Lost. Abandoned. Forgotten. Discarded. All tell a different story. But left behind? I find that a lot more poignant somehow.

Aaron Swartz has a couple of recent posts on good and bad lecturers. Among the good, Edward Tufte, Scott McCloud and Lawrence Lessig. As I commented there, I’ve not seen Tufte, McCloud or Lessig in the flesh, although I have read them.

But the lecturer who really blew me away was Leroy Hood. T...

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Interesting times on the atheism front. Martin Amis is on top form in a wonderful essay called The Age of Horrorism. I can't possibly do it justice, and wouldn’t dare to précis, so just go and read. (Part two and Part three.) Then there's Richard Dawkins' new book The God Delusion. I have not...

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That old joke about oral sex and lobster thermidor? Simply not funny any more. Tim Harford explains why giving head is now the dish de jour among certain groups of teenage girls. It seems to have little to do with the reasons advanced by a slightly overwrought Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic M...

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What a cool idea. Last week, on 28 September, the city of Reykjavik in Iceland doused all its street lights for half an hour to mark the opening of the Reykjavik International film Festival. So far so good, but better yet, while the lights were out a renowned astronomer talked about the stars and constellations on the radio.

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