But beyond the frequently heteronormative, deeply problematic ideals of provider princes and women of eternal blonde-haired youth, is the notion that the finest love is an exclusive one, and that the journey — even if it comes to accommodate youthful promiscuity, homosexual acceptance, and children out of wedlock — is still geared toward eventual, and subsequently perpetual, fidelity. It should surprise no one that even gay marriage campaigns — the most broadly palatable and well-supported deviations from hard tradition these days — found their stride in messages predicated not on civil rights but on ideals of family and devotion. Monogamy is the foundation from which all present unorthodoxy stems, more fundamental to our cultural sense of self than even the gender of the lovers.
On the Kinds of Love We Fall Into: Polyamory in Theory and Practice | February 22, 2014
She is reflexively caustic, not unlike other girls staring Alice-like into adulthood for the first time — fearful, tinted by disappointment and uncertainty.
On the Kinds of Love We Fall Into: Polyamory in Theory and Practice | February 22, 2014
اين مقاله حاوى نكات تكان دهنده اى درباره نظرات و موضع گيرى هاى سياسى چامسكى است. شاتل توضيح داده كه چامسكى چطور در دفاع سرسختانه اش از رژيم پل پوت و حكومت خمر سرخ از نسل كشى و كشتارهاى فاجعه بارى كه تحت سلطه خمرهاى سرخ رخ داد چشم پوشيده و حتى بعد از انتشار اسناد متعدد درباره كشتار و نسل كشى كامبوج از جمله كتاب 'پس از فاجعه' باز هم آن را مردود دانسته است. مقاله نشان مى دهد كه چطور وقتى چامسكى به قول خودش جامعه عدالت گستر و نسبتا قابل زندگى مائوتسه تونگ را تاييد مى كرد احتمالن خبر نداشت فقط پنج سال پس از قحطى بزرگ ١٩٥٨-٦٢ صحبت مى كرد كه بدترين قحطى در تاريخ بشر بوده. خبر نداشت چون داستان بيست سال بعد به بيرون درز كرد و همان اشتراكى كردن مزارع كشاورزى علت اصلي قحطى بود. واقعه اى كه در آن سى ميليون تن از مردم به ديار مرگ رفتند
Fatemeh Shams - كيث ويند شاتل، نويسنده و مورخ استراليائى، مقاله... February 22, 2014
There is a universal conviction that knowing what is true helps to secure balance in the affairs of society and, generally, a peace of mind for the knower. It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness; the truth shall make you free. In the short run, these beliefs may often be correct. Historically, however, personal and collective beliefs in possessing the truth, whether those of facts presumed, ideas held, or feelings voiced, have had the opposite effect. Seeing the light of truth imparts restlessness on the knower because all truths are incomplete and incompletable and hence carry the threat of impermanence. Knowledge generates a desire to share, to convince, and even to force, as well as to sacrifice one's own life or the lives of others to the cause of spreading the truth. We inherited this trait from our prehuman ancestors, who could survive only through socializing all or most of their knowledge.
critical rationalism February 22, 2014
Knowing what is believed to be true has been a perennial source of un-resolvable conflicts. Attempts to resolve them lead to new conflicts and to cultural change paid for by social upheavals and bloody wars.
Computer science is a relatively young discipline in academia, coming out of the emergence of computer technology for missile targeting near the end of World War II.
With Hackathons Taking Center Stage, The Coming Transformation Of The Computer Scientist | TechCrunch February 22, 2014
Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.[33] The Bank of Japan offered ¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March in an effort to normalize market conditions.[34] The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia February 22, 2014
In the 1960s, mathematicians William Tutte and Crispin Nash-Williams separately developed theories about structures called edge-disjoint spanning trees, which now serve as one of the key technical tools in many problems about edge connectivity.
New approach to vertex connectivity could maximize networks’ bandwidth - MIT News Office February 22, 2014
A spanning tree is a subgraph — or a graph-within-a-graph — in which all of the nodes are connected by the smallest number of edges. A set of spanning trees within a graph are called “edge-disjoint” if they do not share any of these connecting lines.
If a network contains three edge-disjoint spanning trees, for example, information can flow in parallel along each of these trees at the same time, meaning three times more bandwidth than would be possible in a graph containing just one tree. The higher the number of edge-disjoint spanning trees, the larger the information flow, Ghaffari says. “The results of Tutte and Nash-Williams show that each graph contains almost as many spanning trees as its edge connectivity,” he says.
