Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Preserving History
A former university professor and an agricultural diversity expert, Fowler is the executive director of theGlobal Crop Diversity Trust, which runs the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Nicknamed the Doomsday Vault, the project launched in 2008 to “to serve as the ultimate safety net for one of the world’s most important natural resources.”
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Saturday, April 03, 2010
iPad Exclusivity
I won't be buying an iPad. I can't. I am not affluent enough.
I suppose if I scraped and scrimped and scrounged couch change I might come up with the asking price. But even then I couldn't afford one. For the same reason I drive a 15 year old beater. Or that I am pounding this out on an IBM R51 - the copyright date on the bottom says 2004 - ancient by laptop standards. Quite simply I do not circulate in the ... ahem, circles ... of affluence that are important to the iPad Apple folks. Very possibly the "A" folks would rather I not purchase one of their iPads. ("There goes the neighborhood ... and all that")
The iPad is priced to sell to folks who have money. The iPad is priced to engage affluent folks in a culture that will inevitably cost them more and more money. The iPad is priced to sell to the folks who can afford to pay for the "A" culture.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Television...
Television -- a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done.
-- Ernie Kovacs
Friday, March 26, 2010
Captor of souls...
Iconic Rock Shots From "Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall"
Dr. John once asked me, "Where's the turlette?"
Chaos had none.
The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing,
the mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its
own capacity. ... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god
of the Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god
of the center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together
what they could do to repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas
everyone else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and
so on, Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes
in him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
-- Chuang Tzu
If you can't join 'em, BEAT 'em!
Americans are finally beginning to understand the intricate
social and political process used by the rest of the world...
Terrorism.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Intellectual Capacity
But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human
intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as
we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy in issues
that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our understanding
of their world, not in their distorted perceptions. Even the standard
example of ancient nonsense -- the debate about angels on pinheads --
makes sense once you realize that theologians were not discussing
whether five or eighteen would fit, but whether a pin could house a
finite or an infinite number.
-- S.J. Gould, "Wide Hats and Narrow Minds"
Tomfoolery
If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery.
But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine,
is somehow enobled and no-one dare criticise it.
-- Pierre Gallois
Monday, March 22, 2010
American Mensa's “Top 50” Web Sites 2010
Art and Culture
American Mensa's “Top 50” Web Sites 2010
American Mensa members across the country cast and recast their votes, winnowing down a list of more than 300 member-suggested sites to 100 and finally to the final 50. We are proud to display them here. Which game site made the Top 50? Where do Mensans get their news and their online laughs? Did BubbleWrap beat out Google? Find out below...
Entertainment and Humor
News and Politics
Reference
Science and Technology
Search Engines
Shopping
Social Networking/Media
Note to Elected Representatives...
If you only listen to who you want to hear
you only hear what you want.
Once elected you are bound by oath of office
to represent every member of your constituency
not just a select few.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Thirteen words not found in the english language
6. Meraki (Greek): doing something with soul, creativity, or love
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Forgotten Boy
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts New Members
Chad Batka for The New York Times
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day described Iggy Pop, center, as “the most confrontational singer we will ever see."
Iggy Pop snarled, “I am the world’s forgotten boy.”
Free Market Correction
Moody's warns nations to cut spending or risk AAA ratingsWashington Post Foreign ServiceTuesday, March 16, 2010The United States and other top world economies need to make potentially painful government spending cuts or risk losing the high-grade credit ratings that have kept borrowing affordable, the Moody's rating agency said Monday.
In an ironic twist of fate governments will now "enjoy" credit scores the same way regular folks do. It is heartening that print-your-own-money governments are not exempt from the rigors and discipline of a free market economy.
R.I.P. Charles Moore
Alabama, 1960.
Early in the movement, King and his wife Coretta CELEBRATE a victory in Montgomery.
Charles Moore | His Photographs Monday, March 15, 2010
An answer to poverty...
Bhagwan Chowdhry's FAB Campaign Aims to Put $100 in Bank Account for Every Baby
BY FAST COMPANY STAFFSun Mar 14, 2010
Bhagwan Chowdhry, a Professor of Finance at UCLA's Anderson School, outlines his organization's mission to give every newborn in the world access to financial legitimacy. The most stunning part of the FinancialAccess@Birth (FAB) campaign isn't the remarkable impact that participants would get from a mere $100 starting balance or even the GNP metrics envisioned to fund this campaign, its the idea that this could help erase poverty. Here's the organization's plan in full.
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
China: a generation away from revolution.
China is one generation away from revolution - either way you look at it.
Old school ideologues believing that the views of a few old curmudgeons can by shear force of will direct the largest economy in the world is, well, old fashioned. The key word in all of this is not ideologue or curmudgeon or will but Economy. Even at the height of the Chinese social revolution there was an economy. In fact, much to the chagrin of the revolutionary leaders, there was not one, but at least two economies simmering away just beneath the thin veneer of egalitarian socialism.
An economy is not a static entity. It is, to paraphrase the Tao, like water in that if finds its own level. When "contained" by the guidelines of strict social(istic) rules one of China's economies simply became an underground river. Value for value was exchanged away from the watchful eyes of the Party observers. The other economy which the Revolutionary leaders conveniently downplayed was China's relationship to the world economy. An equally paraphrased Party line is 'The proletariat need only be concerned with his or her own contribution to the well being of the Revolution.' Little of no mention is made of gold prices or oil prices or international monetary exchange rates yet they all had significant impact on the China of the day. China, for better or far worse, has always been a player in the world economy.
China is now experiencing a new social revolution. Gone are the glory days of the beneficent state. Today China is faced with the reality of "improving" personal economies. Today's revolutionaries are the young. The youth of today who do not have first hand knowledge of the last revolution. The kids who are not looking back to social equality but forward to economic equality, on a world scale. The internet connected young men and women who can see the truth of their world standing. The next generation of slightly materialistic, subtly upwardly mobile, achievers. The generation that will not stand for being held back from their personal goals and aspirations. And they certainly won't be held to wading knee deep in water and mud to plant the next season's rice.
Whether is is being kept from or moving to a new economy, China is just one generation away from the new revolution.
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