Guest Thinkers
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A love story for the 21st century (cue the violins). Several years ago a very close family friend in Vancouver was searching our family name on the Internet and had […]
A recently published collection of essays by economists — Consequences of Economic Downturn: Beyond the Usual Economics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) — tackles that question. The book’s editor is Martha Starr, […]
By passing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Congress averted a crisis that is entirely of the own making. If Congress had failed to reach an agreement, it would have […]
Today Seth Godin blogged: When the truth is just around the corner … what’s your posture? … When your organization has a chance to see itself as its customers do, […]
Hackers are usually shadowy figures. So why are Anonymous and LulzSec dancing in the lime light, painting themselves as charismatic outlaws? Are they valiant or just P.R. savvy?
The literary essay I’ve enjoyed most this year has been “The Stockholm Syndrome Theory of Long Novels,” published by The Millions back in May. In it, Mark O’Connell argues that […]
Salvador Dalí never worked small. In fact, he was downright operatic in everything he did—colorful, bombastic, and loud. Now, Dalí the painter is finally Dalí the Opera. Yo, Dalí (“I, […]
Observing how radical political ideas had become mainstream in only a few years, in 1888 the Victorian politician Sir William Harcourt is supposed to have said “we are all socialists […]
Playing it safe is no longer a career option for most Americans, if it ever was. And that’s good news, in one sense: the downside of job security is that it dulls your appetite for risk, and your ability to learn from failure.
Oxford University Philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that we may all be living in a computer simulation. Meanwhile, the world as we know it is becoming ever more virtualized.
At ClimateWire today [subscription], Julia Pyper has an article on an important topic: How can scientists and journalists work together to improve public understanding of climate change? What are the […]
Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz in the volcano world (at least in the internet) after some seismicity under El Hierro, one of the […]
This conservative post has nothing to do with the ISI conference, but it does have to do with education. All over the internet, we find the conclusion that America is […]
Thanks to everyone who responded to last week’s request for thoughts on the Sherlock Holmes series that has taken up the blog for the last few weeks. I was surprised […]
Italy’s (second) most famous volcano, Mt. Etna, has been quite busy while I’ve been off in California. Many of you have been following Etna on the webcams and leaving lots […]
With the nerve wracking threat of a default by America on its outstanding debt being broadcast on all the news channels practically twenty four hours a day, I am reading […]
However you feel about the right way out of the U.S. government’s struggles over its debt ceiling, I think we can all agree that the week past has not been […]
An older workforce is a new world for employers. An endless supply of young workers and the social construction of ‘retirement ’ kept the average worker age relatively young. That […]
Education moved from a bespoke craft to a more industrial approach. […] Still, one-to-one tutoring is the learning method proven time and again to sharply improve a student’s measured performance. […]
This will be my last post on conservative education at the ISI Honors Program. A couple of people have written me (doubtless Canadians) complaining that I distorted the thought of the […]
45% of employers use social networks to research applicants. Whether you’re a god of the Twitterverse or happier with a pen in hand, your career is now linked to the digital landscape. Will reputations be made or broken on the web?
In the global quest for superpower status, who represents you? Delphi Fellow Parag Khanna argues that in the future, we will all be diplomats.
By now, many of you have heard/read about the supposed eruption at Pisgah Crater in California. It was all over Youtube (you know, a great source for reliable scientific information) […]
Bravo to Canadian literary legend Margaret Atwood for waging online warfare against library closings this week. When Toronto councillor Doug Ford floated some made-up statistics about the number of libraries […]
In a recent essay posted online, NASA scientist James Hansen explains what he calls the “Easter Bunny” fantasy that we can adequately address climate change by providing subsidies for renewable […]
All eyes in the soccer world are on the United States this weekend with the Friday announcement that Jurgen Klinsmann will be taking over as head coach of the U.S. […]
I started reading Norwegian mystery writer Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman while on vacation over Memorial Day in Maine. Four of Nesbo’s Harry Hole crime novels later, I find myself wondering, […]
Here’s a strange story: Erica Herrera plans to marry Curtis Allgier, even though he’s an incarcerated alleged murderer with white supremacist tattoos all over his face and she’s not white. […]
80 is the new 40: With life expectancy and the retirement age creeping inexorably upward, how are you planning to spend your eighth decade? Starting a new company? Writing your memoirs? Or […]