wizard and watchman, electricians of the mind.
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We will never know if any other president approached Nixon in paranoia, profanity or potential criminality, since only his conversations were captured, subpoenaed and ultimately released on the front pages of newspapers.
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If anything, the power of the cover of 'Time' has increased as the media landscape has atomized.