T. Michael Perrin (Leicester): A Brief Consideration of Psychogeography: Archaeological Applications and Possibilities. From The Humanist, a special section on Humanists of the Year. One does not normally think of ancient Hawaii when thinking about the early societies of Egypt and China, Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, the Indus Valley and the Incas — but a new scholarly work argues that pre-contact Hawaii should join the recognized list of "cradles of civilization", primary states from which "all modern nation states ultimately derive". From Wonkblog, a series on Graphs of the Year 2013. Everyone with a nagging sense of self-doubt induced by finding themselves procrastinating over this or that writing assignment will find a 1990 article about Saussure’s time in Leipzig immensely therapeutic. From Nautilus, a special issue on Waste: Endings and beginnings. Roy Edroso on the 10 dumbest Rightblogger ideas of 2013. Evangelical church’s ugly truth: Brittney Cooper on “Duck Dynasty” and Christian racists. Felix Salmon on the new era of the New York skyscraper. Philip Roessler on why South Sudan has exploded in violence: South Sudan has fallen prey to the "coup-civil war trap". Brian Lehrer is going unseen, but asking the tough questions for almost a quarter-century at WNYC. The NSA's TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency's top secret weapon; it maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.
