True/Slant and The Big Money will both close their doors this weekend, though one has a decidedly brighter future than the other. T/S will continue in some form under its […]
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“Where does the federal government get off spending the average person’s tax dollars to help better-off-than-average Americans buy expensive new cars?” Slate on the electric car credit.
“I love a good deal, but as consumer prices keep hitting rock bottom, this is just getting scary.” A Salon staffer says our culture of cheap is morally dubious and corrodes standards.
“Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, chaos prevails in Dagestan, primarily because of the activities of radical Islamists.” The region is impossible to govern, says Spiegel.
“New forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die.” An author at Wired says lighter forms of communication are superior.
The secret military reports leaked by WikiLeaks demonstrates that while official strategy is to empower Afghanis to run a modern country, the Afghans treat foreigners as the true power.
A Harvard psychologist and dream expert explains how it is possible to influence what you are dreaming about whether you want to fly, stop a nightmare, or have lucid dreams.
“Boredom may be an intrinsic part of life for practically everyone, but it needn’t be destructive. In fact, boredom can be a force for good.” Give kids freedom, says one commenter at The Guardian.
“The fears about online wagering are demonstrably bogus,” says Steve Chapman at The Chicago Tribune, who was pleasantly surprised when a House committee approved online gambling.
“Looking around the United States in the summer of 2010, hysterical moral panic seems an apt description of our fevered political condition.” A columnist on our nation’s current “moral panic”.
Social networks like Twitter not only blur the line between public and private selves, but also between authentic and contrived ones. An author finds herself inventing her own psychology.
There is at least one way of guaranteeing Western media interest in the United Nations; a leaked letter from a disgruntled former employee that attacks a “leaking culture” within the […]
They have always loved him. But now the media is more in love with President Clinton than ever, as they have something simple and straightforward to celebrate: the marriage of […]
Michael Grunwald wrote in Time yesterday that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill might not be as disastrous as we thought. It’s not that it hasn’t had some serious consequences, obviously. […]
The FBI today released the 423-page file they had kept over the years on left-wing historian Howard Zinn, who died in January. When Zinn sat for an interview with Big […]
In rural India, over half of all households don’t have electricity. To light households and power commercial equipment, villages use kerosene lanterns, which are both expensive and environmentally harmful. But […]
Globalization has transformed the practice and study of law, says Larry Kramer, the dean of Stanford Law School. American law firms have dominated the internationalization of law, but this has […]
The U.S. military is investing in all kinds of augmentation – pills you ingest, body armor you can wear, and machine parts you can add to your body.
Conservative commentator Fred Barnes has recently criticized liberal journalists for discussing ideas on a free, private email list. Barnes claims that, unlike the denizens of journo-list, he’s a non-partisan conservative: […]
When President George W. Bush came to office in 2001, the U.S. was sending $1.4 billion a year to Africa in humanitarian and development aid, including programs intended to foster […]
Jayne Merkel, architectural historian and critic, locates the moment in American architectural history when less ceased to be more and inspiration was found in yesterday’s buildings.
Steve Chapman attends a National Organization for Marriage speech and sees how defenders of traditional marriage hope to use their raucous critics to their own advantage.
“Chevy Volt will sell for $41,000 before a federal tax credit, while the Nissan Leaf will go for $32,780 before the credit. The two cars are trying to jump-start the US electric-car industry.”
“I’m sure that Julian Assange is now regarded as one of the very most dangerous men and he should be quite proud of that,” says Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers.
“Why learn about the glass ceiling in a sociology class if you are going to hit it anyway a decade after graduation?” A liberal arts professor meditates on the the liberal arts conundrum.
“People who fake symptoms of mental illness can convince themselves that they genuinely have those symptoms, a new study suggests.” Scientific American on the power of the mind.
“It is the poor, not the rich, who are inclined to charity.” The Economist reports on a study that finds the less affluent are quicker to compassion and more willing to give to the needy.
“Ocean life is being wiped out from the bottom up,” reports the New Scientist. Recall from your high school food chain diagram that the smallest critters are the most important.
“The truth lies somewhere between ‘men oppress women with their uncontrollable needs’ and ‘women oppress men with their socially constructed monogamous love.’”
Being the bottom rung on the social ladder causes enough stress to shorten your life, according to a study of British social servants. Lack of control was the main cause of despair.