Informers, Secrets, Truths, and Dignity
by Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá at OUP Blog: Over 100,000 individuals acted as secret informers reporting to state security police in Czechoslovakia during the Communist years. The contents of
The Issue of Youth Unemployment and Underemployment is By No Means Exclusive to Bangladesh
Anna Barford at The Conversation: Jobs, of which 30% were reserved for independence war veterans and their relatives, are highly sought after. The rate of youth unemployment in Bangladesh is
I Asked Grok to Tell Us Why We Shouldn’t Worship Technology. Here’s Its Surprising Answer.
James Poulos at The Blaze: Grok, Elon Musk’s “frontier language model” accessible from right inside X, is shaking up the internet with its censorship-free automated image generation. Fun — and
Can We Mitigate Climate Change and Protect Biodiversity Without Eliminating Meat Consumption?
By Ted Nordhaus at The Breakthrough Journal: As much as 60% of global agricultural emissions comes from livestock production, with a significant majority of that coming from beef and dairy
‘Life with Picasso’ & ‘La Collectionneuse’
Griffin Oleynick and Anthony Domestico at Commonweal: We’re publishing these exchanges just about every two weeks—a compressed timeline that somehow seems like an eternity amid this summer’s news cycles. Thankfully,
Monday Poetic Expression: A Night Alone in the Wilderness
By Erik Rittenberry at Poetic Outlaws: I march on. The soil is soft and sandy beneath my feet. I walk along beneath the ancient oaks that stand with dignity as
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What a Courtroom Sketch Artist Sees
Tina Jordan at The New York Times Book Review: The sketch above appears in a recent book I find particularly fascinating: Jane Rosenberg’s DRAWN TESTIMONY: My Four Decades as a
A Passage From “The Killers”
“The Killers” is a short story by Charles Bukowski in his 1973 collection, South of No North. Bukowski, greatly influenced by Hemingway… … Continue readingA Passage From “The Killers”
Overconfidence About Sentience is Everywhere—and it’s Dangerous
The Edge of Sentience, rather than offering Houdini-like escapes from uncertainty, is all about how to make evidence-based decisions in the face of uncertainty. … Continue readingOverconfidence About Sentience is Everywhere—and it’s Dangerous
What Populism Is—And Isn’t
Populism, the rule of many, and authoritarianism, the rule of one, might seem like antipoles. But they are intimately related. Wherever populism appears, so do various forms of… … Continue readingWhat Populism Is—And Isn’t
Random Thoughts: VIP Jr.
by Irshad Salim: The world as was –like an extra large pizza yummy pie, was cut into slices of different shapes and sizes –by powers to be. They then decided
When Henry Miller Met George Orwell: A Clash of Titans
George Orwell and Henry Miller, two of the most influential writers of the 20th century, had a single brief encounter in Paris in Dec. 1936. It has intrigued and baffled scholars and fans.. … Continue readingWhen Henry Miller Met George Orwell: A Clash of Titans