tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27671806712400464942024-03-13T14:02:08.171-07:00Late FragmentsWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-43815448264185285462012-12-14T17:13:00.001-08:002012-12-14T17:13:23.374-08:00America and its gunsIn the wake of the tragedy today in Connecticut, I came across this <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/07/24/stockman/mYSbzVR61RMpsrByfttNgM/story.html" target="_blank">article</a> in the Boston Globe, which provides the best analysis I have read on the relationship U.S. citizens have with their guns.<br />
<br />
"So societies are defined not so much by how people live but rather by
how they are willing to die. A key thing that defines us — that sets us
apart from the rest of the world — is our willingness to die by
gunfire." <br />
<br />
After reading the piece, I looked to see who wrote it, and I smiled to see it was my old college friend, <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/staff/stockman" target="_blank">Farah Stockman</a>. Thanks Farah for an elegant article. <br />
<br />
<br />Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-60406207943753854252012-07-23T23:05:00.002-07:002012-07-23T23:05:27.214-07:00Fukushima evacuees given more monetary aid, but hardly enough!On Friday, July 20, 2012, the Japanese government <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120720x1.html#.UAlS82kjHWw" target="_blank">announced</a> provisions for the residents inside the evacuation zone surrounding Fukushima Daiichi.<br /><br />The most a family of four might receive is about $85,000 USD. It's better than $10,000, but hardly enough to compensate for the homes and lives lost. Roughly $6 billion for the 80,000 evacuees, whereas $45 billion for TEPCO.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com131tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-70145841647375816872012-07-23T22:57:00.001-07:002012-07-23T22:57:21.612-07:00A Simple Question for Japan's LeadersThe Huffington Post recently published my <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/weston-m-hill/post_3648_b_1670850.html" target="_blank">article</a> about my recent trip into the 20km evacuation zone surrounding the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.<br />
<br />
A big thank you to all those who read, commented, and shared the link with others. More awareness is needed on the plight of the 80,000 Japanese people who cannot return home.<br />
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<br />Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-64341538312481872582012-04-29T16:44:00.001-07:002012-04-29T16:44:13.198-07:00Unexceptionalism: A PrimerE.L. Doctorow's recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/unexceptionalism-a-primer.html?_r=1&hp" target="_blank">NY Times OP-ED piece</a> is a pretty strong indictment of the United States policies over the last 13 years. We have our work cut out for us to undo a lot of this damage.<br />
<br />
"TO achieve unexceptionalism, the political ideal that would render the
United States indistinguishable from the impoverished, traditionally
undemocratic, brutal or catatonic countries of the world, do the
following:<br />
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<strong>PHASE ONE</strong> </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, ignore the first sacrament of a
democracy and suspend the counting of ballots in a presidential
election. Appoint the candidate of your choice as president. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you’re the newly anointed president, react to a terrorist attack by
invading a nonterrorist country. Despite the loss or disablement of
untold numbers of lives, manage your war so that its results will be
indeterminate."</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The list goes on and on... </div>
<br />
<br />
The beginning of the Constitution resonates: "In order to form a more perfect Union..." We have regressed. Nothing to do but roll up our sleeves and get back to doing the hard work necessary to treat everyone fairly and provide equal opportunities for all.<br />
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<br />Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-68796684925003398612012-03-27T18:35:00.000-07:002012-03-27T18:35:31.511-07:00A Strong Case for the 40 Hour Work Week"<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the good of our bodies, our families, our communities, the profitability of American companies, and the future of the country, this insanity has to stop. Working long days and weeks has been incontrovertibly proven to be the stupidest, most expensive way there is to get work done. Our bosses are depleting resources from of the human capital pool without replenishing them. They are taking time, energy, and resources that rightfully belong to us, and are part of our national common wealth. </span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">If we’re going to talk about creating a more sustainable world, let’s start by talking about how to live low-stress, balanced work lives that leave us refreshed, strong and able to carry on as economic contributors for a full four or five decades, instead of burned out and broken by a too-early middle age. A full, productive 40-year career starts with full, productive 40-hour weeks. And nobody should be able to take that away from us, not even for the sake of a paycheck.