February 2011
52 posts
"The people want to bring down the regime" |... →
The last remaining internet connection in Cairo (the one we have been using to update this blog) has just been shut down (11pm Egyptian time). Sources say all the mobile phone lines will again be cut off tonight.
January 2011
72 posts
“The effect a crowd not retreating creates is inspirational and terrifying, its...”
– January 30th | Inanities
“Stefano Polidori possesses the reincarnated soul of John William Polidori, and...”
– I get strange books in my mailbox : Pharyngula
“In geopolitical terms, the US spends a lot more on its military than anyone else...”
– The end of US decline — Crooked Timber
To Melanie Phillips and the bigots →
“Lord knows it can be very awkward when you discover you have a bastard in your...”
– Everybody loves Hosni - Chicken Yoghurt
LENIN'S TOMB: Neither Germans nor Jews (but... →
“Yep, you got that right! The job-focused, tax-focused economy-building new...”
– Tiger Beatdown › #DearJohn: For When Boehner Decides Your Rape Just Wasn’t Enough
Between the Hammer and the Anvil: I Think What The... →
“Anti-feminist backlash exists because the movement was successful at showing...”
– LENIN’S TOMB: Will the real patriarchy please stand up?
Egypt →
think on this.: oh god →
abbyjean:
i’m in a lecture right now about what the speaker is calling the “1.5 immigrant generation” - kids who came to the US before the age of 12 and grow up here without documentation. and the stories are, frankly, heartbreaking.
he just told a story of a kid from the oakland area who was an…
Egypt's High-Powered D.C. Lobbying Ties →
theatlantic:
Chris Good reports:
Since 2007, the government of Egypt has signed contracts with Tony Podesta, president of the Podesta Group and brother of former Bill Clinton chief of staff John Podesta; former representative Bob Livingston(R-La.) of the Livingston Group, who nearly succeeded Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House; and former representative Toby Moffett (D-Conn.), who gives his...
LENIN'S TOMB: The global ruling class →
think on this.: shorter mubarak →
abbyjean:
i am very familiar with and sympathetic to the plight of the people
these protests have only been possible due to the freedoms i’ve allowed
protesters are a small group, removed from the ordinary egyptian citizen, and are creating chaos and fear that endanger egypt’s future
i’m firing the…
Egyptian Activists' Action Plan: Translated -... →
HOLD YOUR GROUND, EGYPTIAN!
tantalus later stole a SOLID GOLD DOG from the... →
Dinosaur comics is so awesome it makes me want to cry a little.
“Whether you are opposed to sex work or not, we can all agree that no matter...”
– solidarity | Sequoia Redd
The Power of Prayer →
One of the most significant problems in coordinating widespread collective protests in undemocratic regimes is figuring out where and when people should meet. One can converge upon major public sites - but one faces obvious risks in so doing, unless one is already part of a large group. When there is (a) a social institution or set of social institutions through which people meet in large groups...
More Meat Than You Require →
What is with this trend at the moment? There can be nothing good about simply shoving more and more low-grade animal protein into a hideous-looking creation like this. Even if you love meat you can’t possibly think it looks *appetising*.
So what’s going on? Has the conflation of “red meat” with masculinity and vigor been amplified by the feedback loop of the internet, to...
“MORAL OF THE STORY: You will always, always, always be better served by not...”
– 6th or 7th: TWO SUNSMAGEDDON
LENIN'S TOMB: The global ruling class →
Trafficking Numerology « Bound, Not Gagged →
Skarhed admits scientific method was lacking in... →
The attractions of Taliban justice →
“Taliban justice has its attractions? They have a regard for justice that is rather less than attractive what with all the chopping, lopping and whipping involved. Just what was this war all about exactly? All those dead and maimed so we can say, ‘oh, they’re not so bad once you get to know them’? Cherie Blair andLaura Bush must be going berserk. Was Aisha exploited for propaganda...
“Finally, the rentier was revived. The City was deregulated, and housing was...”
– Radical Philosophy - Commentaries - January/February 2011
Clever crows use tools in new way (Wired UK) →
Science is awesome, part 192
LENIN'S TOMB: The rise and fall of Tunisia's... →
Decent background on the events here. Not too long, but detailed enough to be informative.
Liz Jones and a ghoulish trip around Bristol «... →
Djenné, Mali, Chafes at Unesco Preservation Rules →
abbyjean:
Abba Maiga stood in his dirt courtyard, smoking and seething over the fact that his 150-year-old mud-brick house is so culturally precious he is not allowed to update it — no tile floors, no screen doors, no shower. “Who wants to live in a house with a mud floor?” groused Mr. Maiga, a retired riverboat captain. With its cone-shaped crenellations and palm wood drainage spouts, the grand...
“But it’s the Tunisia example that is most striking. Virtually everyone is...”
– Applying U.S. principles on Internet freedom - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Hagley Road To Ladywood: Cliches of 2011 #3 →
And so here we are again. The mythical notion of “the consumer society” evoked to justify anything that suits whichever ruthless practice of the day - nevermind questions of humanity, taste or simple pig-headedness. It’s the 21st-century version of the Ancient Spartans’ custom of chucking people off a cliff as a means of ‘purging’ their population of weakness....
The Travels and Times of Fishcake Jayke: THE... →
fishcakejayke:
Urban Dictionary defines Frape as “altering someone else’s facebook account which has been left logged in”…
I think its getting a little old…
There is a growing trend here at university to frape people’s account when ever there is a laptop left out. It happens a lot, my poor mate Joss gets it…
I am reminded of my favourite, oft-repeated and therefore probably pretty...
Miss America
Yes, what that poor girl said about WikiLeaks was asinine. But there are a couple of things to note:
Firstly, as Glenn Greenwald pointed out on Twitter, it was no more asinine or incoherent than 90% of the commentary on the subject put forth by “journalists” who are supposedly paid to be experts.
Secondly, it was a fucking beauty pageant, where women are paraded around in dresses and...
D-squared Digest -- The problem, sir, is you, sir →
Silenced - Chicken Yoghurt →
There’s never a morally outraged Nick Clegg around when you need one, is there?
Garfunkel and Oates Developing a Show for HBO |... →
Hurrah!!
Bent Objects: Fortune →
Shakesville: Teaspoons for Sesame Street! →
This is what happens when you let yourself believe that people pushing for capitalism are genuine market idealists rather than vicious looters of public goods.
Rebalancing - Chicken Yoghurt →
“By pretending to believe that America is on the verge of collapse into a...”
– slacktivist: Don’t you know that you can count me out
MurderDeathKill →
I haven’t got anything to add beyond what Mister Smith has already said:The great American culture medium seems to nourish, every few years, a person who just can’t sleep at night until he’s blown…
RT @Whore_Magazine: Trying to comprehend how this show about D Day carries a PG rating but anything with a nipple makes for R #WTF
RT @furrygirl: If I had a kid, I’d be one of these weird people who insist on breast-feeding until it’s a teenager. But just to gross pe …
Obama Allows Offshore Drilling To Resume Without... →
This week the Obama administration allowed thirteen companies to return to their offshore oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico without further environmental scrutiny despite…
The Agonizing Last Words of Programmer Bill Zeller →
Pass it on. All of it.