NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

The Conversation

Under the spell of a generator's thrum, a Faulkner masterpiece was born

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageIn order to support his young family, William Faulkner took a job shoveling coal at a power plant on Ole Miss's campus.Mussklprozz/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

A few hundred feet south of the University of Mississippi’s famed Grove – site of bucolic commencement ceremonies and college football’s most unique tailgating experience...

Read more: Under the spell of a generator's thrum, a Faulkner masterpiece was born

Race and racism after Obama: where do we go from here?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageObama leads the way across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Last night marked the final time President Obama will address the nation as its commander-in-chief, an event signaling the beginning of the end of the “Obama era.“ Now may be as good a time as any to reflect on what we were...

Read more: Race and racism after Obama: where do we go from here?

Are Powerball drawings and 'Quick Pick' numbers really random?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageHow hard is it to build a random number generator?Philip Sears/Reuters

The math behind all the discussion of tonight’s Powerball drawing assumes true randomness – equal likelihood for each number to be chosen, both in the drawing itself and, crucially, in the process of assigning “Quick Picks” to ticket buyers who...

Read more: Are Powerball drawings and 'Quick Pick' numbers really random?

Attack on unions shows why we need a new social contract governing work

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageFDR's New Deal helped end Depression-era lines like this one.FDR monument via www.shutterstock.com

The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case this week that may deal a significant blow to labor unions and shows why it’s vital, to my mind, to come up with a new social contract governing work.

The case involves 10 California teachers who argue they...

Read more: Attack on unions shows why we need a new social contract governing work

If being too clean makes us sick, why isn't getting dirty the solution?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWash up.Riccardo Meneghini/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Today rates of allergic, autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases are rising dramatically in Western societies. If that weren’t bad enough, we are beginning to understand that many psychiatric disorders, including depression, migraine headaches and anxiety disorders, are associated with...

Read more: If being too clean makes us sick, why isn't getting dirty the solution?

In a driverless future, what happens to today's drivers?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageAre today's drivers yesterday's horses?Winton Motor Carriage Company

Self-driving cars are becoming a very real technology. The latest Tesla car has an autopilot feature. The CEO of Uber has stated that he will buy every self-driving car Tesla can produce for a year (about 500,000). The Google self-driving car occasionally overtakes me as I cycle...

Read more: In a driverless future, what happens to today's drivers?

Odds are $1.5 billion Powerball winner will end up bankrupt

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe Powerball prize got so big that it wouldn't fit on some signs – and it keeps growing.Reuters

The U.S. Powerball lottery is holding a drawing this week for a jackpot that’s already reached US$1.5 billion. That’s after the 18 drawings held since November failed to yield a winner, causing the grand prize to swell to this record...

Read more: Odds are $1.5 billion Powerball winner will end up bankrupt

What Marco Rubio's heels say about fashion – and height – in American politics

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imagePresidential candidate Marco Rubio dons Cuban heels at a town hall meeting in Rochester, New Hampshire.Brian Snyder/Reuters

The uproar over Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s decision to sport Cuban heels shows two things. First, height matters – at least, for skyscrapers and presidential elections. Second, a heeled boot...

Read more: What Marco Rubio's heels say about fashion – and height – in American politics

More Articles ...

  1. Can businesses succeed in a world of corruption (without paying bribes)?
  2. What is the right response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test?
  3. Are plugs for pizza a breach of journalistic ethics?
  4. Can schools punish students for off-campus, online speech?
  5. Explainer: Why can't anyone tell me how much this surgery will cost?
  6. Could online 'slacktivists' actually help Making a Murderer's Steven Avery?
  7. That's what zhe said: mx-ing up the language of gender
  8. Congress' bipartisan Christmas gifts will lead to ballooning deficits
  9. Federal control of western land: two perspectives
  10. What makes a 'smart gun' smart?
  11. US–Saudi relations and the search for leverage
  12. The twisted roots of U.S. land policy in the West
  13. Can we curb the opioid abuse epidemic by rethinking chronic pain?
  14. What Pantone's colors of 2016 mean for the future of design
  15. How the homeless population is changing: it's older and sicker
  16. The Paris Agreement: the first _local_ global environmental pact
  17. Can 10,000-character tweets boost Twitter's flatlining user growth?
  18. Hong Kong copyright battle tests U.S. candidates' commitments to free speech
  19. Quest to find bitcoin's founder highlights currency's biggest threat: the taxman
  20. Far more microplastics floating in oceans than thought
  21. It's too late for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine
  22. Playing 'serious games,' adults learn to solve thorny real-world problems
  23. A small Norwegian city might hold the answer to beating the winter blues
  24. Malheur occupation in Oregon: whose land is it really?
  25. Affordable Care Act's push to consolidate health care to curb costs may backfire
  26. How 3D printing threatens our patent system
  27. At UC San Diego, retired professors are mentoring first-generation college students
  28. Why isn't learning about public health a larger part of becoming a doctor?
  29. Obama's executive order on guns is mostly political theater
  30. More Mexicans are leaving the US than coming across the border
  31. The secret to all great art forgeries
  32. Why stories matter for children’s learning
  33. As El Niño rains arrive, Los Angeles shunts precious water to sea
  34. Can pharmacists help fill the growing primary care gap?
  35. How dangerous people get their guns
  36. Pleasure is good: How French children acquire a taste for life
  37. What North America can expect from El Niño
  38. Outlook for 2016: middle-class woes, hopeful on wages, the fear factor
  39. Five things you should know about the Iowa caucuses
  40. Was 2015 such a terrible year? And what will 2016 look like?
  41. 2015, the year that was: education
  42. 2015, the year that was: politics and society
  43. 2015, the year that was: environment and energy
  44. 2015, the year that was: economics and business
  45. 2015, the year that was: arts and culture
  46. 2015, the year the was: health and medicine
  47. 2015, the year that was: science and technology
  48. The impersonal politics of the Guy Fawkes mask
  49. If Elon Musk is a Luddite, count me in!
  50. Why 2015 was the year that changed TV forever