online archive
12:00PM
JUL 4 2007
Miscellaneous
From The Chronicle, new universities for Muslims, many supported by groups in the Middle East, are spreading through the sub-Saharan region; the story of Sudan's International University of Africa, once known for its militant Islamist approach, illustrates the controversial, complicated role of Islamic higher education on the continent; and the International Peace University South Africa grew out of two religious colleges, but its mission is to prepare students for success in the secular world. Professor John Tulloch was fascinated by the sociology of insecurity. Then he sat down on a train next to a suicide bomber. He tells Peter Kingston how it changed his life. Steps towards better development: A new research centre devoted to making science and technology work for the world's poor has been set up at the University of Sussex.
From Britannica, a look at why math geeks (especially immigrant geeks) rule. Would like to meet: The popular new site Nature Network could see scientists exchanging ideas, posting data... and even finding love online; the ethics of journalism don't work for science: The media and science often clash over published research. Should I study journalism? Should I attend journalism school? Those are questions many college students are asking these days, and the answers, according to various reports, are increasingly being answered with a resounding “yes”.
Wretched excess: Why do donors continue to donate vast sums of money to colleges and universities that truly do not need it? Authoritative Online Editions: While cherishing the material culture of books, an English professor nonetheless sees some distinct advantages to online sources. News Ages Quickly: Scientific publishing moves into the 21st century at last. Are American scientists an endangered species? Marc Zimmer offers a new way of looking at a crisis facing American colleges and universities.
Evolution in Your Brain: Gerald Edelman says only the fittest neurons survive. This century may be the first, in all the twenty-four centuries we have been pondering consciousness, in which we actually find out some true facts about it. Big dreams are once again on the minds of psychologists as part of a larger trend toward studying dreams as meaningful representations of our concerns and emotions.
From n+1, Bruce Robbins remembers Richard Rorty. Beyond Demonic Memes: David Sloan Wilson on why Richard Dawkins is wrong about religion. DNA passed down through generations of mothers could help answer big questions about the human journey across continents, thanks to a massive new database created by the The Genographic Project. From Salon, does the econo-blogosphere matter? Andrew Leonard wants to know. Virtual Worlds as Social-Science Labs: How one professor uses online games as petri dishes of human behavior. The Roots of Punishment: A finding from a theoretical model of cooperative activity reveals that making an enterprise optional also makes it more sustainable.
12:00PM
JUL 4 2007
American politics, religion, ideologies, and sex and gender
From TNR, Alan Wolfe reviews The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays, ed. by George A. Panichas (and responses at National Review). From National Review, Brink Lindsey bids Farewell to Culture Wars: Advice to conservatives from a "well-wishing outsider" (and a reply by Ramesh Ponnuru and a response). Protesting Too Much? At what point could the time spent on cultural activism be better spent on some type of pragmatic movement? From American Heritage, an interview with Ray Raphael, author of Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past. The Golden Age as Catastrophe: An excerpt from The Culture of Calamity Disaster and the Making of Modern America by Kevin Rozario. The Amateur Future of Space Travel: How NASA turned to America’s basement brainstormers, workbench concocters and garage tinkerers to revive the space program (and a video).
From Commentary, an exchange on Jews, IQ and history. A review of Inquisition: The Reign of Fear by Toby Green. From Christianity Today, a review of Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity by Charles Marsh; and have you prayed for bin Laden today? Brother Andrew urges Christians not to black list radical Muslims. From New English Review, Hugh Fitzgerald on understanding the resurgence of Islam; Rebecca Bynum on secular illusions; Adam Katz on Incarnations of Evangelicism: Avatars of a New Modernity. The iPhone release as a "religious' event": Is it God machine or tech tempter? If only Apple's sense of embracing the future was heeded within the walls of the church. Fringe Festival: Christian Reconstructionists hope to move out of the margins and take dominion in America – and they have some powerful friends.
From Vision, a series of articles on Messiahs! Rulers and the role of religion (in 8 parts). Can America survive Evolutionary Humanism? John Lloyd reviews Comrades: A World History of Communism by Robert Service; Communists and British Society 1920-1991: People of a Special Mould by Kevin Morgan, Gideon Cohen and Andrew Flinn; and Seven Years that Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective by Archie Brown. From Anarkismo.net, Anarchism vs. Maoism: A response to Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party (U.S.) Bob Avakian. David Baake, webmaster of www.fuckauthority.org, on an evolutionary argument for Decentralism. Anarchy for the USA: A conversation with Josh Wolf, jailed blogger.
From Campus Progress, a conservative “expert” tells you how to enjoy your single years: A review of Now and Not Yet: Making Sense of Single Life in the Twenty-First Century by Jennifer Marshall. You've heard of working vacations. Now comes "the working date." Many single people are so busy with careers that they don't have time for a social life. So they're increasingly blending work and romance. Look Who’s Googling: New acquaintances and secret admirers may already know all about you. Computers are like women because only a fool pretends to comprehend their immense mystery and complexity. One day they’re happy (as far as one knows) helpmeets, the next they’re making disquieting noises, sending you inscrutable error messages or simply packing it in. The New Trophy Wife: Alpha women are highly sought-after partners, but men may be more intimidated than they admit. Pure sex, pure love and the misery of misandry: Are men inferior to women? Wake up. Feminism is more than just capitalism with tits: Enough of the numbers game. The issue is not how many women are in power, but how many fight for collective rights.
