Some of the News That’s Fit to Read

A backlog of stuff I’ve saved from the New York Times. One for each day in February with a leap year bonus:

~How Philosophers Argue about Politics: from Gary Gutting, of whom I have intellect and writing envy (he also wrote this interesting reflection called, “What Is College For?” and a follow up;

~The Art of Listening: With some interesting stuff about African Literature, too;

~Evidence and Explanation: This is a video from Errol Morris on “The Man with the Umbrella” in the Zapruder Film and the ways conspiracies can hatch, appear reasonable, and be wrong. It’s a really great (and brief) look at thinking, criticality, and investigation. It WILL have a place in my logic classes;

~Frank Cioffi Dies: Every once in a while I get a brief and passing case of Master’s Degree shame when a student or new colleague asks where I “got my doctorate”–no more! Frank Cioffi is my new hero;

~Against Emerson: I love “Self Reliance,” and I love this essay. Both can be true;

~Alan Lomax Goes Digital: His huge collection of field recordings are going to be available online. Should be AMAZING;

~Scientists Talk: I haven’t watched any yet, but this collection sounds fascinating. I love watching any one talk about the things they love;

~HipHop and the Arab Spring: The role of rap in the revolutions (remember this one?);

~Davos and Capitalisms Future: An argument from the leader of the UK’s Labour Party;

~How Big Time College Sports Ate College Life: Not as great as Taylor Branch’s piece in The Atlantic, but pretty great;

~On Apple’s Textbook Revolution: Will this time be the time?

~Cognitive Science and Architecture: Apparently some of the discoveries associated with behavioral economics are affecting the plans for the spaces we move through;

~Stillness May Be the Next Big Thing: Once it’s gone, someone will surely figure out a way to sell us peace and quiet;

~Toys and Gender: I can’t go to Toys R Us without getting powerfully annoyed, so I try not to; I hope this article is describing the way of the future;

~Memory and Witnesses: On eye-witness testimony and cognitive science;

~God and Science: A review of Alvin Plantinga’s new book (if you don’t know the name, Alvin Plantinga is one of the most important/influential Philosophers of Religion alive);

~New Info about Sexual Assault: Not much better than it’s ever been. Depressing;

~Online Education: Loved by Wall Street, less so by others;

~On Reading: Whahttps://haroldlounge.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7745&action=editt people are reading and where they’re getting it;

~On Publishing: “Amazon’s Jungle Logic”;

~On Teaching Law: Stanley Fish on what lawyers need to learn from Law School and why;

~Game of Thrones: Never seen it, never read it, but my students LOVE it;

~The Learning Network: they have a blog with all kinds of resources for teaching through and with the Times–daily news quiz, student crosswords, all kinds of cool stuff–like this “Preparing for College” crossword puzzle;

~Celebrity Tweets: All about TMI;

~David Hume is Awesome: It’s true;

~100 Notable Books from 2011: Read any of them?

~Great Reading about Food: This is a really great list of reading options;

~On Running: How to Run without Hurting Yourself;

~Two on Schooling: On Girls and schools in Vietnam and one woman’s memory of her parents as “Home Schooling Anarchists”