Face Yourself – 12 Kinds of Kindness

Face Yourself – 12 Kinds of Kindness: "We had plastered the streets with these signs on every tree, lamp post, and bus shelter, to the point that it was impossible not to notice them before walking past us. In order to distract myself, I started counting how many people walked past me. It was thousands. A few people did take notice of the signs and even photographed them with their iPhones, but then they’d brisk by me without looking down at me. It made me realize that New York has become filled with walking iPhone zombies with their heads in the clouds, myself included.
"



'via Blog this'

The L.A. teen apocalypse that never came - LA Times

The L.A. teen apocalypse that never came - LA Times: "What explains L.A.'s phenomenal decline in youthful deaths and crime? The truth is, we don't know. Neighboring Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties also saw declines in youth crime and related metrics — but they were less dramatic. Local laws and policing affecting young people did not change significantly over this period.

"



'via Blog this'

You Pay How Much for Rent in San Francisco?! — Medium

You Pay How Much for Rent in San Francisco?! — Medium: "What upsets me is that my situation is considered a crazy, jackpot of a situation because I don’t think it needs to be. Our city can fit a far greater number people within its 49-square miles than it currently houses and so many countless people have expressed a willingness to share space in order to share the benefits of this wonderful place. Instead, new residents remain price gauged or priced out, evicted residents cannot afford to remain in their communities, and our city’s neighborhoods and local economies suffer directly as a result.
"



'via Blog this'

Bird-Watching, Patriotism and the Oregon Standoff - The New York Times

Bird-Watching, Patriotism and the Oregon Standoff - The New York Times: "But in effect, what the Bundy gang is doing is denying the value of such shared, set-aside space. Their demands are unclear, but at the very least it appears that by seizing the refuge’s land, which can now be visited by anyone, and returning it to “the people,” some of the people on it would be transformed into trespassers. Perhaps in the wide-open spaces of eastern Oregon, the idea that land should be equally shared among the members of the public makes less sense, but to those of us who live on top of one another elsewhere in the United States, there is no question that some property just can’t be private.

"



'via Blog this'

Boy’s Response to Blasphemy Charge Unnerves Many in Pakistan - The New York Times

Boy’s Response to Blasphemy Charge Unnerves Many in Pakistan - The New York Times:

The boy, Anwar Ali, the son of a poor laborer, had been attending an evening prayer gathering at the mosque in the village, Khanqah, when Mr. Ahmad asked for a show of hands of those who did not love the Prophet Muhammad. Thinking the cleric had asked for those who did love the prophet, Anwar’s hand shot up, according to witnesses and the boy’s family.



He realized his mistake when he saw that his was the only hand up, and he quickly put it down. But by then Mr. Ahmad was screaming “Blasphemer!” at him, along with many others in the crowd. “Don’t you love your prophet?” they called, as the boy fled in disgrace.



Anwar went home, found a sharp scythe and chopped off his right hand that same night. When he showed it to the cleric, he made clear it was an offering to absolve his perceived sin.



'via Blog this'

MLK's fears of nuclear devastation should continue to resonate | The Japan Times

MLK's fears of nuclear devastation should continue to resonate | The Japan Times: "“The principal objective of all nations must be the total abolition of war. War must be finally eliminated or the whole of mankind will be plunged into the abyss of annihilation.”
Martin Luther King Jr., December 1957"



'via Blog this'

Classical Music Mashup - YouTube

Classical Music Mashup - YouTube: ""




'via Blog this'

VHQ(VS) Jerry Donahue - The Claw - YouTube

VHQ(VS) Jerry Donahue - The Claw - YouTube:




'via Blog this'

The Project Gutenberg E-text of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine

The Project Gutenberg E-text of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine: "Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.

"



'via Blog this'

Cancer and Climate Change - The New York Times

Cancer and Climate Change - The New York Times: "All this as the world’s population is expected to crest at around 9.5 billion by 2050 from the current seven billion. Pope Francis and a think tank of retired military officers have drawn roughly the same conclusion from computer model predictions: The worst impacts will be felt by the world’s poorest, who are already under immense stress and have meager resources to help them adapt to the changes. They will see themselves as innocent victims of the developed world’s excesses. Looking back, the causes of the 1789 French Revolution are not a mystery to historians; looking forward, the pressure cooker for increased radicalism, of all flavors, and conflict could get hotter along with the global temperature.

"



'via Blog this'

Sanders's and Clinton's Fake Middle Class - Bloomberg View

Sanders's and Clinton's Fake Middle Class - Bloomberg View: "What this suggests is that we probably won’t see Democrats brave the sub-$250,000 tax hike until they absolutely have to. Which also suggests that if we have a Democratic president, all those expensive policy promises are likely to be either deficit financed, or dead-on-arrival.

