Del.icio.us links for June 7th through June 11th:
- Suspended-animation cold sleep achieved in lab – Top boffins in the States believe that they may be on the track of a way to place living human beings into suspended animation, allowing them to survive long periods effectively frozen before being “reanimated” with no ill effects.
Tags: science sciencefiction suspendedanimation research - rejectamentalist manifesto – A century ago it was already clear that international law was ‘a maze of plausibilities’. Ask a landscape gardener: the point of a maze is not to get out, but to get lost.
So what if, in the face of Israel’s cruel flaunting, we scythe through the hedges? Refuse to bicker over precedent, interpretation, custom, & all the rest of the endless pantomime?
What if, instead, we pursue other strategies to isolate the hijack state, & in response to its jurisprudes of murder, simply say: ‘Fuck your law’?
Tags: internationallaw israel palestine activism protest justice - Dance, Fight, Push People Over! | Red Wine Panther – Alec’s produced stuff.
Tags: band music - Hark! An Interview with Kate Beaton – Kate Beaton is the artist behind Hark! A Vagrant, the weekly webcomic whose popularity has exploded over the last year. Her clever mix of irreverence, literary references, and detailed historical mockery obviously strikes a chord with many readers, from the hundreds that lined up for hours at TCAF to get her new book signed to her admirers at the New Yorker. Be warned: visiting the archives of her website will cost you many hours in productivity—and, strangely, create a yearning to learn a little more about history, Beaton’s favourite subject. Beaton spoke with Torontoist’s comics columnist Dave Howard a couple of weeks ago about comic delivery, Canadian history, her own history, and her creative process.
Tags: interview comics history art katebeaton - Gideon’s trumpet – In short, the deficit is not the cause of weak private sector demand and investment, but the result of it. An attack on the public sector is an attack on one of the few sources of economic growth, and thus on the basis for future taxable income and profits. It may make the deficit larger. It may tip the UK into another recession, or depression. Moreover, there is no great urgency in the UK paying off the deficit, despite the sabre-rattling of the financiers
Tags: conservativeparty liberaldemocrats coalition recession economics futurism - Are Cameras the New Guns? – In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists.
Tags: privacy surveillance law USA police justice copwatch - The 6 Most Insane Moral Panics in American History – What’s wrong with kids these days? Not enough, apparently, since grown-ups seem to feel the need to just make shit up. Even the flimsiest evidence can convince parents and lazy journalists alike that there is some new, horrible threat to our moral character.
Often these turn out to be grossly exaggerated. Or, as in cases like the ones below, completely fucking retarded.
Tags: funny stupid moralcrusaders usa history - Ilan Pappé: The deadly closing of the Israeli mind – Nothing is further from the truth than this optimistic scenario. The only version of this solution that is acceptable to Israel is the one that both the tamed Palestine Authority in Ramallah and the more assertive Hamas in Gaza could never ever accept. It is an offer to imprison the Palestinians in stateless enclaves in return for ending their struggle. Thus even before one discusses either an alternative solution – a single democratic state for all, which I support – or explores a more plausible, two-state settlement, one has to transform fundamentally the Israeli official and public mindset. This mentality is the principal barrier to a peaceful reconciliation in the torn land of Israel and Palestine.
Tags: israel palestine peace society oppression mindset socialisation - Rooks on MySpace Music – New Brighton punk band, supporting OWTH later in the year.
Tags: band music - Overachiever For a Day – I noticed recently that Xbox 360 Achievements were starting to encroach on my gaming worldview. I have no interest in PS3 Trophies or the medals they hand out on Flash-game sites, but I’m a sucker for the allure of the Gamerscore. I found myself returning to mediocre games to scrimp an extra 50 points, or wasting time on joyless tasks like feather-hunting in Assassin’s Creed II.
I intended to break myself of this predilection. (Let’s not call it an “addiction.”) I like Achievements, but I wanted them to be a sideshow rather than the main event. I figured that if I could boost my Gamerscore in one insane, all-out blaze of glory, maybe the points wouldn’t have such a hold on me anymore. It would be like smoking a whole pack of cigarettes at once to break your nicotine habit.
Look, I didn’t say it was a good plan. Just a plan.
Tags: gaming achievements psychology funny - Rebel Frequencies: M.I.A. is right, NYT is wrong – “Lately it seems like the only thing following M.I.A. around more than controversy is bad journalism.” Interesting and spirited defence of M.I.A’s spat with the NYT.
Tags: music journalism popstars protest controversy provocation media - The Brothers Bloom (2009) – The Failed Re-Enchantment of the Postmodern World – …while cinephiles speak of the truth and beauty of film, the reality of the modern cinema is a gauntlet of bad faith and protective cynicism. A cynicism born of the fact that, before you even decide what film to see or what screen to go to, you are assailed by empty promises. Promises of new technologies and more comfortable seats. Promises made by aggressive marketing campaigns and trailers designed to raise expectations to the point where no human-made work of art could ever possibly satisfy them. Arrived at the cinema you must then navigate a flood of yet more adverts and yet more trailers for yet more films demanding yet more money and yet more of your time. To face such an onslaught without cynical detachment would surely be to go mad but this protective detachment is also the enemy of art as it seeks to protect us from that which defines a great work of art: emotional transport.
Tags: culture cinema art psychology