Month: June 2012

A supporter of Germany watches the UEFA EURO 2012 quarter final match between Germany and Greece at a public viewing zone called "fan mile" near the Brandenburg Gate on June 22, 2012 in Berlin. By Matthias Kern/Getty Images.

"Alone in New York people are bitten 10 times more each year by other people than worldwide by sharks," – Facts on Shark Accidents, by the Shark Foundation.

"A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the large hadron collider as a large "hardon" collider. Unfortunately, that's not what it is," – Huffington Post.

Niloufer Siddiqui applauds Vice's guide to Karachi:

Complete with a catchy soundtrack, a heavy dose of sarcasm, and a fair share of cursing by Alvi and Usmani, the documentary effectively showcases the numerous problems which are facing Karachi simultaneously. Sectarian strife, ethnic tension, extreme poverty, mafia, drugs and a political situation dominated by political parties who regularly turn to violence and targeted killings – you name an ailment, Karachi suffers from it.

While the documentary fails to adequately address the nuance of most of the topics covered (any elaboration on the nature of religious extremism in the city is particularly lacking, with blanket references to the “Taliban”), the level of access Alvi was provided into areas that have been deemed “no go” is both remarkable and admirable.

Marc Maron is the host of the podcast WTF, which invites famous comedians to talk about their personal lives. Why Maron believes the show has caught on:

I know that most of their lives, their adult lives, they’re sitting around or walking around with notebooks, writing things down. Usually they’re fairly sensitive. Usually they’re very bright. And that makes them poets. That makes them philosophers, in my mind, and also psychologists, to some degree, because they had to put their lives together on their own in a way that’s fairly risky and weird. So the relief that people get from watching comics—and I think that speaks to you, and what spoke to me—is that they seem to have an angle on shit.

I mean, the worst thing about living in this world, in general, is that things get overwhelming, and things cause a tremendous amount of despair and anxiety. With two or three lines, a comic can disarm that and just fucking slay it, just slay those fucking dragons and despair and depression. But as dark as it’s ever going to get on my show, the great thing about comics and our comedic personalities is that they can talk about anything and some part of them is not going to allow it to drift into a ditch completely. I mean, I’ve done that, but most comics don’t.

Tom Jacobs flags a series of experiments that suggests our habituated consumerism – our ingrained view that we can choose our fate – undermines aid for the poor:

After taking into account social class, gender, and political orientation (all of which can influence one’s attitudes on this issue), those who had been thinking about choice were less disturbed by the examples of inequality than those in the neutral condition. … The psychology here is clear enough. One’s success in life is determined partially by one’s life choices, and partially by forces outside of one’s control. If the personal-decision part of that equation is front and center in our minds, we’re more likely to negate or downplay the societal factors that limit one’s options.

No one knows:

I wish there were a simple answer, but scientists have only isolated a few potential causes. It is likely that the full story remains to be elucidated – and may be related to small genetic variations in human odor. However, we do know that mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide (that we expel as we breathe), and warmer skin temperatures. So I guess if you’re a heavy-breathing, hot-blooded person then you might need an extra layer of DEET?

Scissor Sisters draw you in:

Scissor Sisters – Baby Come Home from paydirt on Vimeo.

Here's a pretty good question: which American politician in 1932 ran for office on the following policies?

"Immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating departments and bureaus, and eliminating extravagances" and a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards."

Yep that was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I note the Tea Party rhetoric simply because Mitt's math still doesn't even come close to adding up. How do you get a huge defense spending increase, big new cuts in tax rates, and still move toward balancing the budget? The only way is to remove all middle-class tax deductions (yay!) and end Medicare as we have known it (semi-yay!). But without explicitly campaigning on those issues, and winning over Democrats on them, there's no way that Romney will have the political authority to make such profound and profoundly unpopular changes in office. Especially when his party adopted such scorched earth policies against his predecessor, Obama. Which is why it seems extremely likely to me that spending and debt would rise significantly under Romney, as it did under Bush Jr and Reagan.

And that will suit Romney just fine. If Keynesianism keeps him in power, that's what we'll get. He has no principles that one can see but the advancement of his own power and that of his church. And the means for Keynesian revival will be the only public spending that escapes the far right's ire: the war budget. He'll cut taxes and pour huge resources into greater and greater levels of military engagement abroad, starting with a third Republican war against a third Muslim nation, Iran. It's like Reaganism, but without the Soviets. Ahmadinejad will have to do.

And that is why it will appeal to this deranged party, and they will, if the debt explodes under a Republican again, turn a blind eye yet again. For them it is always 1983. In fact, it must always be 1983. Because they have no other policies but those tried in 1983. Including the core element of fiscal fraudulence.

An art project by Henry Hargreaves:

Like greasy food, there’s growing concern over the long-term repercussions of the world’s consumption of electronics. The harmful chemicals in obsolete and discarded gadgets collect in dumps (usually in Asia) with toxic consequences for the environment, like so much artery-clogging fat sediment. "I'm as guilty about getting excited about the latest Apple product," says Hargreaves. "I see a connection between tech and fastfood culture, both are fetishized, quickly consumed then discarded."

You can donate your old iPhone to a good cause here. More images here.