"



'via Blog this'

Black Thought on His Breakthrough Moment -- New York Magazine

Black Thought on His Breakthrough Moment -- New York Magazine: "We would perform songs that we created on the spot. That’s when I realized how good I was at freestyling. Questlove would sometimes point things out while he was doing the beat, and I would incorporate whatever he said or pointed to into the verse, right there on the spot. I kind of realized that could be thing. We would come out, just start playing music, and I had no idea what songs we were going to perform. I would just start rapping, and add on what was happening in real time. I guess it was sort of Zen. I would free my mind of just everything. I would clear it. Take out the stress and stretch it and make my mind a clean slate, if that makes any sense. And only deal with what I was seeing and what I was experiencing at that particular point in time, and make observations."



'via Blog this'

Jon Favreau on His Breakthrough Moment -- New York Magazine

Jon Favreau on His Breakthrough Moment -- New York Magazine: "There are two important moments in that speech. One paragraph distilled the whole race of why Obama and not Hillary at the time, right? Which was like, “This part of Jefferson and Jackson and of Kennedy and Roosevelt knows that we’re better off when we lead not by polls but by principle; not by calculation but by conviction. And that’s what this party’s about.” Something like that. And then there was this nice thing at the end that a lot of people didn’t notice in the campaign just because it wasn’t central to the message against Hillary, but he sort of quieted down at the very end of that speech and he said, “I’ll never forget that I would never be where I am right now unless someone somewhere stood up for me when it was hard.” You know, when it wasn’t easy. “And then because that one person stood up, a few more stood up, and then a few thousand more stood up, and then millions more stood up, and because they stood up we changed the world.” And that was sort of the first time we linked the history of him possibly being the first black president and civil rights with a message of the campaign, which was grassroots organizing to make a difference. And that’s sort of how we ended that speech, and that was always pretty meaningful to me.

"



'via Blog this'

I’m a Republican. You Couldn’t Pay Me to Vote for Trump. — Soapbox DC — Medium

I’m a Republican. You Couldn’t Pay Me to Vote for Trump. — Soapbox DC — Medium: "When I see an authoritarian decide who are winners and losers as if he were picking race horses to bet on, habitually equate people to animals and mock their looks and mannerisms, I see the antithesis of leadership. When I see a man equate strength with an ability to erect tall buildings in their name while threatening to banish entire religions from our country, I don’t merely shake my head in disgust. I’m afraid.
"



'via Blog this'

The Stanford professor who pioneered praising kids for effort says we’ve totally missed the point - Quartz

The Stanford professor who pioneered praising kids for effort says we’ve totally missed the point - Quartz: "Reams of research show that kids who are praised for being smart fixate on performance, shying away from taking risks and meeting potential failure. Kids who are praised for their efforts try harder and persist with tasks longer. These “effort” kids have a “growth mindset” marked by resilience and a thirst for mastery; the “smart” ones have a “fixed mindset” believing intelligence to be innate and not malleable.
"



'via Blog this'

Waffle House: A strange American dream | Kate Williams | The Hypocrite Reader

Waffle House: A strange American dream | Kate Williams | The Hypocrite Reader: "Like Deen, it is of utmost importance for Waffle House to position itself as racially inclusive, despite evidence to the contrary. Such a position brings the restaurant into 21st century America; at the same time, its deliberately hokey concept appeals to a deeply Southern nostalgia. Waffle House’s claims of openness fall in line with the myth of Southern hospitality — everyone is always welcome, no matter the hour. It is this idea of hospitality that maintains the restaurant’s popularity. Waffle House’s deliberate branding as a place “with no locks” helps to create a melting pot of customers and employees, all sitting and conversing together on the side of a freeway at 2 a.m. It creates a place where foodies can dine with truckers, where customers know a secret language, where visiting Brits can meet trailer-park Southern belles, where evacuees line up for a hot meal. The grill cooks are happy to flip burgers for minimum wage, and each “unit” forms a family. The company imagines a place populist at its core, a restaurant by the people, for the people.

"



'via Blog this'

Bile, venom and lies: How I was trolled on the Internet - The Washington Post

Bile, venom and lies: How I was trolled on the Internet - The Washington Post: "I love social media. But somehow we have to help create better mechanisms in it to distinguish between fact and falsehood. No matter how passionate people are, no matter how cleverly they can blog or tweet or troll, no matter how viral things get, lies are still lies.

