Americans Rate the Morality of 16 Social Issues
quote out of context
“Even if you reasonably believe someone’s going to commit suicide, do you Taser them?” the attorney asked.
For Deron
Since I’ve already rubbed citrus dessert into his wounds, why not go whole hog:
The thing is, in this family we take the philosophies of Ayn Rand seriously. We conspicuously reward ourselves for our own hard work, we never give to charity, and we only pay our taxes very, very begrudgingly.
Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?
this just in
The final “Cathy” strip, will run in newspapers on Sunday, Oct. 3.
clusterlore
Notice how the category name is different than its slug.
Deron changed the name after coming back from vacation because, as you all know, citrus desserts are not desserts.
from the comments
She just sent me another one:
Caller: “My grandson was railroaded. What can I do about it?”
Librarian: “We need more information than just that.”
Caller: “He has tattoos.”
Addicted to Clusterflock?
Increasing numbers of things we like will be transformed into things we like too much… At the extreme end of the spectrum are crack and meth… Checkers and solitaire have been replaced by World of Warcraft and FarmVille. TV has become much more engaging, and even so it can’t compete with Facebook…
I’ve avoided most addictions, but the Internet got me because it became addictive while I was using it. Most people I know have problems with Internet addiction.
Paul Graham as quoted by Felix Salmon.
Oklahoma State Highway 72, Council Hill, OK 74428
Dear clusterflock: political/psych question
It has been posited that judgements made in fear or survival mode often avoid detail (e.g. I must run from the angry tiger), and that some conservative views (immigrants are bad, get them out) are also based on a similar survival mentality, and that these things are somehow related. Do you feel ultraconservative views tend to avoid nuance and operate more at the black-and-white level, or is it simply that any extreme view tends to ignore detail?
Headline of the Day
Cheektowaga man planned to cook cat
from my personal collection, 2
Found in my Great Books of the Western World, volume 10 (Euclid, Archimedes, Nicomachus), sixth edition, 1996
.
I don’t know who wrote it (this was the town bicycle of books, as it were), but I do know who it was written to (and I am absolutely certain it was a joke in poor taste).
from the comments
It took Seabiscuit’s snappy “that’s procedure, motherfucka” Law Librarian and his randy “I’m an academic” PopTart Professor 61 days to circumnavigate their divorce too. Said CourtTV.
Google, Verizon, and net neutrality
A clear, undramatic breakdown of the situation (via waxy):
Efforts to protect net neutrality that involve government regulation have always faced one fundamental obstacle: the substantial danger that the regulators will cause more harm than good for the Internet. The worst case scenario would be that, in allowing the FCC to regulate the Internet, we open the door for big business, Hollywood and the indecency police to exert even more influence on the Net than they do now.
On Monday, Google and Verizon proposed a new legislative framework for net neutrality. Reaction to the proposal has been swift and, for the most part, highly critical. While we agree with many aspects of that criticism, we are interested in the framework’s attempt to grapple with the Trojan Horse problem. The proposed solution: a narrow grant of power to the FCC to enforce neutrality within carefully specified parameters. While this solution is not without its own substantial dangers, we think it deserves to be considered further if Congress decides to legislate.
Unfortunately, the same document that proposed this intriguing idea also included some really terrible ideas. It carves out exemptions from neutrality requirements for so-called “unlawful” content, for wireless services, and for very vaguely-defined “additional online services.” The definition of “reasonable network management” is also problematically vague. As many, many, many have already pointed out, these exemptions threaten to completely undermine the stated goal of neutrality.
what are bookfuturists?
Tim Carmody over at The Atlantic:
Bookfuturists refuse to endorse either fantasy of “the end of the book” – “the end as destruction” or “the end as telos or achievement” as Jacques Derrida would have it. We are trying to map an alternative position that is both more self-critical and more engaged with how technological change is actively affecting our culture.
We’re usually more interested in figuring out a piece of technology than either denouncing or promoting it. And we want to make every piece of tech work better. We’re tinkerers. We look to history for analogies and counter-analogies, but we know that analogies aren’t destiny. We try to look for the technological sophistication of traditional humanism and the humanist possibilities of new tech.
I am hardly the prolific or intelligent writer that Tim is on the subject, but I count myself among the bookfuturists’ ranks.
Crystal Ball Juggling
New to me–but now I see there are lots of these clips out there. This one is remarkable; at first I thought some image manipulation must be involved.
glenn gould explains his use of the piano for bach
I start to lose it when I see the fellow with the black glasses. (via)
Mom & Dad
His situation is not a one-to-one correspondence to mine, but this deeply resonates with me.
the first digital camera
Created in December 1975 by a Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson.
Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place
quote out of context
He’s a sociopath, but he’s our sociopath.
Hey Amanda
I’ve been singing Prince songs with a Bill Callahan accent all morning.
Turtle Says Wow
PLEASE DO NOT COPY THIS VIDEO OR DO “REMAKES” WITH ADDED AFFECTS.
dear clusterflock
Was Twin Peaks the precursor to all the artful television of the past ten years or so? I’m not sure if I’m asking this correctly.
Quote out of context, but really, you don’t need it.
Asked by Colorado public radio to describe his world view, McInnis cited “Seabiscuit” and the concept of working-class Americans succeeding. Pressed on whether he was referring to the movie or the book, he answered that he’s “not an academic.”
-Ronya
