“I’m not antimilitary. But the evidence is strong that education is often a far better investment than artillery.”
“Latin countries generally do well in happiness surveys. Mexico and Colombia rank higher than the United States in self-reported contentment. Perhaps one reason is a cultural emphasis on family and friends, on social capital over financial capital”
Regarding Avatar and District 9:
“These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color – their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the “alien” cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become “race traitors,” and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It’s not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it’s not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It’s a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.”
“In this remarkable and fully rockin’ video, an Italian singer performs a rock piece whose lyrics are gibberish intended to sound like English. Entitled “What English Sounds Like to Foreigners,” the video is meant to illustrate which English phonemes and syllables carry into the foreign ear, but I tell you what, it sounded like English to me, too, though like English as sung in such a way as to make it hard to decipher.”
“When I first began writing for The Times, I was naïve about many things. But my biggest misconception was this: I actually believed that influential people could be moved by evidence, that they would change their views if events completely refuted their beliefs.”
“And to be fair, it does happen now and then. I’ve been highly critical of Alan Greenspan over the years (since long before it was fashionable), but give the former Fed chairman credit: he has admitted that he was wrong about the ability of financial markets to police themselves.”
“But he’s a rare case…”
“The battle over health care focuses on access to insurance, or tempests like the one that erupted over new mammogram guidelines.”
“But what about broader public health challenges? What if breast cancer in the United States has less to do with insurance or mammograms and more to do with contaminants in our water or air — or in certain plastic containers in our kitchens? What if the surge in asthma and childhood leukemia reflect, in part, the poisons we impose upon ourselves?”
“This past Sunday I conducted a culinary experiment which provoked strong reactions on a couple of forums, and I feel I should write it up here as not a great deal of info about this exists online. Amanita muscaria, the familiar, iconic bright red fly agaric mushroom, is classified as ‘poisonous’ in most field guides. It contains two alkaloids, muscimol and ibotenic acid, which can be toxic at sufficient doses and produce a range of effects at modest doses (not to be confused with psychoactive mushrooms of the psilocybe variety). It has a widespread history of shamanic and medicinal use for its intoxicating properties, is popular among some contemporary psychonauts and appears in a lot of debatable anthropology.”
“Think of the plots of the James Bond films, the Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones films. In such movies, it’s quite obvious who the bad guys are. Caricatures of evil, they are ruthless, maniacal, without remorse, and so they must be stopped by any means necessary. We are meant to feel that it is okay—even, to tell the truth, pleasurable—to see violence inflicted upon them. Because the villains like to hurt people, it’s okay to hurt them. Because they like to kill people, it’s okay to kill them. After all, they are evil, and evil must be destroyed.”
“What is this kind of story teaching us? That if you really want to hurt someone, it is important to demonize them first—in other words, fit them into your good-versus-evil story. That is why truth is the first casualty of all wars.”
“The term ‘sulfites’ is an inclusive term for sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 is a preservative and widely used in winemaking (and indeed most food industries), because of its antioxidant and antibacterial properties. SO2 plays a very important role in maintaining a wine’s freshness.”
“Consumption of sulfites is generally harmless, unless you suffer from severe asthma or do not have the particular enzymes necessary to break down sulfites in your body. The amount of sulfites that a wine can contain is highly regulated around the world. Any wine containing more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur dioxide must affix to the label ‘contains sulfites’.”
Leonard Cohen with his poem A Thousand Kisses Deep. Seriously worth putting up with the annoying crowd for. Incredible.
This is an interesting short clip. The 70/30 oxygen/carbon dioxide mixture sounds fascinating.
I’m loving this site at the moment. These two are my favorites so far. Perfectly reproduced.
I don’t normally like ‘mega mixes’ but this is incredible. The best in hip hop from 1999 to 2009. Well worth a listen.
A friend has put this together for a uni project. It features another friend riding off into the sunset and my LBS (Cheeky Transport) Check it out!
The Tibetan Buddhist Society has finally launched its new site. If you’re interested in Buddhism, drop by one of the weekly classes.
From Keep Moving Sydney: “The Tongue Is Dead is the second mixtape from the Elefant Traks battle boss & its pure fire.” Thanks again FZA!
On the 1st March 2010 Spencer Tunick will be making a series of installations as part of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.
It seems much smoother than 3.5. Most plugins aren’t yet compatible but tab preview is a very nice touch. Turn it on in about:config
The size of a carbon atom, compared to a coffee bean, a human egg and other interesting things.
Despite all these incredible new cameras coming out at the moment, I still love my LX3. Especially with this new firmware, which provides a 1:1 aspect ratio amongst other things.
This camera is perfect! I still love my LX3 though. It’s much smaller and was only half the price. Yes I’m trying to convince myself I don’t need a GF1.