From AlterNet
The video is a little long, but you won't regret it.
31 January 2007
30 January 2007
The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts
Another winner from StumbleUpon.
This wonderful list covers 10 baffling historical artifacts that are completely shrouded in mystery. One of these, the "Dropa Stones", are particularly interesting since they allegedly tell of an alien species crash landing in the mountains of China. However, as this Wikipedia article states, "There is absolutely no precedent for a completely unknown language being successfully deciphered."
The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts
This wonderful list covers 10 baffling historical artifacts that are completely shrouded in mystery. One of these, the "Dropa Stones", are particularly interesting since they allegedly tell of an alien species crash landing in the mountains of China. However, as this Wikipedia article states, "There is absolutely no precedent for a completely unknown language being successfully deciphered."
The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts
26 January 2007
So Cruel
I would never force my precious cats into this machine. It's disgusting how people can treat animals like objects.
Oops
I feel as though I've been neglecting this blog lately. So from this day forward I'll be posting at least once a day. And if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments.
I recently had to reboot my laptop, which actually was a bit more fun than I'd imagined. I had to do it once almost exactly one year ago because it crashed, but this time I did it just because my computer had begun pissing me off. Part of it was my fault; in an attempt to uninstall Windows Messenger I'd uninstalled all of the Windows components. The other part was that I was constantly getting error messages. So I backed up all my data and fixed it up. When it was done I had that feeling of owning a brand new shiny computer, despite the fingerprints on the screen. Best part: Before I rebooted, I had only 15 GB left; now, 40. I can't believe how much junk I'd had installed that I never used.
I've also decided to minimize my (online) life a little. It takes almost two hours every morning to check my email, read my blogs, and check various forums I'm a member of. I'm still subscribed to a lot of blogs, mainly because that's where I get all of my news from, but the number is down quite a bit. And I did the MySpace clean-out. You know, delete a bunch of people, unsubscribe for boring blogs, and resign from many, many groups.
If anyone knows of any other ways to minimize (and in the process enhance) my internet life, post freely in the comments.
I recently had to reboot my laptop, which actually was a bit more fun than I'd imagined. I had to do it once almost exactly one year ago because it crashed, but this time I did it just because my computer had begun pissing me off. Part of it was my fault; in an attempt to uninstall Windows Messenger I'd uninstalled all of the Windows components. The other part was that I was constantly getting error messages. So I backed up all my data and fixed it up. When it was done I had that feeling of owning a brand new shiny computer, despite the fingerprints on the screen. Best part: Before I rebooted, I had only 15 GB left; now, 40. I can't believe how much junk I'd had installed that I never used.
I've also decided to minimize my (online) life a little. It takes almost two hours every morning to check my email, read my blogs, and check various forums I'm a member of. I'm still subscribed to a lot of blogs, mainly because that's where I get all of my news from, but the number is down quite a bit. And I did the MySpace clean-out. You know, delete a bunch of people, unsubscribe for boring blogs, and resign from many, many groups.
If anyone knows of any other ways to minimize (and in the process enhance) my internet life, post freely in the comments.
The Mighty Ninja
20 January 2007
Prejudice Against Germany
I actually wrote this as a forum post, but I decided to repost it here.
I just finished a very good article in the August '06 issue of BBC History (I know, I'm a little behind, lol) about "the way in which football illuminates the historical development of Germany's relationship with England". Here's an excerpt:
"The Second World War ended over 60 years ago. And yet, despite the emphasis placed by the British and German governments upon the excellent state of their relationship - meeting at Berlin in February 2006 Tony Blair and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, reaffirmed the point - the two countries have yet to learn to live comfortably together at all levels of society. A substantial gap remains between a predominantly harmonious official bilateral relationship and a frequently hostile British media discourse focused upon a Germany that no longer exists. Certainly, football's role in mirroring, influencing and articulating British perceptions of Germany, at least at the popular and media level, should never be underestimated. In fact, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is currently exploiting such stereotyping in annual essay competitions organised for British university students on the subject of "But don't mention the war"."
I'd never really thought about it before, but there really is a certain prejudice surrounding Germany. When most people hear the word, they instantly think of Hitler and the Nazis. People never really consider that Germany is just like the European countries surrounding it.
