As paralysis continues to grip the corridors of power in Brussels and Berlin, even the dark humour for which central Europeans are noted is in short supply. But at least, […]
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In this Age of the Austerians, anything considered non-essential is being denied the financial means to survive. Despite mountains of research findings, arts programs in schools fall under the austerity […]
I had a run-in with an old adversary lately, and after I’ve sent him on his way, I always feel compelled to point out some of the hopeful things he […]
Feeling threatened changes people’s perceptions of other people. Before World War II, for example, American university students described the Japanese as artistic and progressive, while the Chinese were supposedly treacherous […]
The conventional wisdom is that China’s economy is based on stealing intellectual property and underpricing it. If we look at aerospace technology, we see a different story.
The fictional island has all the attributes necessary for a classic adventure story – including a bunch of intriguing place-names
A new report by the Pew Global Attitudes Project reinforces the widespread judgment that America is in decline. It observes that “perceptions of China’s economic power continue to grow” among […]
How has Twitter changed the cultural and literary landscape aside from knowing what your friends had for lunch? For one thing, it has rescued the aphorism from our self-obsessed culture.
Christian Lorentzen makes an excellent point excellently: Tougher for the novelist are the tasks of rendering convincing characters across the class spectrum and capturing economic intricacies in a way that’s […]
In the 50 years since Silent Spring was published, the environmental movement it helped create has accomplished a great deal. It may be less popular to suggest, but it […]
What’s the Big Idea? A Florida teenager will have a bad headache for a while after being shot through the head with a three-foot fishing spear, but doctors expect a […]
Millions of people log on to Lumosity daily to flex their brain muscles–and hopefully improve memory, attention and general cognitive performance in the process. But this brain training site has […]
There are few in this world who can say they’ve never sat, solemnly, in some sort of traffic. This New York Times article reported that the average American commuter spends a […]
If you want to know why you are still single you might try posting a dating profile on a Scandinavian website. According to a friend of mine, online searchers there […]
In Google’s latest bi-annual transparency report, the company says it has received more requests from western democracies than ever before to take down political information.
Forget Google. Larger data-gathering corporations combine decades of pre-Internet consumer research with online tracking tools to create a frighteningly powerful database.
The Internet’s standards body is debating technology that allows users to make their surfing habits unavailable to advertisers. How far should the body enter the policy making realm?
A team of Danish researchers are working to help villagers in eastern Namibia preserve their cultural traditions, which are becoming more difficult to pass down in an age of urban migration.
If you took the three-question quiz I posted last week, chances are you answered some items incorrectly. Like some of my smart, accomplished friends and family members who took the […]
As you may be aware, Leah Libresco at Unequally Yoked had a startling announcement yesterday: she’s converting to Catholicism. I have to admit, though others will no doubt chastise me […]
Twentieth-century liberalism lives on in forms of the social contract that are outmoded for the twenty-first century’s globalized, technological world. Liberalism today is entirely reactive, fending off attempts by conservatism […]
According to Jaron Lanier, the right way to think about Alan Turing’s famous “Turing Test” is to understand that it “began in the mind of somebody who was very close to suicide,” and that this test amounted to “a flight from life, but also a defense of life.”
DARPA – the government organization that brought you the Internet – is back, this time with an audacious five-year, $110 million research initiative to militarize cyberspace. Called Plan X, DARPA’s plan reflects a disturbing […]
By Rick Popely Someday, personal transportation may be in automated vehicles that drive themselves and run on electricity or an alternative fuel. But for the foreseeable future, most Americans will rely […]
Americans aren’t worth as much as they used to be. Last week, the Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances found that the net worth of U.S. households declined 15% on […]
So I’ve been getting a lot of articles and essays and rants emailed to me on higher education. Based on my previous posts, the impression seems to be that I’m […]
Is ‘corporate sustainability’ one of those tasks that exist just to be checked off a list and assigned to a few isolated people within your organization? Is your company in the position to do more than just talk about it?
In today’s economy of pop-ups and start-ups, it is an essential skill to be able to recognize opportunities, and improvise your plans.
Based on The Institute for Economics and Peace’s annual Global Peace Index, Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world. The least peaceful country in the world is Somalia.
The day is nearing for discussions to take place in Moscow, but there is one direct-to-direct discussion that really should happen: Iran and America. According to reports, Washington is prepared to listen.