The NYT has the story. I’m still trying to decide whether I’m going to teach the “Rhetoric of Evolution” class in the fall. I don’t think the sociological significance of the ID movement, particularly its hitching onto complexity theory, has been adequately addressed. Anyone with pointers is welcome to share.
I’ve just read this Harper’s article by Jeff Sharlet (which I found via Cliopatria); and it contains the following puzzling passage: The mastermind behind the coup was Ralph Reed, once of the Christian Coalition, who had been reborn as Georgia’s Republican chairman. Reed remains a fundamentalist, the same man who once tested employees’ commitment to [...]
Its 5.2 billion yearly spending on health care is having a tremendous impact on its profitability, whereas only 18,000 people in the U.S. per year die because they’re uninsured. GM employs 324,000 people (not all Americans, but let’s not get bogged down in details). If it dropped all of its insurance, approximately 20 of its [...]
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Talk a lot about media restructuring consciousness and the like. I’m sympathetic to some of these arguments to an extent, but a lot of the trick is defining what “consciousness,” particularly “social consciousness,” means at any given argumentative moment. Since I pointed the site’s immense readership to two Washington Post articles last night, I’m continuing [...]
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The Washington Post has a story about the House’s decision to ban the EPA from conducting tests that measure pesticide-levels in humans. Apparently, there was a program that would pay $1000 to 60 Florida families over two years to measure their children’s exposure to these chemicals. A Bruce Sterling novel tosses off that health-conscious humans [...]
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Any reader of Lem’s Fiasco will know both why you would want to weaponize space and the disastrous consequences (and be a better speller). Missile defense, particularly in space, should of course be called “missile offense.” It is designed to eliminate an enemy’s deterrent, not prevent attack.
Go read Cosma Shalizi, frequently referred to as “the most erudite scholar of his generation,” on labor trends, a proper May Day posting that I should be emulating. Instead, I’m going to point you towards this business again. I think I might be the world authority on these at this point, but there are no [...]
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