Latest

Matters of Media

What’s new in media matters: Charlie Hebdo; the state of American media; attacks on the press; and Jon Stewart’s next mission. The illustrations of Muhammad, which sparked such incendiary controversy by Muslims whose faith prohibits images of their prophet, may have run their course in the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. Extremists apparently protesting the illustrations slaughtered 10 journalists and two police officers outside Charlie Hebdo’s Paris headquarters in January, sparking global support for freedom of expression.  Now cartoonist Renald Luzier, whose pen name is “Luz,” told French magazine les inRocks  he is no longer interested in creating images of Muhammad.

Nepal: Facts, Opinions, and an unforgettable video

Nepal’s Predictable Agony. By Deborah Jones The massive earthquake that shattered Nepal on April 25, 20115, came as no surprise to anyone. The country sits atop one of the world’s most seismically dangerous places. There have been countless warnings about Nepal’s rickety infrastructure, haphazard housing, lax building codes, and rampant urban development. There was even a warning a few weeks ago that a quake was imminent, precisely where it occurred.   The science behind the Nepal earthquake. By Mike Sandiford, CP Rajendran, and Kristin Morell Nepal is particularly prone to earthquakes. It sits on the boundary of two massive tectonic plates

New on Facts and Opinions

  New on F&O this week: VERBATIM: The prescriptive Happiness Report. By Michael Sasges The recently released World Happiness Report 2015 both describes and prescribes. The people of Togo and Burundi and Syria and Benin and Rwanda are the unhappiest people in the world, and the people of Switzerland and Iceland and Denmark and Norway and Canada are the happiest. The unhappy, however, can change their circumstances, by emulating the experiences of the happy, in the opinion of one of the three editors of the report, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University.  TV Comedy for Intelligent Viewers: Bob Newhart. A Brief Encounter,

Our Pale Blue Dot

  “There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves” — Carl Sagan. Happy Earth Day.

Facts, opinions, and more

An international group of jurists recently launched the Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations. The jurists, from Brazil, China, India, the United States and the Netherlands, propose a set of principles based on human rights laws to force governments to act on climate change. The Netherlands was one of the first test sites for the concept: hearings were held last week at the Hague into a case against the Dutch government, by nearly 900 citizens organized by the Urgenda Foundation. A decision is expected within six months. F&O Natural Security columnist Chris Wood explains why the issue matters: it concerns both the

1 … 38 39 40 41 42 … 130