Highfalutin

(streamed online) - Ňicķ from Bookmarklet

:) - edythe

i wanted to read this until this except: “At this stage in your life, just short of adolescence,” the ever-present voice tells him, “the Polish army of your emotional self has fallen to the Nazi war machine of your intellect,” and then “your life is so blue it looks like a James Cameron movie”.... um, so this is what goes for writing these days? - Ňicķ from Bookmarklet

"In a fascinating paper entitled “How Just Could a Robot War Be?”, philosopher Peter Asaro of Rutgers University explores a number of robot war scenarios. Asaro imagines a situation in which a nation is taken over by robots -- a sort of revolution or civil war. Would a third party nation have a just cause for interceding to prevent this?" - dkb

Quite well done BBC doc. (all the parts here:http://www.youtube.com/profile...) - Ňicķ

"The concept arises from the need to explain why we observe such a large degree of organization in the universe. The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy in the universe will always increase. We may think of the most likely state of the universe as one of high entropy, closer to uniform and without order. So why is the observed entropy so low?" - Ňicķ from Bookmarklet

(via http://friendfeed.com/e... ) - Ňicķ

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch... part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Ňicķ

brilliant and amazingly still relevant seventy-seven years on.... - Ňicķ

surprisingly interesting.... (the link is the start of a playlist, that will play them all) - Ňicķ

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch... Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Ňicķ

"It might be that one of the really significant problems of today’s culture involves finding ways for educated people to talk meaningfully with one another across the divides of radical specialization." --just one of the good quotes (sad to admit I started reading this a while back and forgot to finish it until today) - Ňicķ

"A presentation of selected paintings, sculptures, videos and installation pieces created over the last fifteen years by California Bay Area artist Dewey Crumpler. His work, which escapes easy interpretations, presents rich iconography ranging from Dutch floral still life to African-inspired sculpture. His art surfaces are rich in subtle hue variations in both smooth and rough textures. Dynamic, almost calligraphic forms appear endowed with a unique, organic quality. Lush tulips, cell-like elements, cosmic swirls, create a multi-layered surface with an unusual depth of field. Most recently, Crumpler has included in his canvasas a shadow of a collar and a hooded character that stand for a particular state of consciousness and the capacity to transcent material constraints. As a whole, these multifaceted symbols become metaphors that reflect on and challenge philosophical, emotional, social and political concepts." - Anika Malone from Bookmarklet

"Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913–2008 is the first major exhibition to bring together the magazine's historic archive of rare vintage prints with its contemporary photographs. The exhibition explores the ways in which photography and celebrity have interacted and changed, with portraits from the magazine's early period (1913–1936) displayed in conjunction with works from the contemporary Vanity Fair (1983–present). The Los Angeles presentation, which is sponsored by Burberry, will be the only U.S. stop on the exhibition's international tour. Photographers to be represented include Cecil Beaton, Harry Benson, Julian Broad, Imogen Cunningham, Annie Leibovitz, Man Ray, Mary Ellen Mark, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Edward Steichen, Mario Testino, and Bruce Weber." - Anika Malone from Bookmarklet

"But this is not quite what happens; as we have seen, Geneviève and Gilles in many regards conform to equally empty myths. The new life is not on offer as an alternative. Rather, it is hidden within the old, the foolish--within Bertrand's desire, Carole's chansons. And the voyage will never end: this lie is surely the only truth, the promise of an endless adventure not lost to the deep past but hiding in the shallows of the present. It will require absolute demands; it will require oblivion. This is the sense that haunts the book's contrived conventionality, poking through only momentarily. "Gilles offered to play another game of chess," Geneviève narrates at one point. "After he'd won, I told him he should teach Carole. And suddenly they were inventing a new game, completely mad: the value of each piece was subjective and changing, decided by the player with each move." This game is nothing but the drift itself. Its possibility, of another life that can be played within this one, is the book's secret." - Jason Wehmhoener

Found it: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Y... Main character was Andre Breton, not Guy Debord, my mistake. Wonderful piece of fiction though. If only the academic left, so obsessed with dry analysis of the surreal and situationist, could instead become inspired to create works of imagination. So many people missing (and undermining) the point so completely... leaves us all dry... - Jason Wehmhoener

Fascinating. - Ňicķ

OK, forget Einstein for a minute. When will we have another Jethro Tull? Another Frank Zappa? Another John Cage? - Jason Wehmhoener from Bookmarklet

:-) - Ňicķ

"Today is the 75th anniversary of that blessed day in 1933 when Utah became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the 21st amendment, thereby repealing the 18th amendment. This ended the nation's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition.... the Americans who voted in 1933 to repeal prohibition differed greatly in their reasons for overturning the system. But almost all agreed that the evils of failed suppression far outweighed the evils of alcohol consumption." [The piece is authored by Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance: http://www.drugpolicy.org] - Anthony Citrano

truly awesome. (bonus: a juxtaposed awesomeness in the final line by Herb, a true american irony) - Ňicķ

Interesting premise. The article doesn't really answer it. Why is it that we seem to have less independent scientific genius these days than in previous times in history? Or is that even true? - Ňicķ from Bookmarklet

Naw, too many other toxins, really poor diets, and bad drinking water quality in previous generations make up for that I'd think.... - Ňicķ

"In normal times, the Fed can bolster aggregate demand by reducing interest rates. Lower interest rates encourage households and companies to borrow and spend. They also bolster equity values and, by encouraging international capital to look elsewhere, reduce the value of the dollar in foreign-exchange markets. Spending on consumption, investment and net exports all increase. But these are not normal times. The Fed has already cut the federal funds rate to 1 percent, close to its lower bound of zero. Some fear that our central bank is almost out of ammunition..." - Anthony Citrano

"The good news is that Mr. French, a young British journalist, is certainly unafraid to face unpleasant facts about his subject. But the better news about “The World Is What It Is” is this: it’s one of the sprightliest, most gripping, most intellectually curious and, well, funniest biographies of a living writer (Mr. Naipaul is 76) to come along in years." - Ňicķ from Bookmarklet

"Corpoetics is a collection of 'found' poetry from the websites of well-known brands and corporations. I visited various company websites, found the closest thing to a Corporate Overview, and then set about rearranging the words into poetry. You can read a few extracts here. Copies are available for £5 plus p&p. All proceeds go to the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity dedicated to changing lives through literacy." KPMG // I am strong. / I am vibrant. / I am committed to a vision. // I am tremendous. / I am quality. / I will lead people to excellence. // I am delighted. / I am respected. / I am very greatly valued. // What am I? / I am the best. // - Jason Wehmhoener from Bookmarklet