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R.I.P., Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman reportedly was found dead in his New York apartment this morning, age 46. The American actor won an Oscar for his role in Capote: Reading: New York Times news reportPhilip Seymour Hoffman’s page on Wikipedia Philip Seymour Hoffman’s page on IMDB

China recruits Erik Prince as its new Africa bodyguard

As the contest to win development, market and resource rights in Africa heats up, China just upped the ante by hiring one of the world’s most famous mercenaries to protect its interests on the continent. An excerpt of international affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe’s new column: As the contest for influence in Asia between China and Japan spills over into a scramble for trade, resources and political support in Africa, Beijing has gathered into its camp one of the world’s most famous mercenaries. Erik Prince, the former United States Navy Seal who founded the controversial private security group Blackwater in 1997

Singin’ for Freedom: Pete Seeger

American icon Pete Seeger died Monday, January 27, 2014. Author and filmmaker Silver Donald Cameron wrote this newspaper column about Pete Seeger in the dark days of 2001, and F&O re-publishes it here, free of charge, with Silver Donald’s kind permission. An excerpt: In June, 1969, I was rattling away at my old Remington manual typewriter when my five-year-old daughter Leslie wandered into my workroom. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I’m writing a letter to Pete Seeger,” I said. I was hoping that Seeger would consider a benefit concert for The Mysterious East, a dissident magazine in Canada’s Maritimes

On the science of handedness and brain symmetry

A new science piece in Expert Witness looks at handedness and brain asymmetry, once regarded as unique to humans — but  widespread among animals, and a factor in language and tool use. An excerpt: Although it may be the absence of asymmetry rather than its reversal that can be linked to problems of social or educational adjustment, left-handed individuals have often been regarded as deficient or contrarian, but this may be based more on prejudice than on the facts. Left-handers have excelled in all walks of life. They include five of the past seven US presidents, sports stars such as

Rethinking bias, left or right

“It’s a popular refrain that the facts have a left-wing bias,” writes Natural Security columnist Chris Wood. “But that doesn’t make the progressive left immune from the same sort of selective consciousness its members so quickly denounce on the right. Empiricism is demanded of the goose, while the gander indulges its own versions of evidence denial.” Wood’s new column, Follies to the right, follies to the left, tackles “left wing” perspectives on contentious issues such as nuclear power and GMO foods. An excerpt: A plurality of American Republicans believe people have existed in exactly their present form since being created from

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