I got an email announcing the opening of this new news site, Truthdig.com, under the motto that, as stated by A.J. Liebling, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” This month there’s a feature by Orville Schell called China: Boom or Boomerang? that looks promising. Check it out.
Tag: politics
What It’s Like
Marvin linked to these very interesting and worthwhile essays by someone using the handle Darksyde, which describe what it’s like for an atheist to live in American (or any) society. What it’s Like to be an Atheist Why I’m an Atheist Not recommended reading for those who don’t want an honest, no-holds-barred look at what it feels like to be in a minority in terms of absence of religious belief. But if you’ve ever wondered why atheists sometimes seem so angry and almost evangelical in their fervor, especially the first essay is worth reading, even if you know you’ll disagree …
The Viridian Design Movement
As usual, the latest Viridian Note by Bruce Sterling is worth a read. It’s mainly about a piece by Al Gore published in Salon. One very funny, but sadly necessary, link in the Note is to this article in the New Yorker, which mocks the moronic Intelligent Design hokum that is so popular in America.
Sobering, But, Well…
John Taylor Gatto knows a thing or two about the American school system… and, I’d argue, his points translate to all kinds of other school systems. Here are a couple of worthwhile, angering, stirring essays: The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher How public education cripples our kids, and why
Animals in a horror world of our making – Paul Sheehan – Opinion – smh.com.au
Regular reader Mer passed on a link to this article: Animals in a horror world of our making, which deals with “Voiceless”, an Australian human-treatment-for-animals group seeking to deliver facts and implicit moral choices instead of shrill politics and condemnations common to the animal rights movement. And it also tells the story of an interesting Chef in Paris who’ve gone non-meat and whose cuisine is low-impact, organic, and as fresh as you can get anywhere.
Links on Atheism and Religion
Marvin‘s put up some interesting links on atheism and the twisted way religion affects court appointments in America.
Innovation, WMD, and the Pressure Cooker Effect
Sometimes people think I am idealistic. I think, actually, most human beings are just easily caught in inertia. Although most people attribute the quote to Plato, it apparently was Philo or Alexandria who urged us to be kind to everyone we meet, “because everyone is fighting a harder battle.” It might seem funny to some of you that I am thought idealistic, but remember that idealistic doesn’t mean the same as optimistic. The most diehard pessimists usually have a history of idealism which reality never managed to live up to. This, in fact, is not so far from the case …
This week’s F5
I don’t know why, but I cannot load Rob’s F5 question blog at my home. I mean, I can do it with an anonymous proxy like unipeak, but not without one. I cannot imagine why Hanaro Telecom would choose to block Rob’s site, so I’m guessing it’s some glitch in another blockage, which I can’t do much about. But anyway, I’ve had trouble connecting there and I’ve also been dreadfully busy, which is why I haven’t posted anything lately under the Friday Five section of the blog. But today, I’m picking up with the most recent question, a headache of …
Turing Monkeywrench
This is an essay I began a very long time ago. It still rambles, but I wil get around to printing it out and revising it. I’d like to take the language a notch down, and address it to normal people, but at the same time, normal people don’t really read things like this, so maybe it’s not worth losing the language to reach an unreachable audience. I think it may count as preaching to the converted, but sometimes that’s all one can do… leave a footprint behind to later generations so they know there were people in the past …
Book #27 of my Lunar New Year: No Logo
No Logo: Taking Aim at The Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (Picador, 2002 edition with new Afterword) I have this vague memory of a man from the Friends of the Lubicon who came to my high school to give us a talk about consumer activism. I remember thinking, “Yeah, that’s cool, but… like, do you really think you’re changing the world? You got some companies to stop buying paper bags from the paper company that was harvesting lumber from disputed lands. Big deal.” Now, I’m a fair bit older, and I see that, in a very simply and clear way, …