Thursday, July 9, 2009

WEB BOHEMIAN (Thursday, July 9, 2009)
(1)- NAME WOE -- Austria is indeed home to a town called 'Fucking' (48' 03"N 13' 51"E). Pronounced "fooking," the little hamlet of Fucking is named after the man who founded the village in the 6th century. Brits like to steal the town signs.

(2)- CONSEQUENTIAL IDEAS -- Paul Rahe is a distinguished and prolific historian in the field of intellectual history who ventures with deliberate intent into political philosophy, judging what he sees.

(3)- BACK IN THE 1940s -- The Americans wanted to reshape Iran into their own image, while the British were comfortable with the status quo. American policy was based on the belief that change could only come by deposing the old-school leaders.

(4)- DON'T FORGET FARRAH -- Amid all the ululation for Michael Jackson, arguably the most squalid icon in the history of American civilization, let's not forget Farrah Fawcett. She was an icon too, of a more primordial sort.

(5)- RUSSIA'S DRUNK -- Cheap and illicit alcohol kills more than half Russian men and women in their most productive years and the government must act urgently to reverse the trend, a study to be published in The Lancet at the weekend said.

(6)- WORM CHARMING -- Worm charming is an ancient, noble and mysterious art, which, while intended primarily to bring worms out of the soil also manages to bring out the worst in its ultra-competitive practitioners. Tales abound of dirty tricks.

(7)- LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT -- For a long time, the idea that language might shape thought was considered at best untestable and more often simply wrong. Research in labs at Stanford University and at MIT has helped reopen this question.

(8)- CHANGE -- The number of bars and cafes in France has fallen from 200,000 half a century ago to 38,600, according to industry associations. More than 2,000 went out of business last year alone as an indoor smoking ban took effect.

(9)- GOD CHANGE -- In his book, “The Evolution of God,” Robert Wright tells how God grew up, starting with deities of hunter-gatherers, he moves to those of chiefdoms and nations, then to polytheism of early Israelites and then monotheism.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

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