Portside

I certainly agree that theoreticians often find it hard to find empiricists who will make use of their equations. But whose fault is that? Seems to me that the fault often lies with empiricists who stick with their intuitions come hell or high water, and who actively resist the discipline that mathematics imposes on their groundless daydreaming. Intuition is great–as long as it’s only a starting point, and as long as you’re prepared to give it up when it’s proven wrong,

Kurds, Social Security, Budget, Margaret Thatcher and more

a very different kind of memorial – the stumble stones

With Americans' interest in socialism rising, we need to seriously consider alternative designs to the current system, argues Alperovitz, in this practical critique of some known models.

The gulf between CEO pay and staff McWages is shockingly wide: a strike serves this system of super-exploitation right

Venezuela has lost an extraordinary leader, but his democratic and socialist project of transformation is more alive than ever

In death Margaret Thatcher has caused further division. The left has failed to convince enough people of the alternatives

“Our research showed that Facebook users still had a few hours a day when they were leading somewhat healthy and productive lives. Our new software will change all of that.”

Looking at this map it gives the impression that the Republican won the election handily, since there is rather more red on the map than there is blue. In fact, however, the reverse is true. We can correct for this by making use of a cartogram, a map in which the sizes of states are rescaled according to their population. That is, states are drawn with size proportional not to their acreage but to the number of their inhabitants.

In the gun lobby’s America, you’ll have to kill if you don’t want to be killed. The delusional project of outsourcing public safety to private vigilantes.