Thought Provoking Words From Mr. Chomsky

"So take right now, for example, there is a right-wing populist uprising. It's very common, even on the left, to just ridicule them, but that's not the right reaction. If you look at those people and listen to them on talk radio, these are people with real grievances. I listen to talk radio a lot and it's kind of interesting. If you can sort of suspend your knowledge of the world and just enter into the world of the people who are calling in, you can understand them. I've never seen a study, but my sense is that these are people who feel really aggrieved. These people think, "I've done everything right all my life, I'm a god-fearing Christian, I'm white, I'm male, I've worked hard, and I carry a gun. I do everything I'm supposed to do. And I'm getting shafted." And in fact they are getting shafted. For 30 years their wages have stagnated or declined, the social conditions have worsened, the children are going crazy, there are no schools, there's nothing, so somebody must be doing something to them, and they want to know who it is. Well Rush Limbaugh has answered - it's the rich liberals who own the banks and run the government, and of course run the media, and they don't care about you—they just want to give everything away to illegal immigrants and gays and communists and so on.
Well, you know, the reaction we should be having to them is not ridicule, but rather self-criticism. Why aren't we organizing them? I mean, we are the ones that ought to be organizing them, not Rush Limbaugh. There are historical analogs, which are not exact, of course, but are close enough to be worrisome. This is a whiff of early Nazi Germany. Hitler was appealing to groups with similar grievances, and giving them crazy answers, but at least they were answers; these groups weren't getting them anywhere else. It was the Jews and the Bolsheviks [that were the problem].
I mean, the liberal democrats aren't going to tell the average American, "Yeah, you're being shafted because of the policies that we've established over the years that we're maintaining now." That's not going to be an answer. And they're not getting answers from the left. So, there's an internal coherence and logic to what they get from Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the rest of these guys. And they sound very convincing, they're very self-confident, and they have an answer to everything—a crazy answer, but it's an answer. And it's our fault if that goes on. So one thing to be done is don't ridicule these people, join them, and talk about their real grievances and give them a sensible answer, like, "Take over your factories.""

A Couple of Quickies

• Awesome video of flying fish. They can glide for up to 200 meters after take off!!
• Hilarious video of a prank from a Japanese TV show. One of the more well thought and absurd pranks that I've seen on a Japanese game show and that's saying something!
• And a great quote from The Daily Show two Wednesday's ago: "The Special Olympics is to winners what Fox News is to experts; if you show up, you are one." ~ Jon Stewart

Classic Louis C.K.

I have been watching SO many Louis C.K. vids on youtube. This one is one of my faves as it is hilarious and actually thought provoking. The dude gets it.

You Know the Deal

Serious Links

•  Article on the future of batteries. They have figured out how to make paper thin batteries out of a certain species of green algae. Very cool.
• Scary poll regarding the 2010 mid-term elections. The poll found that a huge portion of the republican voter base are planning on voting in 2010 while a minority of the democratic voter base is planning on voting. This appears to be due to the fact that republicans are getting real fired up and democrats are only disappointed in the progress, or apparent lack there of, that Obama has made. This gets my blood boiling. Dems out there who are actually not planning on voting deserve the republicans that are going to take office as a result of their lack of understanding and apathy.
• Article discussing the downward trend in the prices of energy from renewable sources and the prices of first time installation costs. Specifically the cost of solar power has gone down 50% in the last year.

Fun Links

• Article on 5 real scientific reasons why a zombie apocalypse could actually happen.
• Cool pics showing the actual amount of water on the earth compared to the actual amount of rock.
• "This woman has a pet unicorn, why isn't she smiling?!"
• KICK ASS This is a story and phone number that you can apparently call to get your voice blasted out over the Norwegian forest. (pictured below) I do not know if this is for realz but I sure hope it is.
  

The Rise of Food Stamps

Food stamps now feed 1 in 8 Americans and 1 in 4 American children. Stop and think about that. This stat says as much about the current recession as any other that I have seen. It hits home. One interesting side effect of the growing visibility of food stamps in our culture is that they are losing their stigma. For decades they were seen as something that only the truly poor had to deal with. Now, apparently, they are something that millions and millions of Americans have to deal with everyday. The times they are a changing. Check out the NYT article here.

Delayed Absence

Sorry for being gone so long guys. I have simply had too much work to be fooling around with this blog stuff. To hold you over until I return, which could be a little while considering finals are approaching, I will leave you with this great video of John Stewart enlisting the aid of retired wrestler Mick Foley to help protect that 10 year old kid who won't stand up for the pledge of allegiance until gay marriage is legalized. It's a hilarious video and for a good cause.

Whhaaat?

1 in 20 british children think that Adolf Hitler was a german soccer coach. for more absurd and depressing statistics such as this one read this article.

Linkkkkkks For Fun

Photos from a contest in which people were asked to create pictures showing what the world would be like if the internet disappeared. This is a real gem.

Insane weird cool video

Amazing set of pictures covering the world drug trade: from the dealers to the growers to the users.

Really awesome and inspired idea for a gift. Makes me wish I was much more creative.

Article on how England's swine flu cases have doubled in the last week...

Article on research that has found junk food to be as detrimental to rat brains as heroin. Clearly shows that junk food is not food for thought.

Crazy map showing the impact that a 4 degree Celsius rise in world temperature would have on the world environment.

