I spent a lot of time searching JSTOR’s article database in the weeks leading up to my college graduation. I knew that I was going to be spending at least a year without much access to university resources, so I searched the database and saved copies of anything that looked interesting. While I have not [...]
Tagged humanities, JSTOR, scholarly journalsName Calling- A note in the New Yorker pointing out that, while there are still groups in existence claiming to the name Al Qaeda, those jihadist groups are increasingly local, which makes it hard to argue that it is feasible to have a war on terror (much less one that tries to use Al Qaeda [...]
Tagged Al Qaeda, Classics, Franz Ferdinand, Israel, JordanDefense Nerds Strike BackAt Wired, there was a symposium on the Battle of Hoth (from the Empire Strikes Back, awhere contributors analyzed the battle as though it was a historical event. My favorite contribution, though was by Tim Burke, The Longue Duree of the Galactive Empire, wherein he talks about Hoth as a particularly well [...]
Tagged facebook, Happiness, Hitler, Hoth, Star Wars, twitterAccording to a report I saw this morning, French forces in Mali have seized an airport outside Gao, one of the provincial capitals turned Islamist stronghold.1 In response to this and in reaction to a conversation with someone with whom I was discussing Mali last night who did not know the backdrop, I have decided [...]
Tagged Ansar Dine, Mali, Timbuktu, UNNaftali Bennett and Israel’s Rightward Shift- An article in the New Yorker that traces a rightward shift in Israel’s political alignment that includes both jettisoning moderate members of Likud and an uptick in membership of far-right parties that are likely to take the third most seats in the upcoming election if they don’t come in [...]
Tagged France, Israel, Istanbul, Mali, SwedenParaguay’s Awful History- A story in the Economist about how a war waged by Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay against Paraguay in 1865 is having direct political consequences today. The immediate impetus is that those countries kicked Paraguay out of an economic agreement following the ouster of a leftist president that they interpreted as a coup. [...]
Tagged Baltic Sea, Hungary, Israel, Twentysomethings, UruguayTemple and Sacred Vessels from Biblical Times Discovered at Tel Motza- A temple complex from the kingdom of Judah was found outside of Jerusalem, including walls and sacred vessels and pottery figurines have been discovered. This is one of the few sites from the period of the first temple now known to have possessed an [...]
Tagged ancient Israel, Pick pocketing, Professors, SyriaBribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way in Mexico- A story in the New York Times Wal Mart de Mexico and how it used bribes to bypass, manipulate, or acquire zoning and licensing permits for stores in Mexico, including around historic landmarks. Ramesses III’s Throat Was Slit- A new cat scan on the mummy of [...]
Tagged education standards, entourage, Islam, Luddites, Mexico, Ramesses III, Wal Mart, YemenChinese Textiles from Palmyra- From Dorothy King’s PhDiva, some color pictures of Chinese silks found in Palmyra. Academic Groupthink and the Power of Randomness- A discussion by Neville Morley about invitation-only academic workshops. His basic point is that invitation-only events tend to support a limited group of students and scholars, while marginalizing everyone else. The [...]
Tagged baseball, Education, homework, PalmyraAre You Smarter Than Your Grandfather- An article in the Smithsonian magazine that examines the rise in IQ scores over the last hundred years. The argument is largely that the environmental factors surrounding linguistic and scientific development of young people has led to a rise in IQ scores without necessarily an actual increase in “intelligence.” [...]
Tagged Amherst, Chicago, Doggerland, fox, Istanbul, National Geographic, publishing