April 17, 2012

Has the Hope Bubble Burst? Van Jones on Being Relevant, and Rebuilding the Dream (Video)

Van Jones told The New York Times that Glenn Beck pushed him out of a job and his advocacy organization pushed Beck out of one. “Now we’re both irrelevant!” he said. Today, obviously Jones has found a way to make himself relevant again. But what did he learn from his public face-off with Beck and what would he do differently today?

The former special advisor to the Obama White House and author of Rebuild the Dream. tells Big Think how he evolved after being on “the left side of Pluto” in his twenties. Jones took a year off to form the organization Rebuild the Dream, and write the book, Rebuild the Dream.

Watch the video here:

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

The Pragmatic Caucus: States and Cities Are Centers for Collaboration and Innovation

As I’ve argued on climate change, localizing the issue is one way to overcome the polarization that has paralyzed national-level action. And this strategy holds not just for climate, but […]