Saturday, October 27, 2007

More in the "Make You Cry" Dept

U.S. Could See a Water Shortage

Tip #1: LOSE THE FUCKING LAWN, PEOPLE! Christ! Grow local plants suited to the climate. *What* is this obsession people have with lawns?

Help an Animal

Dogs in Danger. Give money, give time, give a home.

Pro Publica: Journalism in the Public Interest

A non-profit journalism outfit. Interesting.

Things that make you go "Hm", laugh, or cry

Laugh:

Human race will 'split into two different species'. So sayeth Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics. (Those wacky economists!)

Top 10 Most Terrifyingly Inspirational 80s Songs

Hm:

Biofuels 'crime against humanity'.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said he feared biofuels would bring more hunger.

The growth in the production of biofuels has helped to push the price of some crops to record levels.


It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel.

He called for a five-year ban on the practice. Within that time, according to Mr Ziegler, technological advances would enable the use of agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves to produce fuel.


and more 'hm':

The literary criticism of J.K. Rowling has begun. Potter is a lefty, says French philosopher ("Harry Potter is a left-winger and the seven books by J.K. Rowling are a diatribe against Thatcherite Britain, a French philosopher said Friday on the day of the last novel's publication in French.")

I like the phrase "Thatcherite Britain". Hard to say why.


Cry:

American kids, dumber than dirt

FEMA "Sorry" Faked Newscast. No, they're not. They're just sorry they got caught. Typical of this Administration.

The collapse of Bush's foreign policy: From Turkey to Iraq to Pakistan, the mounting chaos proves the White House is just winging it (by Juan Cole):

Like a drunken millionaire gambling away a fortune at a Las Vegas casino, the Bush administration squandered all the assets it began with by invading Iraq and unleashing chaos in the Gulf. The secular Baath Party in Iraq was replaced by Shiite fundamentalists, Sunni Salafi fundamentalists and Kurdish separatists. The pressure the Bush administration put on the Pakistani military government to combat Muslim militants in that country weakened the legitimacy of Musharraf, whom the Pakistani public increasingly viewed as an oppressive American puppet. Iraqi Kurdistan's willingness to give safe haven to the PKK alienated Turkey from both the new Iraqi government and its American patrons. Search-and-destroy missions in Afghanistan have predictably turned increasing numbers of Pushtun villagers against the United States, NATO and Karzai.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Various Coolnesses

The Flushing Remonstrance, triggered by colonial Gov. Peter Stuyvesant being an intolerant dick. Read about it here. I love the Society of Friends (Quakers). I think, based on my scattered readings of Elaine Pagels The Gnostic Gospels, that Quakers are the most true to the form of early Christianity.

I'll gradually be changing my cosmetics usage (yes, I do wear cosmetics pretty regularly now) based on this site: http://www.safecosmetics.org/

Goth Raggedy Ann and Andy! My twin and I used to have RA&A. Not goth, though. Too bad.