March 2007
The Indian Beatles
More from the infamous Jason Louv.
The Clintons from the 70s and 80s
From the New Shelton Wet and Dry
Quote
WORK FUCKER WORK
WORK HARDER
HARDER
STOP WHINING
WORK
WORK DAMMIT
DO THEY CALL IT THE GREAT WHINE?
THE GREAT BOOK COLLECTING OFF EBAY?
THE GREAT DANCNG AROUND IN ROBES AND COMPARING WANDS?
THE GREAT HARPING ON ABOUT RELIGIOUS UNITY?
FUCK NO!
IT’S CALLED THE GREAT WORK MOTHERFUCKERS!
SO GET TO FUCKING WORK ALREADY!!!!!!!!!
Dammit, I’m getting future shock
Unbelievably cool virtual musical instruments.
Somebody cancel the future. Now, while there is still time
Watch the clip of the Japanese snake robot. Then think about the bots in The Matrix. Then go change your underwear.
I’m not ready for this. Nobody is. Future Shock here we come.
Amazing video of people on giant steel spring-stilts
You could totally break your everything on these!
I’m saving this for later
Ganesha’s Skinhead Army
Hans Rosling of GapMinder presenting at TED (video)
Really a great piece. You should watch this, it is extremely excellent. He’s very simple and straight forward and kind of academic, but gets straight to the core of the issues in a way I have not seen before.
OH MY GOD
Kermit the Frog sings Hurt by Nine Inch Nails
Humane Human Footprint
Alex Steffan is blathering on over at WorldChanging about how we can consume our way out of the problem. I am replying.
We can’t buy our way to a better future.
But we can ban our way there.
Years ago I said “we’ll know when people are getting serious about global warming when governments start to ban incandescent lightbulbs” and, as you’ve seen in the news, that time is now.
Consumers did not shift. Even though it made financial sense, even though it was undeniably good for the planet, consumers did not shift. How many of you have 100% CF bulbs in your house?
Not many, I’ll wager.
So, no. The forward move is things like CAFE standards and banning outdated, inefficient technologies. You might choose to tax them out of existence rather than just outlaw them, because you know in a Bruce Sterling sense, incandescent bulbs are going to become fashionable contraband… smuggled, used for lighting art… “he’s a real collector of the past… **incandescents**”
But we’re going to get progress here by chopping off the past, not by purchasing the future, I think.
OK, let’s make this simple.
Take the “sustainable harvest” of the planet - everything we can use without degrading the system further and reducing future yields. So much electricity, so much wood, so much rice and so on.
Now, divide that up evenly among the human race. That quantity of materials is your “humane human footprint” - the amount of stuff you can use without stepping on anybody else’s toes. You may believe you are entitled to more through free market competition, or that people should be *forced* to consume only these amounts - that’s politics. I’m just saying this is the quantity you *can* consume without harming either the planet or yourself.
How much over that figure are you? x200? x500? x1000?
I understand that your family doesn’t like CF bulbs. I think there is a lot that could be improved. Just don’t forget the big picture.