Quote of the day: [Newton] invented calculus. Most of us sweat through it for multiple years in school just to learn it. He invented it--practically on a dare. He discovered the laws of motion, the laws of gravity, the laws of optics. Then he turned 26." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson

We Need to Get Out of Afghanistan Now

"According to reports, the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan use 800,000 gallons of gasoline per day. At $400 per gallon, that comes to a $320,000,000 daily fuel bill for the Marines alone. Only a country totally out of control would squander resources in this way."

Until I read this statistic I was semi-dedicated to the idea staying in Afganistan until we had finished what we set out. Now, I could not be farther from that. Right now, we are spending $320,000,000 PER DAY on the Marine's gasoline. Just the Marine's. WHHHHHHHHAAAT!?? How is that even possible? Really. How can we sustain that? I am speechless. To say the least, you should read the article that I got this from. It is all about how the US now fits the definition of a failed state.

What More Can I Say?

(click on it for the full experience)

This is probably my favorite Phillies picture taken during their many triumphs of the past three seasons. The raw emotion. The elation. Freaking Carlos Ruiz, the clutchest little panamanian this game has ever seen. This is the best team that I will ever root for. I can say that without any doubt and without any regret that I will never again get to see a group of players so good, so united by a common goal, so easy to love, and so exciting to watch. That is because these guys are that good. Go Phils. Finish up business tomorrow night and then sit back and wait around for those other teams to fight for the chance to be your next victim. Let's go.

Some Profound Quotes on Human Existence

It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here."

-Chaim Potok

the infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind. the sheer number of experiences i could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I'm sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live in trapped loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handfull of paths laid out ahead of us. We see the same things each day, we respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation of the last, every moment smoothly following the the gentle curves of societal norms. we act like if we just get through today, tomorow our dreams will come back to us.

and no, I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to joly myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: the solution doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of some day easing my fit into a mold. it doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.

This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can: Fuck. That. Shit."

--xkcd

“In the midst of winter, I finally found that there was in me an invincible summer.”

Albert Camus

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~Fr. Alfred D'Souza

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. - unknown

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here." - Richard Dawkins

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Robert Anson Heinlein

The people we judge and hate in life are in fact reflections of our disowned selves. (Dr Hal Stone)

The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.

• Quellcrist Falconer

High Quality Links

• This is really incredible. It is a recounting of the entirely odd balloon boy saga set to the tempo and rhyme scheme of the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
• Some awesome pics of frozen fruits and veggies getting shot at close range.
• A wikipedia entry on the peculiar phenomenon of sailing rocks, which are rocks that just move around, seemingly randomly. Freaking cool.
• A collection of the best of the best microscope images taken in the last 35 years. Truly stunning.
• A kick ass pic showing how big Antarctica really is. (clue: it's huge)
• A really complicated but enlightening and neat flow chart/illustration thing of the differences between dems and repubs.

Massive Berlin Marionette Show (and that's the marionettes that are massive)

There was a truly incredible marionette show in Berlin a few weeks ago. It was both absolutely beautiful and an staggeringly logistically complicated. Check it out if you want to be amazed and touched.

Jon Stewart Destroys CNN and Other Links

CNN spends time fact checking SNL skits. CNN does not spend time fact checking their guests. Jon Stewart has a few words to say on this matter. Check it out here.

Here's an article that expands on these thoughts: Why was Bush able to ram his agenda through so easily? Because his agenda was the agenda of the Ruling Class. Why can't Obama get his agenda through? Because his agenda directly attacks the Ruling Class.

Great reply to Fox's arrogance and overt collusion.

Strikingly beautiful map of pre-WWI Europe. If you look at anything here let it be this.

Nobel Prize winner

Did Obama deserve the nobel prize for peace efforts? It really depends on how you look at it. Has he really done enough yet to garner it? I would say no but I do think that he will in the next three, hopefully seven, years. Some obviously disagreed with me though.

I would have to assume that by giving Obama the prize the prize givers, whoever they are, were saying that by not being Bush, by repealing many of the acts that he had passed, by changing the tenor of the White House's words, by being in support of an ask questions first, and not later, strategy, by simply stepping down off the unreasonably high high-horse upon which the Bush administration had placed the White House and the USA, was enough to earn the nobel peace prize.

That is a powerful statement. It reminds me of when Time magazine made their 'person of the year' the public and put a mirror type thing on their cover. It was a surprising decision and one that a lot of people disagreed with but I loved it. It actually looked at what had happened in the world in the previous year, saw that things had changed, and that the causes of those changes had not been one person but the entire public. In the same light, the nobel prize givers saw that the world has changed in the last year, that many of the changes have been for the better, and that it was the work of one man, because really it is all about the way he carries himself and approaches his work that makes the difference, that had caused that change.

Quite honestly, it was not until a few days ago when someone pointed out that Obama probably won it for simply not being Bush, that I realized how great an impact Obama has had on the world already. No, he has not yet done a lot of the things that he promised but he really is doing an incredible amount of work and almost all of it is going towards returning the USA and the world to the stable ground that it was on before Bush took office.

In the process of writing this piece I have come to realize how brilliant a decision it was to give Obama the prize. I think it's because him receiving the prize made us all step back and think about whether or not he has done enough to earn it. On first look, it seems as though he has not really earned it yet, hell I wrote that at the beginning of this piece, but on second look you see that he really has brought the most peace to the world of any one person in the last year. This is by no means to say that he has come close to fulfilling the promises he made during his campaign or to fulfilling our hopes for what he is capable of but it is to say that he appears to be on the right path towards those goals. Here's to hoping he does enough in the coming years to win it again.