This Jewish wire apparently surrounds most of Manhattan!
25 minutes ago
With more than $3.7 billion being spent on political advertising this spin cycle - more than twice the GDP of East Timor - it falls upon us to dissect, deconstruct and publicly reveal the gears of this vast machine of manipulation.
Huh, Super Twiddler in the top ten iphone app, Travel category
Super Twiddler (£1.79)
One to watch: (currently only available in US) With a tagline of ‘Don’t Twiddle your thumbs, twiddle your iPhone’ this app can’t fail to impress. Massively fun to use with a spin and shake interface, Super Twiddler suggests up-to-date activities based on your mood, location and how much time you have to play with. (via whichbudget.com)
Thanks guys!
Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What’s the point of being realistic? I’m going to do it. The second I decide it’s done it’s already done. We just have to wait for you to see.
Will Smith (via dennis101, quote-book)
The lost art of giving directions
Renee Loth has some salient points about storytelling, getting lost, and giving travel directions in this digital age:
I became a lifelong fan of the Lonely Planet travel guides 20 years ago on a solo trip to Hawaii, when I stopped along a scenic highway to look for a hidden waterfall and found the trailhead just where the guide said it would be, 200 yards past the chain-link fence after the mile-marker sign on the right. There is nothing like an accurate, lucid narrative to help fight insecurity and alienation — the very definition of being lost.
Writing good directions is not unlike poetry: an exercise in awareness, requiring an eye for detail and succinct but evocative language. It’s a delight to read something like “Travel over the old stone bridge — built in 1764! — until you see the brick library and Odd Fellows Hall on your right. Turn right there and go down the hill to the water.’’ Isn’t that so much better than “Head NW on S Main St/MA 1A N .5 miles toward Market Street,’’ or some similar digital version?
Bravo - technology should complement humanity, not supersede it.
From Dot Earth:
Federal researchers have published work concluding that a particular variant of the periodic El Niño warmups of the tropical Pacific Ocean is becoming more frequent and stronger. The pattern appears to fit what is expected from human-driven warming of the global climate
What no one is talking about is the utter irresponsible way in which we approach our world — it’s resources, climate and balance. Our asses are on a ticking time bomb that will explode in the next decade; the shrapnel will be failing infrastructure, water shortage and food shortage. Mix that in with overpopulation and let’s see how well we play nice with each other.
What do these recent stories have in common besides being glossed over by our Fourth Estate?
- The Arctic isn’t so arctic any more
- Amtrak breaks down
- Subway tickets are going up .. again
- There’s some sort of drought in Russia
- .. And some water problem in Pakistan
- Georgia has a water supply issue.. and so does Mexico
- Record highs this year
- etc.
And yet we’re all talking about a fucking ‘mosque’. Serves us right. And for all the guys who follow Beck and Plain and all the other nutsos.. don’t take me down with you. I’m getting out while you wave your anti-fag placards with your Cheetos stained paws and debate Obama’s religion with your 17th century education. New Zealand sounds pretty good.
Holy shit 1962 .. before the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963?
From pinktentacle.com:
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto’s “1945-1998” is an animated map showing the 2,053 nuclear explosions that took place around the world during the 20th century, from the detonations at Alamogordo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to the tests conducted by India and Pakistan in 1998.
Skip to the 12 minute mark for a summary and fallout map.. but the video shows you each month of each year since 1945.
