February 2012
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Novelty-Seeking (Neophilia) Can Be a Predictor of... →
I have a deep-seated desire for novelty, and I am happy to learn that it’s not all bad:
John Tierney via NYTimes.com
“Novelty-seeking is one of the traits that keeps you healthy and happy and fosters personality growth as you age,” says C. Robert Cloninger, the psychiatrist who developed personality tests for measuring this trait. The problems with novelty-seeking showed up in his...
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Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Plan as Riots... →
Huge unrest in Greece after technocrats manage to coerce the Parliament to agree to more austerity measures demanded by the troika — European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund — even when many believers the austerity is being imposed as a way to get northern Europeans to accept the costs of salvaging Greece, even while the austerity measures are...
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“No one can sing a Leonard Cohen song the way Cohen himself can’t.”
– cited by Jesse Kornbluth in Leonard Cohen, King of Pop?
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“Today’s [Egyptian] revolutionaries and activists have precisely the same demands...”
– - Steven Cook, Egypt’s Never-Ending Revolution
Cook thinks the military will try to retain power, resisting democratic rule.
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“The dark side of China’s economic rise has been a shocking widening of the gulf...”
– - Stephen Platt, Is China Ripe for a Revolution?
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The Hippies Were Right
Liz Setterfield looked back on the contributions that hippie counterculture has made to the modern world, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Outpost Food Coop in Milwaukee:
40 things the hippies were right about - Liz Setterfield via ThirdCoast Digest
How did the so-called hippies contribute to the culture we live in now? In what ways are we benefiting from struggles that well-meaning people...
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“@stoweboyd: In a ‘08 meta-analysis of 313 studies, personality similarity...”
– February 12, 2012 at 04:56AM — http://bit.ly/zQesTP
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“Doubt sometimes comes across as feeble and meek, apologetic and obstructionist....”
– Cullen Murphy, The Certainty of Doubt
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“Apatheism (a portmanteau of apathy and theism/atheism), also known as pragmatic...”
– Apatheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via brianafahey)
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The NY Times Doesn't Know Political Geography Very...
Yet another story in the NY Times about South Ossetia which refers to the breakaway region, erroneously, as an ‘enclave’.
An enclave is a region of a parent country that is non-adjacent to the rest of the parent, and surrounded by the territory of another countries. To clarify, a region is only called an enclave if it is completely surrounded by a single foreign country: it is an...
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Disgruntled Greeks Protest New Austerity Measures... →
The Troika doesn’t think the Greek technocratic government is moving fast enough to make demanded ‘structural reforms’ — like breaking union agreements and pension promises — so they surprised everyone by demanding more austerity:
Niki Kitsantonis and Rachel Donadio via NYTimes.com
Greece’s so-called troika of foreign lenders — the European Commission, European...
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“In the Sichuan province of China, there is an abundance of orchards but no bees....”
– Jed Fuhrman, holder of the McCulloch-Crosby Chair in Marine Biology at USC College (via climateadaptation)
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A Terrible Transportation Bill - NYTimes.com →
Editorial via The NY Times
The list of outrages coming out of the House is long, but the way the Republicans are trying to hijack the $260 billion transportation bill defies belief. This bill is so uniquely terrible that it might not command a majority when it comes to a floor vote, possibly next week, despite Speaker John Boehner’s imprimatur. But betting on rationality with this crew is ...
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newspeedwayboogie:
Yo La Tengo - Somebody’s...
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“In his book “Time Wars,” Jeremy Rifkin suggests that many of the conflicts...”
– A must read for students of Cyber-Anthropology
MODERN PRIMITIVES
(via wildcat2030)
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“She had the soul of a poet but the arm strength of an investigative reporter.”
– Jack Shafer, referring to Katherine Boo following her early foray into reporting.
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“The only thing Americans enjoy more than basking in self-regard is wallowing in...”
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- Meghan Daum
Almost a throwaway line in a review of Bringing Up Bebé, Daum punches the American character right in the mouth.
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“@stoweboyd: Only 46% of 18-34 workers say they have the education and training...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:43AM — http://bit.ly/wgfArr
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“@stoweboyd: Only 54% of US 18-24 are currently employed, the lowest since the...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:41AM — http://bit.ly/ymXmd9
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“@stoweboyd: Romney: the only convincing thing about him is that he wants very...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:35AM — http://bit.ly/wuB2Ta
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“@stoweboyd: ‘Imagine you can take only one lesson from your field as a...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:14AM — http://bit.ly/whONGZ
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“@stoweboyd: individual do-gooderism won’t solve global warming - Gernot Wagner...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:12AM — http://bit.ly/AyFtr9
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“@AtlanticCities: U.S. cities are losing 4 million trees a year, via @e_jaffe...”
– February 09, 2012 at 10:03AM — http://bit.ly/y3lt40
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The Boulevardier
The Boulevardier
2 ounces rye or bourbon
1 ounces Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth (I love a half and half mixture of Cinzano Rosso and Carpano Antica Formula).
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“There is nothing better than imagining other worlds … to forget the...”
– Umberto Eco, Baudolino
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“@stoweboyd: Greece unemployment rate in November: 20.9%, up compared to 13.9% in...”
– February 09, 2012 at 06:42AM — http://bit.ly/yyhxt1
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“@stoweboyd: Swearing can diminish pain for those that don’t swear often...”
– February 09, 2012 at 07:05AM — http://bit.ly/xSd0vW