"



'via Blog this'

How I Stumbled Upon The Internet’s Biggest Blind Spot — Medium

How I Stumbled Upon The Internet’s Biggest Blind Spot — Medium: "There is an enormous disconnect between project owners and their stakeholders. Every open source developer I spoke to thought there was a “funding problem”, even if there was disagreement about how to fix it. But hardly any founder, VC, or big tech employee was aware of the issue, even when they used or benefitted directly from these projects.
"



'via Blog this'

The Likely Persistence of a White Majority

The Likely Persistence of a White Majority: "To think clearly about the American future, we need not only the right concepts but also accurate data. The Census Bureau, the public agency we all rely on for neutral representations of social realities, is failing us. Not only do its rigid and illogical classifications distort important new realities, the bureau is also not forthcoming about the errors and uncertainties involved. Instead, it continues to promulgate “firsts”—in June, it declared that for the first time minorities are the majority of children under the age of 5—as if the data were unimpeachable. Given the political resonance of its statistics, which reverberate on the right and left of the spectrum, there is not a moment to lose in demanding that, in its official projections and pronouncements, the Census present a more nuanced view of the nation’s demographic future and acknowledge the alternative ways in which Americans may come to think about themselves. 

"



'via Blog this'

My Last Day as a Surgeon - The New Yorker

My Last Day as a Surgeon - The New Yorker: "I was neither angry nor scared. It simply was. It was a fact about the world, like the distance from the sun to the Earth. I drove home and told [my wife,] Lucy. It was a Thursday night, and we wouldn’t see [my oncologist] Emma again until Monday, but Lucy and I sat down in the living room, with our laptops, and mapped out the next steps: biopsies, tests, chemotherapy. The treatments this time around would be tougher to endure, the possibility of a long life more remote. T. S. Eliot once wrote, “But at my back in a cold blast I hear / the rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.” Neurosurgery would be impossible for a couple of weeks, perhaps months, perhaps forever. But we decided that all of that could wait to be real until Monday. Today was Thursday, and I’d already made tomorrow’s O.R. assignments; I planned on having one last day as a resident.

"



'via Blog this'

The Truth About Toilet Swirl - Smarter Every Day & Veritasium — Smarter Every Day

The Truth About Toilet Swirl - Smarter Every Day & Veritasium — Smarter Every Day:



'via Blog this'

Some Inconvenient Gun Facts for Liberals - The New York Times

Some Inconvenient Gun Facts for Liberals - The New York Times: "
We liberals are sometimes glib about equating guns and danger. In fact, it’s complicated: The number of guns in America has increased by more than 50 percent since 1993, and in that same period the gun homicide rate in the United States has dropped by half.



 Then there are the policies that liberals fought for, starting with the assault weapons ban. A 113-page study found no clear indication that it reduced shooting deaths for the 10 years it was in effect. That’s because the ban was poorly drafted, and because even before the ban, assault weapons accounted for only 2 percent of guns used in crimes."



'via Blog this'

The Evolution of David Brooks

The Evolution of David Brooks: "Politics have become a perverted form of community. One of the reasons we’re so polarized is that becoming a Republican or becoming a Democrat has become an ethnic category. In 1970, people were asked, would you mind if your son or daughter married outside your party? Five percent would mind. Now, 40 percent would mind. That’s screwed up.
"



'via Blog this'

FBI's 'Stingray' Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment - WSJ

FBI's 'Stingray' Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment - WSJ: "Stingrays are one of several new technologies used by law enforcement to track people's locations, often without a search warrant. These techniques are driving a constitutional debate about whether the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, but which was written before the digital age, is keeping pace with the times.

"



'via Blog this'

What Will Replace Email? - The Atlantic

What Will Replace Email? - The Atlantic: "The idea behind Slack is that, when you’re addressing the same core group of people via email all the time anyway, you might as well have a shared digital space so that people can dip in and out of the conversation as needed. (Just think: No more sifting through email threads in which six people reply-all to say “thanks.”) Slack isn’t about spending less time communicating, Butterfield says, it’s about accomplishing more in that time.

"



'via Blog this'

Former CIA chief in Benghazi challenges the story line of the new movie ‘13 Hours’ - The Washington Post

Former CIA chief in Benghazi challenges the story line of the new movie ‘13 Hours’ - The Washington Post: "The question of whether someone issued a “stand down” has loomed over Benghazi since the immediate aftermath of the attacks. The initial speculation centered mainly on whether an official in Washington, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had impeded rescue attempts — an allegation rejected by a series of congressional inquiries. A 2014 House Intelligence Committee report found “no evidence that there was either a stand down order or a denial of available air support.”

"



'via Blog this'

The big sleep

The big sleep: "“To those people who say we don’t have the right to choose the time and manner of our departure, our mother and father said, ‘Well, we do and we did’,” she said.

"



'via Blog this'

Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump - The New York Times

Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump - The New York Times: "I will go further: Mr. Trump is precisely the kind of man our system of government was designed to avoid, the type of leader our founders feared — a demagogic figure who does not view himself as part of our constitutional system but rather as an alternative to it.

