![The President is Unimpressed
[Image: Flickr user: The White House]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdnhdcLmyW1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
[Image: Flickr user: The White House]
Exploring the American Idea since 1857. Run by Chris Heller and Alessandra Ram The Atlantic Twitter In Focus From the Archives
Ask
Submit
November 17, 2012
August 30, 2012
August 29, 2012
In Focus: Preparing for the 2012 Paralympics
The 2012 Summer Paralympic Games begin tonight in London with Queen Elizabeth II officially opening the Games at the Opening Ceremony in London. An estimated 4,200 athletes representing 167 countries are expected to compete in the Games, designed for athletes with physical disabilities. They will compete in 20 sports, ranging from cycling, powerlifting, and judo, to wheelchair rugby and goalball. BBC’s Channel 4 is inviting viewers to “Meet the Superhumans,” and it plans to broadcast 150 hours of Paralympic programming between now and the Closing Ceremony on September 9. Viewers online can also watch hundreds of hours of live video from the International Paralympic Committee at paralympic.org. Gathered here are images of the athletes and organizers as they ready themselves for the 2012 Summer Paralympics — more coverage to come as the Games progress
Read more. [Image: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, AP Photo/Sebastian Widmann, Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins, AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth]
August 13, 2012
London 2012: How the Summer Games Were Dominated By Memes
The London Olympics were supposed to be the “social media Olympics.” They were supposed to be the Olympics when viewers around the world, enabled by Twitter and Facebook and other free communications services, could come together to discuss the competition and pageantry playing out on their television sets. Or, if they were lucky enough, on their computer screens.
And these Olympics were, to an extent, exactly that: Facebook saw soaring numbers for the Facebook fan bases of Olympic athletes. Twitter, not to be outdone, logged over 150 million Olympic-related tweets over the past 16 days. But these Olympics ended up being something else, too. The drama playing out in London ended up bringing people together through a very particular kind of social media: memes. Visual memes, ridiculous memes, memes that took the imagery of the Games and augmented it.
London 2012 was McKayla Maroney’s scowl, all the way down.
August 13, 2012
In Focus: The Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games
Last night in London, thousands of fans gathered in Olympic Stadium for the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 games. The spectacular show kicked off with fireworks and rolled into a series of performances by British pop stars from the past six decades, including Brian May, The Who, Blur, and George Michael. Even John Lennon and Freddie Mercury made posthumous appearances via video. Brazil gave a preview performance of things to come in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Games Organizing Committee, praised the execution of this year’s summer games, saying, “When our time came, Britain, we did it right.”
See more. [Images: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch, Hannah Johnston/Getty Images, Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch, Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images]
August 13, 2012
![Which American Cities Won the Most Medals?
Michael Phelps has more medals than many countries. But even the greatest medal-winner in Olympic history did not earn enough in these games to push his hometown of Baltimore into first-place among United States metros[…]
Los Angeles leads with a whopping 45 medals, San Francisco is a distant second with 11, followed by Miami, Gainesville, and Trenton-Ewing with 10 each; New York and Austin have 9 each; San Diego has 8 and Athens, Georgia, won 7. Baltimore and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul brought home 6 each; and Denver, Charlotte, and Portland, Oregon have 5 each.
Read more. [Image: Martin Prosperity Institute]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8p71xdCag1qcokc4o1_1280.png)
Which American Cities Won the Most Medals?
Michael Phelps has more medals than many countries. But even the greatest medal-winner in Olympic history did not earn enough in these games to push his hometown of Baltimore into first-place among United States metros[…]
Los Angeles leads with a whopping 45 medals, San Francisco is a distant second with 11, followed by Miami, Gainesville, and Trenton-Ewing with 10 each; New York and Austin have 9 each; San Diego has 8 and Athens, Georgia, won 7. Baltimore and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul brought home 6 each; and Denver, Charlotte, and Portland, Oregon have 5 each.
Read more. [Image: Martin Prosperity Institute]
August 12, 2012
![Gold Medal winner Ashton Eaton of the U.S. (center) poses with fellow competitors after winning the 2012 Olympic men’s decathlon, on August 9.
[Image: Reuters]
See more scenes from the final week of the Olympics.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ncc0B07E1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
Gold Medal winner Ashton Eaton of the U.S. (center) poses with fellow competitors after winning the 2012 Olympic men’s decathlon, on August 9.
[Image: Reuters]
August 10, 2012
![gifhound:
“Sometimes you just gotta go,” Ryan Lochte told Matt Lauer on the Today show this morning when confronted with the question about his claim that peeing in the pool is cool. Yep.
[Source: TODAY]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8jruesWQL1rtxen9o1_400.gif)
“Sometimes you just gotta go,” Ryan Lochte told Matt Lauer on the Today show this morning when confronted with the question about his claim that peeing in the pool is cool. Yep.
[Source: TODAY]
August 10, 2012
August 9, 2012
![Iran Still Thinks the Olympic Games Are a Zionist Conspiracy
In today’s snapshot of state-sponsored propaganda, Iran still thinks the Jews hijacked the Olympics. Last year, the country threatened to boycott the London Olympics unless the organizers selected a different logo, which Tehran claimed spells the world “Zion.” But London refused and called Iran’s bluff. Now, even after some admirable gold medal performances, Iran is reviving the conspiracy theory with a graphic showing the world what it’s talking about.
Read more. [Image: Press TV]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8i95x51vB1qcokc4o1_1280.png)
Iran Still Thinks the Olympic Games Are a Zionist Conspiracy
In today’s snapshot of state-sponsored propaganda, Iran still thinks the Jews hijacked the Olympics. Last year, the country threatened to boycott the London Olympics unless the organizers selected a different logo, which Tehran claimed spells the world “Zion.” But London refused and called Iran’s bluff. Now, even after some admirable gold medal performances, Iran is reviving the conspiracy theory with a graphic showing the world what it’s talking about.
Read more. [Image: Press TV]
RSS feed: http://theatlantic.tumblr.com/rss
1 of 5
Next page
-
Why removing the queerness of Gatsby matters
In one of the film’s stupidest choices, Nick ends up in a sanitarium after Gatsby’s death. His pure...
-
an autobiography
-
Attention All Photography Enthusiasts
Voting for our annual photo contest ends today! Browse through 50 stunning finalists and pick your...
-
-
The loss of the Fung Wah bus service between Boston and New York inspired this parody: http://nyr.kr/XGaaWx
Lyrics and performance by Marc...
-
Cinemas.
-
In Nairobi Slum, Finding Safety In A Public Bathroom
by Julienne Gage“Step into Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slum and it’s...
-
Here’s today’s Daily GIF!
