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anonymous

9 Questions That Toy Story Left Unanswered - 0 views

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    June 20, 2010
anonymous

Jon Stewart, you let me down - 0 views

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    "The low point came as Stewart tried to justify Robinson's nebulous argument that science and religion need each other, and he offered stock apologetics." By PZ Myers at Pharyngula on July 9, 2010
anonymous

Who cares about a career? Not Gen Y - 0 views

  • While we Baby Boomers typically place high value on pay, benefits, stability and prestige, Gen Y cares most about fun, innovation, social responsibility, and time off.
  • While the article focuses on the horrible job market for today's twenty-somethings, it suggests that these new adults are pretty much unfazed that they're not launching into a dream career.
  • Apart from 14% of young adults who are unemployed today, 23% are not even seeking work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The New York Times notes that the total, 37% of young adults unemployed or not seeking work, is the highest rate in more than three decades and reminiscent of the 1930s.
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    By Patricia Sellers at Postcards (Fortune) on July 7, 2010. The comments are a priceless example of generational angst.
anonymous

Facing extinction: The "responsible Republican" - 0 views

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    "Warnings about right-wing extremism from Michael Gerson and ousted Bob Inglis are too little -- and much too late." By Joe Conason at Salon.com on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

For a New Generation, an Elusive American Dream - 0 views

  • Complicating the generational divide, Scott’s grandfather, William S. Nicholson, a World War II veteran and a retired stock broker, has watched what he described as America’s once mighty economic engine losing its pre-eminence in a global economy. The grandfather has encouraged his unemployed grandson to go abroad — to “Go West,” so to speak.
  • Yet surveys show that the majority of the nation’s millennials remain confident, as Scott Nicholson is, that they will have satisfactory careers. They have a lot going for them.
  • The Great Depression damaged the self-confidence of the young, and that is beginning to happen now, according to pollsters, sociologists and economists. Young men in particular lost a sense of direction, Glen H. Elder Jr., a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, found in his study, “Children of the Great Depression.” In some cases they were forced into work they did not want — the issue for Scott Nicholson.
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    By Louis Uchitelle at The New York Times on July 6, 2010.
anonymous

Faux Spies and Mother Russia - 0 views

  • Oleg Kalugin, the onetime KGB head of operations in the United States, thinks the story "is a sign of the decadence of the Russian intelligence services." So, is that the real story here--the degree to which corruption, favoritism, and nepotism pervades Russian society?
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    "Oleg Kalugin, the onetime KGB head of operations in the United States, thinks the story "is a sign of the decadence of the Russian intelligence services." So, is that the real story here--the degree to which corruption, favoritism, and nepotism pervades Russian society?" By James S. Denton at World Affairs on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

Mark Twain's Unexpurgated Autobiography - 0 views

  • Twain’s decree will be put to the test when the University of California Press publishes the first of three volumes of the 500,000-word “Autobiography of Mark Twain” in November.
  • Versions of the autobiography have been published before, in 1924, 1940 and 1959. But the original editor, Albert Bigelow Paine, was a stickler for propriety, cutting entire sections he thought offensive; his successors imposed a chronological cradle-to-grave narrative that Twain had specifically rejected, altered his distinctive punctuation, struck additional material they considered uninteresting and generally bowed to the desire of Twain’s daughter Clara, who died in 1962, to protect her father’s image.
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    "But in his unexpurgated autobiography, whose first volume is about to be published a century after his death, a very different Twain emerges, more pointedly political and willing to play the role of the angry prophet." By Larry Rohter at NYTimes.com on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

Gapminder Desktop: Explore the World of Data from your own Computer - 0 views

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    "To overcome the online requirement, Gapminder Desktop [gapminder.org has recently been released for all operating systems. Based on Adobe AIR technology, this "No Internet Required" software allows people to explore the same data from their own computer, even when there is no Internet connectivity available. In particular, Gapminder Desktop is aimed to teachers and students to bookmark and present global trends in all sort of situations. It comes preloaded with 600+ indicators on health, environment, economy, education, poverty, technology, and so on."
anonymous

