a visual collective outlet of inspiration
rafael correa secures a third term as the president of ecuador. with a phd in economics, educated in belgium and the united states, the man is clearly no dummy and a welcomed soul in a line of externally backed generals who have ruled most of the third world. since 2007, his administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment in ecuador. he ordered an increase in the percentage of petroleum revenues spent on social programs for the ecuadorian poor and challenged the foreign oil interests in his country. he said, “many of the existing oil contracts are a true entrapment for the country. of every 5 barrels of oil that the multinationals produce, they leave only 1 for the state and take 4… that is absolutely unacceptable. we’re going to revise and renegotiate the contracts” and he did. critics charged correa with running a campaign against the independence of the media, and if the media there is anything like the media here, sponsored by big business, there was never any independence to begin with, so not many tears shed there. in 2012 an independent survey found that he has 80% of approval rate among ecuadorians, significantly the highest rate in the americas, but a very low rating amongst key foreign governments. to enhance that, he has recently upset the UK and US by supporting wikileaks leader, julian assange, and offering him political asylum, granted inside the embassy in london. the irony of this all is that pinochet, a south american dictator supported by the US and UK, remained in london and died in london in 2006 despite his indictment in 1998, for human rights violations committed in chile, never to face trial. the U.S. provided material support to the military regime of pinochet after his coup and the assassination on september 11, 1973 of its democratically elected president, salvador allende, although criticizing it in public… i suppose, hypocrisy clearly has never had any shame? by xy
earth related
meteor shower over ural mountain: russia
the above is not related to the recent ural meteor, but just as a reference in size. it is nearly 1 mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. this crater in arizona was created 50,000 years ago long before humans inhabited the area, and was surely a site to see. it is now designated as a national natural wonder. the land is privately owned.
spectacular! and this wasn’t even the biggest one for russia. there was always the mystery of tunguska. to this day no one knows if that was a meteor or some secret russian nuclear test? by xy
we owe our religious friends an apology
we have at times offended a few but we hope you all understand we meant well… by ts
Spiral Island
in times of uncertainty and desperation there is one salvation. build your own island such richie sowa’s man made islands. by cp
cozy with sarkozy
“let go of my hand, lets not make it so obvious”
the irony of it all still baffles me and yet it’s still business as usual, it’s just elsewhere. we are very silly aren’t we? 50 million or not: “shortly after sarkozy’s election in 2007, gaddafi was invited to paris and pitched his bedouin-style tent in an official french residence near the elysée. sarkozy has acknowledged that his government had considered co-operation with libya in civil nuclear energy, having earlier denied it.” source by dd
it’s about time
by ts
Hurricane Sandy: Lessons I learned from Hurricane Sandy
15 things to do and a few more not to for the next one… and there will be another… and another, thanks to the state of our planet courtesy of man (and a handful of women). here we go:
1- charlie don’t surf, and xy don’t diss no sandy.
2- don’t buy or rent an apt near the water. (in manhattan, broadway runs at the peak of the island and a good bet, further west or east and you’re lower and closer to the water.)
3- forget hamptons and that’s not just for the shitty crowd any more.
4- consider upstate. love trees but plant them far away from your roof.
5- if you own a car a) park it in the city for quick access when all other forms of transport will be down. b) make sure your garage doesn’t park yours on lifts or elevator access floors. in power outages your car will be as good as a brick.
6- keep bike within 4 floors off the street (smokers consider 2). mine was on the 11th floor with offices shut. who needs a bike on an 11 floors walk-up?
7- a skateboard actually saved my life… but just this one time.
9- no power = no water. if you are in a high building the water towers will run out within hours, and with no electricity to power the pump you’ll be out of water too.
10- fill the tub, not for drinking water, but to flush the damn toilet. this will be your worst nightmare in the event of water failure. your romantic candlelight camping vacation in your city apt will quickly turn into a sewer festival. a full tub can handle up to 10 flushes (based on recent research).
11- stock up on candles. in the event of non-emergency you will always have use otherwise. tearless pillars over tea-light candles any day.
