All Ideas
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The Wishes of Dead Literary Figures: To Honor or Not to Honor?
Posthumously, to what extent has Vladimir Nabokov's intellectual property become public domain? This week has seen Europe grapple with two coincidental decisions as to how to handle what's been left behind by a couple of its late and most beloved literary figures. Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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The social networking site Twitter has taken off this year. According to Alexa it is now the 15th-most widely used site on the web. Its micro-blogging format—users post 140 character messages for their followers to read—makes Twitter perfect for the rapid dissemination of information. During the disputed Iranian election in June Twitter became one of best ways for Iranians to report what was happening around the country in spite of the Iranian government's attempt to control the media. Twitter beca… Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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NGOs and the News: A Matter of Definition
Harvard is teaming up with Pennsylvania State to deliver a series on the future of journalism given the increasing role of NGOs in producing news. Can NGOs fill in for ever-shrinking foreign correspondence budgets? Should they be allowed to? When NGOs play by the media's rules, sexing up and dumbing down their observations to accommodate the general reader, do they compromise their primary mission of advocating for change? Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Media & Internet
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What Keeps David Small Up At Night
The author and illustrator gets “infected” by his parents’ worries, but once he does fall asleep, finds that “dreams become good metaphors.” Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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David Small: Drawing From Life
David Small's graphic memoir, "Stitches," may not have won the National Book Award in Young People's Literature this year. But it did break new ground in a rapidly evolving medium, tweaking the old "comic books aren't just for kids" formula by showing that comic books can be for the smartest, most sophisticated kids. More importantly, it served as a cathartic act of Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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A Graphic Novelist’s Favorite Novels
David Small doesn’t care if you call his “Stitches” a “comic book,” but his inspiration lies with the likes of Tolstoy and Flaubert. Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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How David Small’s experience with therapy in adolescence inspired the cathartic self-analysis of his memoir, “Stitches.” Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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Since he first began doodling with crayons on yellow X-ray paper, illustrator David Small has loved art. But it wasn't his first career choice. Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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So You Want to Be a Great Children’s Illustrator
You’ll need a serious technical grounding in art, but more importantly, an instinct for avoiding “over-sophistication.” Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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Big Think Interview With David Small
A conversation with the illustrator and author of “Stitches.” Read More
November 22, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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What Will Vietnam Think of Army Combat Photographer's New My Lai Revelation?
The story by Evelyn Theiss of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer has been online since Friday and I can't stop wondering how Vietnam will react to it. The headline: "My Lai photographer Ron Haeberle admits he destroyed pictures of soldiers in the act of killing." The story also ran on the Ohio paper's front page. Unless I'm Googling wrong, America seems to have shrugged off or simply missed this brand-new footnote to 1968's slaughter of hundreds of … Read More
November 22, 2009 | In World
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Going Tooth and Nail For Galileo
When Pope John Paul II rehabilitated Galileo in the 1990's and revoked the Church's original condemnation of his discoveries, he admitted that the "Church had erred." Almost as telling of the astronomer's status in Italy (and the world) is the fact that Italian museum curators are bursting with excitement at the rediscovery of one of his teeth and two of his fingers. Read More
November 21, 2009 | In History
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The New European Union: Off To An Abysmal Start
In yet another baffling sequence of events, European heads of state have chosen two no-name leaders for the Union's top positions. Read More
November 21, 2009 | In World
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For the first time, according to Gallup's latest tracking poll, less than fifty percent of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President. That's down from 60% in July. As Greg Sargent says, this just confirms what Quinnipiac and Fox polls showed earlier in the week. And Obama's approval ratings have been hovering just over 50% for a while now. While there is not… Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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One More Reason to Skip Dessert
Creepiest incentive ever to exercise: Peruvian cops have arrested a gang that, they say, kills people for their fat. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Life & Death
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"You Better Not Cry" author Augusten Burroughs treats fans to a second Big Think interview this week, just in time for the holiday season. Famous since his 2001 bestseller "Running With Scissors" as a memoirist of the humorous, painful, and bizarre, Burroughs shares his view of Christmas as an essentially tragic holiday with a tiny nougat of joy inside the bitter candy coating. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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Are you an eligible prospective immigrant to the United States? Are you feeling lucky? If so, you have 10 more days to apply for the random selection process conducted annually by the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program—in other words, the "green card lottery." The entry window, which opened October 2, closes November 30, and your chances of winning are a sobering 1 in 240: 12 million will enter, 50,000 will win. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Politics & Policy, World
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Harvard Psychologist and Education Expert Howard Gardner explains the importance of targeting education outreach to the specific needs of individual communities. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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An Augusten Burroughs Christmas
The "You Better Not Cry" author describes the holiday as a gem of happiness wrapped in a package of tragedy. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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Go Ahead, Judge That Book By its Cover
The author of "You Better Not Cry" didn't start writing till he was 24--when he did he quickly learned the importance of reading random, often "really bad" books. Read More
November 20, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
