Student cheating and
the law of below averages. (Some of the comment anecdotes are extremely funny.)
Did you participate in
Global Orgasm Day?
Something to read to get
that sense of unfolding disaster.
About
the art of conversation.
Bob Dylan’s Christmas broadcast
displays distinct class: This week, we start being heard in England. So, we want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas, and for the duration of this show, anytime I use the word “humor,” “color” or “favor,” I’ll be adding an extra “u.”
Defining
the snob hit. Meanwhile, Hollywood has managed
quite a few dud films this year. But they were mostly
ordinary-sized flops.
Miles Davis
doing Jazz (and a silly musical joke).
A very Japanese promo for a new process of ageing wine
through electrolysis.
About Dawkins on religion and
failing to grapple with religious thought.
A
fascinating comparison with experience with the British and American health systems.
James Brown
has died.
Can Europe
find a European Dream?
Looking for planets
in other solar systems.
About Carl Sagan’s descent
from scientist to would-be sage: Of the four physical artifacts that humanity has managed to propel the farthest into space (Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and Voyagers 1 and 2), all of them contain messages designed by Sagan to be interpreted by alien civilizations. If anyone happens to ask you how far ambition and brilliance can take a man, there's a fairly precise answer: 15.2 billion kilometres.
Climate change alarmism has a long history.
Audio downloads of CERC (Contemporary European Research Centre) seminars
here.
Nadine Gordimer and
the perils of biography.
A
wonderful eulogy for Tory journalist Frank Johnson: He was not only a believer in individualism, he went to the extreme length of being an individual. The purely political aspect of this individuality was that he liked to distinguish himself from any conservative orthodoxy. Again, however, he usually found respectably conservative grounds for doing so.
(And there was a simple cure that we more orthodox figures could employ to draw him back into our ranks-namely, to arrange for Frank to attend a left-wing gathering.)
Why husbands tend to be bigger issues than wives
for political candidates.
Comparing
Pinochet and Castro.
The Iranian President
had a bad week in Iranian domestic politics.