online archive
5:00PM
MAR 17 2008
Stories of do-it-on-yourself discovery
From Edge, ants have algorithms: An interview with Iain Couzin. Goodbye Cowboy Diplomacy: What can Europe expect from the next White House? What's racist? A look at the importance of a glance. Self-experimenters step up for science: Eight stories of do-it-on-yourself discovery illuminate the promise and perils of a sample size of one. Why does masturbation have a bad rap? Blame a 1712 pamphlet. What is your poo telling you about your health? It's the burning question that has everybody's head in the toilet these days. France’s ban on headscarves was hailed as a victory for secularism, but its political roots are more sinister. A review of Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines by Melody Petersen. More on Love and Sex with Robots. From PopMatters, if people knew who he was, if they could point and whisper, “There’s Banksy” as he gingerly squeezed tomatoes at his local supermarket, would his art lose its power? From Harper's, the next bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash. From US News, here are six signs the US may be headed for war with Iran (and a response). A review of Artscience: Creativity in the Post-Google Generation by David Edwards. Six ways not to deal with Hamas: How do you stop a foe whose tolerance for pain exceeds your willingness to inflict it?
1:00PM
MAR 17 2008
When non-fiction is less than truthful
From The Washington Independent, a series by Spencer Ackerman on The Rise of the Counterinsurgents. Want a man, or a worm? Among mammals, expecting monogamy tends to run against the grain of nature. A review of Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds. From Jack Johnson to Eliot Spitzer: A look at the troubling history of the White-Slave Traffic Act. Why are we still surprised when "non-fiction" is less than truthful? Tyler Cowen wants to know. Criticising pro-Obama women for not backing the female candidate hurts feminism more than a Clinton loss ever could. From Reason, what next for the Ron Paul revolution? From The Los Angeles Times, Rick Perlstein and Jasmyne Cannick debate election-year liberalism. Beating the clock: Other presidents have dithered when Hill investigators knock, but Bush takes the prize. A review of Why Are There So Many Banking Crises? by Jean-Charles Rochet. A review of Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman. How the eviction of 86 families outside London could affect racial harmony in Europe. What exactly will happen to our planet when an aging Sun expands and brightens? More on Rose Shapiro’s Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. A review of Tony D’Souza’s The Konkans.
9:00AM
MAR 17 2008
Walloon for the hell of it
From National Journal, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is limiting the Air Force and Navy from replacing planes and ships that are becoming outdated. The $1.6 million Templeton Prize is given Michael Heller, a Roman Catholic priest, cosmologist and philosopher (and an interview). Walloon for the hell of it: An interview with Luc Sante, author of Low Life. The myth of the victimless crime: Whose theory is it that prostitution is victimless? New research has debunked the myth that people become more conservative as they age. A review of Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess. From Comment, a symposium on Christian realism and proximate justice. From Dissent, what does Asia's ascendancy mean for Latin America? An excerpt from West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson (and an interview). "Methuselah" mutation linked to longer life: Study of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews may yield longevity genes galore. The introduction to The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World by Lorenz M. Luthi. A review of Samantha Hunt’s The Invention of Everything Else. Don't presidential candidates get tired of apologizing for remarks they didn't make? Professing literature in 2008: Why is the intellectual agenda of English departments being set by teenagers?
