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Category Archives: Humanities
Artificial Virginity Kit
The Chinese company Gigimo advertises its Artificial Hymen Virginity kit across the Arab world. The kit, which allows women to fake sexual purity on their wedding night, is the sort of product one might find in a novelty store or sex shop in America. But in Egypt, nuptial night virginity is deadly serious business. Women [...]
X-Prize: Osama Bin Laden
In 2004 aerospace designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen led the first private team to build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the Earth twice within two weeks. They were racing against 26 other teams to win the $10 million X-Prize and to achieve international fame and [...]
Typical Ursula.
Miracle Jones blogs about the petition against the Google Book Settlement created by science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin, winner of five Hugo awards and six Nebulas. Leguin is urging professional writers who are opposed to the terms of the settlement to sign her online petition before the January 28th deadline. From the petition: “The [...]
Literature Publishing of the Future
I forsee the publishing house of the future offering, for instance, a poet’s latest work in multiple formats simultaneously, each at a different price: an e-text version with links to all current reviews, related scholarly and popular comment, and bundled with its own discussion forum that links owners of each of the books; a hard-copy [...]
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Incinerate Rabbits for Fuel
The city of Stockholm enlists fluffle1 cullers and carrion contractors to warm the homes of its citizens. “[Rabbits] are a very big problem,” said Tuvunger. The rabbits are eating their way through the city’s central parks. “Once culled, the rabbits are frozen and when we have enough; a contractor comes and takes them away.”2 It’s normal in [...]
Also posted in Informational, Science Tagged business, national, radical, sustainability Leave a comment
Urban Vertical Farming
Dickson Dispommier, a Columbia University professor and visionary champion of vertical farming, claims that a 30-story glass skyscraper using nonsoil farming could produce enough food on a single city block to feed 50,000 people. But his farm would cost $200 million to build. Other seers are promoting more modest vertical schemes, such as Sky Vegetables, [...]
Stop Working in the Private Sector
From a new Cato Institute report on “Employee Compensation in State and Local Governments“: The study’s author, Chris Edwards, found that the wage premium for public sector employees was about 34 percent and for benefits about 70 percent. Lineage: Reason <- Cato
Kalashnikovs
Ever since the Kalashnikov’s introduction in the Soviet Union in 1947 it has been a favorite due to its simple design. Of between 90 and 122 million assault rifles estimated to have been produced since World War II, between 70 and 100 million were Kalashnikovs. Together, these small arms have been responsible for more civilian deaths than [...]
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Bring Back Slavery: Save Homeless People
Washington DC has passed a 5 cent tax on all plastic bags. This is stupid. Instead of bags, Americans should employ homeless people to carry about their things. Such homeless people could be bought and sold like a commodity, provided that they who so use the homeless provide food and shelter. In this way, the [...]
Osama bin Laden Not Involved in 9/11 Attacks
Is it possible that Osama bin Laden was not involved in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center? It is curious that Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement. From CNN, dated September 17, 2001: In a statement issued to the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, bin Laden said, “The U.S. government [...]
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The Dangerous Kit
“The Dangerous Kit” teaches kids at a young age not to be afraid of the world around them and to be critical thinkers by providing hands-on experience with items at different times in culture have been seen as shockingly dangerous when the true scale of their deleterious effects is between zilch and inane. A booklet [...]
Posted in Humanities Tagged chemical, culture, fantasy, fear, nuclear, political, pseudoscience, radical 1 Comment
End Airborne Terrorism
When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives concealed in his underwear on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, I saw public outcry for greater airport security. People saw yet another terrorist show airport security ineffective. They asked, “How could this have happened?” People paid to make solutions came up with ideas like ramping up airport security, and [...]
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Institutionalized Conspiracy
In most of its operations, the CIA is by definition a conspiracy, using covert actions and secret plans, many of which are of the most unsavory kind. What are covert operations if not conspiracies? At the same time, the CIA is an institution, a structural part of the national security state. In sum, the agency is an institutionalized conspiracy.
Sanctioning Iran
Last week, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure to put a new round of sanctions on Iran, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009. Not only are sanctions an offensive maneuver perceived as a precursor to war, but it is clear that the United States is not promoting freedom and peace in [...]
Citrus History
Oranges are often said to be a wholesome, natural, and tasty thing to eat. But just what is “natural?” The history of the orange and it’s acidic friends is a scientific adventure through prehistoric genetic engineering and cultural trade. It is commonly accepted that there are four founding species of the citrus genus: Lime (Citrus [...]
Pleasing Everybody
I was just reading the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, which tell computer application developers how to make their applications integrate well into GNOME, and the internationalization section closes with a list of some common things to avoid: Pictures of flags or money Maps showing political boundaries or contentious location names Lists of countries or cities [...]
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