12:00PM
JUL 4 2007
Global issues, Latin America, India, the Middle East, and American politics
Thom Brooks (Newcastle): The Global Justice Reader: Introduction. Gerhard Thallinger (Vienna): The UN Peacebuilding Commission and Transitional Justice (and part 2). The United Nations General Assembly approves the split of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, with a new Department of Field Support. Brazilian Sergio de Queiroz Duarte is appointed to lead the U.N. disarmament unit. American architect Michael Adlerstein is appointed to oversee the $1.9 billion renovation of the landmark United Nations headquarters building overlooking New York's East River. Water is a right, not business: An interview with Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary of the Convention of the United Nations to Combat Desertification.
Death of the Amazon: In Brazil, environmental technocrats talk of saving the rainforest with satellite technology - but loggers, miners and farmers keep finding scams to evade the law. The Possessed: Should Yale University return its relics of Machu Picchu? And who in Peru would actually benefit if it does? A review of The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie. An interview with Mario Vargas Llosa on politics, and how writing can change the course of history. Is Paraguay set to be the next Latin American country to lean to the Left? From American Diplomacy, an article on Latin America's apparent turn to the Left.
A review of An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire by Arundhati Roy. Martha Nussbaum discusses her book, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future. A review of Holy Warriors: A Journey Into the Heart of Indian Fundamentalism by Edna Fernandes. Maoists say they're fighting for the invisible tribal peoples of India. Are they terrorists, or the product of a corrupt and unjust system? A review of In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce. A review of India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. Pradipta Chaudhury on India’s new caste politics. A look at how India has its own "soft power": Buddhism.
From NPQ, an interview with Dennis Ross on 18 months to avoid war with Iran. In the battle for competing visions between the US and al-Qaida, the Sunni resistance is now opposing al-Qaida in Iraq, as are the Taliban in Afghanistan, and more on Takfirism, a messianic ideology. The outcome of the battle of ideas between Americanism and anti-Americanism will set the tone of the 21st century. It will be the decisive ideological struggle of our times. Who will sound the call to service? If we are to survive as a nation with our values intact, then we must find leaders willing to make the call.
L'état, c'est moi: If President Bush thinks a 30-month sentence for Scooter Libby is excessive, what does he think about 55 years for selling marijuana? The quality of mercy is strained: Bush commutes Libby's sentence, while his lawyers come down hard on everyone else. It's hard to get too riled up about Bush commuting Scooter Libby's sentence. After years of outrageous actions by the Bush administration, "chronic outrage fatigue" has set in.
12:00PM
JUL 4 2007
Arab culture, visual arts, journalism, American culture and more
From Sign and Sight, Alger la Blanche: Sonja Zekri visits Algiers, the city that's to play cultural capital of the Arab world. Save the Casbah: In Algiers, preservationists race to rescue the storied quarter. But is it too late? Of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World only the Pyramids of Giza still stand; the rush of activity in the United Arab Emirates comes just in the nick of time to replenish the list.
From Chronicles, an article on Kierkegaard and the Camera. An interview with Patrick McGilligan, author of Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only—The Life of America’s First Black Filmmaker. The insider: Douglas Kennedy on why authors should expect the worst when their novel is turned into a film. Men Know from Homer, Women from Marge: Sure, we ogle "The Osbournes" and love "Everybody Loves Raymond." But when it comes to a conjugal relationship that everyone understands, the hands-down winner is primary-colored and two-dimensional. PT visits the stars of America's real reality TV show, "The Simpsons".
From Slate, an article on the Newspaper of the Future: If we're lucky, it will look something like the newspaper of the past. Memoirs by foreign correspondents are ten a penny. But what about their husbands and wives? A review of Are we there Yet? Travels with my Frontline Family by Rosie Whitehouse. What traditional channel or network, magazine or newspaper can we trust anymore to give us serious factual news? An article on the new pinnacle of journalism: Us Weekly.
From The Chronicle, the "Summer of Love," 40 years ago, is widely viewed as a pivotal moment in American culture and politics. Seventeen academics describe how they experienced it. Ted Nugent on The Summer of Drugs: Forty years ago, dirty, stinky hippies converged on San Francisco to "turn on, tune in and drop out". An excerpt from Radio’s America: The Great Depression and the Rise of Modern Mass Culture by Bruce Lenthall. A review of A Shadow of Red: Communism and the Blacklist in Radio and Television by David Everitt
Applied Blunderology: A review of Um ... Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard. Granted spelling is not their 40, granted they have a 6ense of humor, granted they will have forgot10 3ason for this impulse be4 long, granted the kid will turn ver1,000,000 every time he sees his name on paper, these parents have 1 the right 2 name their own offspring. A review of The 1001 Smartest Things Ever Said. Gordon Brown resorted to his school's Latin motto when pledging commitment to his new job, but what's the significance of these ancient mission statements? The idea is simple, a bit of Latin spells a dose of gravitas, and a hefty slice of tradition and history. No foray into another language is complete without learning some of the pitfalls that one may face when conversing with a native speaker. For example, be careful when signing "coffee" or else you may unwittingly make an unwanted sexual advance.
