If the above image represents to you an idea worth considering rather than one to be scorned, then you'll definitely want to read this piece by Christopher Hitchens.
Friday, January 11, 2008
perhaps
If the above image represents to you an idea worth considering rather than one to be scorned, then you'll definitely want to read this piece by Christopher Hitchens.
crazy love
If you haven't seen the film American Psycho recently you may not have realized it was actually a romantic comedy.
hold on just an attosecond
Do you see that little date thing at the top of this page? You can ignore it now because time may not exist at all. More on this topic yesterday.
childhood justified
It's good to know that Mr. Potato Head is appealing to other species of life as well.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
attention: HUD
This is how they do low-income housing in Vienna, Italy. This is definitely not how they do it in Montgomery, Alabama.
kiss = danger
If you feel kissing is an important component of the dating experience these dating tips probably won't do you any good.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
earthbowls
In the future, everything you want will be downloadable. Except food, I suppose. But your personalized topographic wooden art bowls certainly will be, and in fact are right now at Fluidforms. Here's how it works. You type your location into the Google Maps window on the site, and it provides a three-dimensional topographic view of the city where you live as a wooden block. This is Montgomery, where I live:
You choose the exact portion you want represented in wood and order it, they carve it on some weird machine, and within a few weeks you have something that looks like this:
Very cool. Living in Colorado would heighten the effect, I imagine.
good question
The Edge Foundation is a public idea crucible with the purpose of promoting "inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society." Each year they ask a very serious question and ask leading minds to answer it. The question for 2008 is this:
When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy.165 very smart people from around the world have answered. You can read their answers here.
When God changes your mind, that's faith.
When facts change your mind, that's science.
WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?
Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
useful
Toward a world where everything you don't know is but a click and scroll away: How to Install Wikipedia on Your iPod
class, redux
When a group of anti-abortionist hecklers tried to interrupt a speech by Obama yesterday he told the crowd there was "No need to boo. We appreciate [their] point." Once the crowd calmed down, he said "Let me just say this, though… Some people got organized to do that. That's part of the American tradition we are proud of." Definitely not how most politicians handle opponents.
Monday, January 07, 2008
class
The absolute best best way to handle a sensationalist windbag: "I got a whole bunch of other people to see."
unnecessary
GOP hopeful Huckabee cranks up the divisive religious imagery by telling a New Hampshire church congragation that "When we become believers, it's as if we have signed up to be part of God's Army, to be soldiers for Christ." I'm sure half the extremists in Iraq and elsewhere are cheering him on.
By the known rules of ancient liberty
"The Freedom of the Press" was George Orwell's proposed preface to his book Animal Farm. An excerpt:
Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban. Anyone who has lived long in a foreign country will know of instances of sensational items of news — things which on their own merits would get the big headlines-being kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact. So far as the daily newspapers go, this is easy to understand. The British press is extremely centralised, and most of it is owned by wealthy men who have every motive to be dishonest on certain important topics. But the same kind of veiled censorship also operates in books and periodicals, as well as in plays, films and radio. At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it, just as in mid-Victorian times it was ‘not done’ to mention trousers in the presence of a lady. Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals.
wanted: non-smoking, working MRI machine. No pets
Folks, our friend Nate is working at
Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in Birmingham and needs your help. You see, the hospital doesn't have an MRI machine. This may seem odd, but it is true. Yes, they have a shiny new building over there and some fancy flower pots but unfortunately the plants give really bad musculo-skeletal readouts. And I hear the new hospital windows are all but useless medically. So pitch in and help Cooper Green win an MRI! Yes, you too can help the ailing medical establishment in Birmingham by simply casting your vote. Be sure and watch the video, too--good stuff.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
shocked but not surprised
In a decision proving that atheists are the new gays, a New Jersey judge recently had the audacity to deny an atheist couple the right to adopt a child. His rationale? Despite the "high moral and ethical standards" of the would-be parents, the the 17-month-old child "should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being."
our new sister countries
According to one study conducted by the National Geographic Society, America's population shares views towards evolution with Latvia, Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, among others. Sweden, France, Japan, UK, and Denmark of course are at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
"Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light"
If you were listening to Garrison Keilor's Writer's Almanac you may have heard him mistakenly attribute today, January 3rd, as the day in 1517 on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Luther actually nailed the theses to the door on October 31, 1517, but a few years later on this day in 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated him. This of course was the church's typical response for centuries to any attempt at undermining its authority. And even though Luther was essentially correct in pointing out that the practice of selling places in heaven (i.e. "indulgences") for money was not supported by the Scriptures, he was exiled nonetheless. Refreshingly, the truth in his writings eventually became obvious and Christian leaders later cracked down on abuses in the church. It is therefore fitting that we honor Luther for his gutsy stand against the ideological monarchy, and for being right. His devotion to truth, at least at that moment, should remain an inspiration to us all.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
retroinspect
I could spend hours rehashing/reposting the great links from 2007, but I'm busy and Kottke's already done it. Enjoy.
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