Twenty Things
Twenty Things July 7, 2010
Twenty Things July 7, 2010
Janelle Monáe
Tightrope ft. Big Boi
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Voices From The Net
" with all these threads i am more and more starting to wonder what your final solution to the "muslim problem" would actually look like? according to you islam must be stopped at all costs right?? does that not translate into a fascist ideology right away the further we go down the road??? "
American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation
For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.
U.S. data dogs on quest for sexier statistics
The United States is deluged with economic data, yet the figures cannot conclusively answer even the most fundamental questions: Is the recession really over? Are people living better? Is government serving its citizens well?
How Goldman Sachs gambled on starving the world's poor - and won
By now, you probably think your opinion of Goldman Sachs and its swarm of Wall Street allies has rock-bottomed at raw loathing. You're wrong. There's more. It turns out the most destructive of all their recent acts has barely been discussed at all. Here's the rest. This is the story of how some of the richest people in the world - Goldman, Deutsche Bank, the traders at Merrill Lynch, and more - have caused the starvation of some of the poorest people in the world, just so they could make a fatter profit.
Human-flesh search engines — renrou sousuo yinqing — have become a Chinese phenomenon: they are a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath. The goal is to get the targets of a search fired from their jobs, shamed in front of their neighbors, run out of town. It’s crowd-sourced detective work, pursued online — with offline results.
Twenty Things June 28, 2010
Twenty Things June 28, 2010
High as Fuck
Jon Lajoie
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
Thanks - you are doing the right thing.
Voices From The Net
" Yeah, I live in the first world, yeah, I'm writing this on a computer, and yeah, I'm sure we can come up with another footprint method to describe how many third world lives I've ruined given my consumer habits. I would still like to know how I can make things better. If people have suggestions of causes I can contribute to that have rational mission statements, I'd like them not to be shouted down. If some politician somewhere says that trade should be something that improves the lives of both people trading, I'd like to know how where they are running for office. "
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty
Rather than betting that aid dollars can beat poverty, Romer is peddling a radical vision: that dysfunctional nations can kick-start their own development by creating new cities with new rules—Lübeck-style centers of progress that Romer calls “charter cities.” By building urban oases of technocratic sanity, struggling nations could attract investment and jobs; private capital would flood in and foreign aid would not be needed.
The Spill, The Scandal and the President
Like the attacks by Al Qaeda, the disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency's culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP – a firm with the worst safety record of any oil company – with virtually no environmental safeguards, using industry-friendly regulations drafted during the Bush years. He calibrated his response to the Gulf spill based on flawed and misleading estimates from BP – and then deployed his top aides to lowball the flow rate at a laughable 5,000 barrels a day, long after the best science made clear this catastrophe would eclipse the Exxon Valdez.
A study recently published in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility found that just having books around the house (the more, the better) is correlated with how many years of schooling a child will complete.
The Time We Have Is Growing Short’
I certainly did not anticipate the nature of the crisis that eventually ensued, its complexity, its force, or its impact right across the industrialized world. Subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, CDOs—squared, tranched, or otherwise—were not part of my world. Nor, I can add, had I ever imagined that the financial markets over those frightening weeks in the fall of 2008 would virtually freeze up. The sense of mutual trust upon which operating financial markets depend was lost.
Twenty Things May 26, 2010
Twenty Things May 26, 2010
70 Million
Hold Your Horses !
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
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Voices From The Net
" You know the classic myspace angle shot that makes every fat chick look better than normal? That's what they're doing with the oil cam. "
What caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster?
Author’s Note: I am grateful to the many drilling and completion engineers that consulted with me on this post to arrive at plausible explanations and interpretations of what happened in the final hours on the semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. The analysis that follows is based on these discussions as well as my own 32 years of experience as a geologist working in the oil and gas industry.
Why Kindergarten children beat Business School graduates at finding solutions
Here’s a great video from Tom Wujec about the Marshmallow Challenge; a team exercise to build a simple structure from pieces of dried spaghetti and a marshmallow. When he tried this game out on many different groups, he found some of the worst performers were Business School graduates and some of the best were Kindergarten children.
Most know debt is a byproduct of the finance-centered US economic model. Few, however, are familiar with how much debt the US credit system creates, let alone the implications. The upshot is financial decision making based on mainstream herding and hesitancy to take essential steps to preserve personal wealth.
50 Most Extraordinary Churches of the World
But I have to admit, that the most wonderful buildings on earth are probably churches, monasteries and other religious structures. You can do much more with a lot of faith and a lack of money than with a lot of money but without any faith.
Twenty Things, May 10 2010
Twenty Things May 10, 2010
SHORT STACK
PRINCESS
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
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Voices From The Net
" Mr. fat finger's responsible for a HUGE stock market crash......not one but TWO false bomb alarms in Time Square......and a giant shoe box being lowered to stop the geyser a mile under the ocean....it's all been for show. "
How Mathematics Might Have Caused the Financial Crisis
As economics developed over the last several decades, the technical requirements — the math requirements in particular — have increased substantially. In order to fit these new mathematical tools and techniques into the graduate curriculum and give them the attention they needed, it became necessary to find other courses to cut.
