The New Scientist Book Club has just finished reading Alex Foster's sci-fi novel “Circular Motion”. We liked it – but there were calls for a bit more science in this slice of science fiction
WRITER. https://offscreen.com/contributors/view/daniel-garrett ... https://compulsivereader.com/category/music-reviews/... http://cinetext.phl.univie.ac.at/magazine/garrett/shakespeare-behind-bars/shakespeare-behind-bars.html
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The New Scientist Book Club has just finished reading Alex Foster's sci-fi novel “Circular Motion”. We liked it – but there were calls for a bit more science in this slice of science fiction
A century to build the expert civil service, a few months to burn it down for generations
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaCS...
Every day is a mindfuck. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCK...
Really? www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCK...
Yes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCK...
We can't allow ourselves to become numb to mass shootings. What happened today in Minneapolis is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I are praying for the parents who have lost a child or will be sitting at their hospital bedside after yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.
“I hope to God I never see another flag as long as I live. I would like to burn them all—burn every passport, abolish every border.” James Baldwin, The Welcome Table (Univ. of Chicago Library: James Baldwin among the Philosophers) www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhib...
"Few people think of pop-music critics as pillars of American intellectualism, and even fewer think of pop stars as an endangered species. Unlike movie critics or theatre critics or restaurant critics, pop critics can’t even claim to be saving their readers time..." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Seeking an indictment for being tossed a sandwich? Who is a snowflake now? www.youtube.com/watch?v=kver...
Frey: And don't just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/chari...
Louisiana has to build three new natural gas power plants to accommodate the "AI" data center that Meta just crammed through because said center will use *Three Times* as much electricity (and, thus, attendant resources) as the *Entire City Of New Orleans*, every year. Y'all this isn't sustainable.
they're destroying every public health gain of the last century it's probably fine www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
What? This is like a comic-tragic nightmare, such malicious foolishness. Is this the worst that can happen, or only the beginning? encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/a...
Windmills? Do these people just say anything that comes to mind? wwf.panda.org/discover/kno...
"The film, which premiered at Sundance, tells a multigenerational story of a family expelled from Jaffa in 1948." www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Consider the context (society), not simply the character (DT): how have WE allowed such an ignorant, incompetent man such power? www.cer.eu/insights/don...
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
Our new report connects the dots showing that the Trump administration has launched a campaign to undermine American elections. bit.ly/46ETsQp
Trump doesn't seem to see that some people are still immune to his threats. Jack White criticized Trump's Oval Office decor. The White House then called White a "washed-up, has-been loser... masquerading as a real artist." And White, undeterred, posted an absolutely blistering takedown in response.
Rigged system? www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646871... … www.citizensforethics.org/reports-inve... … www.justsecurity.org/75032/litiga... … www.republicreport.org/2020/ten-rea... … www.axios.com/2019/11/15/t... … www.salon.com/2022/10/05/d... … www.newyorker.com/books/page-t... ...
www.criterion.com/current/post...
“It was Marlowe who cracked something open,” Greenblatt says, “and enabled Shakespeare to walk through—how should we say?—over his dead body.” www.harvardmagazine.com/books-litera...
"...rather than playing a unifying role, the study of history reinforces our society’s divisions. So does the clash between two definitions of freedom—one exclusionary and linked to ethno-cultural identity, the other inclusive and egalitarian..." www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A 48-hour sale with half-price books, the last day of which is today. All UNC print and ebooks will be 50% off, plus free shipping on orders over $75 for two days only with code 01NEWSITE50 at checkout. This sale is US only and not applicable to distributed titles. uncpress.org/978146968549...
Head of ECFR's Madrid, José Ignacio Torreblanca delivers a talk on the deception of MAGA free speech narratives, and the need for Europe to sure up its regulatory laws and capacity in this context. Watch this and the other panels of the 2025 #ACM25 Annual Council Meeting: https://bit.ly/4fIuDW5
Very pleased that our work is featured in a story by the North Carolina Coastal Federation. The story draws attention to our Flooded House Museum. coastalreview.org/2025/07/wate...
"First, even short bouts with autocratization can have a lasting impact on democracy." muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Interesting young scholar-critic Tobi Haslett...on John Wideman: "Wideman wants to capture black history and somehow heal the pain—but the writing snaps, chokes, slides, flees. It brims with allusions and rends its own flesh." muckrack.com/tobi-haslett...
