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Monthly Archives: February 2010

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  • 26 Feb 2010

    Snow Day in New York City

    Heavy snow warning in effect.  Today’s view from the office…

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  • 26 Feb 2010

    The New Demand for Print… on Demand

    With the rising popularity of print-on-demand (POD) publishing, The Economist considers the impact of new technology on our industry. As the power of print becomes the power to press print, will POD prove a boon or a burden for publishing’s supply chain?

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  • 25 Feb 2010

    Peer Review Pickle

    Peer-reviewed science – the time-honored system of scholars vetting scholars – faces challenges in the face of scandals such as Climategate. spiked looks at the flaws in this esoteric system and shows what happens when dogma and ego collide – turning peer review into modern-day holy scripture…

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  • 24 Feb 2010
    Burton A. Weisbrod, Evelyn D. Asch

    Rainy Days in Higher Ed

    Often considered vital to the financial health of private colleges and universities, endowments provide necessary income for the yearly budget as well as a safety net of savings for a rainy day – for if, say, the economy falls into a recession. Why, then, are leading academic institutions hoarding their money while slashing faculty, financial aid, and programs? On Inside Higher Ed, Mission and Money co-authors Burton A. Weisbrod and Evelyn D. Asch give some perspective on the leading universities that are squirreling their savings away.

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  • 22 Feb 2010

    Thanks for the good times!

    Just a quick note of farewell as I move on to Pittsburgh, departing Cambridge after 3 lovely years. Thanks to Cambridge for a great environment, and to you, authors and readers, for your responsiveness and good ideas. Don't worry, the blog will be in good hands with Caitlin. -Jonathan

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  • 18 Feb 2010

    The Gypsy’s Guide: William Wallace

    Angela Nickerson of travel blog The Gypsy's Guide, and author of A Journey into Michelangelo's Rome posted a fine interview with Michelangelo author William Wallace. Eight Questions for William Wallace When I was researching and writing A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome, I read thousands and thousands of pages -- books, articles, interviews, journals -- and one name kept popping up in my research, that of Dr. William Wallace. AKN: You have devoted most of your academic research to the study of Michelangelo. How did you come to choose him as your subject? William Wallace: I first traveled to Italy as a junior in college. I was an art history major, but on that three-week trip I realized “this is it!” I had read The Agony and the Ecstasy. I thought it was a pretty good read. But on that first trip I had that experience that so many people have when traveling in Italy. No matter how often great works of art are reproduced, that moment when you walk into the Sistine Chapel for the first time is so dramatically different. My breath was taken away.

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  • 17 Feb 2010

    Page 99: Benign Bigotry

    The Page 99 Test features Kristin Anderson’s Benign Bigotry today, and that page finds Anderson in a discussion of criminality and blame — that is, a subtle form of prejudice assuming that good things happen to good people, and bad things to bad people.

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  • 17 Feb 2010

    A Q&A with Thomas Banchoff and William Lindgren

    Thomas Banchoff and William Lindgren recently signed copies of their new edition of Flatland at the MAA Conference. Their new edition of the classic Victorian satire is full of annotations for those less familiar with Victorian society or with the mathematical allegories involved. Here's a Q&A our own Laura Evans conducted with them: Laura: Do you think Abbott's social observations apply to today's society? Banchoff & Lindgren: Some of the depictions of life in Flatland respond to specific conditions in Victorian England, which are now mainly of historical interest. Nevertheless, many of the topics of Abbott's satire remain relevant, for example, the superficiality of what passes for knowledge, the unreflecting deference to prevailing opinions and authority, and the treatment of women. Flatland women are mere (one-dimensional) line segments, a fitting representation of their relegation to the narrowly defined role of child-bearers and housekeepers. Polygons with so many sides that they are indistinguishable from circles have a vested interest in maintaining their power, something as true about our leaders today as it was in Abbott's time.

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