Category: ideas

“In the national war on blight, the poor were disproportionately targeted for eviction from dilapidated downtowns to make way for parks, office buildings, sports arenas, and high-rise apartments. But a new study for the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that urban renewal, or slum clearance, had some lasting positive effects on economic growth.”

“The first sexual revolution can be traced in some of the greatest works of literature, art and philosophy ever produced – the novels of Henry Fielding and Jane Austen, the pictures of Reynolds and Hogarth, the writings of Adam Smith, David Hume and John Stuart Mill. And it was played out in the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary men and women.”

“In fact, studies show that people may actually get more liberal over time when it comes to certain kinds of beliefs. That suggests that we are not pre-determined to get stodgy, set in our ways or otherwise more inflexible in our retirement years.”

“One thing the luminaries mostly agree on is that the technological revolution of the late 20th century is the biggest upheaval since Gutenberg, and that growing up in a information-surfing culture is affecting us on a personal and social level.”

“Although we’re more likely to share information from our close friends, we still share stuff from our weak ties–and the links from those weak ties are the most novel links on the network. Those links from our weak ties, that is, are most likely to point to information that you would not have shared if you hadn’t seen it on Facebook.”

“I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.”

STOP PIPA & SOPA. US Congressional bills S968 & HR3261 are threatening sites like ArtsJournal and the rest of your Internet. Most of the web sites you use strongly oppose these bills. Some, such as Wikileaks, have gone dark today. Find out why, and how you can help put a stop to this madness before it’s too late!

For heterosexual men, even the thought of a woman can be be hard on brain function. “This mental-depletion dynamic can be triggered by the simple idea of such an encounter — even when a man has no clue regarding a woman’s attractiveness or availability.”

Argentinean architect Ciro Najle “says crochet is the perfect medium for representing fractal structures because its surfaces can be subdivided again and again by varying the length of neighbouring crochet lines.”

“It’s the mathematical equivalent of illiteracy, and it’s surprisingly common among otherwise well-educated people.” (Not least among us artsy types …)