Has anyone read this? I just picked it up from the bookstore after wandering around for a good half hour. Supposedly aims to explain (and not just state obvious factors) why advanced civilization comes from the 'West', excluding Darwinian theories of genetic superiority, taking into account human pre-history.
Television and radio are very important tools for influencing perception. I don't how many times someone has told me how people with opposing political views are basically brainwashed by the particular media channels they adhere to. It seems to me that most people are fully aware of this aspect, but once they pick their alignment, it seems that the caution involved in gathering information from their chosen corporate media is mostly disarmed.
I understand how practical this is, because I've
Some interesting quotes from Mussolini that I've come across in my reading, judge for yourself how they apply to modern reality as you percieve it:
"Fascism ought to more properly be called corporatism since it is the merger of state and corporate power."
"Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are
At work today, my boss called a meeting of all the employees and surpised us with the news that the business was being shut down immediately. Apparently, the business had not been turning a profit for a while and it was time for him to cut the losses. Coincidentally, I had been half-heartedly job-seeking prior to this, with no result. Time to step up to the challenge, so I may be M.I.A. for a time as I find a new source of funding.
I've been writing my first real bottom-up web application for the past few weeks. When things start really falling into place and I can see real interactive results, I become obsessive to the point that everything else is nearly excluded from my thoughts - well, except for my obsession with the American history that was somehow left out of 12+ years of schooling.
Lately, I've constantly had dreams where, for whatever ultra-bizarre reason, I'm attempting to grasp some stupendously unfathomab
This really inspires confidence in my democratic efficacy.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/20...oting_here.html
Anyways... since Gaius has mentioned Thomas Paine in a few discussions, I nabbed a book on clearance at B&N called 46 Pages by Scott Liell and so far I'm captivated. I'll give some more opinion once I'm finished - which may be a while since I'm usually reading about 4 books simultaneously and randomly for whatever reason that eludes me.
As I sit here at the computer in a room on the second story, there is a window to my back that overlooks a panoramic view of this area of the city. There is a nearby baseball stadium that regularly shoots off spectacular fireworks displays at the end of winning games. The booms are exaggerated by echoes off of the ridge that the house is on. Tonight, there is a massive thunderstorm looming across the horizon a dozen or so miles away. As the fireworks explode into sparkling orbs, bright atmospher
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard23.html
I find this interesting because I love the writing of Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. Ultimate irony on several levels.
Geez, I seem to be turning into a subversive propaganda syndication. Weee! No really, I found this fascinating. Ever wonder what politicans talk about when they think the camera isn't rolling?
http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/spin.html
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
Take it as you will, but I happen to think that this is some of the most important information available.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5034100.stm
This scares the hell out of me. How come this is the only solution concieved to address the issue of cases being filed by disgruntled workers posing as legitimate whistle-blowers? Now the truthful people whose personal honour and principles do not allow them to remain silent in the face of corruption will be stifled. I thought the Bill of Rights was designed to protect citizens from the government. How many more rulings will be made to protect c
I have some advise for anyone who will take it - do not buy a house on a 1/4 acre lot that is mostly covered in grass lawn, unless you are a lawn freak or have the finances to hire someone to maintain it.
There is street bordering three sides of the property, since I am at an intersection and on the edge of a cul-de-sac, and the lawn runs front, side and rear of the house. Anyways, one section is overrun with root suckers from a quaking aspen, another part is continuously eaten bare by the l
I recently read an article by Nathaniel Branden that nicely articulated a mass of something that has been in my mind, of which I could only grab bits and pieces when I attempted to understand it as a whole.
http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/ar...untability.html
Like many people, I found the first few books in the Camulod Chronicles to be exceptional but I lost a little bit of interest in the latter books of the series. Not that any of the books were less than great, they were worth every penny in my opinion. It's just that the first books were so remotely distant from anything 'Arthurian' and so intimate with the lives of the Romans that the story was centered on.
Although the stories in subsequent volumes are intriguing and well written, it seems
China Defends Internet Controls
How transparent is this guy? I'm amazed that the people who witnessed this briefing did not laugh in his face at the contradictory stupidity that he spewed forth. While I agree that the U.S. government is over-stepping its power wrongly in some cases for the sake of its citizen's protection, you cannot correlate the freedom of private enterprises to censor their own productive work to the act of forcing them against their will to censor certain topics.
"H
Sounds pretty sick, right? Actually, BigDump is a staggered MySQL dump importing script. Anyone who has loaded a large database backup, transported a large database to a new host, or made a mirror test database knows how challenging it can sometimes be if you administrate remotely without using shell access.
Fortunately, this script makes it a complete snap. Instead of breaking the SQL file into chunks that wouldn't cause a PHP timeout, then loading each one manually, I let this thing run wh
Google agrees to China censorship.
Some of the censored topics:
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Taiwan's Democracy
The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.
- Ayn Rand
Google's Motto: "Don't be evil."
After seeing a few of the funny/strange/impressive things that Vig has found on Google Video I decided to waste some time searching around and I found some excellent videos of some of my favorite music WEE!!!!
Porcupine Tree - Trains, Start of Something Beautiful, Blackest Eyes
Opeth - Closure, The Drapery Falls
In Flames - System
Depeche Mode - Precious
Meshuggah - New Millenium Cyanide Christ <<LMFAO!!!
I've been reading things here and there about the EU mandating, on penalty of an incredible fine, that Microsoft ship its own product Windows without Microsoft's own media player and to reveal parts of its programming code to rivals. Microsoft has already settled with the U.S. Justice Department, revealing code and allowing PC makers and conumsers to hide the bundled software. All this in the name of 'fair competition'.
This isn't just about Microsoft, it's about property rights. Personally
To recap my month...
I read Choke by Chuck Palahniuk and The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis. I enjoyed Choke more than most of the books I've been reading lately. I've been slowly reading my way through The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand for several months and pondering it while working during the day. I've also been slowly completing After the Ice by Steven Mithen. I would highly recommend this book to anyone curious about human pre-history.
I've spent copious hours of my free time w
I recently finished reading this book, and I have to say that at first I was almost disappointed with the ending and that something really bothered me about it. In fact, I kept thinking about it for a couple of days and realized that when the method of narration and the nature of the main character is taken into consideration, the story becomes something that is opposite of what the words in the book describe. This is the first time I've noticed that the physical method of delivery of a book can
