In its special Christmas issue, The Economist has a report on an archeological excavation in the Town of Towton, in England. This is where, on March 29th, 1461, the House of York defeated the House of Lancaster in the climactic battle in the War of the Roses, delivering the English crown to the Plantagenets. The …
At The Earth Institute of Columbia University’s State of the Planet 2010 Conference last Thursday, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (left, photo by Eileen Barroso), the economist, intellectual tummler, and director of said Earth Institute, summed up the State of the Planet as “interconnected, crowded and complex.” Later, he threw in “wondrous” and “challenging,” and nary a …