“Feeding Frenzy” as banks pretend and extend
The guy in the house has been on the foreclosure roles for a long time. Apparently, he ran up loans 15% over the original amount, which suggests he may have been using the house price as an ATM when prices were going up. But now he is making partial payments to avoid being foreclosed. The interesting thing is that by making a partial payment, the owner can get off the foreclosure roles and stay in his home.. until he misses another payment, which in this case has happened several times.
Some of the information might be a surprise to many people. The most amazing numbers on income inequality come last, showing the change in the ratio of the average CEO's paycheck to that of the average factory worker over the past 40 years.
Mary Johnson was cook in her master's family in New Orleans. On her left arm are scars of three cuts given to her by her mistress with a rawhide. On her back are scars of more than fifty cuts given by her master. The occasion was that one morning she was half an hour behind time in bringing up his five o'clock cup of coffee. As the Union army approached she ran away from her master, and has since been employed by Colonel Hanks as cook.
Twenty Things April 12,2010
Twenty Things April 12, 2010
Prisencolinensinainciusol
Adriano Celentano
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
Voices From The Net
"Reading the story about President Obama breaking tradition and ditching the presidential press pool over the weekend to watch one of his daughter's soccer games, it appears harmless, right? Not so. It is rather disturbing when you dissect it. So let's do just that."
American readers may be struck by the frequent references to social democracy. Here in the United States, such references are uncommon. When journalists and commentators advocate public expenditure on social objectives, they are more likely to describe themselves—and be described by their critics—as "liberals." But this is confusing. "Liberal" is a venerable and respectable label and we should all be proud to wear it. But like a well-designed outer coat, it conceals more than it displays.
Legal fight over Plumpy'nut, the hunger wonder-product
Should a revolutionary humanitarian food product be protected by commercial patent, when lifting restrictions might save millions of starving children?
A Math Primer on Sovereign Debt
How can a country support debt of more than 100 percent of its gross domestic product for many years and then suddenly start descending toward insolvency? That question of sovereign debt arithmetic isn’t merely academic. It’s highly relevant to the likes of Greece and Italy.
Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent
A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property.
Twenty Things April 4, 2010
Twenty Things April 3, 2010
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Strange. Sublime. Wonderful.
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
Thanks - you are doing the right thing.
Voices From The Net
" religion is the molester of thought. -me "
The social utility of credit-default swaps is ostensibly the insurance function. (Fear that a bond will default? Buy a swap that pays out in the event.) But most traders do not own the bond, and they have nothing to “insure.” Like the fellow who takes a policy on his neighbor’s house, they are simply betting on disaster.
'Credit card theft? There's an app for that'
Would-be hackers have long been able to buy rudimentary software packages that can be used to build malware, such as code that can steal online banking passwords. Now these hacking tools are being supported with a range of services, some with a money-back guarantee, that makes it easier than ever to create and spread malware.
Voices From The Net
" Christ is our king of kings and top general of all things, for we are not of this world but we live in it. The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it. We will reach out to those who are yet blind in the last days of the kingdoms of men and bring them to life in Christ. (...) Oh and don't forget that you can write us through the contact us link on the Hutaree homepage.
Once again thanks for visiting Hutaree.com and may Christ bless you widely. "
Now you can be the protagonist of the petroleum era: explore and drill around the world, corrupt politicians, stop alternative energies and increase the oil addiction. Be sure to have fun before the resources begin to deplete.
Twenty Things March 28, 2010
Twenty Things March 28, 2010
Ida Maria - Oh My God
Rock & Roll and Primal Therapy? Love this song.
Growing numbers of folks feel that the best way to keep the internet vibrant and free is to rid it of corporate meddling. For those who feel strongly about that, we have scattered about our site "DONATE" buttons that guarantee our freedom of action and expression.
Thanks - you are doing the right thing.
Voices From The Net
" 2nd admendment means nothing if you don't ever use it. Wish this guy had that right. And was amble to exercise it. He might have lived and been able to still be alive. Instead of dead. Alive is always better than being made dead. "
Market Economies Are Not Instinctive, But Cultural
In rapidly expanding settlements, early cultivators had no choice but to bargain for daily goods with lots of folks they didn’t know. A fundamental redefinition of a fair deal soon followed, according to a new cross-cultural study.
Note to Travellers: Fairness is a Cultural Thing
Human behaviors are often explained as hard-wired evolutionary leftovers of life on the savannah or during the Stone Age. But a study of one very modern behavior, fairness toward total strangers one will never meet again, suggests it evolved recently, and is rooted in culture rather than biology.
Rage, Healthcare, and The Slow Failure of America
The trigger, or the change in the game (the economic system) that prompted the confusion and anger we see today was the 2008 financial crisis. The inchoate anger this crisis caused is now being directed against the US government and the party in power.
Cocaine & Grand Theft Auto: Life with Niko Bellic
"Tom Bissell was an acclaimed, prize-winning young writer. Then he started playing the video game Grand Theft Auto. For three years he has been cocaine addicted, sleep deprived and barely able to write a word. Any regrets? Absolutely none"
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