Society

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, a leading publisher of award-winning news and information Web sites, today announced the launch of the Global Power Barometer (GPB), a tool that measures which nations, ideologies or movements are most powerful based on how successfully they influence global opinion and events.
Located on PostGlobal, washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com’s panel blog on international issues, the […]

If you’re not familiar with youtube.com, you’re missing a real treat. Thousands of videos are uploaded by people and shared for your viewing pleasure. Some aren’t so great, and some are plain stupid, but there are some real gems. I’ve gotten to see some music videos that I haven’t seen in years.
But now the […]

There is certainly much scapegoating of illegal immigrants by those who practice the politics of cultural conservatism, attempting to preserve some illusory impression of an essential American culture, which they perceive as under threat by increasing diversity. However, for the rest of us, who care not about such inconsequential issues, we on the Left, who […]

March is Women’s History Month, and who better to read about than the women who have made history in writing! For example, did you know the first recorded writer was a woman? Around 2500 B.C., Enheduanna of Sumeria, now southern Iraq, recorded her poetry in cuneiform on clay tablets that withstood the test […]

Well, are you? A recent article from Mike over at Techdirt.com explains the ins/outs of this hot question. Hey, and what a surprise, just like everything concerning our government, the Internet, laws, and money, the space between legal and illegal is more gray and vague than John Madden. This puts our federal government in a […]

Romance blossoms on the Internet, but there is still public concern about the safety of online dating. There is now broad public awareness of the online dating world, and the Internet users who are actively seeking dates have found a variety of ways to pursue their romantic interests online. The Pew Internet Project just […]

Insiders say that the FCC will soon announce its decision to uphold the $550,000 fine against CBS for Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.
I usually don’t send out pure opinion pieces, but let it be said: There is not one person anywhere who can give you a good reason why it’s OK to show a man’s chest […]

As the pace of modernization accelerates around the globe, so too has computer usage and access to the internet. The latest Pew Global Attitudes poll found substantially more people using a computer and going online now than in 2002. And it is not just the young who are increasing their use of technology; in many […]

The Pew Internet & American Life Project issued a press release today describing how the internet improves Americans’ capacity to maintain their social networks and how they gain a big payoff when they use the internet to activate those networks to solicit help. The report is based on two surveys and finds that the internet […]

“Wow! He’s got my number,” might occur to you while reading Lee Eisenberg’s whiplash spin through the maze of retirement planning, The Number. He manages to deluge readers with facts and references made palatable by his witty but nonstop prose. A conversation with Eisenberg must leave one breathless. In this […]

Updated versions of the ’60s bomb shelters called ’safe’ rooms have already made their way into popular culture via movies and TV. FEMA will even tell you how to make one. But none of the limited-purpose retrofits have the high-tech style of the U.S. Bunker version. Its spaceship looks won’t fit with your average neighborhood, […]

Where do you live?
As a geographer (by education), I am interested in where people ‘feel’ they live as opposed to their mailing address. I am a Midwesterner but it is sometimes amusing how far east I can go and still find people who call themselves fellow Midwesterners. Geographers have conducted some studies but there is […]

When was the last time you went to the library? I go every once in a while but if I need to do some research I tend to go online. But if I want to sit down and check out one of the classics the library is my best bet. In most cases it’s free […]

One of the first things I usually do in the morning is to sit down and read the newspaper. The dog likes to curl up in my lap as I catch up on the comics and the news. It’s a nice way to start off the day but for the most part though I tend […]

One day recently whilst Googling for Web servers for my Linux box (just seeing what was out there apart from Apache), I came across a fascinating site concerning the Principality of Sealand. What is fascinating is the history of this, the world’s smallest country, and the company that runs it as a data center / […]

While it’s doubtless there are more factors that contribute to social ills than the findings of this particular study, it’s interesting, nonetheless. Even if its premise may be motivated by the author’s politics (in academia, as any other field, isn’t that always the case?), this is the Political Geeks channel! Whether you consider this to […]

I love music. As an avid music fan/collector, I remember back in the ’80s when CDs first started showing up on the shelves of my local record store. Many people lamented that they no longer had that smell of new vinyl and that the artwork has been reduced to a small piece of paper crammed […]

Apparently somebody at Microsoft isn’t too happy with Google right now. Google has decided to hire a former MS Internet Services VP.
Microsoft is seeking legal action to stop Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from working for Google. However, the position he accepted is in China and he used to work for MS in the US. This […]

Updating the Google Library entry of last week, the Google Watch.org has obtained a copy of Google’s agreement with the University of Michigan and posted it on the Internet. Start reading the saga here, and for the actual agreement, follow links here. The mystery is, of course, if the entire agreement is so confidential, […]

Hmm, is it, or isn’t it? I don’t think Microsoft is really sure. A couple of weeks ago MS pulled its support for a US gay rights bill. Now Steve Ballmer (CEO) says that Microsoft is going to back it. I wonder which way it will go next week?
Since Microsoft changes its […]