online archive
12:00PM
JUL 8 2007
Miscellaneous
From The Guardian, a review of The New School Rules by Francis Gilbert and The Great City Academy Fraud by Francis Beckett. A review of The Culture of History: English Uses of the Past 1800–1953 by Billie Melman. A review of Entfremdung: Zur Aktualität eines sozialphilosophischen Problems by Rahel Jaeggi. A review of Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology by Robert C. Roberts and W. Jay Wood. Are We There Yet? An article on historians and the history of tourism. You may have already forgotten how your dinged and dented three-year-old car looked when it was new, but what if your car could remember for you – and transform itself right back? A review of The Druids: A History by Ronald Hutton. A purple patch on "acultural theory" by Charles Taylor. A review of Rescher on Rationality, Values, and Social Responsibility: A Philosophical Portrait by Nicholas J. Moutafakis.
A review of Robert Peel: A Biography by Douglas Hurd. The full text of Empire and Revolution: The United States and the Third World since 1945. A review of The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal by Jonathan Mooney. A review of Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. The Physicist and the Firefly present a moral dilemma: Time for you to decide. What should Kiersten do now? A review of Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise by Steve Jones. A review of Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin (and more). A review of A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization by Kenneth F. Kiple.
The No. 1 reason to rank colleges: Students and their parents have much to consider when picking a school. Starting with a few facts in U.S. News can't hurt. Last month, scientists at Clemson University determined that applying the five-second rule to dropped food will not actually prevent the food from gathering bacteria. History without gimmickry: An excavated passage leads visitors deep into the story of Washington and his slaves. Sudoku and Graph Theory: Mathematicians find new clues to the popular puzzle. Whatever happened to the investigation of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's arrest for jaywalking by the Atlanta police? From Comment, making the most of college: Finding your coffee community. How we get addicted: Humans have an odd habit of getting hooked on harmful things. New research is revealing why, and opening the door to the long-dreamed-of cure. The Old College Try: Why do alumni give to universities? To get their kids in, of course.
Crying Nazi: Franziska Augstein takes a critical look at media muckraking that's uncovered the Nazi pasts of a new group of leftist intellectuals. Extraterrestrial life may well be so weird we would not immediately recognize it, and scientists looking for alien life should be seeking the unfamiliar as well as the familiar. From Political Affairs, an essay on Marxism and the new synthesis in moral psychology; a look at sex and power: Towards a semiotics of violence; and an article on Real Political Correctness. A review of A Future for Presentism by Craig Bourne. Paramount Pictures has taken over the campus of Yale University to film the forthcoming fourth installment of the popular Indiana Jones series. From Bill Moyers Journal, an interview with E.O. Wilson. College is quicker (1 day) the second time around: One Day University gives students a chance to hear lectures from four top universities without homework, tests or an admissions process that goes beyond writing a check.
12:00PM
JUL 8 2007
Miscellaneous
A review of Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance by John Berger. Form Mother Jones, should you be able to drive anywhere you damn well please? An alliance of local officials and timber, mining, and off-road-vehicle lobbyists—along with their friends in the White House—have dug up a Civil-War-era statute to stake road claims all over the West; and a sampling of road claims around the West. A review of The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-36 by Mark Solomon. Meet generation Y, or should that be why bother? Once politicians used to go out of their way to woo idealistic young voters. But, increasingly, generation Y is rejecting politics, and even the very idea of the privilege of lining up at the ballot box. Forget the foundations: A review of Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.
A review of Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups That Can Solve Problems and Change the World by Michael Brown. The Pot, the Kettle, and the Heritage Foundation: A recent event at the right-wing think tank — on the pernicious influence of liberal 501(c)(3)s — came straight out of the department of glass houses and the throwing of stones. From Nerve, here's a special 10 year anniversary retrospective. Who's behind the integration decision? It's the Pacific Legal Foundation, champion of right-wing causes for 35 years. The Nonconformist: There’s still one way to shock the bourgeoisie. From BloggingHeads, Joshua Cohen and Brink Lindsey debate the secularization of America, impeachment, Giuliani, and more.
A review of The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard. The Marriage that Made a Movement: K-Lo remembers a Right wedding anniversary. Sports and politics: An excerpt from "What's My Name, Fool?" Sports and Resistance in the United States. "He remembered. I forgot. Makes me think": Michael Kinsley on his lunch with Reagan. From Psychology Today, a review of All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity by Robert Fuller; and in Australia, the proudest man in the patch gets mowed down. Why success and power are frowned upon. From Strange Maps, a look at some of the spin-offs from "US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs". Is Real ID a Real Problem? The Feds wimp out and New Hampshire thumbs its nose at national ID cards.
An interview with Jeremy Lott, author of In Defense of Hypocrisy. Inside the Emerald City and Behind the Curtain: An interview with Richard Metzger, founder of disinfo.com. A review of The Mafia at War: Allied Collusion with the Mob by Tim Newark. A community of fans: Believe it or not, celebrity gossip can be good for you. When we let conspiracy theory masquerade as news, we fall prey to much more than deception. A review of Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America by Eric Jay Dolin. The burgeoning popularity of bottled water gives rise to a new type of restaurant sommelier; and if wine and water get their own sommeliers, why not maple syrup? Giving Till It Hurts: They are forgoing vacation homes, early retirement and college saving plans. Sally Beatty on the increasing number of stretch givers who donate out of proportion to their wealth.
