Archive for the ‘society’ Category
What do they censor?
Mostly, it turns out, things that are politically inconvenient rather than things which actually pose a security threat. Using Wikileaks to figure out what the government redacts No surprises there.
In: observations, society, world · Tagged with: censorship, wikileaks
Nightmares.
What does an ethically challenged, cheating hypocrite who brought the country near ruin for political advantage have to do with this man? Oh.
In: observations, society
Our community media project
Here’s what some friends of mine and I have been working on for a couple of years now. We’ve got it all nailed down and we’re looking for funding and other kinds of support: That’s our TEDx talk about the basis of the idea. If you want to read more, and especially if you want [...]
In: net, society, theory · Tagged with: asheville, citizen journalism, community media, ponderwell
California Penal Code Section 12403.7 (a) (8)
(g) Any person who uses tear gas or tear gas weapons except in self-defense is guilty of a public offense and is punishable byimprisonment in a state prison for 16 months, or two or three years or in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed one thousand [...]
Occupy Wall Street Arrests
Giving it away
There’s no privacy Imagine the U.S. Census as conducted by direct marketers – that’s the social graph. Social networks exist to sell you crap. The icky feeling you get when your friend starts to talk to you about Amway, or when you spot someone passing out business cards at a birthday party, is the entire [...]
In: law, society · Tagged with: facebook, google+, privacy, social-graph
The City of London – secret power within the British State
Described here. Seriously, so much more medieval and Machiavellian than you would believe. Parliament has no authority over it but it appoints a “Remembrancer” to keep Parliament in line. Corporations and a few guild members get to vote for who rules it, but almost no residents. It acts to subvert international regulation of the financial [...]
In: observations, society, world
Fear, risk, and investment
NYT headline today: US Panel advises that prostate test may do more harm than good.. Here’s why, briefly: around 70% of elevated readings from the test are false positives – they do not indicate cancer. Men who get a positive reading, and the urologists who treat them, feel constrained by a positive reading to get [...]
Asheville Occupy Wall Street
Asheville’s Occupy Wall Street, day one. The story, with images and statements from protesters, is here on Image Asheville
The connection between health, fat, and exercise
Why is it so easy to get fat and yet being fat predisposes one to heart disease, cancer, and adult onset diabetes? It seems like a maladaption to the presence of plenty of food. First of all, it’s not nearly so bad if you exercise. For each condition, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, being sedentary [...]
All the things I wrote in 2008 and 2009.
Introduction With a rare exception or two I haven’t written here for several years. Various things have intervened – moving to a new country, starting a new business, and preceding all that some formal study. What I’d like to do is go through here and edit things, weed out the crap, format it nicely, and [...]
In: environment, philosophy, science, society, theory
The joy of violence
This is a very thoughtful, if jokey, consideration of non-violence from someone who understands violence a lot better than pacifism. Here, she’s exactly right: Pacifism as a concept kind of pisses me off. Still, non-violence intrigues me, not least because of its power to frustrate the violently inclined. The central paradox of terrorism—we will hurt [...]
In: philosophy, society · Tagged with: humanity, politics, satyagraha
Prejudice against the ugly
This from Comment Is Free’s Tanya Boyle. Susan will probably win Britain’s Got Talent. She will be the little munter that could sing, served up for the British public every Saturday night. Look! It’s “ugly”! It sings! And I know that we think that this will make us better people. But Susan Boyle will be [...]
Rape culture
This essay by Latoya Peterson is essential reading: This is how the Not Rape epidemic spreads – through fear and silence, which become complicit in perpetuating the behaviors described here. Women of all backgrounds are affected by these kinds of acts, regardless of race, ethnicity, or social class. So many of us carry the scars [...]
Christmas gifts for people who could really use them
Please consider donating to Oxfam Unwrapped and similar charities, this Christmas. Economic downturn or not there are people who desperately need survival aid, especially in Somalia. Hope that helps, if you wondered what to get me *grin*
Alice Walker’s letter to Barak Obama
Dear Brother Obama…
The myth of selfishness: Part 3 – A new gift economy
If society is in tune with human proclivities it works better, because people enjoy what they do. You only have to look at small boys playing “hunting”, or notice the difference between the incentives necessary to get people to sit in an office shuffling papers compared with those required to get people to dance and [...]
In: philosophy, society, theory
The myth of selfishness: Part 2 – The Rise of Capitalism
Much of this has a European focus, and I apologise for that, especially because colonialism and its devastating effect on the world are consequently not given proper attention. The focus of the article is narrow and designed as a contrast to the situation described in Part 1 – Ancient Economics. By the way, I’m no [...]
In: philosophy, society, theory
The myth of selfishness: Part 1 Ancient Economics
This article is the first in a series. I’m leading up to something and it takes quite a long time to get there, but it’s generally about my idea that people are far less self-interested than it appears. NB: In the following I have used the term “traditional culture” to refer to the ancient and [...]
In: philosophy, society, theory
Who is the leisure class?
Vasco Pyjama has been on fire since coming back to Australia. Here she outlines the basis of the divide between the developing world and the west: Two years ago, I travelled through Mindanao, the war-torn southernmost island of the Philippines. Villages there were populated with modest wooden huts made with coco lumber and leaf roofing. [...]
In: observations, society, world
