2009
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Ten Years Ago
I did not own a mobile phone. This was probably a good thing, since mobile phones were the size of a ham radio – not including the extendable antenna The computer I used had a CRT monitor, as did my television There was no Facebook There was also no broadband. You could fire up the [...]
Review : Sam’s Story by Elmo Jayawardena
Earlier this month, Bob Herbert wrote in the New York Times about the price of war, and why it continues to be easy to wage The reason it is so easy for the U.S. to declare wars, and to continue fighting year after year after year, is because so few Americans feel the actual pain [...]
Review : Once Again to Zelda by Marlene Wagman-Geller
Just finished reading this rather cute collection, which traces the stories behind some of the dedications in books. As the author says, some of these back stories are as, if not more, interesting than the works themselves. It tells tales of love, intrigue, lust, failure, heartbreak and the search for companionship. A dedication is akin [...]
Where have all the Big Ideas gone?
Science (and Social Science, by extension) has its rightful place in the trenches, at the borders of human understanding. Yet, I’m trying to reconcile the meaning of daily activity – reading of papers on 18th century mercantilism, and the endless debating of merits of Large-N studies, with the ‘Big Picture’. Doing research requires you to [...]
It’s like Reality, only better!
Have you ever walked along a busy street in a new town wondering which restaurant/bar/club to step into? Have you pulled out your phone and googled up a few place names, read a few reviews before making up your mind? While exploring a new city recently armed with a very heavy guidebook (All of continental [...]
