It’s not easy to write a book. First you have to pick a title. And then there is the table of contents. If you want the book to be categorized, either by a bookseller or a library, it has to be assigned a unique numerical code, like an ISBN, for International Standard Book Number. There have to be proper margins. Finally, there’s the back cover. Oh, and there is all that stuff in the middle, too. The writing. Philip M. Parker seems to have licked that problem. Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, ‘the most published author in the history of the planet.’ And he makes money doing it. Among the books published under his name are ‘The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea’ ($24.95 and 168 pages long); ‘Stickler Syndrome: A Bibliography and Dictionary for Physicians, Patients and Genome Researchers’ ($28.95 for 126 pages); and ‘The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India’ ($495 for 144 pages). But these are not conventional books, and […]
Naomi Klein has written a book, Shock Doctrine, whose premise is that a formal strategy for forcing social change began evolving on the Right as long ago as the 1950s based on an extremist view of conservative free market capitalism. As Eric Klinenberg wrote in his Book Forum review ‘Why do so many nations have economic policies more laissezfaire and social programs less generous than their citizens prefer? Naomi Klein argues that the answer lies in a simple two-step strategy, honed over three decades by an international cabal of freemarket fundamentalists: First, exploit crises-whether due to economics, politics, or natural disasters – to advance an agenda that would never survive the democratic process during ordinary times. Next, create a ‘corporatocracy,’ in which multinationals and political leaders align to promote their interests at the public’s expense.’1 In her extraordinarily well-documented work she describes how the tactics of this strategy have now reached a level of sophistication such that in settings as disparate as Iraq and Katrina it has forced change which would otherwise have been unacceptable through normal democratic processes. A change wrought under the guise of responding to some kind of social catastrophe, whether natural, like a hurricane, […]
Earth’s first animal was the ocean-drifting comb jelly, not the simple sponge, according to a new find that has shocked scientists who didn’t imagine the earliest critter could be so complex. The mystery of the first animal denizen of the planet can only be inferred from fossils and by studying related animals today. To get to the bottom of that, scientists analyzed massive volumes of genetic data to define the earliest splits at the base of the animal tree of life. The tree of life is a hierarchy of evolutionary relationships among species that shows which groups split off on their own evolutionary path first. The new study surprisingly found that the comb jelly was the first animal to diverge from the base of the tree, not the less complex sponge, which had previously been given the honor. ‘This was a complete shocker,’ said study team member Casey Dunn of Brown University in Rhode Island. ‘So shocking that we initially thought something had gone very wrong.’ Dunn’s team checked and re-checked their results and came up with the same result every time: the comb jelly came first. The results are detailed in the April 10 […]
Scientists have developed a technique that pinpoints key biodiversity hotspots, which they say will lead to more effective conservation strategies. Researchers used the system to identify vital habitats in Madagascar, which is home to a vast array of unique species. Writing in Science, they say their methodology identifies exact areas that support a wide variety of organisms. More than 80% of the known species on the island nation are not found anywhere else in the world. ‘Madagascar is an amazing place because of its evolutionary history,’ explained co-author Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist from the University of California, Berkeley, US. She said that as a result of it breaking away from the African continent 160-80 million years ago, the flora and fauna had been left in relative isolation from the rest of the world. ‘It’s really been like an evolutionary laboratory because almost everything you find there is unique. ‘Because it is the fourth largest island in the world, it’s got a lot of major ecosystems within it – it has desert areas, rainforests, high mountains, lowlands and it also has incredible marine resources as well. ‘There has also been a lot […]
In Thomas Jefferson’s day, the Library of Congress decided to show how modern an historic institution can be. The library plans to attract a public formed by more than scholars and members of Congress, making use of high-technology. Using any of the many touch screens spread around the building, visitors will be able to easily access books from Thomas Jefferson’s large collection, read historic versions of the bible and zoom in on pages they are interested in. Digital technology is not something new for libraries, but Librarian of Congress James Billington assured the public that the exhibit is ‘unlike anything the Library of Congress has undertaken in the past,’ allowing visitors to see ‘stunning detail up close that we’ve only had a general idea of before.’ ‘Artifacts like the Waldseemüller map (the first to include the name ‘America’), the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible and original volumes from Thomas Jefferson’s Library will be virtually at your fingertips. You’ll be able to flip through their pages, magnify sections of interest and access commentary from the Library’s top experts-all on the same touch screen,’ the Library of Congress’ website informs the public. […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