Future New York, The City of Skyscrapers (1925) - 0 views

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    From Paleofuture on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

Diplomacy among the aliens - 0 views

  • The world of the ancient Near East was on a deep level culturally alien to our own, and the period between 1200 and 800 spans a extremely sharp rupture between what came before, and what came after.
  • I contend that despite the differences of language a modern person might have more in common with a citizen of 4th century Athens, than a citizen of 4th century Athens would have with a subject of the wanax of 12th century Athens.
  • Some of this is a function of the reality that the modern mentality is to a large extent an outgrowth of that of the Ionian Greeks and their intellectuals heirs.
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  • I have alluded to the fact that the enormous proportion of ancient Classical works we have today can be attributed to intense phases of translation and transcription during the Carolingian Renaissance, the Abbassid House of Wisdom, and the efforts of Byzantine men of letters such as Constantine Porphyrogennetos. The reason for these efforts was that in part these ancient literary works were the products of natural predecessor civilizations, to whom the medieval West, Byzantium, and Islam, owed a great deal. The memory of Plato and Aristotle, Caesar and Darius, persisted down to their day.
  • In sharp contrast the details of our knowledge of the Bronze Age world are due to the work of modern archaeologists and philologists.
  • The diplomatic system developed in the ancient Near East was forgotten for millennia; there’s no collection of marble busts of ancient kings in the entrance hall to the United Nations in honor of their contribution to the history of humanking, no requirement that children study the ancient peace treaties as founding documents, the way they might study the Magna Carta or the United States Constitution. There’s a good reason for this: We can find no direct link between the ancient practice of diplomacy and that used today. But it is edifying, even inspiring, to know that right from the earliest centuries of civilization, ancient kings and statesmen of distinct and different lands were oftne willing, even eager, to find alternatives to war and see one another as brothers rather than enemies.
  • First, kinship matters.
  • Egypt was richer and more powerful than any of the other kingdoms during this period.
  • It seems clear that one of the goals of the ancient diplomatic system was to substitute gift giving for war. Plunder and piracy were a major revenue source for elites, especially in an age where commerce and trade did not exhibit the efficiencies we take for granted later (recall that there was no standard coinage).
  • Certain fixed costs would be entailed, and one would probably want a reasonable economy of scale to maximize efficiency. The despots of this ancient world were in the best position to provide these services.
  • This stability was shattered with the maturity of mass populist nationalism in the 19th century, and basically killed during World War I. But it was constrained to Europe and European descended societies.
  • As we enter the teens of the 21st century I think the idea of a world civilization, with a common cultural currency which might serve as a means of exchange for deep diplomatic understandings, is fading somewhat.
  • But the rise of China and Russia should give us pause in assuming a deep common cultural foundation which can serve as a universal glue. Russia is a petro-state in demographic decline, so it is less interesting.
  • Rather, China is reasserting its traditional position as the preeminent civilization in the world, and it is doing so without being Westernized in a way we would recognize.
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    "The world of the ancient Near East was on a deep level culturally alien to our own, and the period between 1200 and 800 spans a extremely sharp rupture between what came before, and what came after." By Razib Khan at Gene Expression (Discover Magazine) on July 6, 2010.
anonymous

Diplomacy among the aliens - 0 views

  • The world of the ancient Near East was on a deep level culturally alien to our own, and the period between 1200 and 800 spans a extremely sharp rupture between what came before, and what came after.
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    "The world of the ancient Near East was on a deep level culturally alien to our own, and the period between 1200 and 800 spans a extremely sharp rupture between what came before, and what came after." By Razib Khan at Gene Expression (Discover Magazine) on July 6, 2010.
anonymous

