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Thinking outside the box

From Ars Technica, Haomiao Huang on how robots think: an introduction. Slaughter of the Vikings: Archaeology can bring past events alive, seeing beyond the “spin” put on events centuries ago — but the stories told by bones and radiocarbon and isotopes are not always pleasant ones. What we eat: What the animal kingdom can teach us about literary humiliation. Thinking outside the box: Laurie Taylor began his academic career as a devotee of B.F. Skinner, but he escaped the behavioural maze thanks to Noam Chomsky and a tipsy rat. Michael Berube on Two Lefts: Chomsky's vs. Krugman's. John Yoo, the Bush administration lawyer who gave legal cover to enhanced interrogation methods, says he's happy teaching at Boalt Hall School of Law, despite calls for his ouster and protests by liberal groups. The Torture Commission we really need: It’s not enough just to understand what went wrong in the Justice Department — we need to start fixing it, too. Sorority on E. 63rd St.: For a small-town girl with a dream, from the Roaring 20s through the 1960s, there was no address more glamorous than New York’s “women only” Barbizon Hotel. Although most Americans' attention has likely flagged, U.S. and international navies continue to police the lawless, pirate-ridden Somali coast. The dark forest of childhood: Modern fairy tales return to their roots. It was bad enough that nearly 300 reindeer tragically drowned after the ice collapsed on a Swedish river crossing (and the mysterious collapse of reindeer herd). The route master: Without a satnav, Google maps or even a compass, Tristan Gooley finds his way using clues from the natural world. So it’s not the Masters: Miniature golf — for those who still slow down enough to play the game — has a unique, if disappearing, appeal.