Good Beer News

ThisisLondon:
"Apint of beer or a glass of wine triggers the growth of new brain cells and boosts memory, scientists say.
However, while moderate drinking can improve the mind, binge-drinking has the opposite effect. "

The New York Times > Books > Sunday Book Review > 'The World Is Flat': The Wealth of Yet More Nations

The New York Times > Books > Sunday Book Review > 'The World Is Flat': The Wealth of Yet More Nations:
"The metaphor of a flat world, used by Friedman to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious. It came to him after hearing an Indian software executive explain how the world's economic playing field was being leveled. For a variety of reasons, what economists call ''barriers to entry'' are being destroyed; today an individual or company anywhere can collaborate or compete globally. Bill Gates explains the meaning of this transformation best. Thirty years ago, he tells Friedman, if you had to choose between being born a genius in Mumbai or Shanghai and an average person in Poughkeepsie, you would have chosen Poughkeepsie because your chances of living a prosperous and fulfilled life were much greater there. ''Now,'' Gates says, ''I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie.'' "

Prospect - article_details

Prospect - article_details:
Dorkamo: This is a perfect example of modern nonsense, although there are not enough essays on Cervantes so it is worth a read. Whether Cervantes could only achieve immortality by 'accident,' however, seems false on its face.

"But Cervantes could not have understood that he was also composing something else, a determining text, the first story to be aware at every moment of its own fictitiousness, the book which would send a continent of writers off in search of a new identity—the original modern novel."

In One Prison, Murder, Betrayal and High Prose

The New York Times > In One Prison, Murder, Betrayal and High Prose:
"STURTEVANT, Wis., April 27 - Plastic Toys 'R' Us swords were nixed for fear the guards might misconstrue them as real weapons. Gloucester's pouch was filled with metal washers, rather than pennies, because money is barred inside the barbed wire."

Happy Birthday Shakespeare: Or What You Will

Happy Birthday Shakespeare: Or What You Will by Rafael Major:
"Academic integrity has come to be synonymous with the doubt and immobility of a Hamlet and 'reason' — we are told — is but a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Yet Shakespeare still speaks to us… how is this possible?"

Tom Stoppard

The Daily Collegian - Smith meets Stoppard:
"Arcadia' is a relatively recent work from a giant of modern theater, Tom Stoppard, a playwright most famous for 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,' and the screenplay for 'Shakespeare in Love.' However, while Stoppard has a prestigious reputation in the world of theater, his work is often criticized as being slight and arcane. 'Arcadia' is not exempt from this criticism as it name drops obscure allusion after obscure allusion. The play raises some very perplexing and pertinent questions such as how does one make sense of this chaotic world. However, the play ends up being nothing more than a convoluted"

A Judicious Compromise (washingtonpost.com)

A Judicious Compromise (washingtonpost.com):
"Why should the Democrats be the first to step back from the abyss of the 'nuclear option,' the possible rules change that would eliminate all judicial nomination filibusters and thereby make confirmation possible with 51 -- not 60 -- votes? "

Bard at the Bar

Oklahoma City Law Review:
"What use has the United States Supreme Court made of Shakespeare's wit and wisdom? A series of electronic searches on the FindLaw database of the name 'Shakespeare' yielded thirty-six citations, which sorted into five categories."

Shakespeare, Briefly

The New York Times > Arts > Arts, Briefly:
"On the day widely observed as the birthday of William Shakespeare - today, April 23 - his true likeness continues to be elusive, especially now that experts have called fake a familiar image thought to have been painted in his lifetime (1564-1616). "

The Death of Christianity?

Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy.:
"That simply might indicate that the entire establishment of the West, from the democracy-obsessed administration of US President George W Bush to the timid mandarins of the Vatican, do not want to tread upon Islam's sore toe. Or it might mean that such weapons are being held in reserve. One wants to exclaim, like an Italian taxi driver, 'Cosa sperate? La morte dal prossimo papa?' "

Shrinking Majors

The Chronicle: 4/22/2005: Past Their Prime?:
"By the fifth line of the presentation, Mr. Brown gets to the crucial question: What exactly can you do with a major in African-American studies? He lists several real-life examples of students who majored in black studies and went on to hold jobs in government, academe, the arts, and other fields.
But black students on this campus do not seem very interested in the message. Most of the dozen or so students gathered in the Black Student Union at lunchtime one recent day have eschewed black studies for more practical subjects like architecture, chemical engineering, law, and marketing."

Lincoln Library Address

Presidential Speech:
"Those who knew him remembered his candor, his kindness and his searching intellect -- his combination of frontier humor with the cadences of Shakespeare and the Holy Bible."

A Roshanda by Any Other Name: How do babies with super-black names fare?

A Roshanda by Any Other Name - How do babies with super-black names fare? By�Steven D.�Levitt�and Stephen J.�Dubner
Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? How much does campaign spending really matter? What truly made crime fall in the 1990s? These are the sort of questions raised—and answered—in the new book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. In today's excerpt, the first of two, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner explore the impact of a child's first name, particularly a distinctively black name.

Balanced Analysis?: Thinking the Unthinkable

Resource Investor - Books - Book of the Week: Thinking the Unthinkable

Modern intellectuals who turned radical-reactionary thought into today's common sense. How is this possible?

Modern Inanity

2blowhards.com:
"... Part of what's not-sexy about the new girls is the way the lack of inhibition is crossed with a complete lack of depth ... "

Boredom?