There are benefits to being alone and benefits to being together, but there is a price to pay for being “alone together.” This book is well worth reading for historians who want to understand what it means that computing is now pervasive rather than novel.
Project MUSE - Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (review) February 22, 2014
Bertrand Russell's attitude (from his history of western philosophy) is probably representative: the Muslim philosophers are significant as transmitters of Greek learning to Latin Europe, but not as innovators. I think this attitude is wrong, and there are signs of renewed interest in medieval Muslim philosophers.
Why are the Muslim philosophers of medieval times not as much as known as their predecessors, the Greeks, and their successors, the renaissance ones? : askphilosophy February 22, 2014
The idea is usually “It’s bad if people are killed, but it’s especially bad if women and children are killed.” And I think most men know that in an emergency, if there are women and children present, he will be expected to lay down his life without argument or complaint so that the others can survive. On the Titanic, the richest men had a lower survival rate (34%) than the poorest women (46%) (though that’s not how it looked in the movie). That in itself is remarkable. The rich, powerful, and successful men, the movers and shakers, supposedly the ones that the culture is all set up to favor — in a pinch, their lives were valued less than those of women with hardly any money or power or status. The too-few seats in the lifeboats went to the women who weren’t even ladies, instead of to those patriarchs.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
Giving birth is a revealing example. What could be more feminine than giving birth? Throughout most of history and prehistory, giving birth was at the center of the women’s sphere, and men were totally excluded. Men were rarely or never present at childbirth, nor was the knowledge about birthing even shared with them. But not very long ago, men were finally allowed to get involved, and the men were able to figure out ways to make childbirth safer for both mother and baby. Think of it: the most quintessentially female activity, and yet the men were able to improve on it in ways the women had not discovered for thousands and thousands of years. Let’s not overstate. The women had after all managed childbirth pretty well for all those centuries. The species had survived, which is the bottom line. The women had managed to get the essential job done. What the men added was, from the perspective of the group or species at least, optional, a bonus: some mothers and babies survived who would otherwise have died. Still, the improvements show some value coming from the male way of being social.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
Playground observation studies find that girls pair off and play one-on-one with the same playmate for the full hour. Boys will either play one-on-one with a series of different playmates or with a larger group. Girls want the one-to-one relationship, whereas boys are drawn to bigger groups or networks. When two girls are playing together and the researchers bring in a third one, the two girls resist letting her join. But two boys will let a third boy join their game. My point is that girls want the one-on-one connection, so adding a third person spoils the time for them, but it doesn’t spoil it for the boys. The conclusion is that men and women are both social but in different ways. Women specialize in the narrow sphere of intimate relationships. Men specialize in the larger group. If you make a list of activities that are done in large groups, you are likely to have a list of things that men do and enjoy more than women: team sports, politics, large corporations, economic networks, and so forth.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
What percent of our ancestors were women? It’s not a trick question, and it’s not 50%. True, about half the people who ever lived were women, but that’s not the question. We’re asking about all the people who ever lived who have a descendant living today. Or, put another way, yes, every baby has both a mother and a father, but some of those parents had multiple children. Recent research using DNA analysis answered this question about two years ago. Today’s human population is descended from twice as many women as men. I think this difference is the single most underappreciated fact about gender. To get that kind of difference, you had to have something like, throughout the entire history of the human race, maybe 80% of women but only 40% of men reproduced.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
Consider grade point average in college. Thanks to grade inflation, most students now get A’s and B’s, but a few range all the way down to F. With that kind of low ceiling, the high-achieving males cannot pull up the male average, but the loser males will pull it down. The result will be that women will get higher average grades than men — again despite no difference in average quality of work. The opposite result comes with salaries. There is a minimum wage but no maximum. Hence the high-achieving men can pull the male average up while the low-achieving ones can’t pull it down. The result? Men will get higher average salaries than women, even if there is no average difference on any relevant input. Today, sure enough, women get higher college grades but lower salaries than men. There is much discussion about what all this means and what should be done about it. But as you see, both facts could be just a statistical quirk stemming from male extremity.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
Almost certainly, it is something biological and genetic. And my guess is that the greater proportion of men at both extremes of the IQ distribution is part of the same pattern. Nature rolls the dice with men more than women. Men go to extremes more than women. It’s true not just with IQ but also with other things, even height: The male distribution of height is flatter, with more really tall and really short men.
