The School of Mathematics
Kottke recently linked to the first post in a series of articles meant to “give you a better feeling for what math is all about.” I am a big proponent of this type of informal education and must share...
View ArticlePrivacy and Google Buzz
Google is known for releasing new products before they are fully ready and then improving them over time. But its decision to do so with Buzz, coupled with its introduction to all 176 million Gmail...
View ArticleChinese ethnic minority theme parks
Ethnic Han make up 96% of China’s population according to official statistics. Other ethnic groups might be found performing in an ethnic theme park. The most famous park, the Nationalities Park in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New York Times photographer being bullied by NYPD
There have been many reports of press suppression at Occupy Wall Street protests, but this is the most obvious example I’ve seen. The New York Observer: While we don’t have an exact copy of the memo,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
US drones in Pakistan
This morning, after turning off the interminable NPR coverage of the Republican primaries, I saw that The Morning News recently linked to this ABC News story about the case of Tariq Khan, a 16 year old...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A proposal for Penn Station
Michael Kimmelman in the New York Times: To pass through Grand Central Terminal, one of New York’s exalted public spaces, is an ennobling experience, a gift. To commute via the bowels of Penn Station,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Antonio Bolfo’s NYPD vs Ramarley Graham’s NYPD
This morning I was taking a second look at this post from the excellent Lens blog. It’s an interview with ICP- and RISD-trained photographer Antonio Bolfo, who became a cop and did some amazing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bryan Denton in today’s NY Times
It’s pretty thrilling to discover someone you know doing amazing work. I went to elementary school with Bryan Denton, a photojournalist working for the New York Times. He has some great photos...
View ArticleClass and attention quality
From yesterday’s New York Times article, “Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era”: “Despite the educational potential of computers, the reality is that their use for education or meaningful content...
View ArticleDoug Henwood vs. Adam Davidson
Last January Doug Henwood, one of my favorite lefty blogger-radio people, wrote a nasty response to Adam Davidson’s New York Times Magazine article on Wall Street: For a while, I’ve been thinking about...
View ArticleOliver Sacks is dying of terminal cancer
Reading this made me wonder how much time any of us has left. To what degree do each of us belong to the future? I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential....
View ArticleOn The Media: After Oregon
This week’s On The Media was a rerun, but they ran a podcast extra about the Umpqua Community College shooting that’s worth a listen. MP3 link Also, here is Michael Luo’s Medium post about his role in...
View ArticleWhy we don’t have much good data on guns
From Michael Luo’s 2011 series on guns and public safety, this gets at the heart of the political limitations on doing research into the health risks of guns in America. C.D.C. financing for research...
View ArticleSpooky action at a distance
Here’s a video from TU Delft explaining quantum “spooky action,” which they claim to have proven to exist in their experiments. From the NY Times: The Delft study, published Wednesday in the journal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sovereignty, holograms, and international sports
I was reading a story today on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website and fell into an internet rabbit hole. I’ve always understood that Native Americans who live within U.S. borders enjoy a certain...
View ArticleThree weeks, 2,000 lives lost
From Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed in the New York Times: For three weeks American politicians have been fulminating about the peril posed by Syrian refugees, even though in the last dozen years no refugee...
View Article