infundibulum

make poverty history

Jesus H Christ.

1.33% of American males are incarcerated. The rates can be much higher within certain demographics - one set of estimates finds that 12.9% of black men between 25-29 were in jail or prison in the US in 2002.

kids are dying out in the snow, look at em go, look at em go

allAfrica.com is one of the better resources on the web for news from Africa. But sometimes…

East Africa [analysis]: Horn of Africa’s Thorny Dispute

Africa is arguably more peaceful now than ever - with war and conflict fast disappearing on the political map as well as wide-ranging political reforms arising from a constellation of factors. Clearly, conflict resolution in Africa has been a resounding success, but the Eritrea-Ethiopia case remains a serious dent.

Huh?

This is absurd:

USATODAY.com - Burger King to offer whopper of a breakfast sandwich

Here’s an idea for a startup.

A restaurant that’s not utterly insane. Serve food in portions that are, you know, rational. Be hip — free wifi. Inform customers on nutrition, not just in a pamphlet you have ask for, but as part of marketing. Offer vegetarian and vegan options that without granola veneer. The complicated menu options would require some technology for ordering — kiosks, maybe, or even web-enabled accounts where you can order things ahead of time, and track calories, etc. Have a website, hire nutritionists to hang out on message boards. Build community.

A restaurant with an API.

I’d certainly frequent such a place.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

So this CNET article “Why can’t you pay attention anymore?” shot up del.icio.us and it, uh, caught my attention.

It’s the same old story about how gadgets & information overflow doesn’t increase productivity:

When people find that they’re not working to their full potential; when they know that they could be producing more but in fact they’re producing less; when they know they’re smarter than their output shows; when they start answering questions in ways that are more superficial, more hurried than they usually would; when their reservoir of new ideas starts to run dry; when they find themselves working ever-longer hours and sleeping less, exercising less, spending free time with friends less and in general putting in more hours but getting less production overall.

Yeah, okay, I guess that is pretty much true. But this part is all wrong:

I assume that high-tech companies, which are themselves such avid consumers of tech gadgetry, are rife with ADT?

Yes, but they’re also–and this is why I love those people so much–able to say no to it. They’re playful. Play is one of the best antidotes to this. They’re able to rise above it and get around it. The ones who suffer the most in that field are the ones who don’t have the
creative powers of the techies, and they just kind of slog along.

Hmm, he loves those people. Whatever. In my experience the windowing desktop system is exactly the right metaphor for “attention deficit trait,” and there is no one as prone to such a series of symptoms as a geek. Nobody needs to read all those bloglines posts. Or to obsessively reload del.icio.us.

But then, of course, if I hadn’t I wouldn’t be writing this.

Sorry, I have to go. I’m like 500 posts behind in my aggregator.

I’ve followed the Free State Project in the news for a while with a mix of fascination and dread. If you’ve not heard of it (which wouldn’t be terribly surprising lately, given that media attention has been waning), FSP consists of a bunch of Libertarians who decided to get together and move to New Hampshire. And, uh, take it over.

Then, their reasoning went, they turn the place into a Libertarian’s paradise — no taxes, no gun laws, pass the ganja, you know, that sort of thing.

There have already been some conflicts with locals who do not fail to detect the iffiness of it all. Now another divisive topic is on the agenda, and suprise, surprise, the Free State crowd is mixed up in it:

House debates hate crimes repeal

It’s actually a Republican bill, and here’s the elevator pitch:

Alton Republican Sen. Robert Boyce said there’s no way of knowing for sure what’s really in the mind of a criminal offender, and this law gives the impression the government is all-knowing.

“If you want to increase the penalties of the crimes across the board, that’s fine, but don’t base it on the thoughts of the perpetrator,’’ he said.

In other words, they say, don’t make the punishment worse simply because the crime was motivated by race or sexuality or any of those ever so vague concepts. Uh, right.

There shall be no such vagueness in the Free State! Sweep away all such bureaucratic pansy ass nonsense!

“The First Amendment guarantees the right to speech and common sense tells me thought is an extension of speech,” said Dave Mincion of Dover, who was representing a group called the Seacoast Porcupines. Mincion, who moved to New Hampshire last year, said the group is comprised of members interested in the Libertarian “Free State Project,” but not affiliated with the group.

“Crime should be punished, but like it or not we have not developed the technology to know what people think,” Mincion added.

Gotta hand it to FSP, standing up for your First Amendment Right to think whatever you want about the person you’re kicking the shit out of.

Oh, whoops, it’s not really the FSP. It’s a splinter cell group of the Free State Project. Just like the Freetowners… or… er… what where they called again?

Look guys, maybe you should have started with Rhode Island? Because you’re not getting anywhere with publicity like this.

Fortunately.