</span>"</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">More from <a href="http://www.alternet.org/visions/154518/why_we_have_to_go_back_to_a_40-hour_work_week_to_keep_our_sanity/?page=entire" target="_blank">Sara Robinson</a> here.</div>Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-47981919151110521812012-02-23T22:07:00.000-08:002012-02-23T22:07:43.289-08:00Rich Welfare QueensSomeone with some extra time on their hands should put together a website detailing very closely the welfare that US billionaires and millionaires receive in the form of tax breaks. One could start with the billionaire hedge fund managers who pay taxes at a 15% rate as a result of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/opinion/07kristof.html" target="_blank">Carried-Interest Loophole</a>. I would bet that they receive far more welfare cumulatively than those below the poverty line. The website could also detail the welfare that corporations receive, and indirectly the large shareholders. Lastly, the website should detail the dealing of Congress, particularly those on the Finance Committees of both the Senate and House who are largely responsible for keeping the Carried-Interest Loophole alive, despite widespread popular support for ending it. <br />
<br />
In his excellent NY Times article, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/opinion/brooks-america-is-europe.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1330060743-lJ1wKfKQUno4xjmk9xIlQw" target="_blank">America is Europe</a>," David Brooks makes a very strong point showing that tax breaks are equivalent to government spending. If we factor in tax breaks, "the U.S. has one of the biggest welfare states in the world. We rank behind Sweden and ahead of Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Canada."<br />
<br />
The major difference is that countries like Sweden and Italy provide welfare to its citizens who are young and old, whereas the US provides the majority of its welfare to its wealthiest citizens.<br />
<br />
Our welfare to the wealthy of America really needs to change. Hopefully <i>we the people</i> can start shining a light on this so that we can gather enough support to make some real changes.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-3039632311238699362011-11-17T20:16:00.000-08:002011-11-17T20:23:12.767-08:00Nickel That is Lighter Than a Feather<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9NgLg0kwkkM9Z8PTVuZxQh1wstJ4wx10qKH4lzDZbZtAESpJRZH0Cy0iNVfaTsivXb97GptID-H5msL4ex3IGtG_ivCHsBTS16YTfRFniyLYymr5LuswmxXQ_hAvBfV6BPNwKPjviDM/s1600/6a00d8341c630a53ef0162fc89d28f970d-pi-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/3bc3/0/0/%2a/h;44306;0-0;0;27451165;31-1/1;0/0/0;u=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/lightest-material-on-earth.html;%7Eokv=;tile=2;ptype=sf;pos=2;sz=1x1;u=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/lightest-material-on-earth.html;%7Eaopt=2/1/7f66/1;%7Esscs=%3f" target="_blank"><img alt="Click here to find out more!" border="0" src="http://s0.2mdn.net/viewad/817-grey.gif" /></a> <br />
<br />
<div class="video-embed" style="margin-top: 12px;"></div><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef015437078ff6970c-pi" style="display: inline;"> </a><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0162fc89d28f970d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Dandelion" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c630a53ef0162fc89d28f970d image-full" src="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0162fc89d28f970d-800wi" title="Dandelion" /></a><br />
<br />
I wonder how it will hold up in an earthquake! Here's more from a cool <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/lightest-material-on-earth.html">LA Times</a> article: <br />
<br />
"Scientists have invented a new material that is so lightweight it can sit atop a fluffy dandelion without crushing the little fuzzy seeds.<br />
<br />
It's so lightweight, styrofoam is 100 times heavier.<br />
<br />
It is so lightweight, in fact, that the research team consisting of scientists at UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and Caltech say in the peer-reviewed <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6058/962" target="_blank">Nov. 18 issue </a>of Science that it is the lightest material on Earth, and no one has asked them to run a correction yet.<br />
<br />
That's light!<br />
<br />
The material has been dubbed "ultralight metallic microlattice," and according a news release sent out by UC Irvine, it consists of 99.99% air thanks to its "microlattice" cellular architecture.<br />
<br />
"The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair," lead author Tobias Shandler of HRL said in the release.<br />
<br />
