John Michael Greer – The Last Refuge of the Incompetent

There are certain advantages to writing out the ideas central to this blog in weekly bursts. Back in the days before the internet, when a galaxy of weekly magazines provided the same free mix of ideas and opinions that fills the blogosphere today, plenty of writers kept themselves occupied turning out articles and essays for the weeklies, and the benefits …

Barbara Ehrenreich – In America, only the rich can afford to write about poverty

Back in the fat years – two or three decades ago, when the “mainstream” media were booming – I was able to earn a living as a freelance writer. My income was meager and I had to hustle to get it, turning out about four articles – essays, reported pieces, reviews – a month at $1 or $2 a word. …

How The Politics of Memory Affects Us All – Sam Osherson Ph.D.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”  Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun. This year brings a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War sponsored by the Pentagon, complete with a website, interactive videos, and a $15 million price tag for taxpayers. Cost overruns are to be expected. Commemoration? Is that quite the right word to describe a war, particularly …

The Science of Near-Death Experiences

Near-death experiences have gotten a lot of attention lately. The 2014 movie Heaven Is for Real, about a young boy who told his parents he had visited heaven while he was having emergency surgery, grossed a respectable $91 million in the United States. The book it was based on, published in 2010, has sold some 10 million copies and spent 206 weeks …