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Can Apes Read Your Mind?0
- Science
- October 12, 2016
One of the things that defines humans most is our ability to read others’ minds – that is, to make inferences about what others are thinking. To build or maintain relationships, we offer gifts and services – not arbitrarily, but with the recipient’s desires in mind. When we communicate, we do our best to take
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Why Fairy Tales Are So Dangerous 1
- Literature
- October 12, 2016
Dear Mr. Dawkins, You’ve said lately that fairy tales are quite harmful. Your reason for thinking this is simple, and true: you told attendees at the Cheltenham Science Festival, “I think it’s rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism … Even fairy tales, the ones we all
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Why There Are No Kids’ Menus in Italy 0
- Culture
- October 12, 2016
We’ve all been there at some point in time. The family goes out to enjoy a nice dinner at a restaurant. The menus come, the waitress takes orders… and your youngest child orders a grilled cheese sandwich. Off the kids’ menu. At a ridiculously high price considering it’s just bread, cheese, and a few pickles.
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Benjamin Franklin on the 4 Virtues Learned in Chess 0
- October 12, 2016
I have a bit of a confession to make. I have never played chess, nor have I really ever had the desire to do so. (Sorry, chess fans.) However, I may be changing my mind on this issue, particularly after reading a piece by Benjamin Franklin entitled, “The Morals of Chess.” Franklin begins by saying,
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More Walls Being Built Than at Any Time in Modern History 0
- Culture
- October 12, 2016
The Washington Post led off its Wednesday coverage with an interesting interactive story that carried this admission: nations around the world are walling off at an unprecedented rate. The numbers are clear: In 2015, work started on more new barriers around the world than at any other point in modern history. There are now 63
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The Genius of Byzantium: Reflections on a Forgotten Empire 1
- History
- October 12, 2016
“Le grand absent—c’est l’Empire” C. Dufour, Constantinople Imaginaire Everywhere Western man longs for Constantinople and nowhere has he any idea how to find her. To do so is to reclaim, at last, the meaning of an empire that once defined a hierarchy of imagination long ago abandoned by our civilization; of an eleven-century political, religious and
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