This list is always good for a few gems.

These are the ideas that, for better and worse, helped make 2005 what it was. You'll find entries that address momentous developments in Iraq ("The Totally Religious, Absolutely Democratic Constitution") as well as less conspicuous, more ghoulish occurrences in Pittsburgh ("Zombie Dogs"). There are ideas that may inspire ("The Laptop That Will Save the World"), that may turn your stomach ("In Vitro Meat"), that may arouse partisan passions ("Republican Elitism") and that may solve age-old mysteries ("Why Popcorn Doesn't Pop"). Some mysteries, of course, still remain. For instance, we do not yet have an entirely satisfying explanation for how Mark Cuban, the outspoken Internet mogul and NBA owner, came to be connected with three of the year's most notable ideas ("Collapsing the Distribution Window," "Scientific Free-Throw Distraction" and "Splogs"). That was just one surprising discovery we made in the course of assembling the issue. In the pages that follow, we're sure you'll make your own

The Year In Ideas 2005

We often find it hard to be as thankful as we should be these days. For so many Americans, it is no longer a question of having too little or having enough. It's the difference between having too much and having way, way too much.

Xbox 360?

This One Meal

Atlanta is the seventh most dangerous city overall. It is the fourth most dangerous among the 208 cities of its size (100-500k).

City Crime Rankings by Population Group

In the turn of an instant I went away from youth. Being young I had needed judgment to make myself distinct; because honesty was the way to judgment, I said whatever came to me, thinking the speed and plenty of my words made them true. I'd confused honesty with expedience.

And the way to the future was illuminated. From now on the task would no longer be separation and difference, no longer the sculpturing of a self to be distinct from other selves. From now on the task would be to find happiness in a crowd.

The Unwhole Truth

There is a simplistic inclination to assume that the effectiveness of any intellectual confederacy derives from its cohesiveness, compactness, and presence at the nexus point of media networks.

Intellectual centers of gravity require that a specific place combine with a particular set of circumstances to create an alignment of ideas and actions.

L.A, in the 1940s, in contrast to Paris in the 1930s, merely became a vat for people on the run or needing quick cash.

The two contrary examples dilute the notion that simply bunching public intellectuals together will magically establish a gatekeeper community.

The intellectual only really triumphs if he navigates successfully in the public sphere, which presumably means addressing laymen in a subtle, reciprocal way, while also trying to impress the value of one's opinions.

When Eggheads Gather

I've blogged about this book before, but now it's finally on the shelves at local bookstores.

Read more about this book at Us and Them: The Blog

An eye on science, current events and flummery about race, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, caste, class, ideology and other "human kinds."

The author, David Berreby, participated in the Edge World Question Center in 2004:

Berreby's First Law: Human kinds exist only in human minds.

Human differences and human similarities are infinite, therefore any assortment of people can be grouped together according to a shared trait or divided according to unshared traits. Our borders of race, ethnicity, nation, religion, class etc. are not, then, facts about the world. They are facts about belief. We should look at minds, not kinds, if we want to understand this phenomenon.

Berreby's Second Law: Science which seems to confirm human-kind beliefs is always welcome; science that undermines human-kind belief is always unpopular.

To put it more cynically, if your work lets people believe there are "Jewish genes'" (never mind that the same genes are found in Palestinians) or that criminals have different kinds of brains from regular people (never mind that regular people get arrested all the time), or that your ancestors 5,000 years ago lived in the same neck of the woods as you (never mind the whereabouts of all your other ancestors), well then, good press will be yours. On the other hand, if your work shows how thoroughly perceptions of race, ethnicity, and other traits change with circumstances, well, good luck. Common sense will defend itself against science.

Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind

Rarely since the mid-19th century, when it first became a crowd pleaser, has the Gothic aesthetic gained such a throttlehold on the collective imagination.

Consumers are following fashion and embracing a Gothic style. They are snapping up trinkets that they would once have dismissed as perverse or subversive: silver skull cuff links, chains interlaced with black ribbon in the manner of Victorian mourning jewelry, stuffed peacocks with Swarovski crystal eyes, and, as party favors, tiny rat and chicken skeletons.

Gothic Aesthetic

"It's a waste of time," she said, "because most of the time they're talking about nothing."

Don't knock nothing. Seinfeld was a show about nothing. Nothing can be quite something.

The young have become adept at managing multiple sources of information at once, but the ability to multitask has curbed their "ability to focus on a single thing, the ability to be silent and still inside, basically the ability to be unplugged and content."

"What we're losing is the contemplative dimension of life."

Parents Fret That Dialing Up Interferes With Growing Up

Get yourself a wagon already -- and paint it good! [mp3], [snpp], [imdb]

It seems a hazy memory, but Keith Wilson, a spiky-haired club promoter, can recall what it was like before MySpace.

"I conduct my entire business through MySpace," said Mr. Wilson.

Although many people over 30 have never heard of MySpace, it passed Google in April in hits, the number of pages viewed monthly.

"As far as a cultural phenomenon, MySpace is as important, if not more important, than MTV."

"... gonna use oil-based paint, `cause the wood is pine ..."

Do You MySpace?

Read more about this book at Us and Them: The Blog/

An eye on science, current events and flummery about race, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, caste, class, ideology and other "human kinds."

The author, David Berreby, participated in the Edge World Question Center in 2004:

Berreby's First Law: Human kinds exist only in human minds.

Human differences and human similarities are infinite, therefore any assortment of people can be grouped together according to a shared trait or divided according to unshared traits. Our borders of race, ethnicity, nation, religion, class etc. are not, then, facts about the world. They are facts about belief. We should look at minds, not kinds, if we want to understand this phenomenon.

Berreby's Second Law: Science which seems to confirm human-kind beliefs is always welcome; science that undermines human-kind belief is always unpopular.

To put it more cynically, if your work lets people believe there are "Jewish genes'" (never mind that the same genes are found in Palestinians) or that criminals have different kinds of brains from regular people (never mind that regular people get arrested all the time), or that your ancestors 5,000 years ago lived in the same neck of the woods as you (never mind the whereabouts of all your other ancestors), well then, good press will be yours. On the other hand, if your work shows how thoroughly perceptions of race, ethnicity, and other traits change with circumstances, well, good luck. Common sense will defend itself against science.

Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind