Monday, April 12, 2010

WEB BOHEMIAN (Monday, April 12, 2010)
(1)- WHAT DO PHILOSOPHERS THINK? -- The great philosophers of old are remembered largely by their posthumous contributions to dictionaries of quotations. How is an ordinary person to know what today’s professional philosophers think?

(2)- WAR AND PEACE -- it is difficult to read War and Peace and not be preoccupied with its reputation as the greatest novel ever written. Now consider what your life would be like if you'd never read it.

(3)- NYTIMES APOLOGIZES, BUT... -- “We apologize to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong for any distress or embarrassment...” but fails to mention a NYTimes $114,000 payoff.

(4)- FOOD FRAUD -- "Food fraud" has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and appears to pose a significant problem in the seafood industry. Victims range from the shopper to supermarkets.

(5)- MORAL COMPASS FOUND – Scientists find a 'moral compass' in the brain that controls how we judge other people's behavior. The region lies just behind the right ear and becomes more active when we think about other people's acts.

(6)- NEW BOOK – Historian Perry Anderson's new book is as insightful, combative and invigorating as its predecessors. He's had a long engagement with Europe as an editor of the New Left Review and a contributor to the London Review of Books.

(7)- ABOUT THOSE FROGS – Genetic tests have revealed the secret sex life of a tiny poison dart frog species that lives in the Peruvian rain forests: remarkably, it turns out that these frogs are monogamous.

(8)- GETTING RID OF DEBRIS – More than 5,500 tons of debris is cluttering space around the planet as a result of 50 years of abandoning spacecraft. Here's a move to get rid of it.

(9)- PARALYSIS REVERSIBLE – Alex McShane, 6, of Phoenixville lost the use of his right arm six months ago. But thanks to an experimental surgical procedure that effectively rewired the nerves in his arm, the paralysis may be reversible.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

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