Charity

Chicago oral surgeon feeds the homeless twice a week.

The Pink Gang

Philosopher Roderick T. Long on India's feminist vigilantes.

Bryan Caplan is right

Libertarian Economist as Civil Rights Advocate:

If the NYPD bombed Harlem to kill one rampaging murderer, we'd condemn the NYPD agents as murderers. But if the USAF bombs a town in Afghanistan to kill one rampaging murderer, we forgive the bombers - or cheer them on. If the state of Alabama made it a crime for blacks to take white collar jobs, we'd damn them as racist monsters. But if the entire U.S. government makes it a crime for Mexican citizens to take any U.S. job whatsoever, we accept and justify the policy. What's the difference between "fighting crime" and "fighting terrorism"? Between "Jim Crow" and "protecting our borders"? The mere fact that the victims are foreigners, so up is down and wrong is right.

Gruss von Krampus

The Atlantic reports on Saint Nicholas' evil, Alpine companion.

Inside the mind of Gawker editor Neetzan Zimmerman

Melding together man and machine for a better tomorrow (or, how to survive in the brave new economy).

"The Roots of Buddhist Romanticism"

Thanissaro's "The Roots of Buddhist Romanticism" an excellent appraisal of the appropriation of Buddhism by modern Western societies. The only limitation is that Thanissaro does not also discuss the role of Enlightenment thinking in Western interpretations of Buddhism. But most of my job when teaching Buddhism to students, either as a philosophy or as a religion, is in disabusing them of their tendency to interpret Buddhism through the lens of Western Romanticism and its sundry offshoots.

Schooling higher ed

Part of the problem seems to be not enough money spent on the core mission--education.

Ericailcane

Italian street artist.