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This is the last of four excerpts from The Fall of Rome by Bryan Ward-Perkins. The first excerpt, “The Disappearance of Comfort,” can be found here: LINK The economic change that I have outlined was an extraordinary one. What we observe at the end of the Roman world is not a ‘recession’ or – to […]
We were remiss in not mentioning last week that Eric Alterman had selected A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey for his ‘Altercation bookclub.’ His post includes a juicy excerpt from the book and promises a vigorous ‘argument.’ Here is just one part: The financial crises that have so frequently preceded the predatory raiding […]
We had it for you last week. LINK
Simon Blackburn appeared on “Talk of the Nation” today to discuss his book Truth: A Guide. The discussion ranges from the battle between relativism and absolute truth to contemporary theology, censorship, and James Baldwin’s thoughts on the role of education. It is a smorgasbord of philosophical tastiness not to be missed. LINK
Kerry Emanuel continues to be the go-to-guy for all things hurricane. From yesterday’s edition of The New York Times: A month ago, Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist who has spent decades studying how hurricanes reach their peak strength, “had this terrible feeling of dread” when he saw that Hurricane Katrina’s track in the Gulf of […]
Who’s Next As the Senate prepares to ratify John (meet the new boss) Roberts to the position held by William (same as the old boss) Rehnquist, it’s time to start considering some of the candidates who might be nominated next. Emilio Garza. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit. Would be first Hispanic named to the Court, […]
Kerry Emanuel’s companion website to Divine Wind is now up at www.divinewindbook.com! It is packed with additional reading material and links to online hurricane sources. Don’t miss the“Figures” page which contains all of the images from the book – graphs, satellite photos, wind models and photos taken by “hurricane hunters” from within the eye of […]
This week in his ‘Dear Economist’ column over at the Financial Times, Tim Harford responds to an anonymous questionner from Limerick, Ireland: Dear Economist, I recently won more than €100m on the lottery. I am terrified that the money will come between me and my friends, or that I shall make a mess of spending […]
Bob King of the Palm Beach Post is an excellent source for all hurricane-related news and today he speculates on the potential size and path of Rita. Rita is currently a Category 4 storm – but it may go higher: The hurricane center says: “It would not be a surprise if Rita became a category […]
Eric Alterman, of “What Liberal Media?” fame and noted blogger on MSNBC.com gave a short review of Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore by James T. Patterson today. He essentially defers to the judgment of his “old adviser” Paul Kennedy who wrote this review in The Washington Post Book World […]
The Triple Frontier, referred to as the Triborder Area by the United States State Department, has an Arab immigrant population exceeding 25,000 and is described as “teeming with Islamic extremists and their sympathizers, [where] businesses have raised or laundered $50 million in recent years” (Rother, NYTimes, 2002). A map of the area was found in […]
In this week’s The New Republic (subscription only), James Cobb takes a stab at explaining “the steadfast refusal of people in Southern coastal communities to evacuate even in the face of the direst warnings that both hell and high water are headed their way.” A few weeks ago on this blog, Cobb wrote on remembering […]
Ted Steinberg author of Acts of God: An Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America has been commenting in recent press stories on the root causes of Katrina. In a story in the Wall Street Journal exploring how our efforts to control and populate the coastline has exacerbated the suffering, Steinberg says: “This is an […]
This is the third of four excerpts from The Fall of Rome by Bryan Ward-Perkins. The first excerpt, “The Disappearance of Comfort,” can be found here: LINK In the post-Roman West, almost all this material sophistication disappeared. Specialized production and all but the most local distribution became rare, unless for luxury goods; and the impressive […]
Katharine A. Phillips, MD, will discuss body dismorphic disorder (BDD) tonight, November 8, on CNN with Paula Zahn.with Oprah Winfrey today. Body dysmorphic disorder (or BDD) is a relatively common, often severe, and underrecognized body image disorder. It consists of distressing or impairing preoccupations with perceived flaws in one’s appearance. People with BDD are obsessed […]
In her “Storm Warnings” piece for The New Yorker this week, Elizabeth Kolbert writes that “in Nature just a few weeks before Katrina struck, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported that wind-speed measurements made by planes flying through tropical storms showed that the “potential destructiveness” of such storms had “increased markedly” since […]