James R. Hollyer and B. Peter Rosendorff (NYU): Why do Authoritarian Regimes Sign the Convention Against Torture? From M/C Journal, a special issue on Pig: A Scholarly View, including Peta S Cook (Tasmania) and Nicholas Osbaldiston (Melbourne): Pigs Hearts and Human Bodies: A Cultural Approach to Xenotransplantation; Arhlene Ann Flowers (Ithaca): Swine Semantics in U.S. Politics: Who Put Lipstick on the Pig?; Lee McGowan (QUT): Piggery and Predictability: An Exploration of the Hog in Football’s Limelight; and Adele Wessell (Southern Cross): Making a Pig of the Humanities: Re-centering the Historical Narrative. The Believer presents the Declaration on the Notion of “The Future” by The International Necronautical Society: Admonitions and Exhortations for Cultural Agents of the Early-To-Mid-Twenty-First Century. Will the New York Times Styles section please change its name to the New York Times Bogus Trend section? From HiLobrow, iconicity ain't what it used to be — and neither is statue-toppling. Can you be too good-looking for your own good? The debate we should be having: Austerity is perverse economics and self-defeating politics — here are sensible alternatives. Leaks: Steve Coll on the ethics of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Duff McDonald on why Elizabeth Warren could be Obama’s best hope to get the masses back on his side. Astrophotographer grabs a snapshot of the darkest possible sky. Bloopers are bloopers, but the study of bloopers is Theory — it can also tell us a little about the ways that we're all essentially essentialists. What's in the Swift Boat crowd's bag of last-minute tricks? Nonstop robo-calls, for starters — meet one of the nation's top GOP telemarketers. The Perfect Stride: Can Alberto Salazar straighten out American distance running?
