The
most cat-amusing thing I have seen for a while: laughed lots.
Naked Harry Potter! (Aka Daniel Radcliffe in Equus. [worksafe, torso shots only])
Now for
the hyper-bike.
China is going
to purify the Internet.
Some
good pointers for dealing with conflict. A guide to
how to do insults in LJ comments. Via
drjon.
One wonders if Henry K really knew
what ad he was agreeing to.
Anyone with a spare $200m
to investigate the possibility of low-cost, no radiation fusion?
The
mystery of consciousness. Stephen Pinker on
thought and metaphor.
Does philosophy
progressand conceptions of truth. About a
history of vegetarianism: So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do.
Remembering
a remarkable Polish journalist: But it was his books about authoritarianism--"The Emperor" about Ethiopia's Haile Selassie, "Shah of Shahs" about the last monarch of Iran--that resonated the most with his readers at home and abroad. Because dictatorship is always based on contempt for the governed and accompanied by a deep sense of insecurity, he wrote in the latter book, "it spares no pains to demonstrate to itself and others the popular approval it enjoys. Even if this support is a mere charade, it feels satisfying. So what if it's only an appearance? The world of dictatorship is full of appearances." Any inhabitant of Warsaw, Bucharest or Moscow in those days knew exactly what he was talking about.
But was it journalism?
Not so much: criticisms do not rob Kapuściński's work of its bright allure, its illuminating moments, its often lively sympathy for the people of the countries he writes about, but they warn us not to take it seriously as a guide to reality.
A "guide to reality" is a pretty good pocket definition of journalism, if you ask me.
Enlightenment values
and paradoxes of multiculturalism: This is the paradox of multiculturalism: it accords the same treatment to all communities, but not to the people who form them, denying them the freedom to liberate themselves from their own traditions.
About the effect
on the chainer of chains.
England’s DPP on London
not being a battlefield in dealing with terrorism. About
that.
Germany’s proposed ban on Holocaust denial is
running into problems.
The Litvenko murder case looks like it’s going to
get even more awkward.
A sexy and brazen Azeri singer
may be corrupting Iran. The Iranian President seems to be rapidly
losing ground in Iran.
More on that.