It’s usually a tie between watching paint dry and watching grass grow for the title of most boring thing to do ever. Watching the paint dry and, more importantly, flow […]
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I never really thought about Warren Beatty as a great movie maker. My introduction to him as a kid was the movie Heaven Can Wait, a comedy that cemented in […]
The New York Times Magazine’s feature piece on Washington journalist Mike Allen makes him out to be the friend we all want: uniquely concerned, uniquely connected, possessing all the knowledge […]
The profile of Politico reporter Mike Allen in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine has drawn the ire of a couple prominent media authorities, who criticize Politico and Allen—as did […]
Social Darwinism, or destructive competition as a means of maintaining society, is an ethically bankrupt ideology and one the U.S. must abandon to remain competitive.
A feature in the Boston Globe argues that it is delusional and dangerous to think that all religions are paths to the same holy wisdom.
More than any other living poet, Derek Walcott best fulfills T.S. Eliot’s poetic ideal following his new publication, writes The New York Times.
The Economist is conducting a live debate on whether GDP growth is a poor measure of improving living standards; two of their columnists start the debate.
The Chronicle of Higher Education recalls George Orwell’s advice on writing in order to explain why American academic writing is so unfortunately esoteric and—poorly written.
The National Review comments on one of William F. Buckley’s favorite quotes: “The problem with socialism is socialism; the problem with capitalism is capitalists.”
The wealth disparities of naked capitalism are indefensible, but so too is the welfare state; there must be a third way, writes the New Statesman.
A Croatian girl recently came out of a coma having forgotten her native tongue but remembering German, her second language, perfectly fine.
The cultural revolution of the 50s and 60s made the development of the morning-after pill an important moment in the women’s rights movement.
Learning music at an early age creates new neural pathways between the brain’s hemispheres aiding in spatial and mathematical reasoning.
Islam is not a monolithic religion or a single coherent ideology, any more than Christianity is. Yet many people—as I discovered in the comments on my last article—are willing to […]
Readers have asked for more original photography at Focal Point. I’m happy to oblige. Here’s a fun photo for the weekend, taken during my recent trip to St. John’s, Newfoundland. […]
In just a few years, basic microchips will be so cheap they could be built into virtually every product that we buy, creating an invisible intelligent network that’s hidden in our walls, our furniture, and even our clothing.
Do you frequent porn sites? If you do, you’ll be pleased to know that you are a customer of one of the most tech-savvy industries in the world. It’s a […]
Though popularly billed as the spokesman for the free-market, it’s high time we realize Adam Smith felt government intervention in markets was necessary.
Is China’s interest in Africa’s resources a path toward development for the Dark Continent or is it yet another round of colonialism?
Curiosity didn’t kill the cat; it saved the marriage. Curiosity is the single most important trait in finding a good date or life-partner, writes psychologist Paul Dobransky.
A survey of contemporary philosophers’ beliefs was conducted at the world’s top 99 university (analytical) philosophy departments; most are scientists who like Hume, Aristotle and Kant.
Recent books demonstrate how terrorists make rational calculations when deciding whether to join the ranks; understanding their motivations will aid in stopping them.
Bill Gates argues that private enterprise is insufficient to meet our renewable energy goals; public funds are best suited for critical research and development.
The popular notion that Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Marić, contributed significantly to his mathematical theorems lacks fundamental evidence, writes Allen Esterson.
Harper’s magazine tries to make sense of the many baffling studies conducted on the effects of cell phone radiation on the brain.
Rather than apologize for recent Western economic dominance, we should try to copy its model and implement it in developing nations to reduce poverty, writes David Landes.
Music Professor Jason Freeman has created open source composition software to encourage the public to remix and compose sheet music.
Marina Abramović’s exhibition The Artist Is Present, currently at the MoMA, has drawn a lot of attention this year, as her provocative work normally does. She’s perfected the art of […]
It’s getting to be that time of year. At some point in the next couple of weeks, on a particularly warm and sunny day, I’m going to suddenly find myself […]