September 2008
“Capitalism is organised crime, and we are all its victims.” The Refused, The Shape of Punk to Come
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men, will do the...”
– John Maynard Keynes, as quoted in Moving Forward: Programme for a Participatory Economy (2000)
“The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery.” Bertrand Russell
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-9-28) →
M. Ward
Belle and Sebastian
Sufjan Stevens
Bright Eyes
Jens Lekman
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-9-21) →
Douglas Adams
M. Ward
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Spoon
ItalyGuides.it - ComPart Multimedia
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
links for 2008-09-20 →
Man gives conditions for future wife →
Looking through this extensive list of things that he hates in women, I wonder whether it might have been quicker to write “I HATE WOMEN - FUCK OFF” and be done with it. Amusing attempt at finding…
“Vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer.” L. Frank Baum, Cowardly Lion (Wizard of Oz)
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” Thomas Jefferson
“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.” Adam Smith
links for 2008-09-15 →
Michael Jasper’s Alfred Nobel Combines Two... →
Caitlin Moran on the BBC and its funding →
“If I were the BBC, I would be feeling all confused and angry - like one of the Jets in West Side Story. The corporation’s brief is that it must offer services that justify a controversial public…
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-9-14) →
Jonathan Coulton
Bon Iver
TV on the Radio
Arcade Fire
Frédéric Chopin
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
links for 2008-09-13 →
Carole Cadwalladr goes behind the scenes at The... →
If you have seen the show, it’s difficult to imagine how it could be any different from this, but it still makes for some pretty shocking reading.
links for 2008-09-11 →
What Makes People Vote Republican? →
Or, for that matter, Tory. This is an outstanding article, full of insight and reasons to question your assumptions. Well worth a read.
Nationalize Fannie Mae? It Worked Until It Was... →
“Here is the cycle: The government invents something virtuous; the private market takes it over and loses hundreds of billions; the government then bails it out. This is best understood as socialized…
links for 2008-09-10 →
The Daily Mail and NICE’s PR Budget →
The Goddamn Airplane on the Goddamn Treadmill →
Randall Munroe of xkcd explains the ins and outs of the aeroplane problem in a way which, were everyone involved to read the post and understand it, we could stop having this tedious discussion. As…
Simon Jenkins: This is what happens when criminals... →
“Months of work, which might have unpicked an entire al-Qaida network back to the Pakistani training camps, was ruined by “forced, foolish hastiness” - and all for the mid-term elections. Bush was…
links for 2008-09-09 →
Alex Ross at the New Yorker on the seriousness of... →
Having, for once, attended a few Proms this year, this has come to interest me. Not least because I don’t think (at least at said proms) it was anywhere near as exclusive as one might think. I don’t…
J.K. Rowling and the Petty Victory →
Palin: average isn't good enough by Sam Harris →
“Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a…
JK Rowling wins copyright claim over Harry Potter... →
Personally, I think this is insane. Rowling has essentially used bullying tactics scare a fan from writing what’s a pretty widely accepted form of fan writing. It’s not going to impact on her…
Merlin Mann on the genesis and 'progression' of 43... →
I’ve been reading some of Mr Mann’s writing about a change in direction thinking that I should link to it. Then thinking that that’s kind of missing the point. Then realising that it doesn’t make a…
Consecutive Number Plate Spotting →
Richard Herring’s rules to the consecutive number plate spotting game. A game which has been greatly scuppered in my life by my not being able to find a ‘1’ to get started…
Charlie Brooker on the Wonderbra ad and strict new... →
“Both genders are routinely insulted in adverts, but that’s because adverts are inherently insulting to anything more sentient than a footstool.”
Hurricanes like Gustav and Hanna seem only to... →
Exactly. And even the BBC has been reporting these as a lucky escape for New Orleans as if it’s the only place in the world affected by weather conditions.
links for 2008-09-08 →
Ben Goldacre on Random Variation →
A vague knowledge of how to read statistics makes almost every newspaper an even more depressing read than it would have been anyway. Journalists are mostly lazy idiots. Apart from Mr Goldacre of…
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King, Jr., in Letter from a Birmingham Jail
“I actually love Catholicism, it’s my favourite form of clandestine global evil.” Stewart Lee, 90s Comedian
Naomi Klein: Obama got Gustav wrong, and gave his... →
Excellent article from Klein on the worrying trend Obama has slipped into of missing some of the most important mistakes made by the Republicans. While everyone’s favourite facist hockey mom takes…
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-9-7) →
Frédéric Chopin
Douglas Adams
Bon Iver
Black Mountain
Jonathan Coulton
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
links for 2008-09-07 →
Kermit Bale →
Turns out Christian Bale has a lot more in common with Kermit the Frog than one might imagine.
