February 2012
26 posts
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“No one has yet argued for votes for whales and dolphins. But considering some of...”
– Should whales be afforded the same inalienable civil rights as humans? Some academics find the idea compelling.
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“We are tired of being an unwilling party to what appears to be a deliberate...”
– We are removing Argentina’s official inflation figures from our economic indicators page. Find out why.
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“Educated models are in. This may sound improbable. In the film “Zoolander”, male...”
– The beauty business is being transformed as brainy models and a global talent pool change the catwalk.
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“In our Web 3.0 world, as we share our identities so publicly with everyone else,...”
– Does society benefit when we share personal information online? Or do social networks prompt us to publish unhealthy amounts of personal data, while little enriching our lives? Author Andrew Keen and journalism professor Jeff Jarvis lead the arguments in our debate.
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“His life ended in a haze of vodka and cocaine, the self-belief perhaps slightly...”
– Jonathan Keith “Jack” Idema, American fortune hunter and confidence trickster, died on January 21st, aged 55. Our obituary remembers him.
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“The nie nie zu (the “crush-crush tribe”) are so named because they...”
– Who knew China was tribal? The diversification of Chinese society has seen a flowering of a new vocabulary. Perhaps most fascinating has been the division of people into tribes (zu in Mandarin).
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“Anyone who sees an emergency can call a central number. A smartphone app...”
– A charity in Israel is using ubiquitous gadgets to co-ordinate an army of volunteer first aiders. With sufficient backing, they say the scheme could enable them to respond to nearly any emergency call within 90 seconds.
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“Many people are just waiting to be told they can fight back”
– A young professional from Homs sums up the mood on Syria’s streets. As the country’s civil unrest looks ever more like civil war, imams preaching non-violence may be the last barrier holding back a surge to arms.
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