Wittgenstein’s Poker by David Edmonds and John Eidinow excerpted:

This was the only time these three great philosophers – Russell, Wittgenstein and Popper – were together. Yet, to this day, no one can agree precisely what took place. What is clear is that there were vehement exchanges between Popper and Wittgenstein over the fundamental nature of philosophy – whether there were indeed philosophical problems (Popper) or merely puzzles (Wittgenstein). These exchanges instantly became the stuff of legend. An early version of events had Popper and Wittgenstein battling for supremacy with red-hot pokers. As Popper himself later recollected, ‘In a surprisingly short time I received a letter from New Zealand asking if it was true that Wittgenstein and I had come to blows, both armed with pokers.’

Those ten or so minutes on 25 October 1946 still provoke bitter disagreement. Above all, one dispute remains heatedly alive: did Karl Popper later publish an untrue version of what happened? Did he lie?

If he did lie, it was no casual embellishing of the facts. If he lied, it directly concerned two ambitions central to his life: the defeat at a theoretical level of fashionable twentieth-century linguistic philosophy and triumph at a personal level over Wittgenstein, the sorcerer who had dogged his career. Guardian UK

Beyond Osama:The Pentagon’s Battle With Powell Heats Up

The simmering conflict within the Bush administration over how to prosecute the next phase of the “war on terrorism” suddenly flared up last week as the Taliban fled Kabul. “Where to go next and how big it should be is what’s being argued right now—and Baghdad is what’s being debated at the moment,” said a senior Pentagon official. “This is both an internal discussion at the Pentagon, and one between departments. Our policy guys are thinking Iraq. Our question is, do we make a move earlier than anyone expects?”

…Others interviewed by the Voice report that there have been “epic shouting matches” in White House meetings over the issue of war expansion, and personnel at both Foggy Bottom and Langley have found their patience increasingly tried by the Wolfowitz Cabal. Indeed, despite the CIA’s cowboy image, the Agency’s old Afghan and Middle East hands marvel at what they consider lunacy. “The Agency as an institution would never offer up a view of these people, but if you ask individuals, they think these guys are more than a little nuts,” says a veteran of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations.

Village Voice [via AlterNet]

Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life. ‘ Bad Subjects …promotes the progressive use of new media and print publications… (and) seeks to revitalize progressive politics in retreat. We think too many people on the left have taken their convictions for granted. So we challenge progressive dogma by encouraging readers to think about the political dimension to all aspects of everyday life. We also seek to broaden the audience for leftist and progressive writing, through a commitment to accessibility and contemporary relevance.’ The current issue is an interrogation of television in the post-Sept 11 context. Upcoming issues include:

• Cruising (“When the Left takes on the character of a global carnival, traveling from site to site to lob rocks at corporate overlords and smash the state – or at least, dematerialize it — mobility is more important than ever.”);
• Immigration and Diaspora (“Across the world, immigration — how to control it, its desirability, who should be allowed to do it — has become a hotly disputed topic.The Immigration issue will investigate the various forms that these politics of immigration have adopted across the world.”); and
• The Aesthetics of Violence (“Violence — even where a defensive or liberational necessity — is quintessentially ugly. Its representation involves expressive choices that collectively constitute an aesthetic that turns such ugliness to political purposes. This issue of Bad Subjects examines how the aesthetics of violence manifest themselves under the terms of contemporary transnational capitalism. To whose benefit are bodies being mutilated on screens and on streets? How do dominant cultures perpetuate their power through representations of physical domination in action? What happens when violence becomes a consumer item? How did we come to enjoy the sight of violence so, how do we love it so?”).

Guardians of the Natural Order: A 1996 web document which “outlines the Islamic approach to environmental protection.”

You’ll recall the buzz. Since then, I’d been wondering whatever happened to Dean Kamen’s “it”. Here’s some followup — essentially, it remains vaporware, it seems. Inexplicably, Time magazine includes it among its best inventions of 2001

Take the Affliction Test Today!

The new ‘pro-war liberalism’: ‘ “The North Vietnamese never bombed American cities”. Progressive congressman Barney Frank talks about why he supports the war, opposes Bush’s attack on civil liberties and thinks Clinton’s military legacy is just fine.’ Salon

Children’s Literature Responds to Terror

Since September 11, books about Islam and Osama bin Laden and dusty academic tomes about past wars have flown off bookstore shelves to the top of the best-seller lists. Among children’s literature, a similar trend is occurring, although on a slightly smaller scale. Books about Islam and war written for children have received new life in the weeks since Sept. 11th.