To understand the structure of the material, think of the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge -- which are both light and weight efficient -- but on a nano-scale."Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-78324245293936519282011-11-16T23:29:00.000-08:002011-11-16T23:29:45.377-08:00The Answer to America's Problems: Taxpayer funded electionsLawrence Lessig's NY Times Op-Ed, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/in-campaign-financing-more-money-can-beat-big-money.html?hpw">More Money Can Beat Big Money</a>", presents a credible alternative to our current state of allowing wealthy donors to control Congress. Publicly funded elections, at all levels, is incredibly important to achieving democracy in America. LET'S GET ON BOARD AMERICA!!!<br />
<br />
Lessig writes:<br />
<br />
"Despite the founders’ intentions, however, Congress has evolved from a dependency “upon the people,” to an increasing dependency upon the funders. Members spend 30 percent to 70 percent of their time raising money to stay in Congress, or to get their party back in power. Less than <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/donordemographics.php?cycle=2010">1 percent</a> of Americans give more than $200 in a political campaign. ...<br />
<br />
So long as elections cost money, we won’t end Congress’s dependence on its funders. But we can change it. We can make “the funders” “the people.” Following Arizona, Maine and Connecticut, we could adopt a system of small-dollar public funding for Congress."Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-57033261766470821592011-11-16T23:23:00.000-08:002011-11-16T23:23:07.092-08:00Gingrich is such an embarrassment to the USATimothy Egan's NY Times article, "<a href="http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/professor-of-profits/?hp">Professor of Profits</a>", clearly demonstrates yet again the hypocrisy of Newt Gingrich. Who can possibly take Gingrich seriously?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-16/gingrich-said-to-be-paid-about-1-6-million-by-freddie-mac.html">"Bloomberg News reported this week</a> that Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million for giving additional “advice” to Freddie Mac. ...<br />
<br />
This is not just another Gingrich laugher, up there with his revolving Tiffany’s account or his multiple personal hypocrisies. This story encapsulates why Washington is broken and how the powerful protect and enrich themselves, unanchored to basic principles.<br />
<br />
At the same time, it’s a case study in the Gingrich method: denounce something as outrageous, while doing that very outrageous thing himself. (Politicians with ties to Freddie Mac came in for scathing Gingrich criticism in 2010.) There is no evidence, as Gingrich claimed last week in a debate, that he offered Freddie Mac a dime’s worth of advice in his capacity as a “historian,” or warned against a surge in subprime lending. To the contrary, former Freddie Mac executives told Bloomberg that Gingrich was brought in to help the agency continue down the very path of its ruination – backing subprime mortgages." <a href="http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/professor-of-profits/?hp">Read more.</a>Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-74975525318583957392011-11-14T08:33:00.000-08:002011-11-14T08:35:38.996-08:00Replace Congress!Yet another example of the self-dealing, unethical behavior Congress permits for itself, at the expense of taxpayers. Insider stock trading is legal for members of Congress.<br />
<br />
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130nWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-2288244982721368262011-08-21T19:50:00.000-07:002011-08-21T19:50:30.457-07:00Why you should take candy with you to the car dealerGreat NY Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?src=rechp">article</a> by John Teirney on decision fatigue and the power of glucose to restore willpower (i.e. good decision-making ability).<br />
<br />
"People with the best self-control are the ones who structure their lives so as to conserve willpower. They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They avoid temptations like all-you-can-eat buffets, and they establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. Instead of deciding every morning whether or not to force themselves to exercise, they set up regular appointments to work out with a friend. Instead of counting on willpower to remain robust all day, they conserve it so that it’s available for emergencies and important decisions. <br />
<br />
“Even the wisest people won’t make good choices when they’re not rested and their glucose is low,” Baumeister points out. That’s why the truly wise don’t restructure the company at 4 p.m. They don’t make major commitments during the cocktail hour. And if a decision must be made late in the day, they know not to do it on an empty stomach. “The best decision makers,” Baumeister says, “are the ones who know when <em>not</em> to trust themselves.” Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11648592285198174390noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-27899992078200916332011-04-18T14:58:00.001-07:002011-04-18T14:58:46.287-07:00On Taxes"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities."<br />
