Pillar of Fire Theories

The pillar of fire was a unique phenomenon that led the Israelites at night through the wilderness for forty years. Many theories have been offered to explain this phenomenon such as it was mythical or metaphorical and never occurred. Other explanations include burning jets of natural gas, a brazier elevated on a pole, volcanic activity, brush fires, lightning, and a comet. The large and controlled shape of the pillar of fire, its appearance only at night for forty years, and its carefully directed path have been explained as miraculous. This article includes a scientific discussion of how the pillar might have been produced, reviews the many theories offered to explain the pillar of fire, and offers several new theories.     

Liberal Policy Debates and Their Consequences for African Americans

Marilyn E. Lashley and Melanie Njeri Jackson (Eds.), African Americans and the New Policy Consensus: Retreat of the Liberal State.     

FIBS in Archaeobotany: Functional Interpretation of Weed Floras in Relation to Husbandry Practices

The application of “FIBS” (Functional Interpretation of Botanical Surveys) to the interpretation of archaeobotanical weed floras, as evidence of past husbandry practices, is explored. To illustrate the potential of the approach, present-day cereal fields in N. Spain are analysed in terms of the functional attributes of the weed species represented in dry-farmed and irrigated fields. Functional attributes are identified which relate in predictable ways to the quality of plant growth and the severity of drought. These attributes are successful in discriminating dry-farmed and irrigated fields. This investigation opens up the way for more general application of the method in the archaeobotanical study of crop husbandry. FIBS (a) permits the “translation” of ecological information from one group of species to another, via functional attributes, and (b) through an understanding of the ecological processes involved, provides a potential mechanism for reconstructing extinct agricultural regimes for which modern analogues do not exist. This presents an alternative to the traditional use of ecological indices (which are open to circularity of interpretation) or phytosociological groupings (for which there may not have been exact parallels in the past). The relevance of particular functional attributes to husbandry methods other than irrigation now needs to be explored in order to develop the methodology for general application to archaeobotanical weed assemblages.     

Industrial Policy: Conservative, Liberal and Radical Views

Books reviewed in this articles:
Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison, The Deindustrialization of America
Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal 1982 Budget Revisions
Ira C. Magaziner and Robert B. Reich, Minding America's Business; The Decline and Rise of the American Economy
Robert B. Reich, The Next American Frontier