This hour, three authors of children’s books on Islamic culture discuss how publishing has responded to Sept. 11th and how books can help young people better understand the people and events they have been hearing about over the past two and a half months.

WBUR (Boston NPR) Special Coverage webcast.

Taliban offer $50 million for Bush’s capture — ‘Stating that all good Muslims would reject the opportunity to cash in on the bounty for bin Laden’s capture, Mohammed Saeed Haqqani, security chief of Taliban at the border town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar instead offered a $50 m prize for President Bush’s capture.

“The Americans have offered $25 million for Osama. We will give $50 million for (US President George W.) Bush even though we are a poor country.” ‘ Hindustan Times

New gravity map released; you’d weigh less in India. BBC

Pacifica board agrees to resign: ‘The Pacifica National Board agreed today to voluntarily dissolve, reconstitute itself as an interim board with new members, and then to implement a democratization process for the five-station network.

Dissidents and majority factions on Pacifica’s embattled 15- member board agreed to each appoint five of their members to a new interim board. In addition, five entirely new members would be appointed by the chairs of Pacifica’s five Local Advisory Boards.

While the formula would effectively place majority control of the board in the hands of the Pacifica reform movement (four out of the five LABs are dominated by reformers), all decisions of the interim board must be agreed upon by two-thirds vote or 10 out of the 15 members.’ The move came after a dramatic confrontation with more than a hundred public radio activists at a weekend board meeting in Washington. The concessions seem to arise from the fiscal insolvency of the network and its inability to afford more damage, according to the activists.

Japanese scientists have founded a medical institute to study the male menopause. They took the decision after hearing too many complaints of sleeplessness and depression among middle-aged men. Ananova

Kissing evolved from sniffing, says academic. Ananova

Irrationalist in Chief: Chris Mooney profiles Leon Kass, the conservative University of Chicago ethics philosopher appointed to head George W. Bush’s new Council on Bioethics. Mooney says it’s lucky Kass doesn’t require Senate confirmation for his post. The American Prospect

Israeli Forces Kill a Top Leader of Islamic Group in West Bank, firing rockets from a helicopter at his van outside Nablus.

The man, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, had

been wanted by the Israelis since at least

1995, and his escapes from previous

attempts to capture or kill him had gained

him a reputation in the West Bank as “the

man with seven lives.” Among other

terrorist operations, Mr. Hanoud was

accused by Israel of planning two suicide

bombings here in 1997 that killed 21.

Mr. Hanoud, who was in his mid- 30’s, was

the senior military leader in the West Bank

of Hamas, which pledged revenge for the

killing.

The Israelis’ choice of this moment — after the deaths of the five Palestinian schoolchildren who apparently kicked unexploded ordnance the Israelis had left in hopes of killing terrorists. and the shooting by Israel’s security forces of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy at the schoolchildren’s funeral, with the region poised for the arrival of Dubya’s envoys pursuing the Administration’s first peace initiative — certainly raises questions to this naive observer about whether they are interested in sabotaging the peace effort irrevocably.

There’s this curious paragraph in the article:

Mr.

Hanoud’s face was destroyed in the

attack, and he was identified by his shoe

size, a surgical scar on his back and a

shoulder injury from the first Intifada,

Palestinian officials said. The Israeli Army

declined to comment.

Could it be that Hanoud was not really killed but that Hamas is intent on creating that impression?

Spain Sets Hurdle for Extraditions: “Spain will not extradite the eight men

it has charged with complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks unless

the United States agrees that they would be tried by a civilian

court and not by the military tribunals envisioned by President

Bush, Spanish officials said today.” NY Times

Hunt for a Solution to Obscure Vomiting Disorder: “Doctors know frustratingly little about (cyclic vomiting disorder). And some doubt that it

exists as a distinct syndrome, though it was first identified more than a

century ago. Two studies in other countries estimate that as many as 1 in

50 white schoolchildren may suffer from it… Some doctors think it is simply an unusual type of migraine, even though

many patients do not have headaches. And other doctors have never

heard of it, mistakenly diagnosing ailments it mimics, including bulimia, flu

and reflux disease.” NY Times

Today’s NY Times op-ed columnists:
Frank Rich: Wait Until Dark: In his blundering, John Ashcroft has now handed radical Islam a propaganda coup in its war

against Israel.

Anthony Lewis: Right and Wrong: “Some of

the moral and military high ground secured by the United States is now

being given up on another front: law.”