- Abraham LincolnUnknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-89401032889049712532011-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:002011-04-12T11:28:34.511-07:00The Dumpster Project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZojGHHDEXT14I9SfLJzIFtea83gz9jv2LqTWMvk5fmrU1lpeLU2mEFOiFNC6Zua5ZJpYcb0H_I-VHv2bbX9wGCxs_5T_uv7sl0RwPtHWJA1jjfN1BlgWwOy97nJKe4nfbsFdknw4uAqR/s1600/002_dumpster%252Bbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZojGHHDEXT14I9SfLJzIFtea83gz9jv2LqTWMvk5fmrU1lpeLU2mEFOiFNC6Zua5ZJpYcb0H_I-VHv2bbX9wGCxs_5T_uv7sl0RwPtHWJA1jjfN1BlgWwOy97nJKe4nfbsFdknw4uAqR/s320/002_dumpster%252Bbox.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">The construction inside this wooden suitcase is what the interior of the dumpster will look like. I made this so I could take it with me to meetings and show people what I am going to do. Eventually, in one of these meetings, there will be someone who says:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">"I like it; here's a dumpster."</span></span></span><br />
<br />
I love this <a href="http://thedumpsterproject.blogspot.com/?spref=fb">website</a>. Mac is cataloging his keepsakes before artfully arranging them in a dumpster.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-31187522953722443252011-04-10T11:53:00.000-07:002011-04-10T11:53:29.256-07:00Penalize Bad ProsecutorsIn his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10thompson.html?hp"><i>New York Times</i></a> Op-Ed, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10thompson.html?hp">The Prosecution Rests, but I can't</a>," <a href="http://www.r-a-e.org/home">John Thompson</a> makes a very strong case for creating a law that penalizes prosecutors who knowingly disregard the law and withhold evidence. And these prosecutors can still practice law? They should at the very least lose their license. Where is the Louisiana Bar Association and the ABA? But taking eighteen years of an innocent man's life. Come on? These prosecutors should be thrown in jail. No doubt it's a tough job, but right now, it's all upside for prosecutors, with little or no risk if they break the law in pursuit of conviction.<br />
<br />
The Supreme Court is wrong on this one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-30557760220576766292011-03-18T13:06:00.000-07:002011-03-18T13:06:13.968-07:00Plastics: Too Good to Throw AwayA great <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/opinion/18freinkel.html?hp">article</a> by Susan Freinkel in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/opinion/18freinkel.html?hp">The New York Times</a> presents a more balanced view of plastics. <br />
<br />
"Originally, plastic was hailed for its potential to reduce humankind’s heavy environmental footprint. The earliest plastics were invented as substitutes for dwindling supplies of natural materials like ivory or tortoiseshell...."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-35036517099665837002010-12-29T22:43:00.000-08:002010-12-29T22:43:58.673-08:00The Effects of InequalityTyler Cowen asks:<br />
<br />
"D<span class="body">oes growing wealth and income inequality in the United States presage the downfall of the American republic? Will we evolve into a new Gilded Age plutocracy, irrevocably split between the competing interests of rich and poor? Or is growing inequality a mere bump in the road, a statistical blip along the path to greater wealth for virtually every American? Or is income inequality partially desirable, reflecting the greater productivity of society’s stars?"</span><br />
<br />
<span class="body">... "</span><span class="body">We have to find a way to prevent or limit major banks from repeatedly going short on volatility at social expense. No one has figured out how to do that yet." </span><span class="body"> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="body">Read more in his fascinating article, "<a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/article-bd.cfm?piece=907">The Inequality That Matters</a>," in <i>The American Interest</i>. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-43161706483533965742010-12-10T13:56:00.001-08:002010-12-10T13:56:34.211-08:00Abraham's Path: The Walk from No to Yes<object height="326" width="446"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/WilliamUry_2010X-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/WilliamUry-2010X.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1017&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=william_ury;year=2010;theme=war_and_peace;theme=a_taste_of_tedx;event=TEDxMidwest;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/WilliamUry_2010X-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/WilliamUry-2010X.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1017&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=william_ury;year=2010;theme=war_and_peace;theme=a_taste_of_tedx;event=TEDxMidwest;"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-53540256656961000422010-12-07T23:29:00.000-08:002010-12-07T23:44:13.879-08:00The Swiss Laughing Yogi: Hans-Rudolf Merz<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ps6e_toM26I?