Microsoft co-creator Paul Allen wants to make an airplane that can launch satellites and perhaps manned crews. Is the engineering feasible or is this the next Spruce Goose?
Search Results
You searched for: Richard Hoffman
The fierce moralist and political writer has died of oesophageal cancer and the outpouring of remorse at his loss is as varied as the arguments he made during his life. A fond farewell, Hitch.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is putting up his own money to build the next Spruce Goose: A plane that will launch satellites—and eventually people—into Earth’s orbit from 30,000 feet.
The Year of the Dragon – traditionally the year of big, innovative ideas and breakthrough projects – might just be the year that China’s creative class enters the global spotlight. […]
A year ago a terrible earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power disaster in Japan gripped the world’s attention for weeks. The news is already full of stories about the anniversary […]
While the president is “the ultimate authorizer of Armageddon,” what if his mind “is deranged, disordered, even damagingly intoxicated?
Fact-checkers were quick to observe how thoroughly Rick Santorum misread John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on religion and politics when the Republican contender declared his nauseaover JFK’s message on the Sunday […]
Modern art takes itself much too seriously. Even the Pop artists often took the fun out of whatever they touched—a reverse Midas touch rendering even comedy gold into dross. Andy […]
The line of battle for the future of public education is clear. The first side has money, powerful political connections, and an infrastructure of nonprofit organizations with paid staff. The other side has this: the ability to become a true grassroots movement.
Barack Obama looked like he enjoys being the president of the United States last night. There was a lot that could have been improved upon in his third State of […]
–Guest post by Declan Fahy, AoE Science & Culture correspondent Richard Dawkins guest-edited the Christmas edition of British left-wing politics and culture magazine The New Statesman — and it contains […]
Some days, I hate writing about atheism. I want to tell you why. Two weeks ago, I was watching a PBS show called Inside Nature’s Giants, about a team of […]
1n 1947, Ukranian refugee Ihor Ševčenko wrote to England and persuaded George Orwell to authorize a Ukranian translation of Animal Farm. Over six decades later, writer Andrea Chalupa tracked down the story of this extraordinary man.
Imagine a drug that allows you to drink as much alcohol as you like, wake up without a hangover and never have to worry about developing a dependency.
How can you take soup cans seriously? Is it possible to make high art out of low brow bits from comic books? Critics and even fans of Pop Art have […]
Last time, in the introductory post, I suggested that evidence is more important than outrage. Outrage indicates how outraged individuals want the world to be; evidence tells everyone how the […]
My earlier post, “Storming the Ivory Tower“, discussed the real harm that religion is doing in the world, harm that Very Serious People overlook while tut-tutting at atheists. The natural […]
While walking in Fairmount Park in 1872 with his minister father, 12-year-old Henry Ossawa Tanner saw a man painting and became curious about art. His family fed that curiosity, which […]
Read the recap of Day 1 here. Day 2! I have to admit I missed the first talk of the day by Joe Nickell (see my previous post about goings-on […]
Many companies extol the value of work-life balance for their employees, but the reality for senior executives? There isn’t any.
Just when you think a contemporary art megastar such as Damien Hirst has done his worst to make a mockery of the modern art world, he finds a new weapon […]
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” says washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in the final scene of Billy Wilder’s unforgettable 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson […]
As promised earlier, here’s a full wrap-up of my weekend attending Skepticon IV in Springfield, Missouri. I really have to give tons of credit to the organizers, who not only […]
I just learned that our neighbors are moving, to another state. My heart broke a little when I heard this. They’re moving so that the mom can take a better […]
Editor’s Note: After a holiday that’s all about gratitude, it seemed appropriate to post this. Please welcome Jessa Jackson as she tells the story of how she went from Mormonism […]
Are today’s climate change deniers waging a war on science? A new book by James Lawrence Powell spills the dirt on the new war on science.
Writer Tauriq Moosa argues that our objections to necrophilia come down to primal disgust, and that most ethical arguments against are logically untenable.
This essay was previously published on AlterNet. Last November, I attended a debate in the NYU Intelligence Squared series on the topic, “Would the World Be Better Off Without Religion?” […]
The polarized state of American politics has once again brought speculation and claims about a rising tide of anti-science in America and an attack on reason. The prominence of such […]
Chris Lehmann and I submitted our book to the publisher yesterday: McLeod, S., & Lehmann, C. (Eds.). (in press). What school administrators need to know about digital technologies and social […]