online archive
5:00PM
AUG 8 2008
Good character can be manufactured
Bryan D. Watson (USAF): A Look Down the Slippery Slope: Domestic Operations, Outsourcing, and the Erosion of Military Culture. From American Arts Quarterly, Robert Proctor on The Fine and the Liberal Arts: A Vision for the Future; and Frederick Turner on Abundance and the Human Imagination. From FT, a review of books on a divisive climate of disillusionment which is casting doubt on the future of the American Dream. From Against the Current, a review of Age Shock: How Finance is Failing Us by Robin Blackburn. From Air & Space, where the sun does shine: Will space solar power ever be practical? From Alternet, an interview with Dian Hanson, editor of The Big Penis Book, on art, censorship, and the mainstreaming of pornography. More on Marc Bousquet’s How the University Works. A review of Partial Faiths: Postsecular Fiction in the Age of Pynchon and Morrison by John McClure. From Colloquy, a special issue on utopia. Turning back the hands of time: An interview with Aubrey de Grey. A look at how fairness is wired in the brain. From Psychology Today, a sense of authenticity is one of our deepest psychological needs, and people are more hungry for it than ever — even so, being true to oneself is not for the faint of heart (and more and more). What shapes our character? The Victorian belief that good character can be manufactured is coming back into fashion.
1:00PM
AUG 8 2008
Dude, you stole my article
From EJIL, Emmanuelle Jouannet (Sorbonne): Universalism and Imperialism: The True-False Paradox of International Law? From Mute, an essay on Orientalism Inverted: The rise of "Hindu Nation"; and is the convergence of art and sport under the pressure of pseudo-participatory spectacle undermining the utopian potential of both? It’s all about the oil: The Olympics — where sports, politics, and corruption collided — 2,000 years ago. Caveman vs. modern human: Who would win Olympic gold? From Wired, an article on real-world social networks vs. Facebook "friends". An interview with Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like. Veronica Miller likes Stuff Educated Black People Like — is that so wrong? An excerpt from Stop Me If You've Heard This by Jim Holt. Dude, you stole my article: Jody Rosen investigates a suspicious alt weekly. The last great American reporter: Forty years after breaking the story of the My Lai massacre, Seymour Hersh is not retiring and refuses to be a "pundit". What's really killing newspapers: They're no longer the best providers of social currency. From PUP, the introduction to Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History by David Frankfurter. A review of Who Owns Antiquity? by James Cuno (and more and an excerpt). Business Week goes beyond blogs: A lot has changed in three years.
9:00AM
AUG 8 2008
The boundaries of the thinkable
From Daedalus, a special issue on nature, including Cass Sunstein (Chicago): Precautions and Nature; Philip Tetlock (UC-Berkley) and Michael Oppenheimer (Princeton): The Boundaries of the Thinkable; Bill McKibben (Middlebury): The Challenge to Environmentalism; Leo Marx (MIT): The Idea of Nature in America; Richard Kraut (Northwestern): On Philosophy as a Guide to Well-Being; and more. From LRB, Jeremy Harding on the Serbian predicament. Useful exotics: An article on the fate of China's minorities. There is nothing like a disputed place to bring incendiary nationalism to the boil. Thomas Frank on why misgovernment was no accident in George W. Bush's Washington. Obama-McCain pop-culture debate: See the candidates' movie, TV, and music endorsements (and more and more). From The Weekly Standard, a cover story on how Hollywood Takes on the Left: David Zucker turns his sights on anti-Americanism. From Smart Set, think things are slow on the NJ Turnpike? Try eating at its rest stops. From Writ, is sex a "major life activity"? A claim of disability discrimination turns on the answer to this question. A review of Cezanne's Bathers: Biography and the Erotics of Paint by Aruna D'Souza. A review of Cultural Appropriation and the Arts by James Young. Lord of the Memes: In the age of the iPhone, prestige has shifted from the producer of art to the aggregator and the appraiser.
