archive

Paying the price

Are we all mythtaken about Star Wars? Fans are mistaken about Return of the Jedi and Luke Skywalker (dismissing the Ewoks, and Skywalker is deemed a wuss); might they also be wrong about the prequel trilogy? How does one age within a style tribe?: Linda Grant writes that the mods and punks still look good, but pity the poor hippies. Can America afford the "vanity tax"? We're all paying the price for goods that are more about fashion than function. The art of the chart: How we fell in love with ranking the world. Albert Mobilio reviews Umberto Eco's The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay. Thomas P.M. Barnett on seven reasons to give thanks that the world didn't end this year. Wise Guys in Cambridge: What Cornel West and Larry Summers actually agree about. Alain De Botton on the Legend of the Human Resources Crypt: To rebel against the HR department is to misunderstand one's era and the deeper currents of history. Learning how to count to 350: Remembering people power in Seattle in 1999 and Berlin in 1989. Tattoos, dueling scars, and other rational acquisitions: More on Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate by Diego Gambetta. Upper-class eco-warriors: Distancing themselves from their ultra-wealthy backgrounds, a small band of people have set themselves the task of saving the world. From Scientific American, an in-depth report on the future of trains. From young Mozart to black holes, 350 years of the Royal Society go online. "Death of God Guy Dies": John T. Elson was a journalist best known for penning the story behind Time magazine’s wildly controversial cover "Is God Dead?"