Frozen Toothpaste

Rarely are newsmagazines brilliantly written and filled with breathtakingly innovative ideas. For all I know, this excerpt from this week’s The Economist doesn’t break with that rule — I’m not well versed in the philosophy of space. Regardless, something in the magazine’s analysis of the legacy of Sputnik — which was launched on October 4, 1957 — really struck a chord, […]

Microlending — or microcredit — has gotten more and more press recently, both good and bad.
In the simplest terms, microlending is the practice of making small and unconventionally secured loans to those generally outside the banking system. That is: for people without collateral, a credit history, or demonstrable employment, it’s a way that they can get additional money to […]

In a recent piece, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman identified himself as a global warming skeptic. But before you go away thinking that a liberal-leaning columnist at the Times actually doubts that global warming is occurring, we should clarify.
In the column, Mr Friedman discusses his recent visits to Doha and Dalian, mentioning his awe […]

The idea of quantifying or charting writing — or any form of art for that matter — strikes most people as at best odd, probably unreasonable, and likely sterile and academic in the worst ways. To Dead Poets Society fans who remember the — literal — tearing apart of an essay that endeavored to do just this, how presumptuous such an effort can […]

My Date with Drew was sadly missed by too many people, including myself, when it was released in 2005. Because of its obscurity, I was concerned about its quality. But within the first ten minutes I was sure there was no need to worry.
Brain Herzlinger is 27, a rather anonymous young man living in Los […]