online archive
5:00PM
JUN 26 2008
A robot, an insect or God
From Wired, a special report on The End of Theory: In the era of big data, more isn't just more — more is different. A review of Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protests by Julian Baggini. From National Journal, the history of the selection of modern-day vice presidential nominees is chock-full of blunders caused by haste or miscalculations. There’s the real vice president list, the bluff list and the self-serving list (and more). Not my fault: As White House memoirs have become more accusatory, they have also become less illuminating. The mysterious power of itching may be a clue to a new theory about brains and bodies. Bulging panties and oversized tax evasion: An article on the secret lives of the super rich. A review of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want by Robert Engelman. An interview with Rachel Maddow on gay marriage and the youth vote. Is Japan closer to Western society than Turkey? Kenzaburo Oe and Orhan Pamuk debate. Can a robot, an insect or God be aware? Our intuitions about consciousness in other beings and objects reveal a lot about how we think. An interview with Robert Mundell, an economist who matters. A review of Descent into Chaos: How the War Against Islamic Extremism Is Being Lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid. More and more on Muqtada by Patrick Cockburn.
1:00PM
JUN 26 2008
One minute to midnight
From n+1, the problem with the post-catastrophic novel, in the end, is that it enforces a false distinction between what is and what will be; and the only time the novel can count on is now, and the catastrophes that need describing are neither exotic nor hypothetical. What poetry demands: An interview with Christian Wiman, author of Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet. A review of Poets on Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment, and the Creative Process. Argentine fiction, an evolving story: The new generation of emerging writers came of age during great social upheaval, reflected in their work. A review of The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick. A review of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs. Towards a World Parliament: An article on US foreign policy and reorganizing the United Nations. A review of The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the Quest for a Global Nation by Strobe Talbott. Thomas Frank on conservatives and their carnival of fraud. Here's how the Supreme Court's left-leaning justices can fight back against the conservative majority. Does one abused woman = 100 abused puppies? America has 3,800 animal shelters, but only 1,500 for battered women.
9:00AM
JUN 26 2008
Postmodern spiritual practices
From Foreign Policy, here's the list of the World’s Top 20 Public Intellectuals. With the death of Julian we have something different: To all intents and purposes we can say that paganism died as a credible political and social force in the last days of June 363. A review of Postmodern Spiritual Practices: The Construction of the Subject and the Reception of Plato in Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault by Paul Allen Miller. A review of The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen by Jeffrey Symynkywicz. A review of Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides Are Wrong in the Race Debate by Kenan Malik. A review of The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century Politics With an 18th-Century Brain by George Lakoff. Did Hitler’s crimes justify the Allies’ terror-bombing of Germany? Patrick Buchanan on morality, Trotskyite vs. Christian. From The New Yorker, an article on multibillionaire Sheldon Adelson’s relentless quest for global influence; and on an unlikely ambassador for the Central African Republic. I don’t (but I might soon): The tide is turning on gay marriage — when will the GOP notice? The next blue chip: Finding the future in Futurism. Beyond Hillary: Herewith, some ideas on how to build a critical mass of female officeholders. Jennifer Gilmore reviews Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love by Lara Vapnyar. For alien life-seekers, new reason to hope.
