REVIEW Pears Cyclopedia 2010-2011The Cyclopedia is kept astoundingly up to date by a dedicated team of 30 or so scholar-contributors. I spotted hundreds of updates even in a cursory sweep.
Riots in Egypt about Food, not about 'Freedom'Like in dozens of other developing countries, the Egyptians struck a Faustian deal with their rulers: they gave up their liberty in return for personal safety, job security, and middle-class prospects. Mubarak, the country's much-maligned Pharaoh failed to deliver on all three counts. Having thus breached the unwritten social contract, the Egyptians want him to pay the ultimate political price and abdicate humiliatingly.
The Second Middle AgesThe fourth quarter of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first herald a period akin, in some respects, to certain stretches of the Middle Ages. The High Middle Ages - especially after the conquest of Spain by the Arabs (Moors) - was characterized by rapid technological and scientific progress.
Why Do People Pay Taxes?People pay taxes because they want to belong to a collective, share a communal fate and a common lore, and enjoy the benefits of membership in the exclusive club of productive citizenry. To be a taxpayer is akin to sporting a badge of honour: it is a proof of personal integrity and industriousness, and, depending on the tax bill, a hallmark of success and prosperity. The payment of taxes bestows civil rights upon the payee: the cries 'I am an honest tax-paying citizen' or 'no taxation without representation' resonate in many a film and book.
The Wikipedia CultThe inner core of the English-language Wikipedia has c. 2000 members. Of these, about 200-300 members make all the important, strategic decisions. The others monitor articles and edit them, usually in order to promote and protect their own points of view and interests. This is not an informal network: it is completely rigid with a hierarchy, titles, job descriptions, remits, and responsibilities. It is a stringently edited work, not a loose forum, or a BBS. Many in the upper echelons (and in Wikimedia, the non-profit that is overseeing the whole operation) earn salaries and enjoy junkets and p
Dow-Jones: I Told You So 14 Months AgoIn February 2009 (when the Dow-Jones was hurtling towards 6500) I made a startling prediction. It came true.
Misuse of the Concept of 'Erga Omnes' in the Greek-Macedonian Name DisputeThe Greeks feel that Macedonians have designs on the part of Greece that borders the tiny, landlocked country and that the use of Macedonia's constitutional name internationally will only serve to enhance irredentist and secessionist tendencies, thus adversely affecting the entire region's stability.
PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist Revised) Test: What's Wrong with Psychological TestsThe PCL-R is based on a structured interview and collateral data gathered from family, friends, and colleagues and from documents. The questions comprising the structured interview are so transparent and self-evident that it is easy to lie one's way through the test and completely skew its results. Moreover, scoring by the diagnostician is highly subjective (which is why the DSM and the ICD stick to observable behaviours in its criteria for Antisocial or Dissocial Personality Disorder).
REVIEW: The Britannica Guide to Climate ChangeThe book is refreshing in its objectivity and candor. It refrains from taking sides or from preaching. This does not mean that it is a soulless inventory of data: on the contrary, it is yet another passionate plea to save our planet and our future. But it addresses our brains rather than our hearts and this makes for a welcome departure from contemporary practices.
Second Ohrid Framwork Agreement: Resolution of the Greek-Macedonian Name DisputeThe only way to resolve the seemingly intractable name dispute between Greece and Macedonia is to internationalize it. The negotiations should openly include - besides the primary parties and the hapless UN negotiator, Nimetz - the USA, the EU, and, possibly, Russia.
Symbol and EssenceThere are three types of symbols.
Why is Mathematics so Successful?Mathematics is a language like no other. Still, it suffers from the drawbacks that afflict other languages. The structure of our language, its inter-relatedness with the world, and its inherent limitations dictate our worldview and determine how we understand, describe and explain Nature and our place in it.
Why Narcissists Cheat on their Spouses, Commit Adultery and have Extramarital Affairs and LiaisonsMarriage, monogamy, and child-bearing and rearing are common activities that characterize the average person. The narcissist feels robbed of his uniqueness by these pursuits and coerced into the relationship and into roles - such as a husband and a father - that reduce him to the lowest of common denominators. This narcissistic injury leads him to rebel and reassert his superiority and specialness by maintaining extramarital affairs.