The Stress of a Busy Environment Helps Mice Beat Back Cancer - 0 views

  • Whereas most people live in fairly safe environments, with plenty of food and some degree of social interaction, “our data suggests that we shouldn’t just be avoiding stress, we should be living more socially and physically challenging lives,” During says [Scientific American].
  • Mice were then injected with tumor cells, which led to malignancies in all of the control animals within 15 days… The rate of tumor formation in animals living in the enriched environment was significantly delayed, and 15 percent had not developed tumors after nearly three weeks; when tumors were visible, they were 43 percent smaller than the lesions on control animals
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    'Whereas most people live in fairly safe environments, with plenty of food and some degree of social interaction, "our data suggests that we shouldn't just be avoiding stress, we should be living more socially and physically challenging lives," During says.' By Andrew Moseman at 80beats (Discover Magazine) on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson - 0 views

  • At the same time as the western scientific revolution empowered human beings, opened new worlds and broadened their horizons, it progressively punctured their self-esteem.
  • Increasingly, luminaries of modern thought have told us that our minds are not to be trusted: that even though we thought we were standing on a static Earth, our planet was moving very fast indeed; that we could never be sure that our ideas corresponded to objective reality outside our own heads; that some of our noblest ideals were simply the product of repressed sexuality; and that, finally, we are deluded if we imagine that we "think", "reason," "learn" or "choose". Our minds are simply a passive conduit for an unknown, indifferent force.
  • This disdainful "hermeneutics of condescension" cannot function outside of a narrow definition of relative data. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the positivist critique of religion.
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  • Robinson takes the science-versus-religion debate a stage further. More significant than this jejune attack on faith, she argues, is the disturbing fact that "the mind, as felt experience, has been excluded from important fields of modern thought" and as a result "our conception of humanity has shrunk".
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    "At the same time as the western scientific revolution empowered human beings, opened new worlds and broadened their horizons, it progressively punctured their self-esteem." A Book review by Karen Armstrong at The Guardian on July 3, 2010.
anonymous

The Boomers Agree: The Lazy Millennials Want To Be Jobless - The Awl - 0 views

  • The source for this simplistic and wrong-sounding analysis isn’t given. But I can tell you, Patricia Sellers, why the millennials aren’t following in your self-regarding footsteps. First, because there is very evidently no “pay, benefits, stability or prestige” to be had from the pack of thieves and vandals who currently are in charge.
  • You need only look at how much cash the corpocrats are sitting on and the unemployment figures you cite above in order to see this. (You could start with a look at your own office.) And second, because one look at certain smug, selfish, wantonly destructive representatives of your generation is enough to convince anyone that whatever it is you did yourselves is best avoided.
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    An interesting examination of a New York Times article that argues that Millennials *want* to be jobless. I wonder if cynical Gen-Xer's are doing a bit of projecting? Hmm? By Maria Bustillos at The Awl on July 8, 2010.
anonymous

PacMan Cutting Board With Blinky or possibly Clyde - 0 views

  • Geek out your kitchen with this end-grain cutting board featuring PacMan and either Blinky or Clyde (he's kind of orangey-red) racing toward a power-up pellet. Who will get there first?!? Help PacMan by buying this board right away and chopping onions all over Blinky's face!
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    By 1337motif at Etsy. Only $165.00 for the discriminating connoisseur with money to dump down a large hole.
anonymous

Tremble, Banks, Tremble - 0 views

  • The financial crisis in America isn't over. It's ongoing, it remains unresolved, and it stands in the way of full economic recovery. The cause, at the deepest level, was a breakdown in the rule of law. And it follows that the first step toward prosperity is to restore the rule of law in the financial sector.
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    "The financial crisis in America isn't over. It's ongoing, it remains unresolved, and it stands in the way of full economic recovery. The cause, at the deepest level, was a breakdown in the rule of law. And it follows that the first step toward prosperity is to restore the rule of law in the financial sector." By James K. Galbraith at The New Republic on July 9, 2010.
anonymous