"



'via Blog this'

This may be the most important chart for understanding politics today - The Washington Post

This may be the most important chart for understanding politics today - The Washington Post: "Imagine everyone, as in everyone around the world, lined up based on how much they make. (This would be adjusted for how much that buys in their home country, but don't worry too much about that). Well, that would let us set up a global income distribution. The richest people in the richest countries—and, for that matter, everywhere else too—would make up the global top 1 percent. Working-class people in rich countries would be around the 80th percentile for the world. Middle-class people in middle-class countries would be, you guessed it, around the 50th percentile. And so on, and so on. Now, when you add it all up, it turns out that nobody has done worse the past 30 years than the working-class in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and France. Their inflation-adjusted incomes actually fell over this period. It was the richest people in the richest countries and, even more so, middle-class people in emerging-market countries who did the best. China, though, really belongs in a category all its own here. It's that bump all by itself in the middle.

"



'via Blog this'

RonaldCrump comments on Putin says Russia has no interest in "costly," "meaningless" role as superpower

RonaldCrump comments on Putin says Russia has no interest in "costly," "meaningless" role as superpower: "
All of this contributes to a broader global strategy of undermining U.S. global power - by attempting to unite the Eurasian region with Russia it keeps a region with great economic potential and geopolitical significance out of America's control.



Moves like intervening in Georgia and annexing Crimea are also about more than just Russian security - they signal to the U.S. and the global community that Russian national interest comes before international obligations (which is in the process of becoming law in Russia). And finally, its intervention in Syria (its first mid to long-term international commitment since the fall of the USSR) demonstrates willingness to directly challenge the U.S. hard power (rather than its soft power, which it has consistently challenged in the UN).
This is part of Russia's quest for a "multipolar" world order - or more specifically, a regional-multipolar world system.
"



'via Blog this'

TotallyKnackered comments on TIL Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of Propaganda, who targeted people with birth defects, was born with a deformed right leg.

TotallyKnackered comments on TIL Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of Propaganda, who targeted people with birth defects, was born with a deformed right leg.: "My favorite part was always when they got to the jews. Goebbels had just been going on about the harm jews do. "I didn't realize there were so many jews here. I don't think I've come across any." Goebbels said that correctly enough there weren't many jews, but they were a big risk to Germany. "How can they be a big risk if they're so few? Are they organized into unions or something?" No, they're not organized as such. They do however control the banking world and are very clever. "Ah, so they're an economic elite then." No, most are quite poor, but they're devious. "Well, sounds like they could be a resource for the country then?" No, because they are dirty and ragged filth, and they are undermining Germany. "I'm sorry. I'm confused. Are they wealthy bankers or poor and ragged; elite or dirty filth; powerful or just a minority?" This made Goebbels incensed, and he said "They are animals!" To which my uncle replied "they're just people. Like you and I."
"



'via Blog this'

How I Saved My Cat’s Life with a Sledgehammer and a Selfie Stick — Medium

How I Saved My Cat’s Life with a Sledgehammer and a Selfie Stick — Medium: "It’s New Year’s Day, 2016, and I’m standing in my bathroom trying to explain to the fire chief that I bought this selfie stick for the sole purpose of rescuing my cat. “Bullshit,” she says with a knowing smirk. “But let’s see what’s under that floor.”
"



'via Blog this'

the savviest dupes | Fredrik deBoer

the savviest dupes | Fredrik deBoer: "Today, dozens of journalists and hundreds of their followers were effortlessly rolled by an unverified Twitter account that compared conservative moron Ammon Bundy to beloved Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks. A bunch of predictable pieces got posted; a thousand outraged tweets were sent into the wild. And all without anyone bothering  to consider the fact that any random person can start a Twitter account. One journalist — one– bothered to actually check the facts. MSNBC’s Tony Dokoupil, who’s on the ground at the site in question, asked Bundy, and Bundy said the Twitter account is not real. The account also posted while Bundy was chatting with journalists. Dokoupil actually did his job. Meanwhile, a ton of people who base their whole self-conception on the idea that they are savvier and smarter than everyone else got played for fools, because the narrative played so perfectly into their assumptions.

"



'via Blog this'

After a mass shooting: A survivor's life | The Washington Post

After a mass shooting: A survivor's life | The Washington Post: "
Except inside the rental, where every day was just like the one before: Awake again in the recliner. Asleep again in the recliner. Cheyeanne dressed in the same baggy pajamas that hung loose and away from her wounds. She was wrapped in an abdominal binder that helped hold her major organs in place. Her hair was greasy because her injuries made it painful to take a bath. Five medications sat on the coffee table, next to a bucket she reached for when those medicines made her throw up. She couldn’t go back to school, or play her guitar, or drive her truck, or hold a long conversation without losing her breath, so she mostly sat in silence and thought about the same seven minutes everyone else was so purposefully moving past. The shooter was standing over her. The hollow-point bullet was burning through her upper back.