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
It was not always thus. Up until about the 1960s, psychology (like society) tended to see men as the norm and women as the slightly inferior version. During the 1970s, there was a brief period of saying there were no real differences, just stereotypes. Only since about 1980 has the dominant view been that women are better and men are the inferior version
Denis Dutton February 22, 2014
The Warren Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power in dramatic ways.[1] The court was both applauded and criticized for bringing an end to racial segregation in the United States, incorporating the Bill of Rights (i.e. including it in the 14th Amendment Due Process clause), and ending officially sanctioned voluntary prayer in public schools. The period is recognized as a high point in judicial power that has receded ever since, but with a substantial continuing impact.
Warren Court - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia February 22, 2014
My issue with Aslan's analysis arises from his tendency to take issues of great controversy and present them as settled. Since he eschews citations, readers will be left taking his word for claims and methods which many scholars would dispute. In terms of facts, time and again Aslan makes assertions that range from the problematic to the likely incorrect. Take for example his unsupported claim that the author of Luke's Gospel was like the author of Mark and Matthew "...a Greek speaking Diaspora Jew." This view runs contrary to the vast majority of scholars, who see Luke as a Gentile, writing for Gentiles, drawing on only limited original Jewish sources. Of course Aslan has every right to side with the minority scholarly view here, but he should make that plain to his reader rather than simply asserting his opinion as fact.
Amazon.com: J. A Magill's review of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Naz... February 22, 2014
Africa may be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025 if soil degradation on the continent continues at its current pace, according to a water expert presenting at an upcoming United Nations University (UNU) conference on desertification in Algiers, Algeria.
Africa may be able to feed only 25% of its population by 2025 February 22, 2014
There is hard science like chemistry and physics.. But many people also recognize social science; which includes psychology, sociology, econ, political science, etc... Management in my opinion is psychology of organizations, it is sociology of organizations; it is economics of organizations; it is political science (political dynamics) of organizations... If you are honestly looking for sources, as I commented in your blog a decade ago(!), and on your facebook (a few years ago!) under similar statements of yours, you can read academy of management journal, administrative science quarterly, management science, org science, american economic review (org related articles), journal of public administration theory and research, etc. to get different scientific perspectives on organizations and management.
For the first session of a class on change... - Navid Ghaffarzadegan February 21, 2014
Around the 19th century the term didactic came to also be used as a criticism for work that appears to be overly burdened with instructive, factual, or otherwise educational information, to the detriment of the enjoyment of the reader (a meaning that was quite foreign to Greek thought). Edgar Allan Poe even called didacticism the worst of "heresies" in his essay The Poetic Principle.
Didacticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia February 21, 2014
What is a poet? An unhappy man who conceals profound anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so fashioned that when sighs and groans pass over them they sound like beautiful music. His fate resembles that of the unhappy men who were slowly roasted by a gentle fire in the tyrant Phalaris' bull—their shrieks could not reach his ear to terrify him, to him they sounded like sweet music. And people flock about the poet and say to him: do sing again; Which means, would that new sufferings tormented your soul, and: would that your lips stayed fashioned as before, for your cries would only terrify us, but your music is delightful.
DIAPSALMATA February 19, 2014
The West wants sanctions relief to remain limited and easily reversible in the early years of the deal, to make sure Iran doesn't start breaking the rules. The Iranians say they can't accept that, because without large-scale and permanent sanctions relief they can't entice foreign business to help revive Iran's ailing economy — which they consider the whole aim of the deal.
U.S. diplomats study how to preserve Iran's dignity in nuclear talks - latimes.com February 19, 2014
Famous theory from Harvard: The difference of a person’s fate is decided from what a person spends in his free time between 20:00 to 22:00 . Use these two hours to learn, think and participate in meaningful lectures or discussion. If you persist for several years, success will come knocking on your doors.
