And the simplest and most accessible key to our self-neglected liberation lies right here: Personal non-participation in lies. Though lies conceal everything, though lies embrace everything, we will be obstinate in this smallest of matters: Let them embrace everything, but not with any help from me. [...] It's dangerous. But let us refuse to say that which we do not think.Full essay...
Solzhenitsyn's Secret Weapon
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:
WP: Southern States Cooperative
"Southern States Cooperative is a agricultural supply cooperative owned by more than 300,000 farmers in the United States. Southern States Cooperative supplies farmers with feed, seed, fertilizer, farm supplies and fuel. As of 2008 there were over 1200 retail locations in 23 states."
Security Theater
Jeffrey Goldberg:
On another occasion, at LaGuardia, in New York, the transportation-security officer in charge of my secondary screening emptied my carry-on bag of nearly everything it contained, including a yellow, three-foot-by-four-foot Hezbollah flag, purchased at a Hezbollah gift shop in south Lebanon. The flag features, as its charming main image, an upraised fist clutching an AK-47 automatic rifle. Atop the rifle is a line of Arabic writing that reads THEN SURELY THE PARTY OF GOD ARE THEY WHO WILL BE TRIUMPHANT. The officer took the flag and spread it out on the inspection table. She finished her inspection, gave me back my flag, and told me I could go. I said, "That’s a Hezbollah flag." She said, "Uh-huh."Read the rest...
Marilynne Robinson on New Atheism
Marilynne Robinson participates in a panel discussion with/about the New Atheists.
WP: Dimethyl Sulfoxide
"Use of DMSO in medicine dates from around 1963, when a Oregon Health & Science University Medical School team, headed by Stanley Jacob, discovered it could penetrate the skin and other membranes without damaging them and could carry other compounds into a biological system. [...] Because DMSO increases the rate of absorption of some compounds through organic tissues including skin, it can be used as a drug delivery system."
WP: Questing Beast
"The Questing Beast, or the Beast Glatisant (Barking Beast), is a monster from Arthurian legend. It is the subject of quests undertaken by famous knights such as King Pellinore, Sir Palamedes, and Sir Percival."
Monkey down
Ran across this comic, combining the recent political goings-on with the late monkey attack. Good for a laugh.
Oops.
An excellent hour of radio from Radiolab. Several stories around the theme of unintended consequences. From the episode description:
You come up with a great idea. You devise a plan. You control for every imaginable variable. And once everything’s in place, the train hops your carefully laid tracks. In this episode, one psychologist's zeal to safeguard national security may have created a terrorist, while one community's efforts to protect an endangered bird had deadly consequences. And against all odds, a toxic lake spawns new life.Link...
Cognitive Surplus
A devastating infographic comparing TV-watching time to the time it took to build one of the most useful things ever made.
Satire & the Bible
An interview with Douglas Wilson:
Full interview transcript...GH: Still, many Christians think that satire is inherently risky. How can it glorify God?DW: By lampooning that which does not glorify God. Paul says knowledge puffs up, and when something is puffed up, what you need is a good, sharp pin. When someone applies the pinprick to the balloon of self-important knowledge, the balloon explodes! That glorifies God because the puffed-up knowledge was in defiance of God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)