From M/C Journal, a special issue on "coalition". Pseudo-scientists, pseudo-shamans and mass delusion: Jim Chaffee on contemporary US culture. Maurice Blanchot's journal Revue Internationale was an attempt at an engaged form of publishing in a world shaped by decolonization and bloc confrontation, yet its internationalist ambitions proved to be its downfall. Cosma Shalizi reviews The Calculus of Selfishness by Karl Sigmund. Most Anglo-Protestant Economies (APEs) do not pass the idealized Weberian test of financial probity and capitalist accountability, not even when compared with some PIGS — look at the recent record and compare some APEs and other up-and-coming animals with one of the PIGS: Spain (and part 2). From Catapult, what’s good about branding and where has it gone wrong? A look at how beautiful people really are more intelligent. Are you a Neutral Zonian? The mother of all geographical pull-down menus may well be that maintained by the CIA World Factbook, labeled “select a country or location”. From The New Yorker, a review essay on Mao and the Maoists. Luciano Floridi gets intimate with the machine language of love. Do other countries have a constitutional right to bear arms? Terry Castle, critical outlaw: Her astringent, self-revealing writings are Grade-A cultural commentary in disguise. A profile of Avinash Dixit, author of seminal work on monopolistic competition, trade, and development.