New Statesman - Books:
"I was also fascinated to learn that the concept of 'interesting' emerged at roughly the same time. Before 1760, we neither categorised things as being 'boring' nor 'interesting'; they just were. Perhaps the concept of individualism was not sufficiently developed for man to pre-sume to judge one way or the other. For me, however, this splitting mirrors the modern division between 'work' and 'leisure'. "

Modern Philosophy Has No "Passion"

In Today's Feuilletons - signandsight
Systems theorist Peter Fuchs reflects in an essay on why passion has become suspect and unmodern. "Living spontaneously is no longer considered legitimate; at best, it is a socially acceptable way of describing artists who are missing something: ironic realism seems to be the clearest effect of post-modernism. Passions have become strange – if they are to be shared, then only with dampened enthusiasm. To burn with passion, to decay from passion, to desire everything, to tremble, lament and scream, the wailing and the teeth grinding, lust and all the other seven sins, in short: the frenetic-panic in all its manifestations... We have for such phenomena 'limited generosity' (and a little humour) – perhaps in Salzburg at 'Jedermann'. In everyday life, they would simply terrify us and cause us to question whoever demonstrated them." Fuchs suggests going at the problem "with verve".

Artist and Murderer, But Kidnapper?

OK Blawg - The Oklahoma Law Blog:
"Several years ago, a new couple moved into a mobile home on a wooded lot in Campti, Texas, a small town near the Louisiana Border. As the years passed, residents of Campti began to feel that there was something not quite right about the pair. They kept to themselves in their secluded trailer, raising their chickens. They were not social with the locals, which was unusual for this small community. Early this month the residents of Campti found out why their neighbors had been so aloof."

Tunes for the Freewheelin' George Bush

The New York Times > Washington > White House Letter: Tunes for the Freewheelin' George Bush:
"What, exactly, is on the First iPod? In an era of celebrity playlists - Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback, recently posted his on the iTunes online music store - what does the presidential selection of downloaded songs tell us about Mr. Bush?"

The Iviest of the Ivy League

The Dartmouth Review: Ross Douthat Explores Harvard: The Iviest of the Ivy League
“Meritocracy is a parody of democracy.” They’re at odds but pretend not to be. Merit depends on the losers; you can grow up to be president, but, realistically speaking, you won’t.

Souls without longing - Reconsiderations - apathy among college students

Public Interest: Souls without longing - Reconsiderations - apathy among college students:
"THERE is a malaise spreading among America's college and university students, one that extends into the uppermost reaches of their hearts and minds, robbing them of delights at the moment they seem poised to enjoy them. This malaise leaves students with little direction or lasting desire and restricts their capacity to conceive of a noble and rewarding life; it encourages their pursuit of artificial and extreme joys that somehow always yield to lassitude or disappointment."

Herald Sun: Tears flow in Rome crowd [06apr05]

Herald Sun: Tears flow in Rome crowd [06apr05]:
"So Shakespeare had Mark Anthony say as he unveiled the body of Julius Caesar to the Roman crowd at the Forum more than two millennia ago. "

The New York Times: Saul Bellow, Poet of Urban America's Dangling Men

Saul Bellow, Poet of Urban America's Dangling Men:
"His voice was instantly recognizable and inimitably his own: at once highbrow and streetwise, lofty and intimate - a voice equally at home ruminating on the great social and political ideas of the day, and chronicling the 'daily monkeyshines' of 'the cheapies, the stingies, the hypochondriacs, the family bores, humanoids' and bar-stool comedians who populate his cacophonous world. "

The Seattle Times: Arts & Entertainment: Paglia deconstructs poems she labels "best"

The Seattle Times: Arts & Entertainment: Paglia deconstructs poems she labels "best": "Camille Paglia's book 'Break, Blow, Burn' is supposed to be aimed at a general audience. It's a selection of 43 English-language poems, from Shakespeare to Joni Mitchell, that the professor and firebrand critic counts among the world's best. Each poem is accompanied by a punchy explication, with comments that range from illuminating to overbearing. "

The Mediadrome - Poems of the Week: Alexander Pope

The Mediadrome - Poems of the Week: Alexander Pope
This description of the period was, of course, related to literature. However, other changes were taking place; and these led to the same period being described as ‘The Enlightenment’ or ‘The Age of Reason’. These terms were related to philosophical developments, led by people such as the English thinker John Locke (1632 – 1704), the Scot David Hume (1711 – 1776), and many others. English Protestantism struggled to express itself in ways that widened the limits of freedom of speech and press.

Remembering a lost legend this week - The Daily Targum - Opinions

A Candle has gone out: Remembering a lost legend this week:
"Being a great academic is a difficult thing to do. It takes both brains and a work ethic. But being a great human being is far tougher. Yet somehow, Wilson Carey McWilliams managed to do both. I often heard people describe him as the smartest man they'd ever met, but with his unassuming way, he never made anyone feel as if they were beneath him. "

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | The evil that men do

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | The evil that men do: "In ancient Rome, politicians saw murder as an extension of normal politics - and no one understood this better than Shakespeare, says Frank Kermode "

Telegraph | Arts | Bard of the boulevards

Telegraph | Arts | Bard of the boulevards
The French have always cared more for the authority of tradition than have the empirical English. That is one reason why they undergo revolutions – political and cultural – while we muddle happily through with evolution, surprising ourselves with our social mobility and cultural fluidity.