[Chinese in Vancouver]
When superstitions collide? Try censorship!

[mike-love.net]
Genealogy of Influence: a visualization of the connections between the most influential writers, artists, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians of Western culture.

[The Common Review]
E. D. Hirsch Jr.: Breadth of knowledge is the single factor within human control that contributes most to academic achievement and general cognitive competence. In contradiction to the theory of social determinism, breadth of knowledge is a far greater factor in achievement than socioeconomic status.

[Russell's Teapot]
I thought that was metaphorical...

[AlterNet]
Richard Dawkins: There are people who would rather not be told the truth by a doctor and I respect that, but that doesn't make it true. That you want your doctor to tell you that you haven't got terminal cancer, and your doctor obliges by lying to you, that's fine; but the fact is he has lied to you. Similarly, you may be comforted by the thought that there's a God looking after you, but if there isn't a God looking after you, then I'm afraid there isn't one, and that's all there is to it.

[Democracy Now!]
Bill Moyers: Big Media is ravenous. It never gets enough. Always wants more. And it will stop at nothing to get it. These conglomerates are an empire, and they are imperial.

[The New York Times]
In 2005, married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, and 51 percent of women are now living without a spouse.

[Sentient Development]
Star Trek's "Prime Directive" is stupid.

[Sentient Developments]
Must-know terms for the 21^st century intellectual.

[The American Scholar]
Until literature departments take into account that humans are not just cultural or textual phenomena but something more complex, English and related disciplines will continue to be the laughingstock of the academic world that they have been for years because of their obscurantist dogmatism and their coddled and preening pseudo-radicalism.

[The Washington Post]
Photos of Australian-born and London-based artist Ron Mueck's incredibly lifelike sculptures.

[Policy Review]
What is wrong with our universities?

[The Atlantic Online]
Poet John Skoyles on the unexpected eloquence of the nonsense refrain. With readings by Skoyles, Greg Delanty, and Paul Muldoon.

[exchristian.net]
Teach both theories, let the kids decide.

[YouTube]
A fantastic animation of a Russian folktale by Y. Norstein.

[The Edge World Question Center]
Some of the world's greatest thinkers address the question for 2007: What is there to be optimistic about?