She wanted to talk about it.



She needed to tell someone who knew her — someone other than a psychologist — what she’d been thinking ever since that day: “I just lied there. I didn’t save anybody. I couldn’t even get up off the ground.” But what everyone else around her seemed to want was for the shooting to be over and for her to be better, so they came to urge her along at all hours of the day and night."



'via Blog this'

Letters of Note: Dear Orwell

Letters of Note: Dear Orwell: "I know that you wanted a quick decision about “Animal Farm”: but the minimum is two directors’ opinions, and that can’t be done under a week. But for the importance of speed, I should have asked the Chairman to look at it as well. But the other director is in agreement with me on the main points. We agree that it is a distinguished piece of writing; that the fable is very skilfully handled, and that the narrative keeps one’s interest on its own plane—and that is something very few authors have achieved since Gulliver.
"



'via Blog this'

2015 was the year Congress started working again - Vox

2015 was the year Congress started working again - Vox:

Deals have happened because Republicans and Democrats alike have worked together quietly, while keeping public attention focused on high-profile, deeply polarized disagreements over things like gun regulation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

By making sure nobody on the outside knows what deals are being discussed, outside groups have less opportunity and incentive to act as spoilers or draw red lines. Even a huge share of the members of Congress who are ultimately asked to vote for the bills are in the dark about the negotiation as it is happening. Not coincidentally, many of the deals are deeply transactional — represented a least common denominator nexus of interest group demands rather than a high-minded, principles-based effort at reform.

'via Blog this'

Will the Republican Party Survive the 2016 Election? - The Atlantic

Will the Republican Party Survive the 2016 Election? - The Atlantic:

The contest for the presidency turns on external events as much as—or more than—internal party politics. George W. Bush’s team believed that the last-minute revelation of a 1976 drunk-driving arrest cost him the popular vote in the 2000 election. Jimmy Carter blamed his 1980 defeat on the debacle of the attempted rescue of American hostages in Iran. So anything can happen. But that does not mean anything will happen. Barring shocks, presidential elections turn on the fundamentals of economics, demography, and ideology.

The puzzle for the monied leaders of the Republican Party is: What now? And what next after that? None of the options facing the GOP elite is entirely congenial. But there appear to be four paths the elite could follow, for this campaign season and beyond. 

'via Blog this'

The Terrible Beauty of Brain Surgery - NYTimes.com

The Terrible Beauty of Brain Surgery - NYTimes.com: "We use systems to keep the wolf from the door, I thought. And systems are nothing but vast complexes of notions and concepts. Everything that helps us lose sight of the petty, pathetic and meaningless parts of our own selves. That is the wolf. The awkward, twisted or stupid part of the soul, the grudges and the envy, the hopelessness and the darkness, the childish joy and the unmanageable desire. The wolf is the part of human nature that the systems have no room for, the aspect of reality that our ideas, the firmament that the brain vaults above our lives, cannot fathom. The wolf is the truth.

"



'via Blog this'

The $200 Uber Ride And The Realtime Data-Driven Sharing Economy - Forbes

The $200 Uber Ride And The Realtime Data-Driven Sharing Economy - Forbes: "This increase, however, is passed on to users, meaning that it essentially creates a paid hierarchy, where more wealthy users are able to jump higher in the queue. At peak surge pricing, not all Uber riders will be able to afford a nearly $30-a-mile trip and thus will have to wait until later to travel home, while wealthier riders are able to continue on their journey without delay. In the traditional non-data-driven taxi system, all riders are officially considered equal, with no formal system to jump to the front of the queue. One might have to walk around a bit and keep hailing every cab that passes by, but eventually one will find a cab and the price will be no higher than at any other time. Under the Uber model, if you can’t afford the price, you simply aren’t going home until everyone else is home.

"



'via Blog this'

The Ethics of Killing Baby Hitler - The Atlantic

The Ethics of Killing Baby Hitler - The Atlantic: "But focusing on Hitler’s direct responsibility for the Holocaust blinds us to more disturbing truths about the early 20th century. His absence from history would not remove the underlying political ideologies or social movements that fueled his ascendancy. Before his rise to power, eugenic theories already held sway in Western countries. Anti-Semitism infected civic discourse and state policy, even in the United States. Concepts like ethnic hierarchies and racial supremacy influenced mainstream political thought in Germany and throughout the West. Focusing on Hitler’s central role in the Holocaust also risks ignoring the thousands of participants who helped carry it out, both within Germany and throughout occupied Europe, and on the social and political forces that preceded it. It’s not impossible that in a climate of economic depression and scientific racism, another German leader could also move towards a similar genocidal end, even if he deviated from Hitler’s exact worldview or methods.

"



'via Blog this'

Cold Pastoral - The New Yorker

Cold Pastoral - The New Yorker:

Brian was handsome and smoked the same amount as me, and sometimes in the morning, I’d wake up and smile first thing because he made me feel safe.

