A debate rages: The New York Review of Books suggests Emerson: “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius.” In this respect the bloggers of our age have more Emersonian genius in them than our analytic philosophers, for goodContinue reading “Who was the first great blogger?”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Why is Facebook so bland?
Zadie Smith has an idea: Here’s my guess: [Mark Zuckerberg] wants to be like everybody else. He wants to be liked. Those 1.0 people who couldn’t understand Zuckerberg’s apparently ham-fisted PR move of giving the school system of Newark $100 million on the very day the movie [about Facebook] came out—they just don’t get it.Continue reading “Why is Facebook so bland?”
The nihilistic American voter
As a couple of veteran Washington observers have recently noted, the American voter of today is something of a nihilist. He doesn't really know what he wants, but he sure as hell knows what he doesn't want: what he's got. Here's Doyle McManus, in an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times today, on theContinue reading “The nihilistic American voter”
Climate scientists not pushing back against denialism, says American Geophysical Union
A story Sunday in the Los Angeles Times reported that climate scientists were joining in an effort to "push back" against a rise tide of climate change denial. The story said that Monday the American Geophysical Union would announce an effort by 700 scientists to "speak out as experts." But today the AGU said no,Continue reading “Climate scientists not pushing back against denialism, says American Geophysical Union”
Hardly Working: The economy today, by Steve Brodner
Steve Brodner, one of the hardest-working and most-talented pencil artists of our time, is moving away from his once-lovely Drawger site…but he's still putting up fascinating work on his own site. To wit — Hardly Working, his depiction of the economy for lots and lots of us: http://www-tc.pbs.org/video/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf Watch the full episode. See more NeedContinue reading “Hardly Working: The economy today, by Steve Brodner”
Obama in trouble, lefties and righties agree
From conservative David Brooks, on public radio Friday, when asked — as the President suggested — if it's true that President Obama has a communications problem: Mr. BROOKS: Yeah. Well, maybe the Titanic had a communications problem with the iceberg. You know, I just think it's a wrong diagnosis. You know, 60 or 70 percentContinue reading “Obama in trouble, lefties and righties agree”
What The New Yorker wants in a fiction photograph
Will Steacy, a photographer in New York, reveals some of the requests he's gotten from The New Yorker over the years for a photographic images to go with their stories: -A man walking a white pit bull in the city – ideally with one front leg missing -A woman hiding behind a door – ideallyContinue reading “What The New Yorker wants in a fiction photograph”
“The world is filled with redundant roosters”: Susan Orlean
From Susan Orlean's utterly charming New Yorker blog Free Range: The rooster problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon. I’m no zoologist, but I’m guessing that the hen to rooster ratio is probably one to one, but the desirability ratio is about twenty million to one. The world is filled with redundant roosters.Continue reading ““The world is filled with redundant roosters”: Susan Orlean”
“We will not leave our problems for our children unresolved”: Marco Rubio
Senator-elect Marco Rubio gave a fascinating speech Tuesday night in Florida. It's been widely broadcast, major portions even on All Things Considered, but hasn't been available in print on the Web (not that I have found, anyhow). So here, as a public service, let me present the two-edged sword of Republican idealism and denial. Americans believeContinue reading ““We will not leave our problems for our children unresolved”: Marco Rubio”
Climate change and income distribution: real change vs political
The big changes underway in this country are not political, despite the headlines. Divided government: What a shock! Never would've seen that one coming. A much bigger change has taken place in the nature of our economy, and in the nature of our atmosphere, and these are changes the Tea Party can't face, and thusContinue reading “Climate change and income distribution: real change vs political”
Kit Stolz 