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ps6e_toM26I?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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Who says politics isn't fun?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-13673257734379370772010-12-07T22:21:00.001-08:002010-12-07T22:21:54.270-08:00Amazing Stats from Hans Rosling<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jbkSRLYSojo?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jbkSRLYSojo?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-7253200428970394322010-12-02T19:25:00.000-08:002010-12-02T19:25:06.689-08:00Quote for the Day<blockquote>Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these. - Susan B. Anthony </blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-52368284143524115662010-11-30T22:45:00.000-08:002010-11-30T22:45:51.876-08:00Ouch! US Leaders need to find a way to work togetherThomas Friedman makes some excellent points in his recent <i>New York Times</i> Op-Ed <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/opinion/01friedman.html?hp">article</a>. China must be very happy about our government's gridlock.<br />
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Written from the point of view of a Chinese diplomat reporting to his government about the state of America:<br />
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"... Most of the Republicans just elected to Congress do not believe what their scientists tell them about man-made climate change. America’s politicians are mostly lawyers — not engineers or scientists like ours — so they’ll just say crazy things about science and nobody calls them on it. It’s good. It means they will not support any bill to spur clean energy innovation, which is central to our next five-year plan. And this ensures that our efforts to dominate the wind, solar, nuclear and electric car industries will not be challenged by America.<br />
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<b>Finally, record numbers of U.S. high school students are now studying Chinese, which should guarantee us (i.e. China) a steady supply of cheap labor that speaks our language here, as we use our $2.3 trillion in reserves to quietly buy up U.S. factories. In sum, things are going well for China in America." </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-15773780240790688972010-11-25T23:48:00.000-08:002010-11-25T23:48:11.314-08:00Was Tolstoy the First Trust Fund Hippie?A thought provoking piece by David Brooks on the difference between observing and acting, through the lens of Tolstoy's life. <br />
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"... There are many reasons to think about Tolstoy on the centennial of his death. Among them: his ability to see. Tolstoy had an almost superhuman ability to perceive reality.<br />
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As a young man, he was both sensually and spiritually acute. He drank, gambled and went off in search of sensations and adventures. But he also experienced piercing religious crises.<br />
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As a soldier, he conceived “a stupendous idea, to the realization of which I feel capable of dedicating my whole life. The idea is the founding of a new religion corresponding to the present development of mankind: the religion of Christ purged of dogmas and mysticism.”<br />
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But when he sat down to write his great novels, his dreams of saving mankind were bleached out by the vividness of the reality he saw around him. Readers often comment that the worlds created in those books are more vivid than the real world around them. With Olympian detachment and piercing directness, Tolstoy could describe a particular tablecloth, a particular moment in a particular battle, and the particular feeling in a girl’s heart before a ball.<br />
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He had his biases. In any Tolstoy story, the simple, rural characters are likely to be good and the urbane ones bad. But his ability to enter into and recreate the experiences of each of his characters overwhelms his generalizations. <br />
Isaiah Berlin famously argued that Tolstoy was a writer in search of Big Truths, but his ability to see reality in all its particulars destroyed the very theories he hoped to build. By entering directly into life in all its contradictions, he destroyed his own peace of mind.<br />
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As Tolstoy himself wrote, “The aim of an artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations.” <br />
But after “Anna Karenina,” that changed. He was overwhelmed by the pointlessness of existence. As his biographer A.N. Wilson surmises, he ran out of things to write about. He had consumed the material of his life.<br />
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So he gave up big novels and became a holy man. Fulfilling his early ambition, he created his own religion, which rejected the Jesus story but embraced the teachings of Jesus. He embraced simplicity, poverty, vegetarianism, abstinence, poverty and pacifism. He dressed like a peasant. He wrote religious tracts to attract people to the simple, pure life.<br />
