Friday

Brilliant photo-journalism book WHAT MATTERS available free online

HERE is the index of an amazing world-view changing compendium of WHAT MATTERS.  The book, published in 2008 pairs photo essays with amazing incisive work from experts in each field.  From Darfur to the polar ice cap, from poverty to war, the images are unforgettable and evocative, and the written materials are smart but accessible.  A must read, it is available free online.  Spend some time with just one chapter if you can.  Go to www.whatmattersonline.com for more.
Share|

Thursday

I'm troubled on "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"

I've just watched a video of a recent uprising at a university lecture hall.  During a lecture on the limits of free speech.  In Sweden.  It is shocking and frightening, and utterly stark raving mad.

I'm troubled because I feel like sharing the video here, but I don't want to unfairly prejudice anyone who isn't familiar with immigration and assimilation in Northern Europe, so if you don't consider yourself that up-to-date on the massive struggles with national identity and religious freedoms that are taking place in the EU right now, get your salt grain ready.

If you're wondering about the Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, here is the FB page for it.  If you've been living under a rock, HERE is the recent caterwauling over South Park's recent episode and it's being censored.  And here is the story about the video you're about to see, but the basics are:

Man sketches Mohammed (there are over seven MILLION "mohammed" results on google image)

Man gets threatened repeatedly, including by an insane American woman who plots his murder.

Man gets physically attacked during a lecture on freedom of expression, pepper spray is necessary to subdue the crowd chanting and screaming for allah. The scene is unbelievable.  I post it as a cautionary tale.  Religion is a dangerous drug.  For more on that, if you're interested, HERE.

the video after the jump...

Wednesday

In a perfect world . . .

Seen on the sidewalk at 22nd Street . . . Wishful thinking :) KIDDING!  We love you guys!
Share|

Trolleys coming back to Brooklyn?

Now this would be a great thing!  There is talk of using an unused $300,000 appropriation to look into putting light rail or trolley into Red Hook.  It would open up a part of Brooklyn that is under-served by the current MTA system, and could prove a model for other above-ground mass transit in the city.  (may I suggest cross-town trolleys on 23, 34, 59, and 86th Streets, and several lines linking Brooklyn and Queens?)  Trolleys once crisscrossed the entire borough.  Full article HERE.
Share|

Tuesday

I wonder how it pours?

In a remarkable move, Hunt's has removed high fructose corn syrup from all of its retail ketchup!  This is good news.  Of course it still contains sugar, but a general move away from the deceptively cheap and easy-to-add-to-everything-in-sight HFCS and a return to sucrose, or table sugar is seen as a slight victory for the real food movement.  Debate exists over the actual health risks associated with HFCS:

"Critics of HFCS point out a correlation between increased usage of HFCS in foods and obesity rates in the United States over three decades.[38] Some allege that HFCS is in itself more detrimental to health than table sugar (sucrose); others claim that the low cost of HFCS encourages overconsumption of sugars. The Corn Refiners Association has launched an aggressive advertising campaign to counter these criticisms, claiming that high-fructose corn syrup "is natural" and "has the same natural sweeteners as table sugar".[39] Both sides point to studies in peer reviewed journals that allegedly support their point of view."

High Fructose Corn Syrup is also the product of massively subsidized American corn farmers, so I suggest Hunt's throws them a bone by replacing their disposable plastic bottle with a corn-based bio-degradable one.

Share|

When you share your happy

Check out how nice it is to share your happy. . . even with your bus driver:

Share|

Spill, Baby, Spill - Bombs and Bays

So some misguided evil man -- one man, as far as we can tell, and a naturalized American citizen -- tried to blow up half a block of Times Square this weekend.  Tried and failed.  The day was saved by what the press are calling "a nearby food vendor."  Try and tell me HE was from Iowa, and I'll laugh you out of the city, but so far I haven't heard HIS name once.  Xenophobia works best with crazies, not heroes.  Thanks CNN.

Meanwhile, one multi-national corporation is SINGLE-HANDEDLY  responsible for what is fast becoming the worst ecological disaster in our nation's history -- the oil slick that grows by 200,000 gallons each day, and threatens the very lives of resident flora, fauna, fishermen and families.  A region that has only just begun to mend after Katrina looks to the sea once again with fear.  This time it isn't natural.  It's the result of a PRIVATE COMPANY seeking PRIVATE PROFITS.  It is an attack on our nation perpetrated by a corporation whom WE SHELTER, CREDIT, and FEED every day through our laws, our actions, our purchases.

You want terrorism, look to the gulf -- to the horrible gushing wound in our earth that threatens to be a lingering terror DECADES after it makes landfall.  Only 10% of the Exxon Valdez spill was removed, and when scientists THIS YEAR dug holes in Prince William Sound beaches, HALF of them struck oil.  HALF.

This is not a time to scrutinize our methods of drilling.  This is time to halt it entirely and build a new energy platform altogether.  Period.  And you want homeland security?  I think you know who I'd drag into a NYC courtroom this morning. . .


Share|