In March, he died. I was microwaving instant Thai soup when I got a call from his best friend, asking if I knew which hospital he was at.

“Who?” I said. “Brian,” he said. “You haven’t heard?”

'via Blog this'

http://www.democracycorps.com/attachments/article/954/dcor%20rpp%20fg%20memo%20100313%20final.pdf

‘Liar’ is virtually the first association in all the groups – from Tea Party to moderates. That is
a visceral separation and reason to not listen to him. But in the context of a re-elected president
getting his way, it is an expression of deep frustration with the country and people who
believe him



'via Blog this'

Obama's Leadership Style: Chessmaster or Pawn - The Atlantic

Obama's Leadership Style: Chessmaster or Pawn - The Atlantic: "Leaders need to deal with the world as it is, not as they wish it to be. When President Obama comes out, after a terrorist attack, and says, basically, “nothing to worry about, everything is going according to plan, just be patient,” it is nothing short of an abdication of responsibility."



It hands the discourse over to a Trump or a Cruz because even if their policies are crazy, at least they are acknowledging that people are scared and want something done.




The problem with Obama’s “vulcan” response isn’t that white people don’t want to be lectured by a black man. The problem is that in failing to address the angst people are feeling he is failing in the most fundamental task of a political leader—having empathy for his constituents.




'via Blog this'

Obama's Speech on ISIS - The Atlantic

Obama's Speech on ISIS - The Atlantic: "As a matter of small-r republican virtues, the United States now has the worst of all worlds: members of Congress either calling for, or warning against, military actions, without putting themselves on the line with a vote. There is no way to force Congress to face an issue it wants to avoid. But at least reporters could press the main presidential candidates to say how they would vote (and ask the Senators why they’re not advocating one).

"



'via Blog this'

The Refragmentation

The Refragmentation: "That form of fragmentation, like the others, is here to stay. Or rather, back to stay. Nothing is forever, but the tendency toward fragmentation should be more forever than most things, precisely because it's not due to any particular cause. It's simply a reversion to the mean. When Rockefeller said individualism was gone, he was right for a hundred years. It's back now, and that's likely to be true for longer.
"



'via Blog this'

How the Internet changed the way we read

How the Internet changed the way we read:

It is precisely because we now consume writing from the moment we wake until the moment we crash—most of it mundane, redundant, speculative, badly researched, partisan, and emojian—that we no longer have the same appetite (or time) for literary fiction, serious think pieces, or top-shelf journalism anymore, even though they’re all readily available. If an article on the Daily Dot shows up on page 3 of a Google search, it might as well not exist at all. The New York Timesarticle we half-read on our iPhone while standing up in the Los Angeles Metro ends up blurring with the 500 modified retweets about that same article on Twitter. Authors aren’t privileged anymore because everyone writes commentary somewhere and everyone’s commentary shows up some place. Only the platform and the means of production have changed.

'via Blog this'

Saudi Arabia Puts 47 to Death, Including Prominent Shiite Cleric - The New York Times

Saudi Arabia Puts 47 to Death, Including Prominent Shiite Cleric - The New York Times: "Saudi Arabia drew condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region on Saturday after putting to death a prominent Shiite cleric who had criticized the government’s treatment of its Shiite minority, in a mass execution of 47 men on terrorism-related charges.



 Saudi officials said the mass execution, one of the largest in the kingdom in decades, was aimed at deterring those committed to violence against the state. But analysts said that the grouping of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, with hardened militants was a message to dissidents, and that it could exacerbate sectarian tensions across the Middle East."



'via Blog this'

England's Hour: A Review of 'The English and Their History' by Robert Tombs - The Atlantic

England's Hour: A Review of 'The English and Their History' by Robert Tombs - The Atlantic: "The dominant theme, tone, and message of British and English history writing since at least 1960 has varied between self-critical and self-accusatory. Over the past two decades, the indictment has only sharpened. “Britain’s Gulag” is the title of a history of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s. That writer was one-upped by another who accused Britain of authorship of “Late Victorian Holocausts”—Holocausts plural. Even historians who don’t go quite so far as that still tell a story of mass suffering and exploitation up to 1890, and then decline and failure thereafter. Britain’s rulers are arraigned as snobbish chuckleheads at best; mass-murdering criminals at worst. There sometimes seems hardly a problem on this planet that somebody somewhere has not laid at Britain’s or England’s door"



'via Blog this'

Why the Post Office Makes America Great - The New York Times

Why the Post Office Makes America Great - The New York Times:

Yes, I was told, in the United States, mail gets picked up from your house, six days a week, free of charge.

I told my friends in Turkey about all this.



