Technopolis

Automatic Professor Machine lecture restored L.C. Winner's " Introducing the Automatic Professor Machine " lecture has been of...

Political tsunami: the election of 2006 I'm beginning to look at the analysis of the 2006 election results. This story in the NYT cont...

Call Center: the movie If you've got ten minutes and want a good chuckle, check out "Call Center," a film about global inform...

It can't happen here? (Look again) From the very beginning of this blog I've covered the not-so-slow movement of the U.S.A. from a d...

Television and the onset of autism Research by Cornell University social scientists suggests a link between autism and televsion watching of...

News Not Reported in the U.S.A.: Worst Nuclear "Incident" Since Chernobyl Here's the story from Spiegel : An observer has call...

Suburban Sprawl: California destroyed An impressive web site with photos by Matt Jalbert shows the way that suburban sprawl is gobbling up ...

"Willkommen zum Wal-Mart!" Germans Get Wise to Wal-Mart After a decade long attempt to crack the German market, Wal-Mart is pullin...

America Polishes its New Image (From the BBC) UN body criticises US on rights The US should immediately shut all secret detention facilities...

"All aboard!" Yaks threaten China's 'miracle' train line From the The Guardian The safety of passengers on the world...

The Empire Strikes Out A story in the Washington Post, "Waiting to Get Blown Up," goes to the heart of the confusion, disgust and...

(Mario Savio on the steps of Sproul Hall, probably 1965) The Renewed Chill on Political Liberty The following story from the San Francisco ...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY Here's a statement of the long forgotten significance of this day, now more relevant than ever. Mother's Day ...

WE'RE NUMBER 28 !! WE'RE NUMBER 28 !! WE'RE NUMBER 28 !! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! This has long been evident, but an interna...

The Power of Nightmares The well researched, well produced, deeply unsettling BBC film series, "The Power of Nightmares" has now b...

America's Failing Grades on Infrastructure The American Society of Civil Engineers, not known for being especially radical in outlook, h...

Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless...also very clever Harold Pinter's lecture, "Art, Truth and Politics," presented by...

Members of the American public ponder George W. Bush's latest defense of his "policy" on the Iraq war. Hey, this guy makes Ric...

Chemical Spill in Harbin, China -- "bad" facts denied by authorities An explosion and major chemical spill last week near city of ...

For torture, but against the arts and humanities: an emerging pattern? In a bold move presumably based upon deeply held principles, nine U.S...

Intelligent design -- not working well in the U.S.A.? If the Creator is beneficently leading the world onward and upward to a more "int...

Virtual War: We get 'em coming and going! Although declining recruitment figures indicate that the tactic hasn't been working very w...

Chris Gibson: thinker, raconteur, restless soul, friend to many (1954-2005) He was the most intense person I've ever known, someone who...

A truly democratic technology in action Using digital cameras and streaming video on the Internet, one of the participants prepared a portra...

Parents speak out on (the latest) war Cindy Sheehan’s vigil in Crawford, Texas renews questions about why America has gone to war in Iraq. ...

Beyond Alan Sokal -- the randomly generated science paper! In the grand tradition of hoaxes and spoofs, a field of excellence that holds a s...

"That's not an alien tripod! It's the the Lafarge cement plant burning TIRES!" Much of the fire and smoke shown in Spielb...

Global warming? What me worry?

Scientist says humans cause global warming Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, testified to the Senate Energy ...

Ethanol: A good liquid fuel alternative? A new study by ecologist David Pimintel at Cornell (shown above) and engineering prof. Tad Patzek ...

Terrorism and engineering education A peculiar wrinkle from investigations on the London bombings is speculation that terrorists have been r...

Strangling the "American Dream" -- important unreported news Here via Xymphora are complementary stories about the death of the A...

The Live 8 agenda questioned The millions of people who enjoyed the Live 8 concerts in person and on television yesterday were repeatedly ur...

Rocket science -- the new arms race in Iraq Although the Bush administration tells us that the insurgency is dwindling and in its "last...

Botero paints scenes of Abu Ghraib Columbian painter Fernando Botero has long painted the violence and suffering of political struggles in h...

Software design for totalitarian regimes A story in the L.A. Times notes the helpful role that a Microsoft program plays for the Chinese go...

Downing Street memo and other evidence that the Iraq War was based on bogus intelligence and political deceit While the US Congress, the med...

Profiles in cowardice: Senators who did not co-sponsor the resolution apologizing for not passing anti-lynching laws Lamar Alexander (R-TN)...

Dinosaurs on Noah's Ark? To keep America safe from the theory of evolution and yet explain the embarrassing presence of ancient fossils,...

When foxes run the hen house (greenhouse): a familiar Bush Administration tale A NYT story , "Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links t...

"Grocery Store Wars" -- 0rganic food video satire The Organic Trade Association has released an amusing satire, "Grocery Stor...

No clear purpose for the "war on terror" -- Army War College states the obvious An interesting report by Stephen D. Biddle of the...

Dancing in the streets of Hudson: a victory for democracy, community and environment in the Hudson Valley: the stunning defeat of Saint Lawr...