A new issue of Common-place is out. From Eurozine, an interview with Mike Davis on the new ecology of war. Jeff Madrick on how the entire economics profession failed: At the annual meeting of American economists, most everyone refused to admit their failures to prepare or warn about the second worst crisis of the century. Here are five things Google could do for newspapers (and more). Getting the economy back on its feet, giving taxpayers a break, saving your retirement fund and your kid's college tuition? Done — and it won't cost you a penny. Dickonomics: A look at how 5 everyday businesses trick you. The Obliging Order: An article on William F. Buckley’s war on totalitarianism and blandness. The War on Rhetoric: When politicians declare war on something, it's not usually a good sign. John Judis worries that Obama doesn't realize just how bad things are. An interview with Len Fisher, author of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life. We've come undone: The short history of an un-trend. A review of The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America by Steven Johnson (and more and more and an interview). From JBooks.com, an article on Heinrich Heine, father of Secular Judaism; the medium shapes the message, and that is as true for Torah as for anything else; and Ken Gordor on being a marginally Jewish reader.
