Fascinating piece on John Maynard Keynes - "the sexiest economist who ever lived"! Makes economics interesting, which it should be.....
If you care about the food you eat, please check out this page of suggestions to stop Monsanto controlling it.
Oooh, look what we have here in Australia at the moment. And it's great.
From the page: "Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of western democracy but Nick Cohen believes liberal democracies have become almost as terrified of free speech as communist states."
Climate change is happening now and is caused largely by human activity, according to draft report that will soon be official US govt document. This is an great piece of short but important journalism with useful links.
Terrific piece by Matt Taibbi on secrets and lies of the bailout, & how it created a ponzi scheme/ con job where taxpayers keep bailing them out endlessly
Chocolate recipes.
Great discussion with James Doty on the Science of Compassion on All in the Mind on ABC Radio National. audio, transcript, & streaming at the link. Fab.
From the page: "a frenzy, page after page of grey print that bellowed and howled like some lunatic chained in a padded cell." ~ the brilliant Mike Carlton in SMH re The Australian's coverage of Gillard/AWU.
Aussie journalist Annabel Crabb explains why the Australian voting system is so great.
Post storm politics, by Hendrik Hertzberg in The New Yorker.
An election eve appeal from Montgomery Burns, who's endorsing Romney. Gosh, whooda thunk? Simpsons vid. #satire #humor
From the page: ""Make of yourself a light"
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness" ..........
All Australians - and citizens - who value their (remnant shreds of) privacy should listen to this ABC radio program on the govt's plans to retain all our phone, internet, etc records. Chilling.
Demolition ///
everywhere they are demolishing old houses/
in Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou/
everywhere the same mad stampede to be comfortably well-off/
constant battling/
the economy is like an ocean/
like a misfortune no one survives/
the economy suffers no nostalgia/
the economy knows no ideal, no history/
old-style courtyard homes/
ancient fishing villages/
the small windows and wooden doors of the South/
the banner houses and old streets along the banks of the Pearl River/
everywhere: demolition/
the earth is covered in reinforced concrete/
they try to outdo one another in height/
opulence/
uniformity/
trying to be more cool/
wherever you go/
the fallen leaves are swept by autumn winds/
and annihiliated///
by Jun Er/ translation: Simon Patton
A short personal piece in the NYT on dealing with cancer, by the terrific writer David Rakoff, who died from it last week, still in his 40s. RIP, and thanks for all the wonderful words.
More interesting reminiscences about Gore Vidal.
Tantalizing tale of a con artist who scammed his way into America's great media corridors of power.
Guardian obit on Robert Hughes with lots of great links to things he said & things people said about him.
Here's a fun NYT piece about the secret language restaurant staff in NYC use talk about customers & orders behind our backs.