Monthly Archives: February 2011

On maps and territories and their slippery relationships

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

The 1946 Jorge Luis Borges short story “On Exactitude in Science”–found here and reproduced here at History and Futility–is as good an introduction to the map-territory relation as I can imagine. On Exactitude in Science. . . In that Empire, … Continue reading →

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Malta in the Mediterranean, or the Meaning of Maps

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

Malta in the Mediterranean Originally uploaded by randyfmcdonald I made two posts at Demography Matters about Malta, that Mediterranean archepelagic republic that has been ensconced since 2004 in the European Union and now finds itself identified as a southern bulwark … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker on how the world has gotten much more peaceful

Posted on February 22, 2011 by

While revolution rages in Libya and we fear for our future, we should pay attention to writer and researcher Steven Pinker in this TED speech when he argues–convincingly–that we humans are far more peaceful than at any point in our … Continue reading →

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A brief note on the Tyche furor

Posted on February 16, 2011 by

I picked up on the Matese/Whitmire prediction of a ninth planet–a superjovian world far out in the Oort cometary cloud named by them Tyche back in November–long before the current unexpected furor. Phil Plait’s take on the subject over at … Continue reading →

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Hockey and pride as seen from Québec City

Posted on February 11, 2011 by

In my post last month about the problems of Canadian hockey, one factor I included–alongside the failure to transmit interest in the sport to new, more diverse generations–was the transformation of the National Hockey League into a much less Canadian-dominated … Continue reading →

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Why Eurabia?

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

More than a few sources–the Economist, Douglas Todd’s blog The Search, the Globe and Mail, the New York Times–have reported on a recent report by the Pew Research Group observing that Muslim population growth is slowing, and certainly Muslims won’t … Continue reading →

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On the problems of planning for chaotic/complex futures

Posted on February 3, 2011 by

Perhaps reflecting this week’s theme about the confusing pasts and future of sports team, and reflecting Dan Gardner’s writing about the perils of futurology, sociology blogger Daniel Little has at his blog Understanding Society a “review of an interesting book … Continue reading →

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Toronto’s patriotic problems with sports

Posted on February 2, 2011 by

I’m a resident of Toronto, the metropolis of Canada and a city that, perhaps, because of its rapid growth–Toronto grew from a provincial city of a few hundred thousand to a world city more populous than Berlin–is addicted to comparing … Continue reading →

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