What are the two best posts/articles you read online this week, LarvyProdders?
A link and a short paragraph each describing what appealed to you, please.
(If you post more than two links you’ll be automoderated, sorry.)
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
1) In this bit of highly qualified homage to suburban life, Laura describes signs and sales techniques that all of us will recognise. Close to home in more ways than one. Also, there is welcome news of Basil.
2) Cast Iron Helen casts a spirited yet jaded eye on the sport of princes and the media coverage thereof, though in her finely forensic dissection of sledging and its gender implications, she rightly avoids an old cricket sledging story
**tastelessness alert**
that re-emerged in media discussions this week and made me laugh so much it blew my feminist cred right out of the water. Apparently Rod Marsh once taunted Ian Botham [madness in itself, surely -- Ed.] as follows: ‘How’s your wife and my kids?’
Beefy didn’t miss a beat. ‘Wife’s fine; kids are retarded.’
This one and this one.
Oh, this is good too. OK so I cheated.
Oh, well, if we’re allowed to have three …
Brynn at Shakesville: Boys will be boys and girls will be girls…. (myths of gender essentialism)
(nb: Shakesville is the new home for the Shakespeares Sister crew)
Anti-ob at For Battle!: Mardi Gras Mishap
This one.
And this one.
1) http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/
The post, April 21 ” A New Dark Age”. by Len Hart
2) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20073
Shakespeare and the Uses of Power by Spephen Greenblatt
I should have been more specific about the two-links standard. That’s two links per comment. Feel free to add more comments/links within reason, folks.
Pharyngula: We aim to misbehave – the timidity of atheists in the public sphere compared with suffragettes. I don’t always agree with PZ on the need for public atheism, but it’s an interesting look at debunking ahistorical arguments nonetheless.
A lot of you will already have read Bernice’s cogent comments on some media reactions to the murders at Va Tech. If you haven’t though, you really should.
Caleb Crain’s post about the specific form of empathy elicited by novel-reading, torture, and human rights: this post is in part about a new book of literary criticism that argues the rise of the novel helped create the idea that opther people’s inner lives are as real as our own and thus other people are entitled to freedom from abuse. It was posted before the shootings but it goes right to the heart of the discussion that’s been going on about liberal arts education and sociopathic behaviour.
Crain is one of the best bloggers going, I think. He makes me both envious and grateful.
At Dick Jones’ Patteran Pages, a profound post on ageing and mortality:
Posts of this quality make me want to keep blogging.
The Urban Archipalego, discussing a proposed cities-only strategy for the Democratic Party in the USA.
An interesting article in the New Yorker on commuting to work.
Seven pages long.
And the maps that went with the Urban Arpichaelego article, which show that politics in the USA is more complex than the usual red state/blue state breakdown.
“When you are commuting by car, you are not hanging out with the kids, sleeping with your spouse (or anyone else), playing soccer, watching soccer, coaching soccer, arguing about politics…”
Well, any activity that prevents people from playing, watching, or coaching soccer has to be regarded on the whole as a tremendous boon to humanity. If these are the by-products of a long commute, then I say, MAKE THE COMMUTES EVEN LONGER!!