June 2012
115 posts
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Big Mouth Strikes Again (Again) - YouTube →
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“The Amazing Spider-Man is less a reboot than a recital. It’s...”
– Didn’t We Just Do This? The Amazing Spider-Man, Reviewed.
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[Updated at 10:28 a.m. ET] In its 5-4 decision to uphold the U.S. health care law, the Supreme Court answered several key questions:
Question: Can the court decide the constitutionality of health care now, or does it have to wait a few years?
To answer, the court had to decide whether a penalty the law imposes on people who do not have health insurance amounts to a tax.
A previously obscure...
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Does It Matter If the Heroine of 'Brave' Is Gay? -... →
While Markovitz’s appeal to lesbian stereotypes is outrageous, his underlying question isn’t. Merida really could be gay. She could be straight. She could be asexual. We just don’t know. Over the course of the film, she shows romantic interest in neither boys nor girls; it’s only by assumption that her parents—and, presumably, most viewers—think she’s...
Video conferencing skydivers at Google I/O the...
jkottke:
To demonstrate a pair of their products, Google arranged for a group of skydivers to jump out of a blimp and parachute onto the roof of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the building in which the Google I/O was being held. The divers were each wearing a pair of Google Glass networking glasses and video chatting on a Google+ Hangout.
Here’s what it looked like from the ground:
I...
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A Much Higher Education - Siva Vaidhyanathan →
We hear every day from higher-education pundits who can’t seem to express themselves in anything other than jargon and buzzwords that American higher education is “unsustainable.” No. It’s just not adequately sustained. There is a big difference. We could choose to invest in people. We could choose to invest in culture. We could choose to invest in science and technology. We choose instead to...
Robert Reich: Why the Supreme Court Will Uphold... →
robertreich:
Predictions are always hazardous when it comes to the economy, the weather, and the Supreme Court. I won’t get near the first two right now, but I’ll hazard a guess on what the Court is likely to decide tomorrow: It will uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by a vote…
“Moon landing was real. Evolution exists. Tax cuts lose revenue. The research has...”
– Austan Goolsbee, on the idea that tax cuts will pay for themselves by improving the economy. (via theatlantic)
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“human rights and fundamental freedoms are not eroded simply because they are...”
– State Department: Human Rights Exist in Digital Realm - Nextgov.com
FTW!
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What's Missing From This List? →
discoverynews:
Out of 100 honorees, the Newsweek Daily Beast Digital Power Index includes seven women.
Nice work by the Daily Beast covering themselves here.
Yuk. But congrats to Susan Crawford for being recognized.
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Watchdiscoverynews:
Ann Richards’ Texas
This film looks pretty monumental.
Can’t wait.
WatchNeil Postman: Informing Ourselves to Death | Richard Heffner’s Open Mind | THIRTEEN
I had the great luck and privilege to study in the presence of Neil Postman for the first few years of my PhD. I miss him immensely.
New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims - Salon.com →
wilwheaton:
The White House received a truly remarkable amount of warnings that al-Qaida was trying to attack the United States. From June to September 2001, a full seven CIA Senior Intelligence Briefs detailed that attacks were imminent, an incredible amount of information from one intelligence agency. One from June called “Bin-Ladin and Associates Making Near-Term Threats” writes that...
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Don't Take That Money, Bullied Bus Lady →
Because the video is nothing more than cruelty porn, a bit of random reality notable only for the lurid fascination it inspires. Like a celebrity sex tape, the events of Karen Klein’s video happen every day and become a story only when captured surreptitiously on film and posted to the internet. The power of both stems from the extreme and private vulnerability of their subjects. In her...
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