Our problem with drugs. Which is not the same as our drug problem.
Knowledge is shaped by subjectivity. This is not my opinion but rather an objective fact that has been independently confirmed by many different disciplines, fr...
epistemology, philosophy, theology, religion
Knowledge is shaped by subjectivity. This is not my opinion but rather an objective fact that has been independently confirmed by many different disciplines, fr...
Reading Michael Heilemann’s celebrated investigation of how the character of Chewbacca was crafted, it struck me that movies are multi-player text-based v...
Roman Jakobson: “Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.”
There was a time – a very long time, in fact – when the U.S. economy was based in part on slave labor. In a slave economy, legal entities like businesses and in...
A great quote on immigration: Borders are imaginary lines across which capital flows freely. The idea that labor should not flow freely across borders, whether ...
“Sleep on it.” To the extent that we use and believe in this phrase, we understand the fundamental role that the unconscious plays in human existenc...
The act of making and keeping an appointment is an effort to change one’s thinking (“now, you must think about this”) but such changes can be ...
Are wireless, motion-powered earbuds coming soon? We wear contacts to improve our sight. Why not wear miniature headphones to improve our ability to hear “...
Josh Marshall points out that the anti-Islamic fear mongering being perpetrated by right-wing activists is hurting America’s counter-terrorism efforts. He...
It would be interesting to test whether users of the popular online tools (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut) have devised uses (habits, activities) that makes ...
In “Go West,” Peter Hessler returns to America after years of living in China and finds that we Americans like to talk about ourselves and are good ...
Gorgeous writing from The Economist: The Earth is a recycling scheme that has been running for a third of the age of the universe. Microbes and plants endlessly...
A user on MetaFilter has argued that a well designed item is that which lasts a long time – or, perhaps, an item which the owner values for a long time. Here...
A few days ago I joked that Google Wave has a lot in common with Dungeons & Dragons. The next day Google announced it would abandon Google Wave. After read...
I enjoy saying “oh em gee” and wonder if my grandchildren will still use this phrase just as we still use the phrase “oh kay” which in i...
AR.Drone, a hovering video camera you control via your phone combined with “augmented reality” gaming software. Racer, a racing video game with actu...
Or, why a sustained, national commitment to mental health will do wonders for our constitution. As prompted by this post on Metafilter. Richard Hofstader writin...
I was surprised to find yet another conversation about the Rodarte makeup line for MAC on MetaFilter this morning, some two weeks after the controversy began. T...
This is one of those super obvious things that you realize after years of bumping up against it: The price of stocks is a look into the future. You sell it base...