From n+1, excerpts from What Was The Hipster? A Sociological Investigation (and more by Carolyn Kellogg).
Gareth T. Davies (VU Amsterdam): Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty. Can ecosystem engineering prevent ecological catastrophe? As geoengineering has moved from fringe fantasy ("space mirrors") to sober consideration, one thing has become abundantly clear: Geophysics doesn't care about politics. Hacking the Planet: There's plenty of controversy swirling around the idea of climate intervention—and no shortage of new words. Prozac for the Planet: Can geoengineering make the climate happy? An interview with Jeff Goodell, author of How to Cool the Planet. From FDL, a book salon on Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope—or Worst Nightmare—for Averting Climate Catastrophe by Eli Kintisch. From Slate, a special series of articles on geoengineering. From Solutions, Chuck Greene, Bruce Monger, and Mark Huntleyan on geoengineering and the inescapable truth of getting to 350 (and more and more).
The oldest university on earth is reborn after 800 years: Nalanda, an ancient seat of learning destroyed in 1193, will rise again thanks to Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen (and more). In light of Nalanda: The ruins of one of Asia’s great centres of learning still inspire travelers.
Tulane's Shael Herman writes about the mechanisms of social cohesion among monotheisms of the Iberian Convivencia, but here is a less convivial view of the Convivencia. Ali Khan of Washburn University says the Quran and the constitution are mutually supportive supreme texts—one does not negate the other. People of the book: Ted Widemer on the true history of the Koran in America. David Rayside (Toronto): American Muslim Response to Queer Visibility. Things that make us Muslim: At the height of Michaelmania, everyone moonwalked—even Muslim kids in Hamilton, Ontario. Is Obama trying to indoctrinate your children with Muslim comic books? Josh Marshall on how the kinds of things with Muslims that are supposed to make us run around with our hair on fire are already happening and have been for decades with Jews and no one seems to care. Objectivist Craig Biddle on the Ground Zero mosque, the spread of Islam, and how America should deal with such efforts. The Ground Zero Mosque’s Missing Muslims: The Park51 controversy isn’t really about a building—it’s about erasing individuals. Listen Up: A deaf Muslim atheist responds defiantly to the debate over the "Ground Zero mosque". If that "mosque" ISN'T built, this is no longer America.
From Design Observer, William W. Braham on the temptations of survivalism, or, what do you do with your waste?