12:00PM
JUL 8 2007
Miscellaneous
A feast for the voters: Voters get their five-yearly treats in the poor and struggling Asian democracy of Papua New Guinea. A vicious racist crime by two UK police officers disgraced the whole force in 1968: A review of Nationality: Wog The Hounding of David Oluwale by Kester Aspden. A look at how Norway looks after its elderly - in Spain, as state-subsidised trips are just what the doctor orders. Great books and the Mexican cop's soul: The government's latest bid to clean up Mexico's police force saw the purging last week of 241 chiefs. But not all the efforts are so heavy-handed; at the rank-and-file level, an innovative program aims to counter corruption and discord through literature. Sex Slaves, Drug Trade and Rock n' Roll: In his quest to free slaves around the world, Aaron Cohen thought he’d seen it all. Then he went to Myanmar. From The Globalist, an article on Boeing vs. Airbus, the unwinnable WTO dispute.
Britain's Duke of Edinburgh may be planning a quiet birthday celebration at home, but there will be feasting and flag-waving in an isolated jungle village in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, where he is worshipped as a god. Carlos Slim's Fat Fortune: The Mexican telecom magnate may have surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Irish stew: In the fledgling Stormont democracy, discovers Newton Emerson, some are more equal than others. Not only are global temperatures on the rise, but climate change is shifting the seasons too. Researchers in Greenland have found that the birds and the bees in the Arctic are active a full two weeks earlier than they were just a decade ago. A review of The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy by Sasha Issenberg and The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, From Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson. Harvey Cox, Jonathan Steele and Timothy Garton Ash debate The Stasi on Our Minds.
The not-so-fair sex: Women may be more responsible for spreading HIV than has been suspected. The politicized arrest of leading Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani is part of a broader governmental campaign to clamp down not only on dissent, but also on information. Fit to govern? Nicolas Sarkozy is under attack from French intellectuals who regard jogging as rightwing? On 12 February, an 18-year-old Bosnian walked into a shopping mall in Utah carrying a pistol, a shotgun and more than 100 bullets. He killed five shoppers, before finally being shot by police. But what triggered his homicidal rampage? Ed Vulliamy charts Sulejmen Talovic's tragic journey from Srebrenica to Salt Lake City (and more).
The Invincible President: How the supposed "uniter" consolidated his power by fostering division. We're right to be outraged by Bush and Cheney, but we should also save a bit of outrage for when we look in the mirror. Why do politicians find it so easy to confide in "priest to the stars" Father Michael Seed? From OJR, an interview with Ted Anthony on reconceiving storytelling at the Associated Press. Counter Coulter: The L.A. Times and the so-called liberal media owe Bill Maher an apology. It feels a bit unseemly to see America, the world’s richest nation, entangled in a dispute with Navassa, the poorest nation in our hemisphere, over a remote rock that no one can live on. Kissing up to K Street: Democrats are selling out the economic populism that got them elected in the first place. Campaign Finance Reform’s war on political freedom: An ongoing danger, despite two recent court victories.
12:00PM
JUL 8 2007
Miscellaneous
From TLS, an essay on Shakespeare's witchcraft, Ionesco's doubles. An award heard around the world? Ismail Kadare and the inaugural Man Booker International Prize: A review of The World Republic of Letters by Pascale Casanova; The Economy of Prestige by James English; Agamemnon’s Daughter: A Novella and Stories, Broken April, The File on H., and The Palace of Dreams, and The Successor by Ismael Kadare. Cars, Chairs, and Teapots, Oh My!: An impressive exhibition of Modernist objects, and a missed opportunity to say something about Modernism, at the Corcoran Gallery. From New York, The Approval Matrix: A deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on taste hierarchies. American Photo’s simple layout and easy-to-read charts will have even the most novice photographer drooling. A review of Nancy Cunard: Heiress, muse, political idealist by Lois Gordon.
The Nickname Has Gone to Hell: And it's all George Bush's fault—oh, all right, not all his fault, but the nicknamer in chief sets a mighty low standard. And the Angels Sing: The songwriters on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley and midcentury holiday made genius look easy and hard work look like fun. Here’s how. Blockbusters take aim at political pariahs: There is no better mirror through which to view the politics of our collective cultural hatred than the action flick. "Re-orchestrated, scripted, and rehearsed": How Werner Herzog handles the truth. A review of The Happiest Man in the World: An Account of the Life of Poppa Neutrino by Alec Wilkinson. Watch Your Foodometer: Video artist Molly Schwartz traces how far food travels from the field to your fork; Donna Schaper considers the mysteries of slow food. Bad blood, Good Earth: With her stolen manuscript found, a feud is igniting anew over Pearl S. Buck’s legacy.
A review of Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit From Passion and Purpose by Raj Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, and Jag Sheth. More on The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. A review of One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead. For $250,000, you too can slip the surly bonds of Earth to say, "I do". "Puzzles will save the world": Martin Demaine is kidding, mostly, when he says this, but his puzzles have made cars safer, candies easier to unwrap, and maybe one day will help cure diseases. A review of The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (and When To Stick) by Seth Godin.
Dumb luck, divine intervention? Sunset Strip hooker turned Hollywood millionaire Divine Brown thanks God for the chance encounter with British actor Hugh Grant that has taken her from ghetto to glamour. A Frank Lloyd Wright Story of Buffalo: The architect pointed his cane: “Who did this? Who made these changes? This is not my work.” Beyond the Myth, Art Endures: As Mexico celebrates the centenary of Frida Kahlo’s birth, the largest retrospective ever of her work attempts to look beyond what Mexicans call Fridamania. Jesus my boyfriend: Comedian Christina Martin was all set for her big break - - an appearance on the syndicated Paramount Comedy hour. Then she committed an unpardonable offence. The notion that music played on handmade, acoustic instruments is somehow more authentic than music made electrically should be firmly rejected. In Defense of the Chick Flick: Gloria Steinem proposes, as the opposite of "chick flick," films called "prick flicks". Not only will it serve film critics well, but its variants will add to the literary lexicon.
