February 2009
“Communism aspired to be the universal creed of the twentieth century, but a more...”
– J.R. McNeill (via azspot)
Terence McKenna Meets the Machine Elves of... →
americansatori:
a challenging and engaging interview with McKenna by a sceptical writer.
“These are warped, stunted, soulless creatures who lie awake at night worrying...”
– The workers in the vineyard (via feedly) (via nbr)
Watch(via cathartesaura)
h+ Magazine Issue #2 →
Read issue #2 here on line. or download issue #1 here.
Flicking Off George Stroumboulopoulos →
leftworks:
“In the 1990s there was only one large economy that substantially reduced carbon emissions: Russia. This reduction can be entirely attributed to the collapse of the Soviet economy. Between 1990 and 2005 Russia’s emissions fell by one third. This means that if the world is going to come close to reaching the required 89% decrease in emissions by 2050 some human effort must be...
The Credit Card Debt Crisis: The Next Economic... →
Arianna Huffington writes:
It’s a particularly vicious economic circle: every day, Americans, faced with layoffs and tough economic times, are forced to use their credit cards to pay for essentials like food, housing, and medical care — the costs of which continue to escalate. But as their debt rises, they find it harder to keep up with their payments. When they don’t, banks,...
Green Smoothie
navigirl:
I just went to this amazing talk about the power of raw greens. Finally I have found a way to eat a diet more like our wild sister, the chimpanzee. Victoria Boutenko spoke about a great way to get raw greens in your diet: put it in the blender. I was like, ew, ya gotta be kidding? A spinach smoothie? But if you blend greens with fruit, like bananas and blueberries, the raw greens...
“I accept the universe” is reported to have been a favorite utterance of our New...”
– William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (NY: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1905), p. 41 (Google Books link). (via nbr)
The Anti-Bono: Dambisa Moyo and “Dead Aid” →
ledgergermane:
Q:Have you met Bono?
A: I have, yes, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year. It was at a party to raise money for Africans, and there were no Africans in the room, except for me….
Q:What do you think of him? A: I’ll make a general comment about this whole dependence on “celebrities.” I object to this situation as it is right now where they have...
Mr. Frederick H. Waddell President and Chief Executive Officer Northern Trust 50 South LaSalle Chicago, IL 60603
Dear Mr. Waddell:
We are dismayed and angered to learn that Northern Trust recently spent millions of dollars on a PGA golf tournament sponsorship and associated parties at the same time it has taken over $1.5 billion in federal stabilization funding under the...
Joseph Stiglitz: Obama Has Confused Saving the... →
Well, a few years ago, when President Bush came to the American people and said there was a hole in Social Security, the size of the hole was $560 billion approximately. That meant that if we spent that amount of money, we would have guaranteed the—put on sound financial basis our Social Security system. We wouldn’t have to talk about all these issues. We would have provided security for...
Answer the Question!
Seems to me that no one actually answers the question. Everyone in power has been so schooled to say on message, that all you get is the message no matter what the question. Those not in power, such as folks on local talk shows, just seem to never be paying attention. And even crazier, the interviewer or anchor or host NEVER calls them on it, never says: That’s very interesting but...
THE SONG OF SONGS →
In this EdgeVideo, evolutionary biologist Armand Leroi reports on his art/science conversation and collaboration with musician Brian Eno which began when the two sat next to each other an an Edge dinner in London. The dinner discussion began with evolution and music, proceeded to the evolution of music, and led to the following question: has anybody attempted to reconstruct the history of human...
Media-Morphosis: How the Internet Will Devour,... →
Cory Doctorow writes: The Internet chews up media and spits them out again. Sometimes they get more robust. Sometimes they get more profitable. Sometimes they die. It’s a scary thought, especially if you’re personally attached to an old medium like movies, books, records, or newspapers.
4 million Americans lost health insurance since... →
An estimated 4 million Americans have lost their health insurance since the recession began, and as many as 14,000 people could be losing their health coverage every day …
Taxing pot could become a political toking point →
Buoyed by the widely held belief that cannabis is California’s biggest cash crop, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano contends it is time to reap some state revenue from that harvest while putting a damper on drug use by teens, cutting police costs and even helping Mother Nature.
For Gulls, Vigilance Is a Team Effort [Henry...
ambivalence:
[via NYTimes.com]
‘After controlling for group size and density, Dr. Beauchamp found that in the same group, gulls with neighbors that were alert spent about one-fifth less time sleeping than those with neighbors that were less alert.
Dr. Beauchamp points out that recent research on birds and other animals shows that in foraging and reproductive strategy, individuals glean...
Loaf out of hell
magicmolly:
Tonight is Meatloaf Night, and I am not sure what part of the evening will be best:
a) producing a dense and clay-like primal shape of meat
b) cutting it into slabs (ideally with a wire but a knife will do)
c) smacking it on the plate with a greedy belch
It could be all three. If I had my way, we’d eat it without utensils and with the option of stealing from other people’s plates...
“I have read endless tributes to Wal-Mart from “libertarian economists,” who sing...”
– Paul Craig Roberts (via azspot)
The Real Reason Bank Stocks Are Tanking →
William D. Cohan, a former senior-level M&A banker on Wall Street, is the author of The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. Cohan’s House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, writes:
Until Wall Street CEOs admit that their blind ambition and ravenous greed resulted in decision after decision, year after year that put their firms, and now...
Who needs concerts when you have protests? →
Alda of The Iceland Weather Report writes:
Protests are where the greatest stuð is these days [an excellent word that is virtually impossible to translate but falls somewhere between ‘fun’ and ‘rush’] here in Niceland. As everybody knows, the recent revolution has consisted of people showing up in strategic locations and banging pots, pans, drums or whathaveyou, inevitably...
WatchEast Timor’s First Female Dictator - The Onion
“I would be very happy if there was some way to make it a misdemeanor for people...”
– Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) writes in The Nation
7 Days in America: Al Franken
MARK GREEN: Who do you predict might be the next U.S. Senator with an Air America pedigree? Reagan because of his somewhat recognizable last name or Bender, because he has the chops and the good looks?
AL FRANKEN: Yeah, Bender lost a lot of weight, huh? Is that what you're talking about? Well, I think Rachel. So, I think when you're talking about the next Air America senator, it would be Rachel Maddow.
lemmings. your leader has given up on you →
hipsterrunoff:
hahah
twittering is for lonely losers who have no one to text message when they are standing alone and need to look at their phone