In which I recall, via neurologist Oliver Sacks, some musings of Sylvester from 1877 on the limitlessness of mathematics.
Of all the things
Of all the things, what does Australian electoral politics concerns itself with?
Libertarian socialist reading
Is there a standard set of libertarian literature? Well, of course there is a long history in the socialist tradition. I tend to roll together libertarian socialism and anarchism together, as historically tends to happen. Here is a brief list
What do "liberal" and "conservative" actually mean?
These terms by now can mean almost anything you want them to mean. I tend to view liberalism as a right-wing ideology, basically running together with capitalism. “Liberals” and “conservatives” in the US argue about parameters of state policy within
Why international law?
When debating a matter of international law with people (say, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict) they will often say “Well, international law is illegitamate / doesn’t matter / no one follows it / US law supersedes it / etc. so your appeals
Requiem for Howard Zinn
The recent death of Howard Zinn is a tragedy, and leaves a great loss — a vacuum, even — amongst those who work towards peace and a better world. But to say this is not enough. It is not enough
Reflections on history
Given that today is the 20th anniversary of a pivotal event in history, perhaps some reflections on history are in order. But “optimism” is not the right word for it; neither is “pessimism”. Certainly, if we emphasise the world wars,
Rice's nonsense on torture
Oh wow, I only got around to watching this video now, and from some of the comments I thought she must have been making some half-convincing arguments… nope! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEED_iviTA&feature=channel_page Well, first we upgrade al Qaeda to tyrants, okay. Then one
The Herd strikes again
These have been around for a while now, but still, songs about history, US foreign policy, and war, are always interesting. The first one in particular is one of the most educational music videos I’ve ever seen (read the headlines!).