online archive
5:00PM
AUG 11 2008
A new state of mind
From FP, are you tough enough for Hamas boot camp? From TNR, Jack Goldsmith reviews Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice by Eric Lichtblau; and a review of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) by Tom Vanderbilt (and more and more). A new state of mind: New research is linking dopamine to complex social phenomena and changing neuroscience in the process. Raising Bob Costas: Is memorizing sports trivia good for the brain? Rapping about CERN and bike racks: Two really nerdy instructional rap songs hit the Internets — is this the future of education? A review of So I Have Thought Of You: The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald. Most authors have no control over their book covers, but some writers not only get to accept or reject designs, but also choose the designer. Is an unmade bed art? It's art to the person who thinks it expresses their life. A tall, cool drink of sewage: In the world’s driest places, the future of drinking water may flow from a wastewater-recycling plant. Stalin’s mass killings are often viewed as the acts of a deranged dictator, but violence may have been the Soviet leader’s rational attempt to avoid losing power in a revolution. Philip Sedgwick follows the horoscopes of McCain and Obama. Paul Roberts on the four barriers to the genetically-modified food revolution and why no one is talking about them.
1:00PM
AUG 11 2008
Tear down the walls
From Policy Review, professor, do your job: Stanley Fish on why the classroom is not your political platform; an essay on conservative internationalism: Jefferson to Polk to Truman to Reagan; and a review of Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders by Jason Riley. Tear down the walls: Europe's war against immigration is immoral and unwinnable — it's time for a radical rethink. From The Independent Magazine, a cover story on the population paradox and Europe's time bomb. A review of The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich (and an excerpt on overpopulation). Know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple answers to every problem — has become the core of Republican policy. Is "Obama Fatigue" for real, and is it a danger to the candidate? Who framed George Lakoff? A noted linguist reflects on his tumultuous foray into politics. A review of Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton (and more). Why are economic forecasters so wrong, so often? Tim Harford investigates. Forget the Booker of Bookers: The quest to find the oddest book title of the past 30 years has begun. My Beautiful London: Why the novelist and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi is still in love with Britain’s pansexual, multicultural metropolis. An interview Bill Maher on "Religulous".
9:00AM
AUG 11 2008
Taunting the bear
From the Quarterly Journal of Political Science, rich state, poor state, red state, blue state: What’s the matter with Connecticut? An interview with Thomas Frank, author of The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Extreme appeal: A study finds voters trust extreme positions more than moderate ones. A special issue of The New York Times' "Play" is out, on the Olympics. Speed glue, robots and more: Learn why ping pong truly is the sport of champions. Taunting the Bear: Russia and Georgia were going to erupt — it was really just a question of when (offering a disturbing taste of what to expect from John McCain as Commander in Chief). Individual voices are brave, but Russia’s intelligentsia, which could be much freer than in the bad old days, is still mealy-mouthed. A review of Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid (and more and more and more). Dear World, writes Naomi Wolf, please confront America. A look at how the Internet is ruining America's movies and music. If fiction cannot cope with 9/11, the biggest event of our lifetimes, then its long-prophesied death is surely at hand. Videogames are becoming ever more realistic, lending a moral ambiguity to battle scenes and law enforcement — so why aren't they commenting on real-life situations yet?
