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Will Commerce Open The Doors To 'Eastern' Philosophy?

editor — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:56:47 +0000

Let's play a game. Quickly name three philosophers of any historical era and write them down. If you are really ambitious, name five.

Take your time and think about it. It's OK. I'll wait.

Now look at your names. Were any of the men or women you wrote down born east of Afghanistan? Where any of the names of Indian, Chinese or Japanese origin? If you are like most Westerners (myself included), your list only included Westerners.

For People Of Color, A Housing Market Partially Hidden From View

Gene Demby — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:34:37 +0000

We've written before about the wealth gap between whites and people of color — a divide that's only grown wider over the past half decade.

Name Five Women In Philosophy. Bet You Can't.

Tania Lombrozo — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:34:18 +0000

Last Friday I found myself in a lovely lecture hall at Brown University with some 50 philosophers and psychologists attending the annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, affectionately known as "SPP." Daniel Dennett was in the seat just ahead of me; additional luminaries were scattered about the room.

Digital Scrapbook Collects Rock-Star Authors' Memories

Camila Domonoske — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:33:44 +0000

Part of an occasional series of e-book reviews, co-produced by NPR Books and All Tech Considered, focusing on creative combinations of technology and literature.

If there was ever a story that screamed out for a multimedia e-book treatment, it's the tale of The Rock Bottom Remainders. For readers not up on literary trivia, the Remainders were a bookish band, a small army of best-selling authors — including Amy Tan, Dave Barry and Stephen King — who yowled out rock standards.

This One Page Could End The Copyright War Over 'Happy Birthday'

editor — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:33:24 +0000

The birthday song — Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, etc. — is still under copyright protection. If you want to sing the song on TV, or in a restaurant, or whatever, you have to pay a licensing fee to Warner/Chappell, the music company that owns the rights. The company makes about $2 million a year off the song, according to one estimate.

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week seeks to change that.

'It's Christmas in June': China Revels In NSA Leaks Story

Frank Langfitt — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:51:00 +0000

Earlier this year, the U.S.

An 'Adventure' For Kids And Maybe For Their Parents, Too

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:36:53 +0000

Count plenty of grown-ups among the millions of fans of Adventure Time, a kids' show on Cartoon Network. Some are surely Emmy voters. (It's won three.) Others are very possibly stoners. Still others are intellectuals. Lev Grossman falls in the last category. He wrote two best-selling novels, The Magicians and The Magician King, and he's Time's senior book critic.

Grossman's critique of Adventure Time? "It's soooo smart! It's sooo intelligent!"

Hang on. He's just getting started.

"I am a little bit obsessed with it," Grossman continues.

This Blumesday Celebrates Judy, Not Joyce

Deena Prichep — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:36:29 +0000

Today is Blumesday. Not the Bloomsday where readers celebrate James Joyce's novel Ulysses — that was Sunday. Today's Blumesday is also a holiday for literature lovers, but of a different sort.

Blumesday creators Joanna Miller and Heather Larimer are writers, and they're pretty well-read. But they were never huge fans of Ulysses.

The NFL To Your Purse: Drop Dead

Linda Holmes — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:35:55 +0000

Last Thursday, the NFL announced a policy change in which only clear plastic bags would be allowed into stadiums — one per person. Nothing they can't see through.

A History Of The World — In One-Liners

Linton Weeks — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:35:31 +0000

Speaking to the Faith & Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" Conference on Saturday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — in a speech broadcast on C-SPAN — let loose a barrage of bons mots aimed at President Obama and political Washington.

Now that Fox News has re-signed Palin as a commentator, we will likely be hearing a lot more one-liners from the Wit of Wasilla.

In this Twitter Age, in which brevity = wit, we are witnessing the expanding power of one-liners.