Monthly Archives: March 2009
Eating red meat increases the chances of dying prematurely, according to the first large study to examine whether regularly eating beef or pork increases… Read more
You hate the crud all over the web, getting in the way of the (ever-shrinking) bits of it worth reading just as much as I do. Then you will be happy to know that the geniuses over at Arc90 have released Readability, a bookmarklet that can replace the “print view” button as the peace and quiet button of the web. Seriously, go install it, check out a loud site (like any news site) and hit the button. Instant calm. I love this… Read more
When I saw Primer in January, I called it: “Another fantastic ultra-low budget sci-fi movie. Okay, the sound and editing are not up to par, but willfully cerebral and fantastically mind-bending. This is time travel science fiction for people who have already contemplated the technical aspects of how such a thing would actually work and are ready to explore the moral and ethical dimensions of such a technology.” Now someone has put together a fantastic timeline to explain the “technical espects” of the time travel in the… Read more
Nomic is a game in which changing the rules is a move. In that respect it differs from almost every other game. The primary activity of Nomic is proposing changes in the rules, debating the wisdom of changing them in that way, voting on the changes, deciding what can and cannot be done afterwards, and doing it. Even this core of the game, of course, can be changed. (Peter Suber, The Paradox of Self-Amendment, Appendix 3, p…. Read more
First Sign of the Econopacolypse
Truly, the head-in-the-sand Ponzi party is coming to an end when even uncritical wing-nut neo-classical economist fanbois like Thomas Friedman are announcing that growth-capitalism American-style is bad. In his own words: We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese … We can’t do this anymore. Will wonders never cease? Will the CATO Institute come out in favor of replacing land ownership with usufruct? Will Ron Paul admit that he’s a power-hungry demagogue only interested in the socialized health care he gets as a high level federal employee? Maybe not, but as the econopacolypse… Read more
In advance of the HBO documentary film Death on a Factory Farm, TIME Magazine has a Q&A session with “Pete”, a 20-something undercover animal rights investigator who, armed with a hidden camera, surreptitiously got a job in 2006 at an Ohio hog farm in order to get the footage for the film. Bravo to “Pete” and the others like him who do the difficult work necessary to show people where their food comes… Read more
An interesting take on The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy. We often hear that U.S. consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economic activity in the country. Do the math: with 20 percent of the world’s economic activity, U.S. consumers — most weighed down with stagnant wages and maxed-out credit — make up about 14 percent of the planet’s economic demand. Add the other affluent countries (which were also heavily invested in our real estate market and related securities), and it’s easy to see why the economic meltdown has grown to global proportions. The dominoes are… Read more
Quite possibly the coolest piece of engineering I have seen in a long time, the Corpus Clock was invented and designed by Dr John Taylor for Corpus Christi College Cambridge for the exterior of the college’s new library building. The £1 million timepiece, known as The Corpus Clock, has been commissioned and designed to honour John Harrison, who was famously the pioneer of Longitude and inventor of the esoteric clock mechanism known as a grasshopper… Read more
Georgia Communities’ Rights to Protect Animals are in Jeopardy
If you live in Georgia, this is for you: Legislation (H.B. 529) has been introduced in the Georgia legislature that would prevent cities and counties from enacting any ordinance, regulation or resolution dealing with agriculture and farm animals on farms greater than 5 acres. This legislation could prevent local communities from making any laws dealing with animal welfare, food safety, or environmental protection. Instead, it would keep these issues in the hands of special interest groups that do not represent the majority of public opinion. This amounts to a power grab by the Farm Bureau in order to give immunity to factory farms, and would tie the hands of local communities from making their own decisions. If you live in Georgia, please urge your state senator and state representative to oppose this legislation. Please make a brief, polite phone call to your Representative and Senator to oppose H.B. 529. When you call, you will likely speak to a staff member who will… Read more
Generations of children have been spellbound by Robinson Crusoe’s exploits, but few are aware of the real-life figure who inspired the classic. Now, 300 years after he left his island prison, scientists have pieced together how the real Crusoe managed to… Read more