They shook their heads in disbelief, wondering how easily I had been recruited as a C.I.A. agent, saying implausibly flattering things about my new country. The United States in the world’s imagination is a place of risk taking and ruthless competition, not one of reliable public services.



 I bit my tongue and did not tell my already suspicious friends that the country was also dotted with libraries that provided books to all patrons free of charge. They wouldn’t believe me anyway since I hadn’t believed it myself. My first time in a library in the United States was very brief: I walked in, looked around, and ran right back out in a panic, certain that I had accidentally used the wrong entrance. Surely, these open stacks full of books were reserved for staff only. I was used to libraries being rare, and their few books inaccessible. To this day, my heart races a bit in a library.

The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast: "Once in Raqqa he had to go to the “Homs embassy,” the name for the ISIS administrative building where all Syrians had to apply. He spent two days there, after which he was transferred to what was called the “Border Administration Department.” All this in his own country, which ISIS informed him no longer existed.

“They considered me an immigrant because I had been living outside the caliphate.”



So Abu Khaled had to be “naturalized” first, and had to pass a citizenship interview conducted by an Iraqi named Abu Jaber."



'via Blog this'

The Hustlers at Scores -- The Cut

The Hustlers at Scores -- The Cut: "In retrospect, Rosie recognizes this was the moment when she felt things were getting out of control. Running a team of hookers, strippers, and thieves was complicated. The prostitutes were unreliable. “They wouldn’t show up for work, they would be intoxicated, they would get beat up by their boyfriends and had to be in the hospital or had asthma,” Rosie said. And her attempts at being a den mother had been met with indifference. “You have opportunities,” she’d told one girl in frustration. “You just don’t take advantage of them.”

"



'via Blog this'

Column: Moving semifinals to New Year's Eve a total flop

Column: Moving semifinals to New Year's Eve a total flop:

Of course, neither game was competitive, and that didn't help.

But there's no way to sugarcoat this debacle.

ESPN tried to make the best of the situation, pointing out that streaming views for the Orange and Cotton were up over last year's games. But that was like Custer trying to put a positive spin on Little Bighorn. In all likelihood, that increase could be attributed largely to those who might've been fully-engaged viewers if not for the ill-advised schedule.

What makes all of this more infuriating is that ESPN recognized the ratings Armageddon it was facing. At least a year ago, the network suggested holding the semifinal games on Jan. 2, which falls on a Saturday.

The College Football Playoff balked at that idea, not wanting to disrupt its plans to carve out a niche on New Year's Eve.

In retrospect, that decision is roughly akin to casting Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs.

We all got punked.

'via Blog this'

How Obama Makes Foreign Policy | Foreign Affairs

How Obama Makes Foreign Policy | Foreign Affairs: "To many around the table, each separate piece of Obama’s argument made sense, but the overall logic did not. Maybe it was a bad idea to proceed with air strikes, but in that case, Obama should not have drawn those redlines: he should not have recited the rationale for air strikes to so many diplomats, journalists, and legislators; he should not have told Secretary of State John Kerry to make a case for the bombings (in a powerful speech just hours before he changed course); and after making this new decision, he certainly should not have gone ahead with a scheduled prime-time television address in which he detailed Assad’s perfidy, laid out the national security concerns, claimed he had the legal authority to respond with unilateral air strikes—and then announced that he was sending the matter to Congress.


"



'via Blog this'

How completely messed up practices become normal

How completely messed up practices become normal: "A classic example that tech folks often bring up is hand-washing by doctors and nurses. It’s well known that germs exist, and that washing hands properly very strongly reduces the odds of transmitting germs and thereby significantly reduces hospital mortality rates. Despite that, trained doctors and nurses still often don’t do it. Interventions are required. Signs reminding people to wash their hands save lives. But when people stand at hand-washing stations to require others walking by to wash their hands, even more lives are saved. People can ignore signs, but they can’t ignore being forced to wash their hands.

This mirrors a number of attempts at tech companies to introduce better practices. If you tell people they should do it, that helps a bit. If you enforce better practices via code review, that helps a lot."



'via Blog this'

Confessions of a Columnist - The New York Times

Confessions of a Columnist - The New York Times: "Third, even as he’s wooed the disaffected and non-ideological, Trump has also won over or at least neutralized an important segment of the conservative media. He isn’t Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin, sure, but they’ve both been covering for him, as have a raft of performers who like to portray themselves as keepers of True Conservatism’s flame. And this cover has enabled Trump — no True Conservative himself, to put it mildly — to put together an unusual coalition, a mix of hard-right and radical-center voters, that’s unlike anything in recent politics.