12- forget flash lights. get a LED rayovac lantern for $29. i just ordered 3. a single one will light up a 1200 sq ft apt and will last for days on 3 x d batteries. you may want to get a few pocket lights for trips down the 18 floor emergency exit when elevators are down, either from fenix R5 series for around $50 or your standard mini maglite that doubles as a candle (lights up a small room) for under $20
13- invest in a generator if you have outside space to run it. for us apt dwellers consider a APC backup power for under $200 or a power inverter from black & decker for $60. this will allow you to charge up, if nothing, your damn phone.
14- get some cash and water but you can forget about food… you can always lose a few pounds. buy some nuts if you must.
15- when done move to sweden. hope this will be of help.. by dd
come on sandy
i don’t know about you all but im going to work on monday. by dd
Hurricane Sandy: what a lame name?
the famous great wave off kanagawa
chief pontiac or ottawa
now watch i’ll get hammered for calling her lame, but what kind of lame name is sandy for a massive hurricane? i just cant take anyone with the name sandy that seriously. at least give it a 6 digit number like the japanese do with their typhoons (they get too many to give then names) or tap into the american indian vernacular to spark some imagination… like red cloud, little wolf, crazy horse, sitting bull, dull knife, he dog, or rain-in-the-face… and all those elaborate combinations are just all peoples names. and then we have sandy. i mean come on with your come on? by xy
“You Don’t Own Me”
in 2008 60% of voters were women.
alexa chung, lena dunham, tennessee thomas, karen elson, alia shawkat, mae whitman, tavi, zoe kravitz, and a pretty badass natasha lyonne, amongst many others, lip-sync to “you don’t own me” for womens rights. let’s rise up. our vote alone can win this election. a vote for obama is a vote for your health and your right to choose. by cp
so you think a gallon of gas is too expensive?
how would you feel to learn that a barrel of crude oil, a liquid that is scarce and valuable in so many industries from plastic to fabrics etc, is less expensive than its equivalent in coca cola, which is basically water high fructose corn sugar and carbon dioxide? i don’t know, but some how i feel if we were selling oil and the arabs were selling coke the balance would have been a little bit tilted? and then we wonder why they are so pissed off while we bitch about the prices at the pump. here are a few price metrics to put it into perspective:
1) a barrel of brent oil ($117).
2) a barrel of coca cola ($126)
3) a barrel of budweiser beer ($447)
4) a barrel of starbucks juice ($954)
5) a barrel of chanel perfume ($1,666,560) thanks Karl
by pr
moon: how the moon was created and why its not much different than earth in composition
the moon has remained largely unchanged during human history
for a long time it has been thought that the moon was result of an impact between the early earth and another planet-sized object, thea, 4.5 billion years ago. this is of course, way before god actually created earth in just three days leaving the other three for the heavens.
“but this theory predicts earth and its satellite, the moon, should have a quite different chemical make-up – but the data shows in fact they are very similar (the oxygen isotope, or atom type, compositions on earth are identical to that on the moon.). now, new modeling, explored in two papers published this week by the journal science, reveals that if the earth had a much faster spin before the impact, the theory fits the chemistry.
the giant impact hypothesis was first posited in the 1970s. it holds that the moon formed from the debris kicked into orbit by the collision of a smaller proto-planet with the infant earth. but the early models indicated that much of this debris would have originated from the impactor, whose composition would most probably have differed substantially from that of earth.
the new run simulations show that the early earth was rotating on its axis in just a few hours prior to the impact – compared to the present 24 hours. in such a scenario, the team could get debris material thrown into a moon-forming disc around the earth that had the right chemical make-up. in other words, it was substantial earth material from its mantle that was ejected in the collision.
after the impact, the gravitational interaction between the sun and the moon could then have slowed the fast rotation of the earth to the speed we now experience. a different team simulated a different route, their simulations involved larger impactors hitting an earth of comparable size and at comparatively lower speeds. again, the team was able to produce a moon with the same chemical composition as the earth. addressing the questions about the impact theory and why the compositions where so close.” from BBC by xy