Zachary Shtogren
One would think humans would have a notion of preservation lofty enough not to get too bogged down in the semantics of the climate debate, but such is not the case. Cap and trade, polar melting, mega-storms, sea level rise, feedback loops, population die-off. The language of climate change is ... Read More
Blogger Stevel Rubel spoke with Big Think yesterday on the the future of internet advertising, the semantic web and digital media. He's a smart guy. He also has a really cool title at his day job.As Director of Insights at Edelman Digital, Rubel follows internet trends and flags them for their ... Read More
Though support for European fringe groups generally runs in the single percentage points, voter turnout in next week's elections might not run much higher, which bodes well for those outside the mainstream.Transitions Online reports a full 150 seats in the 736-seat Parliament could go to fringe ... Read More
The popular notion that food trends improve over time might be little more than a foodie's conceit. Certainly, we have cast aside the Twinkies for arugula and the lard for grapeseed oil. Yet there may be a number of missing chapters in our national food narrative we would be wise to rediscover ... Read More
For a president elected on his promise of pulling the U.S. out of Iraq in a jiffy and treating the world at large with a softer hand, observers say Obama is carrying on in much the same tradition of his predecessor when it comes to foreign policy. Though he comes armed with a wealth of soft power ... Read More
Sylvia Hewlett consults organizations worldwide on the value of diversity in their ranks. In her conversation with Big Think this afternoon, she had one message for companies: shun women and minorities at your peril.Task Force Director at the Center for Work-Life Policy, Hewlett is regularly ... Read More
"The grand edifice of brand-name consumerism rests on the narcissistic fantasy that everyone else cares about what we buy." So writes John Tierney in this morning's Times. If this sounds familiar, we have some perspective on your relationship with stuff. We've evolved, Tierney says, into creatures ... Read More
From the Department of Really Cool Gadgets comes a protoype for a mobile phone that will alert us to all the bad stuff out there.It can sense pollen counts, measure ozone levels and gauge excess carbon in the air. It's the real-life version of Star Trek's tricorder. Eric Paulos of the Human ... Read More
There was a brief moment when it seemed like our perilous red state-blue state divide was closing. It was back when all those gun owners crossed the aisle to vote for Obama. But the hot-button issues are rearing their ugly heads again. Obama made it out of Notre Dame this weekend with his ... Read More
Americans have found solace in paying low or no taxes since a certain dumping of tea into Boston Harbor in 1773. Low taxes have contributed to the psychology behind the country's economic individualism, but have they made us happy?An OECD study collates research Gallup gathered in 2008 to rank ... Read More
Oil, gas, timber, corn, slurry, ash. The list of natural resources that could provoke violent conflict in the coming decades is long, but one candidate stands out.If climate change proceeds apace in the world's arid lands, geopolitical and natural resources experts say the potential for civil ... Read More
Statistician extraordinaire Hans Rosling is back on the presentation circuit with data that suggests reorienting the debate over the success of AIDS prevention could be a wise next move.Unveiling data at a recent TED conference, Rosling, Director of the Gapminder Institute, shows that prevention ... Read More
Etched deep into the DNA of the Anglo-Saxon diaspora is a boundless sense of economic entitlement. Such has consistently been the world's criticism of the west for months now. Some argue that in societies where punishment is worst outcome, entitlement is the natural order of things. "In America ... Read More
By outlining his near and long-term legislative priorities in a publication read by graying intellectuals and Left Bank expatriates, Arlen Specter may have been trying to tell us something. His contribution to the May 14 issue of the New York Review of Books comes in at a hefty 5,432 words in which ... Read More
Thinking people intolerant of network television newscasting have sought refuge in PBS for generations. Now public television's flagship news program, NewsHour, is going 2.0.Among the changes set for September include a merging of the program's broadcast and online operations, increased reporting ... Read More
In keeping with the notion that alcohol allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things, there is evidence to suggest alcohol can also help creative people find their spark...if they're lucky enough to have the Churchill gene.Writers have long known the glories of drinking at their trade. For ... Read More
What's the exact recipe for happiness? What's the alchemy to assure success? What are the clear signs that in your twenties you will be off the tracks in your forties? You could delve deep into the Big Think archives for these answers, or you could take note of a Harvard endeavor that began in 1942 ... Read More
If the fine art photography scene is experiencing a rough market, the situation for photojournalists is certainly not far behind. Seems strange at a time when so many ground-breaking stories need shooting.Though assignments are reckoned to be down 75 percent, we found at least three photojournalists ... Read More
The forecast for art and culture is partly cloudy this week at Big Think.On one hand the news is grim. Independent films are seeing dark days. Broadway is slashing its schedule and plugging its runs with stars more fit for late-night TV. State arts funding is in shambles. Even the great storehouses ... Read More
The destination par excellence for gut-busting dinners and slippery morning-after scrambles has needed to refoot for difficult times. Denny's found the needed salvation for their afterhours business model in the habits one of their more historically loyal demographics: broke kids.Thus was launched ... Read More
About Zachary Shtogren
Zach Shtogren has worked as a translator at PEN and as a journalist for the now-defunct Catalonia Today and BCN Week. Zach has also worked as an environmental educator in the Peace Corps, taught New York school children urban ecology, and managed the Grand Canyon National Park's greenhouse and nursery. He is also a former Big Think editor. He graduated with a degree in French from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.