Category: Uncategorized
Wednesday Poem: What We Leave Behind
My father drank salt water mixed with airAnd sacrificed his legs and calloused hands at…
Why Plato Was Drawn to the Eleusinian Mysteries
For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path. He turns to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge.
How Renaissance Art Found Its Way to American Museums
The Consummation of Empire, and The Andes of Ecuador are all considered examples of great American art, but there was little appreciation…
“Bangla Spring”
Just as the Arab Spring soon became what Harvard Law School’s Noah Feldman called an Arab Winter, Bangladesh’s democratic renewal could be smothered in its crib.
The Rise of South Asian America: Everywhere You Want to Be
by Razib Khan at Unsupervised Learning (Part 1 of 2): A few years ago, a…
Study Explores How Gossip Spreads in Social Networks
How many different types of people—colleagues, friends, taxi drivers, etc.—should we hear a piece of information from before we start sharing it as a true fact?
Revisiting the ‘Research Parasite’ Debate in the Age of AI
C. Brandon Ogbunu at The Undark revisits a debate about so-called “research parasites” — scientists…
A Little-understood Fact: There’s Not That Much Wealth in the World
Noah Smith at Noahpinion: Most economic debates are about income, not wealth. When we talk about…
Was Alice Munro an Art Monster? Or Just a Monster?
Meghan Daum in Substack: Alice Munro, considered one of the greatest short-story writers of modern times,…
Monday Poem: Morning of Drunkenness
O my good! O my beautiful!Atrocious fanfare where I won’t stumble!enchanted rack whereon I am…
Is Harvard Antisemitic?
Max Krupnick in Harvard Magazine: WHEN HAMAS TERRORISTS attacked Israel last October 7, they unleashed death and…
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at 200
Ted Olson in The Conversation: In early 1824, 30 members of Vienna’s music community sent…