Discussion w/ author N. Boggs...hosted by Miwa Messer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEXM...
us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
"Art critics regularly bring to a painting history, culture, schools of painting, and so on. But what’s often left out is how the act of viewing shapes mental structures in the brain..." thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/why-repetiti...
"What is the missing noun to which English refers: literature, language or both? If both, does English belong with the study of other modern languages and literatures? Is its primary concern with literature in English or with the culture of Englishness?" www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Will Russia-Ukraine War End with Diplomacy or on Battlefield? John Mearsheimer vs. Denys Pilash
The gradual inclusion of truth about the experience of slavery in American museums has been one of the most deeply researched and considered and consequential developments in public history over the last half century. Enraging we have to defend it in this way.
Great! race.usc.edu/coalition/
"What single film best represents a nation? Here, 12 writers choose the one work they believe most captures their home’s culture and cinema..." www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
In an era of globalization and of populism, zombies provide a vivid metaphor for being swept away—by a political movement, or by historical forces beyond your comprehension, Katy Waldman writes.
In another essay included here, published in Harper’s in 2009, Kincaid begins: “Three years before my mother died, I decided not to speak to her again...” newrepublic.com/article/1986...
Baldwin’s realization that suffering does not create virtue and that victims are not necessarily good people was, as he knew, a “difficult . . . unpopular notion, for nearly everyone prefers to be defined by his status, which, unlike his virtue, is ready to wear.” hudsonreview.com/2025/08/jame...
I need every Dem to be listening to how Beto is talking about power. It’s not to be stored up for some gun powder plot; it needs to be used like Walz used it to feed every Minnesota school kid. The exercise of power begets more power
A man understandably refused to hand over his ID or get out of the car for a bunch of masked thugs who refused to identify themselves. And when he drove away, they opened fire on him. This isn’t how you do any sort of enforcement when your goal is to uphold the law. This is gangsterism.
If a series like this can no longer be made - if not even Spike Lee can make a film on a subject as widely reported as the Kaepernick affair - then freedom of speech in the US is in very poor shape. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The past 24 hours in DC have been chaos. FBI, Secret Service, DHS, & DC police are roaming the district, forcibly displacing homeless residents & throwing away their belongings. This is inhumane, wastes taxpayer dollars, and doesn't solve homelessness. housingnothandcuffs.org/2025/08/15/h...
The water is warm, not boiling yet; and the lobsters are feeling quite cozy--and the Post reports on this as if this were just another event, another year. www.ibanet.org/Trump-2.0-an...
Shameful madness. www.ibanet.org/Trump-2.0-an...
Summer Readings! Check the new books from BTT faculty - Drs. Canada. McInnis, and Wilson! today.duke.edu/2025/06/summ...
Outside of knowledge, law, and luck... www.ibanet.org/Trump-2.0-an...
CBO underscores the truth about Republicans’ cruel law (again): It pickpockets more than $1,000/year from the poorest Americans to give more than $13,000/year to the richest. Big and beautiful, but only if you’re at the top. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
A clown-show of an administration, the farce before the obvious tragedy? fivebooks.com/best-books/f...
Release the Epstein files? Resign. fivebooks.com/best-books/f...
Do we laugh or cry--or organize? fivebooks.com/best-books/f...
Repulsive beyond description. therevelator.org/trump-books-...
Interesting. So will vaccines be required for all children, as the science supports vaccination, as do good public health laws? pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Starting in September, Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP lawmakers will make it even harder in Texas to prevent school shootings, suicides, and murders by domestic abusers www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is a red herring. Rent stabilized apartments, unlike “affordable” units rented via lottery, don’t have an income cap. Great for a future mayor to live in a $2400 one-bedroom in Queens. It means he’s a real New Yorker…unlike some people I could name.
How did 3M’s “forever chemicals” end up in all of us? The inside story of the corporate scientists who discovered—then helped to conceal—the dangers of its chemicals.
A Library of America discussion with Richard Wright’s daughter Julia Wright, grandson Malcolm Wright, and author Kiese Laymon... www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9y0...
howlround.com/dont-let-hap...
