Month: October 2008
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The Senseless Censorship of Swearing
Expanding on concepts from his latest book, The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker discusses swearing and the superfluous censorship of today’s media. [S]wearing is not just a puzzle in cognitive neuroscience. It has figured in the most-famous free-speech cases of the past century, from Ulysses and Lady Chatterley to those of Lenny Bruce and George…
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Time’s 100 Best Novels: 1923–2005
2005 saw Time produce a list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923. There are some greats there, but I’ve read embarassingly few of these: at least it’s giving me more material to add to my ever-expanding reading list.
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The Journey of North Pacific Pollution
The North Pacific Gyre is the ocean current vortex responsible for transporting huge amounts of pollution into the ocean from the land alond the Pacific coastline. In this Greenpeace animation, we can see how trash moves around the Pacific over a 6-year period, eventually accumulating as the Pacific’s ‘trash carpet’. It’s also worth noting that…
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World War II Posters
Ridiculous, shocking, hilarious, offensive: just some of the many adjectives you could use to describe these excellent World War II posters. She may look clean—but Pick-ups “Good-time” girls Prostitutes Spread syphilis and gonorrhea You can’t beat the Axis if you get VD Always good advice!
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Overcoming Stigma with Personal Incentives
Elizabeth Pisani, author of The Wisdom of Whores, writes about HIV from various perspectives: social, scientific, and political. In a recent article she notes how personal incentives are enough to overcome the stigma of HIV-infection. Malawi is suspending its payments to HIV-infected civil servants because so many uninfected people are trying to cash in. A…
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Storing Fruit and Vegetables Correctly
Unsure what fruit and vegetables emit ethylene when they ripen? Wondering whether or not broccoli should be stored in the refrigerator or in a cool, dry place? You need Divine Caroline’s food storage cheatsheet. Never again will you store onions and potatoes together or be bewildered when it comes to correct fresh food storage. Storing…
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Colin Powell on Muslim-Americans
This past weekend saw Colin Powell endorse Barack Obama for president on NBC’s Meet the Press. However, the most important and touching part of his speech came when he discussed Muslim-Americans: Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with some…
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A Capitalist Manifesto and Capitalist Values
“The financial crisis is not the crisis of capitalism. It is the crisis of a system that has distanced itself from the most fundamental values of capitalism, which betrayed the spirit of capitalism.” – Nicolas Sarkozy Two excellent articles on the future of capitalism: A Capitalist Manifesto, Judy Shelton for The Wall Street Journal What…
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The Economics of Faith
When a recent survey found that 44% of adults have switched their religious affiliation, the Christian church realised that it has a bad case of declining “brand loyalty”. Now, in order to combat this, they have started to employ “mystery worshippers”. The Wall Street Journal profiles Thomas Harrison, a mystery worshipper, and uncovers the strange—yet…