online archive
5:00PM
JUN 9 2008
What you read is what he is
From Standpoint, Christianity is central to British identity, but its marginalisation has created a moral vacuum which radical Islam threatens to fill; Alain de Botton on why the "death of God" need not mean an end to the culture he inspired; an article on the science of the soul; and we must pay for cathedrals of knowledge if scientists are to solve the great mysteries of the universe. The Age of Innocence: An article on the fine legal line between teenage angels and monsters. From Not Bored!, here are cynical proposals for revolutionizing the advertising industry. Rick Perlstein on the meaning of Box 722: "Here is the fundamental tragedy of the backlash". Nicole Rudick reviews The Americans by Robert Frank. From NYRB, a review of books on how the mind works; Elizabeth Drew reviews A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America by Jim Webb; Edmund White reviews books on Marguerite Duras; John Updike on "The Clarity of Things"; William Dalrymple reviews books on India and the place of sex. Our noses don't like the smell of BO, but maybe our brains do. A review of Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers? by Zygmunt Bauman. What you read is what he is, sort of: For David Sedaris, reality is a subjective, slippery concept, especially in his essays. The great divide: Nir Rosen goes inside Baghdad’s Shiite slums to witness life under Muqtada al Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
1:00PM
JUN 9 2008
The two kinds of decay
From The New York Review of Magazines, an article on the hidden Hitchens: Sometimes he'd rather just read a book; an essay on prophylactics and your civil liberties; why a vote for any presidential hopeful is a vote for the pantsuit; Matt Miller on the elegant world of early Esquire; and and a look at how magazines learned to love the internet. Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact. An interview with Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. From Cafe Babel, here are five eurosceptic myths about sick old EU. From TED, Susan Blackmore makes a bold new argument: Humanity has spawned a new kind of meme, the teme, which spreads itself via technology — and invents ways to keep itself alive. Martin van Creveld reviews Benny Morris' 1948: The First Arab Israeli War. The Battle of the Blogs: Will the fight between Daily Kos and MyDD have longer lasting implications than its founders realize? Wendy Lasser reviews A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy and The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso. Strategists are chewing over a hypothetical scenario wherein Obama recieves millions more votes than McCain, but, because of the distribution of votes in the electoral college, McCain would become the president. Reihan Salam thinks McCain is in for a terrible shock if he wins.
9:00AM
JUN 9 2008
Two paths to the Singularity
From Spectrum, a special report on The Singularity, including an introduction, an article on two paths to the Singularity, and John Horgan on the consciousness conundrum. From Vanity Fair, here's an oral history of the Internet and how the Web was won; and does the media have a man crush on John McCain? James Wolcott finds out. From TAP, seven ways Hillary Clinton changed our politics: Political writers and policy thinkers weigh in. 3 A.M. for feminism: Clinton dead-enders and the crisis in the women's movement. From TNR, plotting the way forward: Essays on the type of campaign they hope to see Barack Obama run against John McCain. Doris Day sacrificed a lot for box-office success, but that doesn’t mean she was a victim: A review of Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kaufman. An interview with Salman Rushdie, a writer, not a martyr. RJ Eskow on Obama-Clinton as Lennon-McCartney circa 1970. From the latest issue of In Character, an interview with Michael Shermer, author of The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics. From Jewcy, an article on demonizing Michelle Obama; and an article on the Jewish American Princess — Revisited. Research suggests male circumcision is a weapon in the sperm wars and that men fighting over women is nothing new.
