At the Guardian , Bobbie Johnson unveils the secret technology behind Google’s bold plan to scan the world’s books: For all the discussion and debate about Google’s controversial (and potentially anti-competitive ) plan to digitize millions of books, little has been known about . . . . Continue Reading »
At the National Post , Robert Fulford reviews Roger Scruton’s new book, Beauty : So what’s wrong with kitsch, exactly? It’s garish, tasteless and sentimental, of course. Garden gnomes and conventions of Elvis impersonators may be its most outlandish examples, but you can find . . . . Continue Reading »
From Wednesdays Metro section of the Washington Post in an article titled, ” Ministers Lead Protest of D.C. Legislation “: This month, the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval to legislation that would recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the country, . . . . Continue Reading »
I got my obedient plant from a friend, who warned me about it; she also gave me a baby Rose of Sharon, as well as several other less-religiously-inclined plants. She described them all to me as “thug-like,” meaning that you could just stick them right into the heavy West Tennessee clay . . . . Continue Reading »
Rod Dreher over at BeliefNet has a weather eye for religious oddities, and yesterday posted a note about an evangelical missionary to the Amazon jungle who lost his faith after getting to know a tribe that saw the world in a radically different way:[Dan] Everett spent decades living with the Piraha . . . . Continue Reading »
Ali Allawi’s book on the crisis of Islamic civilization received more attention than most recent volumes on the subject, including a brief note in the London Economist April 16. I reviewed it in a “Spengler” essay this morning in Asia Times. It is a very good book, in the sense . . . . Continue Reading »
Conservatives, postmodern and otherwise, often discuss the difficulties associated with the sometimes promiscuous assignment and declaration of rights in political discourse today. If we look at the American founding narrowly from the perspective of its Lockean influence, its easy to see the . . . . Continue Reading »
American physicians are threatened by their government with being forced into an untenable position. On one hand, they are professionally obligated to render optimal care to each patient based on individual need. On the other hand, they are increasingly being called upon by bureaucrats and . . . . Continue Reading »
Jack Kemp died yesterday of cancer, with which he was only diagnosed in January. By the time it was caught, it had spread throughout his body. Those who knew him mourn, and those who didn’t, like me, give a tip of the hat in appreciation to the pubic service of a respectable politician.But . . . . Continue Reading »
The science intelligentsia and our betters among the liberal elite want what they want—and they aren’t about to be constrained by the rules of fair and honest debate to get it. Thus, in the euthanasia debate—which itself is a word that once did not mean mercy killing but was . . . . Continue Reading »