I think part of the reason is that people like having a country that "they're better than", just like most people have someone that they compare themselves to, but I think the biggest problem surrounding such attitudes is a combination of bad educators, the media constantly bringing up Germany's Nazi past, and people being blind to their own ignorance.
I just finished a very good article in the August '06 issue of BBC History (I know, I'm a little behind, lol) about "the way in which football illuminates the historical development of Germany's relationship with England". Here's an excerpt:
"The Second World War ended over 60 years ago. And yet, despite the emphasis placed by the British and German governments upon the excellent state of their relationship - meeting at Berlin in February 2006 Tony Blair and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, reaffirmed the point - the two countries have yet to learn to live comfortably together at all levels of society. A substantial gap remains between a predominantly harmonious official bilateral relationship and a frequently hostile British media discourse focused upon a Germany that no longer exists. Certainly, football's role in mirroring, influencing and articulating British perceptions of Germany, at least at the popular and media level, should never be underestimated. In fact, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is currently exploiting such stereotyping in annual essay competitions organised for British university students on the subject of "But don't mention the war"."
I'd never really thought about it before, but there really is a certain prejudice surrounding Germany. When most people hear the word, they instantly think of Hitler and the Nazis. People never really consider that Germany is just like the European countries surrounding it.
I think part of the reason is that people like having a country that "they're better than", just like most people have someone that they compare themselves to, but I think the biggest problem surrounding such attitudes is a combination of bad educators, the media constantly bringing up Germany's Nazi past, and people being blind to their own ignorance.
17 January 2007
The Clayman's Dancing Chicken
Completely pointless... but what the hell. The Clayman's Dancing Chicken
15 January 2007
History Repeats Itself
Over at AlterNet, Barry Lando has written a piece called "Surging to Baghdad-The Blockbuster Remake", highlighting the similarities between America's occupation of Iraq with Britain's Mesopotamia. Read it here.
08 January 2007
Scary
From AntiWar
Former UNSCOM Chief Weapons Inspector SCOTT RITTER: Look, we’re already overflying Iran with unmanned aerial vehicles, pilotless drones. On the ground, the CIA is recruiting Mojahedin-e-Khalq, recruiting Kurds, recruiting Azeris, who are operating inside Iran on behalf of the United States of America. And there is reason to believe that we’ve actually put uniformed members of the United States Armed Forces and American citizens operating as CIA paramilitaries inside Iranian territory to gather intelligence.
Now, when you violate the borders and the airspace of a sovereign nation with paramilitary and military forces, that’s an act of war. …So, when Americans say, “Ah, there’s not going to be a war in Iran,” there’s already a war in Iran. We’re at war with Iran. We’re just not in the declared conventional stage of the war. –Democracy Now! interview, Oct. 16, 2006
SCOTT RITTER: The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it’s only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask [Senator] Dick Lugar what information he’s getting from big business, who are saying, “We can’t afford to go to war with Iran.”
SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it?
SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we’re going to do it. –“Ethical Culture Society,” Oct. 2006
07 January 2007
How will we keep up with production of corn?
In an article published yesterday, studies showed that "US factories producing ethanol fuel for cars may consume as much as half of the country's corn crop next year" for ethanol. Essentially, prices may rise because the corn will be harder to get due to the vast amount it takes to make ethanol.
After reading this article, one thought jumped to my mind. Factory farming consumes so much land, resources, and food. With the elimination of these cruel and barbaric practices, all the land previously consumed would be free for ethanol production and other eco-friendly ideas for the future.
Just one more reason to go vegan.
After reading this article, one thought jumped to my mind. Factory farming consumes so much land, resources, and food. With the elimination of these cruel and barbaric practices, all the land previously consumed would be free for ethanol production and other eco-friendly ideas for the future.
Just one more reason to go vegan.
Well, I'm not surprised
Startling as it may sound, I seriously doubt anyone is really surprised by the news that Israel wants to attack Iran with "mini-nukes". These two posts will cover it better than I'll be able to:
From The Nether-World
From Another Day in the Empire
From The Nether-World
From Another Day in the Empire
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