Here’s why you should never e-mail your professor after showing up an hour late, give cameras to chimps or put a grouchy Dane in charge of your country’s tourism pitch.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.


The New Rules of War

The visionary who first saw the age of “netwar” coming warns that the U.S. military is getting it wrong all over again. Here’s his plan to make conflict cheaper, smaller, and smarter.

The Democratic Party’s deceitful game They are willing to bravely support any progressive bill as long as there’s no chance it can pass.

Denmark’s new tourism campaign:

‘Avatar’: The Prequel As he looks forward to the upcoming Oscars, Michael Klare has a suggestion for James Cameron about what planet (and whose resources) that film director should next turn his new 3-D techniques on.

A History Lesson for Obama: Eisenhower and Israel 1956 With President Obama’s Middle East peace plans so completely — and humiliatingly — shipwrecked on the rocks of Israeli intransigence, it’s time for him to consider a new approach, at least if he’s serious about his announced objectives. …

Text of Ugandan ‘kill the gays’ bill:

Jazz age passport photos Passport photos gleaned from passport applications files of writers actors, poets, artists, photographers, etc. The quality is pretty gritty, but I find them interesting, not the least because they are glimpses of these people without their artistic personas showing. Just another traveller submitting to the demands of the state.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONSTITUTION One must always avoid the temptation to view the Constitution as consisting solely of what has gained the attention of the judiciary. …

Movie made by chimps shown on TV The world’s first film shot entirely by chimpanzees is to be broadcast by the BBC as part of a natural history documentary.

Why is the White House already wavering on Obama’s commitment to repeal DADT this year? [W]e learned from Kerry Eleveld’s question to Robert Gibbs today that the White House would not commit to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year. …

NYU Business School Professor Has Mastered the Art of Email Flaming A student at NYU’s Stern School of Business sent a complaint email to a hard-headed professor about his class’s lateness policy. The professor emailed back, eviscerated the student David Mamet-style, and now it’s gone viral. Welcome to internet immorality.

The B-School Glass Ceiling Female professors at business schools tend to remain in the mid-faculty ranks after earning tenure, while their male counterparts are more likely to continue onward to full professor, according to a new study.

Your support matters…

Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.

You can help level the playing field. Become a member.

Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.

Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG