The Laramie Project

Matthew Shepard, a homosexual college boy from the University of Wyoming, with passion for social sciences, was brutally tortured at a very isolated place by two anti-gay bigots. One of those bigots later revealed in court that apparently the main reason why they severely beat him and tied him up to a fence at that place was because Matt was reaching for his dick.

Ayn Rand: In her own words

Ayn Rand – a famous author and philosopher who wrote Atlas Shrugged, sometimes compared to The Bible for today’s world, and strongly revered by Conservatives and Libertarians – was dedicated a documentary titled “Ayn Rand: In her own words.”

Bad journalism? You decide (Part four)

Do you remember the interview conducted by CNN political analyst Gloria Borger with U.S. Representative Ron Paul on his campaign for President. In this interview, published on December 23, 2011, Ms. Borger asked Mr. Paul about his stances on the budget, foreign policy, and last but not least – his reaction to some controversial newsletters that he allegedly wrote about two decades ago. This article is aimed at analyzing whether the way Ms. Borger handled the interview was good or bad journalism, not whether Ron Paul is right or wrong on the issues. Good journalism in this article is defined as asking relevant questions in order to receive a clear response from the interviewee who in this case is Ron Paul. Bad journalism is anything beyond that.

A decomposing country

North Korea is in severe humanitarian crisis after floods allegedly destroyed a lot of its crops forcing millions of people to suffer from hunger and malnourishment. I say allegedly because I wouldn’t necessarily blame it on nature but on the tyrant regime of the Kim dynasty that has been ruling this country since 1953.

Against the “Occupy Wall Street” protests

As a resident of the Baltimore area I couldn’t help but notice the Baltimore Sun‘s coverage on the “Occupy Wall Streeet” protests. Apparently these protests have spread throughout the entire country’s big cities – not just New York but also Baltimore, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and other big and famous cities in the U.S. Most people’s first reaction about me, judging by my educational background, is to expect that I will be supporting the protests but I am not. This article will briefly explain why I do not support them.

Don’t get mad at Facebook

The new Facebook has apparently frustrated a lot of people. Not only have I seen several statuses from some of my friends expressing their disapproval of it, but also famous newspapers like the Baltimore Sun reported on the raised indignation with Facebook’s new design.

The Bottom Billion

Are you interested in knowing more about Africa, and particularly its problems? Are you interested in knowing more about what causes poverty and what prevents poverty from (the so called poverty traps)? Are you interested in who the bottom billion are, what social, political and economic phenomena are present in their societies and how issues could be addressed? Do you want to know why international initiatives have been comparatively unsuccessful there?

Against the full publication of diplomatic cables

WikiLeaks reportedly published the diplomatic cables that it had received without redactions. This, as The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Figaro, El Pais, Der Spiegel, governments and other organizations noted, exposes sources of classified information and top secrets at all kinds of risk. I expressed in the past what I think of WikiLeaks – that it goes to far in raising transparency in governments.

Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences

This book, written by Bruce L. Berg, repeats some of the material discussed in The Craft of Political Research, but, unlike the latter, its focus group is broader. While W. Phillips Shively’s book is applicable to social sciences other than political science, Mr. Berg targeted a larger group – that of all social scientists.

The Craft of Political Research

Conducting research is oftentimes considered a boring and painful process unless you are really into discovering what you are looking for. It also involves critical thinking and measures of values.