In the US, more federal disasters are declared in election years. Disasters make presidents look tough, and provide plenty of pork.
In the US, more federal disasters are declared in election years. Disasters make presidents look tough, and provide plenty of pork.
'In the 1960-1980 most social science departments offered a course on “Revolutions.”' (from ICGA, but mainly just interesting by itself. I love nuggets of institutional history like this.
GovernmentDocs - a new repository for files extracted from the US Government through FOIA requests
Globalization is increasingly not corporate or governmental, but a fusion of the two (succinct WaPo op-ed)
Noam Chomsky makes the standard common-sense argument against postmodernism, and does it very clearly.
Aaron Swartz sounds awesome.
Essay by Olivier Roy, expanding on the standard "Salafism is modernist" argument. Fascinating, even if he does have the French intellectuals' preference for style and argument over evidence.
Who was Cornelius Castoriadis?
My Dot-Green Future Is Finally Arriving - enthusiastic WaPo piece by Bruce Sterling, saying Briight Green is The Future.
UK, China, Russia: world's worst surveillance states. Boy, do I know how to pick 'em :(
The Times on government calculations of the value of human life (£1.4m for road safety, £2.9m for carcinogenic risks, etc).
danah continues to write heartfelt, moving posts like this one (on how the world doesn't live up to our childhood expectations)
I wonder if it's possible to do a quantitative analysis of this?
when Bush's popularity numbers go down, more stories start coming out about malfeasance in his administration, or the fact that his policies are not working out so great
Architectures of Control in Design - nice blog about reading capitalism from the material world. Not that it'd describe itself that way (nor would a sober Dan, to be honest), but it'll do.
Opposition to nuclear energy within the Cabinet is apparently based on cost rather than environmental worries. That probably makes it a good opportunity for people like me geeky enough to look at the figures. Adds to the list
I don't understand why Bush praises Arab governments when they do something he likes. Doesn't he realise how much more suspect that makes them in the eyes of their citizens?
Center for Tactical Magic; I think I'm in love.