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Jedi? Vulcan? Mind Meld? Mind Trick? What Was Obama Thinking?

That's a light saber, sir, not a phaser. (President Obama in September 2009, during a White House event promoting Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.) Roger L. Wollenberg /UPI /Landov hide caption

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Roger L. Wollenberg /UPI /Landov

The Two-Way

Jedi? Vulcan? Mind Meld? Mind Trick? What Was Obama Thinking?

He can't do a "Jedi mind meld" with Republicans, Obama said. To which fans of Star Trek and Star Wars immediately said he was mixing metaphors.

Jedi? Vulcan? Mind Meld? Mind Trick? What Was Obama Thinking?

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An American Family

A sea of self-motivated individuals or a web of interdependent talents? Both, of course. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Opinion

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

An American Family

This past election may have been about jobs. But there was a more profound question at issue: coming to grips with the collapse of the myth that we all go it alone. Commentator Alva Noë says this myth has distorted our politics and that President Obama was right to take aim at it.

For MLK Day: 'Lt. Uhura' On How Rev. King Told Her To Stay On 'Star Trek'

Actress Nichelle Nichols -- "Lt. Uhura" -- at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood on Nov. 3, 2010. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Opinion

The Two-Way

For MLK Day: 'Lt. Uhura' On How Rev. King Told Her To Stay On 'Star Trek'

Nichelle Nichols, who was "Lt. Uhura" in the '60s TV classic and later movies, says she was ready to leave the show after its first season -- until Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told her to keep playing that groundbreaking character.

Nichelle Nichols on being "chosen"

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