Artists and writers serve an educational function, not merely the function to entertain or affirm specific tastes. Has Theatre done enough to cultivate an intelligent audience that will want intelligent discussions? www.americantheatre.org/2024/06/06/t... ... www.americantheatre.org/2024/03/28/c...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKX1...
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Right--this is important, and disturbing; but many things are (such as the attack on universities, the destruction of federal agencies, the elimination of civil service protections, the cancelling of compassionate grants and aid, etc.). www.hudson.org/domestic-pol...
I suppose many will laugh to the point of crying... www.hudson.org/domestic-pol...
Well, let's use history as a guide and make intelligent guesses. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030...
Really? Doesn't this seem arbitrary, impulsive, unnecessary? www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030...
Speeding is for people who can't do math. The majority of car trips in the US are less than 6 miles. If you drive 30 mph instead of 20 mph, you'll only get there 6 minutes earlier but you're much more likely to kill someone. Just leave 10 minutes earlier and drive slower.
filmmakermagazine.com/131469-list-...
Really? us.macmillan.com/books/978162...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Is he being attacked for telling the truth? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Is he being attacked for telling the truth? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Stop the defensive and dishonest propaganda. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
The truth? Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and the world, more and more, is recognizing that. us.macmillan.com/books/978162...
"...about two co-stars who have a love affair during the turbulent shoot of an adaptation of ancient Greek tragedy Medea in Senegal, then meet again months later at the film’s premiere in Berlin where a racist incident unsettles their reunion." www.screendaily.com/news/luxbox-...
"Asked to generate intervention plans for struggling students, AI teacher assistants recommended more-punitive measures for hypothetical students with Black-coded names and more supportive approaches for students the platforms perceived as white" www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/06/a...
Multiple times this year I’ve had coffee with fellow immigrants who grew up in corrupt third world countries and the shared sentiment has been that Americans don’t understand how bad things are going to get.
The bathroom (all gender) on the Newfoundland ferry. Why can't all bathrooms be like this? It's better for trans and gender non-conforming but also for caregivers, i was close while my 6yo was in the bathroom but still give him "big boy" space. No imbalanced mens/womens lines. All around better.
Around the country, snatch squads are roaming the streets with impunity. Kafka would have understood this moment all too well. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Fed policymakers signal rising angst about cooling economy reut.rs/4okZ9cN
fivebooks.com/category/wor...
The long decline of democracy in Turkey: youtu.be/jB-5jPBQn_Q
www.criterion.com/current/post...
oliverbatemandoesthework.substack.com/p/the-work-o...
"...now is a good time to take in new stories and perspectives about the country’s divisions and how to bring people together..." www.philanthropy.com/commons/reco...
Great essayist, and a writer of sensitive fiction-and I'm glad he remains well remembered. compulsivereader.com/2019/07/19/s...
Thanks for your work! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJyR...
Eleven more libraries will reopen on Sundays, thanks to the leadership of the City Council. They never should've been closed in the first place. As Mayor, I'll end this absurd budget dance that keeps our beloved libraries in limbo year after year.
Masterpiece Theater. Sesame Street. Local National Public Radio Stations. Independent news reports Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of important programs that have served the nation since the inception of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting in 1967.
pro soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios followed all the rules when he came to the US. His lawyer told took his asylum case bc it seemed like a "slam dunk. Then US officials sent him to CECOT, where he was told he'd spend the rest of his life w/@mattshuham.bsky.social www.huffpost.com/entry/pro-so...
On a very serious note, my dad Sam Weinstein is being persecuted by the UK government because of his pro-Palestine organizing. If you’re in the London area this week, please consider coming out to support him as he faces what is a brazen attack on Palestinians and civil rights.
Congratulations! I'm enjoying Misbehaving...the range of subjects and tones, the honesty and humor, the sense of a shared reality.
Great singer... www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ukk...
NEW: Border patrol made false claims about Los Angeles protesters it jailed, misrepresenting basic facts of events that were filmed. I obtained records of officers acknowledging + "apologizing" for errors The DOJ is now dismissing cases, an embarrassment for Trump-appointed US attorney Bill Essayli
The Progressive Scandinavian Prison Model Comes to an Idaho Prison.
Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest. shorturl.at/BDDME
Science has to clarify and correct itself, from time to time. Something religion rarely if ever does.