February 2009
The Advantage of Sex →
atheistramblings:
The Advantage of Sex is an essay by Matt Ridley looking at why and how sex evolved. Over the years there have been many different hypothesis to explain why sex evolved (and no “because it is fun” is not one of them).
One of the main hypothesis around now is the “Red Queen” hypothesis, first coined in the 1980s by Leigh Van Valen. The main thrust of the argument is that sex is...
LDS Prophets’ Latest “Reveation” →
retropolitics: Church Gave $190,000 To Pass Prop 8
justinesamantha:Simon and Garfunkel, “Mrs....
“On the eve of this month’s election, the mailers began landing in Prince...”
– GOP Fliers Apparently Were Part Of Strategy - washingtonpost.com
I wish to welcome new RNC Chief Michael Steele.
(via sexartandpolitics)
The Tipsy Hero. →
alexbaca:
“It is unlikely that a modern-day Aristotle would ever find himself in the basement of Delta house playing beer pong to the sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd (he might have also wondered why a house full of J. Crew-clad lacrosse players is called ‘Greek’). In his excellent ‘Courtesans & Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens,’ James Davidson describes the symposium, a ‘classic...
January 2009
“Jordan, as drawn by Halberstam, is generous, loyal, thoughtful but flawed. He...”
– Ira Berkow on deceased journalist, David Halberstam’s, chronicle of Michael Jordan’s long-run in the white-hot sports spotlight in Playing For Keeps. Halberstam won the Pulitzer at nearly my age (give or take a couple of years), for his reporting in Vietnam for the NY Times. At the time,...
The Chamels, “I’ll Never Grow...
“Well, there may be an upside: Conservatives, you would hope, will now at last...”
– Republicans Pick Michael Steele as Their New Party Chair | Crooks and Liars (via danielholter) (via retropolitics)
Watch1983:The Brink of Apocalypse
KY Governor: Obama People Hit the Ground Running... →
apsies:
Kentucky’s governor is praising the Obama administration’s prompt reaction to the fierce wintry weather that slammed his state.
“They really hit the ground running,” said Steve Beshear, interviewed by CNN. “They’re working very hard to get all the equipment and supplies here that we need.”
Crews have been working to restore power and water service to hundreds of thousands of people....
The Republican Death Spiral by Nate Silver →
robot-heart-politics:chuckmore:
It’s not just the goose egg that the House Republicans laid on the Democratic stimulus package yesterday: Boehner’s Boys have been equally uncooperative on other matters. Case in point: a bill yesterday to delay the transition to digital TV. This measure was approved unanimously by the Senate; every Senate Republican gave it the green light. But 155 out of 178...
Major Study of Chinese Americans Debunks 'Model...
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Chinese Americans, one of the most highly educated groups in the nation, are confronted by a “glass ceiling,” unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts, concludes a new study from the University of Maryland.
The returns on Chinese Americans’ investment in education and “sweat equity” are “generally lower...
Poll Finds People Like Home but Want to Live... →
5oh7:
People are more likely to want to live in New York if they already live in a city, in the East, are black, college educated, make more than $100,000, have never been married, have no children, are liberal and don’t regularly attend religious services. The survey was based on a poll of 2,260 adults commissioned by the Pew Research Center and conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates...
“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”
– E. L. Doctorow (via reluctantbuddha) (via kari-shma) (via philish)
“The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means...”
– William Faulkner (via reluctantbuddha) (via kari-shma)
Bambu, “When Will the Time Come?”...
“The most significant event of 2009 will be the transformation of the Washington...”
– Henry Kissinger, from The Economist’s: The World in 2009 book, essay titled “An End of Hubris.”
Live Stream: Police Chase Happening Now In Los... →
(via thedailywhat)
On the ill-fated show It’s Like You Know that continually had that great running gag on Jennifer Grey, of Dirty Dancing fame, and her new appearance due to a nose job (in real life), they’d call these things: “LA’s Snow Days.” Because no one did anything during a televised car chase. Note: You’re not getting far against the CHP in a UHAUL...
IMF: UK economy will be hardest hit in worst... →
(via unburyingthelead)
Outer Space Treaty →
retropolitics:
via TheFreeDictionary
The Outer Space Treaty, formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law. The treaty was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on...
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu
lapanopticon:
by John Updike
Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man’s Euclidean determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities. Its...
State Department employees ask Hillary to end... →
robot-heart-politics:
From the letter submitted to Clinton’s office:
We, the undersigned and representing the diversity of the foreign affairs agencies, would like to bring to your attention a matter that concerns us all. All of us are troubled that our families are not all treated equally and with the same respect. We are concerned that access to the federal health care insurance program is...
Offshore wind could power every home in the UK by... →
(via unburyingthelead)
WatchFrom Friday night’s Charlie Rose: Scout Tufankjian, the young Yalie who took the amazing pics of Barack that have been reblogged ad infinitum. And some of which have been collected in a new book entitled Yes We Can. She also has me as a fan. (Crush mode.)
Side note:
She looks like at least one girl I knew from Berkeley.
Warning: More Doom Ahead, Foreign Policy Magazine →
Last year’s worst-case scenarios came true. The global financial pandemic that I and others had warned about is now upon us. But we are still only in the early stages of this crisis. My predictions for the coming year, unfortunately, are even more dire: The bubbles, and there were many, have only begun to burst.
The prevailing conventional wisdom holds that prices of many risky financial assets...
Watchgregb: Cool Kids - Pennies
Because I play NBA2K9, and this is how it jumps off on my settings.
Because my friend Nate says I dress like them. (But I argue that if I do, it was before them, and at least one other friend agrees with me.)
Because shouting out the Pistons even if you’re form “The Chi” is a must, just because of all of those late ’80s and early ’90s...