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Many contemporary readers like the novel-writing Tolstoy but regard the holy man as a semi-crackpot. But he was still Tolstoy, and his later writings were still brilliant. Moreover, he inspired a worldwide movement, deeply influencing Gandhi among many others. He emerged as the Russian government’s most potent critic — the one the czar didn’t dare imprison.<br />
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What had changed, though, was his ability to see. Now a crusader instead of an observer, he was absurd as often as he was brilliant. He went slumming with the peasantry, making everybody feel uncomfortable. He’d try to mow the grass (badly), make shoes (worse), and then he’d return to his mansion for dinner. He was the first trust-fund hippie. He seemed to lose perspective about himself: “I alone understand the doctrine of Jesus.”<br />
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There were many consistencies running through Tolstoy’s life, but there were also two phases: first, the novelist; then, the crusader. And each of these activities called forth its own way of seeing...."<br />
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Read more <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/opinion/26brooks.html?hp">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-28153144852784876692010-11-25T20:20:00.000-08:002010-11-25T20:24:35.577-08:0091 Year Old Track Star!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9Bpycvymy5R9NQqkfwoI1-q2pYHTZ58SzWKAkTFdrLijGaeSijpWehFmRdj9e3qsctKrTBAsMW5sA1uhFkiYFsHmKg8LQU_VZB7hyphenhyphendZcIUEXTDz4q4jTPW9nn-afSsjyFm48jDt9cVLn/s1600/28athletes-t_CA0-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9Bpycvymy5R9NQqkfwoI1-q2pYHTZ58SzWKAkTFdrLijGaeSijpWehFmRdj9e3qsctKrTBAsMW5sA1uhFkiYFsHmKg8LQU_VZB7hyphenhyphendZcIUEXTDz4q4jTPW9nn-afSsjyFm48jDt9cVLn/s320/28athletes-t_CA0-articleLarge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Olga Kotelko, a 91 year old Canadian, is one of the world's greatest athletes. She holds 23 world records, including 17 in her current age category, 90 to 95.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnschH2ZsPX4m_2LbtHtYI0qj2HXgFxzoWwfiwvsJv7LLOiZeY3LDs6bWd8eSKlyVU0qOFmqFUJWMUjLzbVDM93PBvpCsBU1pdhqozRdhChT_qYA3QvBs2-ThiKSV4HeKGaslVEl3vlFQX/s1600/28athletes-t_CA1-articleInline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnschH2ZsPX4m_2LbtHtYI0qj2HXgFxzoWwfiwvsJv7LLOiZeY3LDs6bWd8eSKlyVU0qOFmqFUJWMUjLzbVDM93PBvpCsBU1pdhqozRdhChT_qYA3QvBs2-ThiKSV4HeKGaslVEl3vlFQX/s1600/28athletes-t_CA1-articleInline.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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I'd like to age like her. Who wouldn't? Read more in this fascinating <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/magazine/28athletes-t.html?_r=1&hp">article</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-85201497426366358202010-11-24T14:58:00.000-08:002010-11-24T14:58:53.203-08:00The Semantics of Failing"Scott Sandage, an associate professor of history at <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Born-Losers-History-Failure-America/dp/067402107X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290639418&sr=8-1"><em>Born Losers: A History of Failure in America</em></a> explains that America's relationship with failure has evolved over time, noting that the word initially applied only to matters of business, not character.<br />
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Up until the Civil War, he argues, people who suffered economic misfortune were described as <em>making</em> a failure, not <em>being</em> a failure. Sandage asks: "Why have we as a culture embraced modes of identity where we measure our souls using business models?"<br />
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The answer, he suggests, has to do with the end of slavery. Around that time, Sandage says, the two primary identities in American life shifted from "slave" and "free" to "success" and "failure." - Evan R. Goldstein<br />
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Read more <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/How-College-Kills-Creativity-/125417/?key=Gj4iJF9oZHNCZXBhYj4RbG1Vbic7NU5yZ3AcaX11blFXFA%3D%3D">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2767180671240046494.post-37171701778972095432010-11-24T14:55:00.000-08:002010-11-24T14:55:15.852-08:00Lakers game for a family of four: $489Ridiculous! The only thing worse is that a game with the Knicks costs $506.<br />
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<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5846998">The Fan Cost Index</a>, which takes into account the prices of four average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two least-expensive, adult-size adjustable caps, shows the Knicks with the most expensive night out at a game, with a cost of $506. The Lakers are second at $489, followed by Boston ($393), Miami ($380) and Chicago ($365).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2