From New Statesman, George Friedman on the next 100 years: The power of the US will wane — but not yet, and not in this century. Perry Anderson reviews Reflections on the Revolution in Europe by Christopher Caldwell. From H-Net, a review of Cosmopolitanism and Europe and Rebecca L. Walkowitz's Cosmopolitan Style: Modernism Beyond the Nation. From Adbusters, an article on Japanese simplicity: The only way to leave a smaller footprint would be to die. An interview with Francis Wheen: "It seems that whatever subject I pick, no matter how obscure, by time of publication it is absolutely of the moment". Like the economy, Vanity Fair's annual ranking of the top 100 Information Age powers has been truly shaken up, with new blood emerging (and more and more and more). Information Age? Bah humbug! New Yorkers get a taste of Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. When does fandom become religion, and what are the boundaries, and what are the overlaps? An excerpt from If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't There More Happy People? by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. Why the C-word is losing its bite: Rethinking the most taboo term in English. Coin of praise: In the seemingly godless world of global capitalism, money is the only thing in which we really must have faith.
