the Civil War, many newspapers covered sports, yet some papers did so reluctantly. New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, for example, once gave six columns to a prize fight, but added an editorial denouncing the brutality of the boxing match. As sports news drew more readers, sportswriters gained influence. Baseball writer Henry Chadwick (1824- 1908) helped create the National League (which in 1876 became the first organization of professional sports clubs in the United States), and also founded...
a nuclear power accident, but fail to report the actual number of people killed so far nuclear power, a miniscule total. Moreover, only 16 percent of the stories sur- veyed compared the possible costs and benefits of a risky activity. In most stories, journalists imply that the costs of an activity outweigh its benefits, while failing to give the reader the information needed to reach an inde- pendent assessment. "None of the media," say the authors, "is very infor- mative in providing...
rejects the establishment of an elite ruling class or a dictatorship.
Because Muslims are combating the erosion of their faith, the jihad (holy war) is considered defensive in nature. Thus the mujahideen (war- riors in the way of God) in Afghanistan, while they may take the offensive against Soviet forces, have been "involved in a wholly defensive war."
The primary goal of today's Muslim leaders is to cleanse their society of foreign influence and help Muslims "rediscover and re-embrace...
Mary Midgley, in Philosophy (July 1987), Cambridge Univ. Press, 32 East 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10022.
English philosopher G. E. Moore (1873-1958) was acclaimed most British intellectuals when his major work, Principia Ethica, was published in 1903. But the Fabian socialist Beatrice Webb was an exception. The book, she wrote in a letter, was "a metaphysical justification for doing what you like and what other people disapprove of." Its effect on young men was "to disintegrate their...
such psycholo- gists as B. F. Skinner) that "making moral judgments" is a distasteful practice that should be avoided at all costs. Yet proponents of this "self- righteous preoccupation with putting down self-righteousness" have not found a suitable substitute for the moral judgments they condemn.
Philosophers, Midgley concludes, should once again discuss "how we need to think and live." But in resuming philosophy's traditional task, they should reject attitudes that...
many circuits operating together rather than as linked chains. Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Bell Laboratories, and
C.I.T. have fabricated collective-decision circuits, the largest being 54 amplifiers. However, it will take a network of hundreds or thousands of "neurons," with thousands or millions of connections, for a circuit "to be useful" as a research tool.
Collective-decision circuits could be used in many ways. A C.I.T. team led Carver Mead, for example,...
providing continuing education and add- ing special programs on legal issues at their annual conventions. Saks concludes that "expert witnesses" need to learn the details of a case and their role in it. They should "learn to give accurate, two-sided presenta- tions in court, recognizing that they are witnesses, not advocates."
"Learning at the Sub-Neural Level" Robert Kanigel, in Mosaic (Fall 1987), National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. 20550.
Brain biologists...
local politicians and the press.
"Blackout at Bonnede Power" Andrew N. Kleit and Richard L. Stroup, in Regulation (No. 2, 1987), American Enterprise Institute, 1150 17th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.20036.
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which supplies low-cost elec- tric power to the Pacific Northwest, is theoretically a self-supporting gov- ernment agency that requires no federal funding.
In fact, argue Kleit, a research associate, and Stroup, a senior asso- ciate, both at...
law from building new plants, BPA bureaucrats persuaded the Washington Pacific Power Supply System (WPPSS, or "Whoops") in 1970 to build three nuclear plants and allow BPA to keep most of the power generated. BPA then forced its customers to pay for the WPPSS plants "net-billing" contracts, which required participating utilities to pass costs on to the consumer. Cost overruns and incompetence caused WPPSS to default on $2.25 billion worth of bonds in 1983. BPA customers are now...
Yvonne Korshak, in
Smithsonian Studies in American Art (Fall
1987), 16-00 Pollitt Dr., Fair Lawn, N.J. 07410.
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee com- posed of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson to design a seal for the new United States. The three men differed in their ideas. Franklin suggested a depiction of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, Adams proposed Hercules poised between Vice and Virtue, and Jefferson argued for the Israelites in the w...