Vanity Publishing will Rescue the Print MediaThe print media should jump on the wagon: they should solicit contributions from citizen journalists, bloggers, i-reporters, and e-columnists. These content providers are likely to be satisfied with a mere byline for their remuneration (seeing their name in print!) Having thus cut their costs by leveraging the public's vanity, newspapers and magazines will be able to concentrate on customer relations (via their internet properties and social networking tools) and on what they do best: coherent aggregation, contextual commentary, and communal branding.
Transformations of AggressionThe narcissist's favourite sadistic cocktail is brutal honesty coupled with 'helpful advice' and 'concern' for the welfare of the person attacked. The narcissist blurts out - often unprovoked - hurtful observations. These statements are invariably couched in a socially impeccable context. Akin to 'anger management', the sadistic narcissist also requires 'truth management' to teach him how to contain his impulsive and offensive 'honesty' and 'directness'.
Swine Flu as a ConspiracyIn May 2009, as swine flu was surging through the dilapidated shanties of Mexico, I received a mass-distribution letter from someone claiming to have worked at the National Institutes of Health in Virology: 'I worked in the Laboratory of Structural Biology Research under the NIAMS division of NIH from 2002 - 2004.' Atypically, the source provided a name, an e-mail address, and a phone number. He stated that the newly-minted pandemic was the outcome of a 'recombinant virus has been unleashed upon mankind' by a surrealistic coalition: 'the Executive Branch of our (USA) government, the World
Seven Concepts in DerivativesThere are two types of risk: specific to the firm or sector and systemic, usually the outcome of an external shock to the entire economy. Derivatives aim to mitigate risks, but what they actually do is concentrate them in the hands of a few major players. Risk markets encourage the transmission of financial contagion across borders and continents, exactly as do international trade and foreign investment (both direct and portfolio, or 'hot money'). Indeed, liquidity: the uninterrupted availability of buyers and sellers in relevant marketplaces factors in the valuation of derivatives. In a way
Paradigm-Shifting vs. Paradigm-sustaining ScienceAll theories - scientific or not - start with a problem. They aim to solve it by proving that what appears to be 'problematic' is not. They re-state the conundrum, or introduce new data, new variables, a new classification, or new organizing principles. They incorporate the problem in a larger body of knowledge, or in a conjecture ('solution'). They explain why we thought we had an issue on our hands - and how it can be avoided, vitiated, or resolved.
Obama's Narcissism Made Worse in First Year in OfficeObama's pronoun density has doubled between January 20, 2009 and October 2009. It then subsided, though it is still about 50% over the level exhibited during his election campaign. This would seem to indicate that his pathological narcissism has been exacerbated in office as he was probably basking in media attention and the trappings of power. The backlash, such as it was, against several of his more egregious behaviours and faux-pas led him to modify his conduct and pay closer attention to his syntax and grammar: Obama is now acting modest. False modesty is another hallmark of raging, malign
The Negative Survival Value of TaboosAs circumstances change and our knowledge of Nature expands, all taboos should be subjected to revision and rigorous scientific perusal: does urine-drinking have medical benefits? Are suicide and murder permissible in certain situations and among well-defined populations? Is organ harvesting to be allowed if it alleviates other forms of misery (such as extreme poverty or child labor)?
Narcissist of Substance vs. Narcissist of AppearancesThere seem to be two types of narcissists: those who derive ample narcissistic supply from mere appearances and those whose narcissistic supply consists of doing substantial deeds, of acting as change-agents, of making a difference, and of creating and producing things of value. The former aim for celebrity (defined as 'being famous for being famous'), the latter aim for careers in the limelight.
Macedonia's great accomplishment is to have survivedMacedonia is not ready to accede to the EU and the EU bureaucracy know it. Macedonia has received a date for commencing the negotiations only because the EU is very troubled about the explosive situation in Bosnia, Kosovo, and in western Macedonia where restive and belligerent Albanians are a majority.
Iraq, the Kurds, and Israel: Entwined FuturesIf the war was all about oil, Iraq would have been invaded by the European Union, or Japan whose dependence on Middle Eastern oil is far greater than the United States'. The USA would have, probably, taken over Venezuela, a much larger and proximate supplier with its own emerging tyrant to boot.
The Invention of Telling the TruthHow are Truth and Fact interrelated?
Immature, Rogue, and Failed StatesThe US State Department's designation of 'rogue state' periodically falls in and out of favor. It is used to refer to countries hostile to the United States, with authoritarian, brutal, and venal regimes, and a predilection to ignore international law and conventions, encourage global or local terrorism and the manufacture and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Most rogue states are not failed ones.
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