Christopher Hitchens: America the Banana Republic (9)
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Mark Frauenfelder (1805)
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Boing Boing (7001)
5 days, 14 hours
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I love the illustration for Christopher Hitchens' Vanity Fair story, "America the Banana Republic." It's based, of course, on the beautiful Jack Davis poster for Woody Allen's Bananas from 1971. Hitchens' piece is well worth reading, too. I was very struck, as the liquefaction of a fantasy-based system proceeded, to read an observation by Professor Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, of the Yale School of Management. Referring to those who had demanded -— successfully -— to be ...
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Kevin Ryan said:
Paul Krugman is thinking that America may be turning into a banana republic. Now Christopher Hitchens does too.
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shanusmagnus said:
I heart Hitch
Web Therapy: Lisa Kudrow's smart new web comedy series (10)
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Richard Metzger (72)
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Boing Boing (7001)
6 days, 11 hours
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I'm really sick and tired of these online series that use the first personal confessional --like Lonelygirl15 and the totally awful Gemini Division with Rosario Dawson -- in service of the hokey dramatic trope of overly expository webcam monologues. In the case of Lonelygirl15's fictional over-sharing protagonist, Bree, I suppose it was creatively justified, but with NBC's Gemini Division, it just feels forced, crammed down for the medium and much better suited for radio! There ...
The Gulag Archipelago Goes to Farmville (1)
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Gooze Views (2)
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Bacon's Rebellion (8)
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Virginia's Gulag Archipelago keeps growing.Back a decade or so ago, Republican Gov. George Allen got attention for his proposals to expand the state's prison system. That was then.Today, the hot idea is to create "detention centers" for those hordes of illegal immigrants that we all know are overrunning the Old Dominion doing such awful things as working as gardeners or in poultry or crab-picking plants.Up in places like mostly white and affluent Prince William County, ...
Season Three of Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour" premieres Wednesday (2)
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Ryan Saghir (11)
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Orbitcast (11)
1 week, 1 day
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XM's award-winning music show, "Theme Time Radio Hour," hosted by Bob Dylan is kicking off its 3rd season on Wednesday. The premiere of "Theme Time Radio Hour" coincides with the launch of, Tell Tale Signs - the 8th installment in the best-selling and critically heralded Bootleg Series which launched 1991.Bob Dylan's weekly radio program - which was described as "revelatory" by Rolling Stone magazine - will air on XM's Deep Tracks (ch 40) on Wednesdays ...
Untitled (2)
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Justin Wolfers (50)
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Freakonomics (323)
1 week, 5 days
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The 8th installment in Bob Dylan's "bootleg" series is a two-disc set called Tell Tale Signs, and it is set to be released next Tuesday (October 7). But until then, you can listen to it for free on National Public Radio, here. Yep, free. But as I understand it, this only lasts until the official [...]
Woman Dressed as Cow Gets a Month in Jail (36)
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Mark Frauenfelder (1805)
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Top Stories - AideRSS (200)
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32-year-old Michele Allen received a one-month sentence for disorderly conduct after police received complaints that she was dressed in a cow costume and chasing children, blocking traffic, and urinating on a neighbor's porch. She wore the costume again when she appeared for sentencing. One Month in Corral for Disorderly Woman
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Wesley said:
I don't think that was a costume... she looks like a cow... c'mon folks..
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Bill said:
I want to be her friend.
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Jon Bristow said:
I just had to share.
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PJorge said:
Nuestro mundo es de lo más curioso...
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Nicole said:
That she wore the cow suit to her sentencing makes me respect her.
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jpwain said:
damn
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mark said:
Ah, another fine Cincinnati story from Mark Frauenfelder.
Mark Jenkins: homeless polar bears art prank (17)
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David Pescovitz (1098)
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2 weeks, 1 day
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A Washington DC train station was shut down for a couple hours recently as a bomb squad investigated this "hobo polo bear" standing near a trash can. Turns out, the stuffed animal was part of a collaboration between Greenpeace and prankster artist Mark Jenkins. From an email Mark sent me: We made a series of human-like homeless polar bears and installed them around DC to get people to think about the issue (of melting arctic ...
Riding Out the Credit Crisis (18)
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rushkoff (197)
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There seems to be some appetite on BoingBoing for a more comprehensive but quick-to-grok analysis of the credit crisis and what to do about it. While "I told you so's" are fun in a sick sort of way, I'm passing on this link to my last spring's Arthur Magazine columns(if Dreamhost is still unable to meet the demand for links on that page or here, then see the whole piece in the extended post, below). ...
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mrkvm said:
Douglas Rushkoff, writing earlier this year, gets at some of the key factors that may have led us to the economic crisis we're in now.
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Tessa said:
"...some credit card companies have begun charging interest on your purchases from the moment you make the purchase."
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John Pederson said:
This finally helps me wrap my head around what the hell is going on right now."Think small. Buy local. Make friends. Print money. Grow food. Teach children. Learn nutrition. And if you do have money to invest, put it into whatever lets you and your friends do those things."
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Joshua said:
While it ends on a not-entirely-hopeless note, this is an interesting, generally gloomy, and definitely worth-reading assessment of our current economic situation. (More of the outstanding Rushkoff guest blogging on boingboing).
People Finally Realizing That SMS Isn't Good For Emergency Alerts (2)
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Michael Masnick (861)
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Techdirt (935)
3 weeks, 6 days
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Only two years or so after we questioned why anyone would seriously consider the notoriously unreliable SMS text messaging system for emergency alerts, the mobile trade group 3G Americas has released a research report stating the same thing. Basically, the system isn't reliable or efficient, and in an emergency is likely to get overloaded quickly. It's not clear why it took anyone until now to notice this, but hopefully no one was seriously considering using ...