"



'via Blog this'

Last Year (Winds of Winter) - Not A Blog

Last Year (Winds of Winter) - Not A Blog: "But I won't make excuses. There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO, not David & Dan. It's on me. I tried, and I am still trying. I worked on the book a couple of days ago, revising a Theon chapter and adding some new material, and I will writing on it again tomorrow. But no, I can't tell you when it will be done, or when it will be published. Best guess, based on our previous conversations, is that Bantam (and presumably my British publisher as well) can have the hardcover out within three months of delivery, if their schedules permit. But when delivery will be, I can't say. I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out.
"



'via Blog this'

Mississippi Councilman Kenneth Stokes Calls to Pelt Cops With Rocks - NBC News

Mississippi Councilman Kenneth Stokes Calls to Pelt Cops With Rocks - NBC News: "A Mississippi city councilman fed up with police chasing suspects wanted for minor crimes into his town has made a controversial suggestion: pelt them with rocks, bricks and bottles.

"That will send a message we don't want you in here," Councilman Kenneth Stokes in Jackson told the local NBC affiliate WLBT."



'via Blog this'

It’s official: There never was a ‘war on cops’ - The Washington Post

It’s official: There never was a ‘war on cops’ - The Washington Post: "This year will go down in the record books as one of the safest for police officers in recorded history, according to data released this week from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. There were 42 fatal shootings of police officers in 2015, down 14 percent from 2014, according to the organization.

"



'via Blog this'

Life after ‘Honey Boo Boo’: Inside Discovery’s fight to grow up - The Washington Post

Life after ‘Honey Boo Boo’: Inside Discovery’s fight to grow up - The Washington Post:

Since the Discovery Channel first hit the airwaves 30 years ago with an after-school special on icebergs, the company has staged a surprising transformation to become the world’s king of reality TV, broadcasting a dozen networks with hits such as “Sex Sent Me to the ER” to 3 billion subscribers in 220 countries.

That shift toward guilty pleasures netted the media giant sky-high ratings and tons of advertiser cash. But by pivoting its lenses from snow leopards to naked survivalists and child beauty pageanteers, Discovery began to lose something, too: the prestige it had earned in educational, documentary-style TV.

'via Blog this'

Listening to “Star Wars” - The New Yorker

Listening to “Star Wars” - The New Yorker: "The conductor David Robertson, a disciple of Pierre Boulez and an unabashed Williams fan, told me that some current London Symphony players first became interested in their instruments after encountering “Star Wars.” Robertson, who regularly stages all-Williams concerts with the St. Louis Symphony, observed that professional musicians enjoy playing the scores because they are full of the kinds of intricacies and motivic connections that enliven the classic repertory. “He’s a man singularly fluent in the language of music,” Robertson said. “He’s very unassuming, very humble, but when he talks about music he can be the most interesting professor you’ve ever heard. He’s a deep listener, and that explains his ability to respond to film so acutely.”"



'via Blog this'

Being a cop showed me just how racist and violent the police are. There’s only one fix. - The Washington Post

Being a cop showed me just how racist and violent the police are. There’s only one fix. - The Washington Post: "Even when officers get caught, they know they’ll be investigated by their friends, and put on paid leave. My colleagues would laughingly refer to this as a free vacation. It isn’t a punishment. And excessive force is almost always deemed acceptable in our courts and among our grand juries. Prosecutors are tight with law enforcement, and share the same values and ideas.

"



'via Blog this'

Shields Down – Rands in Repose

Shields Down – Rands in Repose: "Resignations happen in a moment, and it’s not when you declare, “I’m resigning.” The moment happened a long time ago when you received a random email from a good friend who asked, “I know you’re really happy with your current gig because you’ve been raving about it for a year, but would you like to come visit Our Company? No commitment. Just coffee.”

"



'via Blog this'

The Web Is Not a Post-Racial Utopia | Al Jazeera America

The Web Is Not a Post-Racial Utopia | Al Jazeera America: "Why is it that the supposed lack of choice with regards to the player’s avatar only became a concern after people of color were added to the game? The reactions reflect a failure on the part of some gamers to recognize that whiteness is a race at all. These players appear to think of whiteness as a neutral type of embodiment, the universal category of humanity against which all those who do “have” a race (anyone who is not white) are compared. The backlash also confirms a theory posited by new media scholar Lisa Nakamura that, on the Internet, there is a tendency to assume that, in the absence of direct statements to the contrary, the people that we meet are white.  Indeed, as Nakamura writes in “Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet”:

"



'via Blog this'

Live Aid: The Terrible Truth | SPIN

Live Aid: The Terrible Truth | SPIN: "This week, SPIN is republishing the stories that we ran then over a several-month period, starting with the first article today, which is the 30th Anniversary of the concerts in 1985, and continuing with our follow-up investigation published in September ’86, and the publication in the August ’86 issue of a statement Geldof distributed to the media (but not to us), which we then rebuffed, point by point.
Once again, 29 years later from the original publication of these articles, we have asked Bob Geldof to respond.
"



'via Blog this'