Hong Kong Billionaire Li Ka-Shing teaches you how to buy a car & house in 5 years | The Real Singapore February 18, 2014
Throughout America’s history, its populace has experienced three distinct models of marriage, as scholars like the sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin and the historian Stephanie Coontz have chronicled. In the era of the institutional marriage, from the nation’s founding until around 1850, the prevalence of individual farming households meant that the main requirements Americans had for their marriage revolved around things like food production, shelter and protection from violence. To be sure, Americans were pleased if they experienced an emotional connection with their spouse, but such affinities were perquisites of a well-functioning marriage rather than its central purpose.In the era of the companionate marriage, from roughly 1850 until 1965, American marriage increasingly centered around intimate needs such as to love, to be loved and to experience a fulfilling sex life. This era overlapped with the shift from rural to urban life. Men increasingly engaged in wage labor outside of the home, which amplified the extent to which the two sexes occupied distinct social spheres. As the nation became wealthier and its social institutions became stronger, Americans had the luxury of looking to marriage primarily for love and companionship.Since around 1965, we have been living in the era of the self-expressive marriage. Americans now look to marriage increasingly for self-discovery, self-esteem and personal growth.
The All-or-Nothing Marriage - NYTimes.com February 16, 2014
Taken in late 1838 by Louis Daguerre in Paris, the photograph had an exposure time of at least 10 minutes - and so while the street was quite busy, virtually no people stayed around long enough to be captured. The exception was apparently two men in the lower left corner, one of whom was polishing the other's boots.
This Is The First Photograph Ever Taken Of People February 16, 2014
Harry Widener was a 1907 Harvard alumnus and an avid book collector. He wanted to bring the best of Europe’s books to America. Once he finally found the jewel of his collection, he headed back to America. Tragically, he was aboard the Titanic and did not survive the trip. His mother, Eleanor, donated $3.5 million to the university to build a library in his memory. It is a grand building, boasting columns, a marble hall and domed ceiling. However, one of Eleanor’s terms was that the university could not alter the exterior of the building, or else its ownership would revert to the City of Cambridge. As the library’s collection grew (it’s one of Harvard’s series of libraries, and together they constitute the largest academic library in the world) the university needed more space to store all the books. So, they dug down. Deep. They built four stories below the library, and an additional library – the Pusey Library – alongside it deep in the dirt. And that is where I found myself on Friday, without any breadcrumbs or a walkie-talkie. I had to get down there in a small, slow elevator that shuddered. Shuddered. The doors opened upon rows and rows of metallic shelves filled with books, lit by flickering fluorescent lighting. I was alone. Very. In fact, these areas are so infrequently frequented that the lighting is activated by motion sensor.
Dispatch from the Library | Amandachusetts February 15, 2014
The psychologist Nick Perham, who studies the effect of sound on how we think, has found that office commotion impairs workers’ ability to recall information, and even to do basic arithmetic. Listening to music to block out the office intrusion doesn’t help: even that, Perham found, impairs our mental acuity. Exposure to noise in an office may also take a toll on the health of employees. In a study by the Cornell University psychologists Gary Evans and Dana Johnson, clerical workers who were exposed to open-office noise for three hours had increased levels of epinephrine—a hormone that we often call adrenaline, associated with the so-called fight-or-flight response. What’s more, Evans and Johnson discovered that people in noisy environments made fewer ergonomic adjustments than they would in private, causing increased physical strain.
The Open-Office Trap : The New Yorker February 15, 2014
In 2011, the organizational psychologist Matthew Davis reviewed more than a hundred studies about office environments. He found that, though open offices often fostered a symbolic sense of organizational mission, making employees feel like part of a more laid-back, innovative enterprise, they were damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction. Compared with standard offices, employees experienced more uncontrolled interactions, higher levels of stress, and lower levels of concentration and motivation. When David Craig surveyed some thirty-eight thousand workers, he found that interruptions by colleagues were detrimental to productivity, and that the more senior the employee, the worse she fared.
The Open-Office Trap : The New Yorker February 15, 2014
With a snippet of embedded code, Tidbit could enable websites to tap into visitors’ computers and borrow CPU cycles to mine Bitcoin. In exchange, the sites would remove display advertising for those who opt-in. “We’re hoping that Tidbit can completely replace ad revenue,” wrote Tidbit developer Oliver Song on the Node Knockout site late last year. Tidbit uses the Stratum protocol, which would enable websites to get paid based on total work contributed to the mining pool rather than total Bitcoins mined. But in its current form, Tidbit still isn’t very economical: If people ran Tidbit for a full day, they might each generate around a cent in revenue for a website, but their personal electricity costs would be much higher.
New Jersey slaps MIT Bitcoin hackers with subpoena -- and they're fighting back | VentureBeat | Dev | by Eric Blattberg February 15, 2014