The Geopolitics of the iPhone - 0 views

  • Five ways Apple's new gadget and its cousins are transforming global politics.
    • anonymous
       
      I'm fascinated by supply chains. Things that we consume - and for granted - can have long, convoluted, socially detrimental effects. Most of our exposure to supply chains relates to pollution and broad-based environmental concerns. When we dig deeper, though, there are powerful connections all over the place.
  • After oil and water, coltan might soon be among the world's most contested resources.
  • Foxconn finally agreed to raise wages 30 percent amid rising criticism over the deaths, but the iPhone maker is only a small part of a larger trend affecting the Chinese labor market.
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  • Cellular service companies make most of their money by hawking contracts, not handsets -- which is why upgrading your phone's hardware every two years can be so easy and cheap.
    • anonymous
       
      Reminds me of our family conversation about July 4th fireworks. You know you're in a liberal family when you wonder about how the money could be better used. But it's not as though life is so reducible. There isn't a fireworks-to-healthcare conversion kit and there are *plenty* of ways that we average citizens could better spend our money.
  • Although it hasn't revolutionized higher education yet, iTunes U holds great promise for remote student learning, especially in regions where access to quality education is limited.
  • Normally, military innovation drives advances in the private market. Take GPS satellite navigation, for instance, or the microwave oven. In the case of smartphones, though, the tables have turned.
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    "Five ways Apple's new gadget and its cousins are transforming global politics." By Brian Fung at Foreign Policy on June 28, 2010.
anonymous

Slow Aeronautics - 0 views

  • With the wingspan of a jetliner, the bauplan of a dragonfly, and flying at a maximum speed of less than eighty miles an hour (and with an average speed of about 35 mph), Solar Impulse circled its home field in Payerne, reaching an altitude of more than 28,000 feet while drinking in solar rays and storing the energy in its batteries for a flight that would last through the night.
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    "With the wingspan of a jetliner, the bauplan of a dragonfly, and flying at a maximum speed of less than eighty miles an hour (and with an average speed of about 35 mph), Solar Impulse circled its home field in Payerne, reaching an altitude of more than 28,000 feet while drinking in solar rays and storing the energy in its batteries for a flight that would last through the night." By Matthew Battles at HiLobrow on July 8, 2010.
anonymous

Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now - 0 views

  • But the truth, dear reader, is that it does not much matter who is right about what Barack Obama dreams of in his political imagination.
  • But what they cannot do, even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress behind them, is pass the kind of transformative progressive legislation that Barack Obama promised in his 2008 presidential campaign. Here's why
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    ...as Denny Jacobs explained to his biographer David Remnick, Obama is a pol who learned early that "sometimes you can't get the whole hog, so you take the ham sandwich." By Eric Alterman at The Nation on July 7, 2010.
anonymous

Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now - 0 views

  • Or as one of Obama's early Chicago mentors, Denny Jacobs, explained to his biographer David Remnick, Obama is a pol who learned early that "sometimes you can't get the whole hog, so you take the ham sandwich."
  • Face it, the system is rigged, and it's rigged against us. Sure, presidents can pretty easily pass tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful corporations. They can start whatever wars they wish and wiretap whomever they want without warrants. They can order the torture of terrorist suspects, lie about it and see that their intelligence services destroy the evidence. But what they cannot do, even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress behind them, is pass the kind of transformative progressive legislation that Barack Obama promised in his 2008 presidential campaign.
  • The American political system is nothing if not complicated
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  • corrupt capital culture that likes it that way and has little incentive to change
  • figure out which of these choke points can be opened up and which cannot
  • it resembles a democratic process at great distance but mocks its genuine intentions in substance.
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    ...as Denny Jacobs explained to his biographer David Remnick, Obama is a pol who learned early that "sometimes you can't get the whole hog, so you take the ham sandwich." By Eric Alterman at The Nation on July 7, 2010.
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