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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1455 )

• Used Book Sale Review

  

  I love used book sales. Locally, the Schenectady and East Greenbush libraries have great ones. Both are (to quote a local car dealer’s ads) huuuge. Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Who Gets to Sit in First Class Airline Seats?

  

  This was a question exercising Richard Wolff, a self-styled Marxist economics professor, in a recent talk on Alternative Radio. Its programs monotonously... Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sarah Vowell’s “The Wordy Shipmates” – Puritan History

  

  As this 2008 book’s title suggests, Sarah Vowell is a funny writer. Yet also a serious one. She writes serious books in a funny way. Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• China: The Arrogance of Unchecked Power

  

  When I visited Russia in 1994, and a traveling companion asked, “Can we do such-and-such?” I replied, “Why not, it’s a free country.” Being able to say so felt... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Our Jordan Adventure

  

  Elizabeth, going nativeThis seemed a good time to visit the Middle East. So we went to Philadelphia. That was the ancient Greek name. Before that, Rabboth-Ammon... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Transcendence – Another AI Movie

  

  Since I believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) looms hugely in our future – I had to see Transcendence, the latest AI movie. It’s a lot darker than the last one,... Read more

  Posted on 11 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• George Lakoff: The (Extreme) Political Mind

  

  George Lakoff is a professor of cognitive and linguistic science at Berkeley. His 2008 book, The Political Mind, says “progressives” are losing out because... Read more

  Posted on 02 October 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Why Do Richer People Have Fewer Kids?

  

  The Economist magazine has discussed the “demographic transition” – as people get richer, they have fewer children. It’s a key reason why Malthus’s famous... Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Engineering Marvels

  

  A modern 777 jetliner is an absolute marvel of engineering. Yet (unlike on smaller planes) the overhead bins are almost, but not quite, deep enough for... Read more

  Posted on 27 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Rationality, Optimum Crime, Individualism Vs. Collectivism, and the Gambler’s...

  

  The Economist’s 5/10 issue* had a piece about the recently deceased Gary Becker – an economist and, really, sociologist. His work centered on the idea that... Read more

  Posted on 24 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• (Advt) Coming Soon: The Oople iMplant™

  

  Get ready for . . .No more fiddling with buttons or touchscreens.No more recharging hassles.No more misplacing it, having it stolen, or dropping it in the... Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Scotland – The Blog Post That Might Have Been

  

  Well. Sanity prevailed. In the end, it wasn’t even close. But, anticipating the possibility of a Yes vote, I had prepared a blog post. (What, you think I just... Read more

  Posted on 19 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Three Exciting Candidates

  

  I first noticed Neel Kashkari in 2008 as a remarkably young Indian-American, standing beside the Treasury Secretary and being tasked with sorting out the... Read more

  Posted on 16 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Thomas More’s Utopia: The First Communist Manifesto?

  

  Saint Thomas More (1477-1535) wrote Utopia in 1516.* Not only the first in the utopian fiction genre, it’s also been called the first communist book. Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Goodbye, Cutesie

  

  Cutesie was our cat. We got him for our daughter Elizabeth when she was four, and she gave him that, well, cutesie name. Maybe a play on the word’s definition?... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Cleaning Up” Albany Corruption: The Cuomo Way

  

  Andrew Cuomo ran for governor in 2010 pledging to “clean up” Albany political corruption.In Cuomo-speak, “to clean up” must mean “to perfect. Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Civilizational Crisis: The World According to Brooks (& Robinson)

  

  I like columnist David Brooks for being a “Big Picture” kind of guy – giving the view from Olympus.His 9/3 column finds commonality in the two big conflicts... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Net Neutrality, and Regulation by the Unicorn State

  

  “Net Neutrality” is a hot issue. It refers to equal service quality for all web-based traffic, against a fear that Internet providers (like Verizon) will allow... Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Nude Celebrity Photos

  Big breaking news! Hacked nude photos of celebrities on the Internet! Holy Cow!Like, this is the very first time we’ve ever seen pictures of these actresses... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Passion of the Western Mind

  

  This book by Richard Tarnas is a history of Western thought. Now, yes, Eastern thought is also worthy of respect. But the Western intellectual tradition is the... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2014 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY