Speaking of transporters, which we have been:The real tribute to James "Scotty" Doohan, 39 light-years after he first saved the USS Enterprise's heinie (and did it many times over), is that it's now almost impossible to have a boyfriend or husband who can't do a somewhat reasonable impression of Doohan's famously stressed-out burr: "We've got nuh powrrrr, Cap'n!" Or "She cannuh take much moor."The Washington Post offers a nice appreciation of...

My wife points me to a very interesting post at Geeky Mom on higher education and social software.Books like Everything Bad is Good for You and What Video Games have to teach us about learning and literacy point to a different kind of learning, learning that is more active and hyperlinked and most importantly, controlled by the learner. Which brings me to blogging (or pretty much any technology where one must relinquish control to the...

Battlepanda recently posted on Nozick's "Experience Machine" and the hypothetical of Star Trek holodecks. In the comments section, I learn that she and I share the same position on transporters: if I lived in the Star Trek universe I'd be one of those sad sacks who still putter around earth growing stuff that can be made in a replicator anyhow. To me, it's tantemont to suicide.I've had many a geekfest discussion on the subject, and I stand...

Eric Reeves is guest posting on Darfur at TNR's blog. The Editor's note: His contributions will add up to a sort of crash-course on the Darfur genocide--moving from posts today on the genocide's history, to posts in coming days on the inadequate response of the international community, to posts toward the end of the week on what it would realistically take to bring the genocide to a halt.I may occasionally teach a course on genocide, but Reeves...

In the comments section of Bruce Jentleson's recent post at America Abroad, 10 Days After London, commentator Daniel A. Greenbaum asks:I am curious what about the war in Iraq caused the radicalization? Saddem has killed far more Arabs that than this war has. Saddem invaded both Iran and Kuwait. This question is not meant to be ironic but genuine.Two (related) possible answers:First, identity and in-group bias have interesting effects. Arabs and...

Does anyone actually enjoy grading? I admit that I get something of a kick out of reading a smart, elegant essay or exam. I particularly enjoy essays that show a flash of brilliance, even if their mechanics leave a bit to be desired. I also recognize the importance of grading: I really do try to give each student's work the attention it deserves, and to provide constructive feedback that will help them improve in their writing and...

Cross posted on my blog. Most of the world's major media are reporting that the 7/7 London bombers were suicide terrorists, willing to give up their life for their cause.I've watched CNN and MSNBC enough the past week to know that this "fact" is now part of the conventional wisdom. Suicide is repeatedly used as an adjective to describe the bombers. Say it over and over and over...and it becomes truth. Right?What if it is wrong? Apparently,...

This afternoon I was interviewed by ARD German television for a news spot of some kind. Like most news organizations and savvy observers, they expect the CDU to win the German elections in the fall, which will make Angela Merkel the new German chancellor. The folks from ARD wanted to know whether I thought that Merkel's election would change things in US-German relations; I told them no, because the issues that have cropped up in US-German...

Last weekend my wife and son and I went to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. It was Old Timers' Day, so the actual game between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians was preceded by a couple of innings featuring a set of retired players who had formerly played for the Yankees. There was a lot of pomp and fanfare as these old-timers were introduced, and it was a great thrill to watch Mel Stottlemeyer, the current Yankees pitching coach, take...

When my wife dragged me to a performance of St. John's Passion at Lincoln Center a few years back, I could feel myself turning gay. A quick exit, however, saved my marriage and kept me on the straight and narrow. Seriously, either these guys are just completely ignorant or it's the start of the secret agenda of the Christian conservative movement: first the Catholics, next the Lutherans....Filed as: stupidity

Leon de Winter in the New York Times (via Marc Schulman):FOR centuries the Netherlands has been considered the most tolerant and liberal nation in the world. This attitude is a byproduct of a disciplined civic society, confident enough to provide space for those with different ideas. It produced the country in which Descartes found refuge, a center of freedom of thought and of a free press in Europe.The murder last year of the filmmaker Theo...

I've been reading through R.J. Rummel's blog which, as one of his regular commentators puts it, is kind of a "public seminar" on the virtues of democracy in terms of inter-state and intra-state violence. Rummel's blog is, indeed, not just a really excellent academic advocacy website but a nice "public seminar."Rummel was one of the first contemporary advocates of the Democratic Peace. The basic idea is that if two states are democracies then...