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and the award goes to…(almost) an entire continent!

the nobel peace prize.  it seems odd to me that a ‘prize’ is necessary at all, in other words, isn’t the mere notion of giving and encouraging peace rewarding enough?  well, i suppose that’s besides the point, and SOMEtimes humans can be outstanding, but those individuals are few and far between. (gandhi never got one did he?  and obama did, albeit prematurely…)  anyway, this years’ nobel peace prize has been awarded to the european union, “for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”.  although, the last time i checked, the union has only been the union since mitterand and kohl established it as so in 1993.  doesn’t quite add up to sixty years, but we get the point, we are talking about the origins in the ECSC and the EEC which is completely legitimate i suppose.  i am truly trying to play devil’s advocate here; if you think about it, the EU has come light years from where they were decades ago.  tumultuous wars, disintegrating world powers, ego fights of the most treacherous and monumental kind…and here we are.  sure, there are still some serious economic difficulties and peril, but as much as it pains me to say, those things are often inevitable, especially in a world like ours.  citizens in athens are up in arms about this award, where germans are happy and feel as if their work and struggle has paid off in a way.  but now the $1.2 million dollar question—where is the check going to go, and who is it going to be awarded to come this december in oslo?  this is when we will truly see the demonstrative nature of peace. by sv

CATEGORIES: earth related, read

everything is fucked, everything is ok

a quarterly zine about modern life written by contributors from nyc, london and sydney. if you often find yourself going back and forth between the words BEST THING EVER and WORST THING EVER give this thing a read, its only 5 bucks and you can get it here.  by ak

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Albert Einstein’s letter on God goes on auction this monday Oct 8th: starting bid $3,000,000


“No one even knew this letter existed till recently…” eric gazin, president of auction cause

if only i had three million to spare, this would be worth every penny just to point to each day when faced with those god-fearing, subtly-kind folks. the letter was written by albert einstein (who, if i may say, was to some extent intelligent and above average). the letter was written in german in 1954, decades before atheist scientist and author richard dawkins called god a “delusion”, and sent to jewish philosopher eric gutkind, one year before einstein died. the letter was in reaction to gutkind’s book, “choose life: the biblical call to revolt.” in the letter albert einstein wrote :

“the word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. no interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this… for me the jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. and the jewish people to whom i gladly belong and with whose mentality i have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. as far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. otherwise i cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.” –albert einstein

*the translation above is an abridgment of the letter from albert einstein to eric gutkind from princeton NJ in january 1954, translated from german by joan stambaugh.

now i personally tend to seek answers for myself, but if one day i was about to take the word of another mortal man, i think i’d trust albert einstein over any other preacher on earth. that said, happy readings on the godly tales, any edition that is, as they do make good bed time stories. bid or read more on the letter here. by dd

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hunter or haunted?

mister hunter s. thompson in his later, leisurely days. it’s hard to think of him as a young man in the US airforce where he was discharged, in june 1958, having been recommended for an early honorable discharge by his commanding officer. “in summary, this airman, although talented, will not be guided by policy”, col. william s. evans, chief of information services wrote. “sometimes his rebel and superior attitude seems to rub off on other airmen staff members.” in a mock press release thompson had written about the end of his duty, he claimed to have been issued a status of, “totally unclassifiable” which i think could be considered quite appropriate, no mockery intended. by dd

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julian assange pissed off: rotten swedish meatballs for sale

“what does the u.s. have to do with a swedish extradition process?” assange asked. “why is it that me, a non-profit free speech activist, is subject to a $360,000 bail? why is it that i am kept under electronic house arrest when i have not even been charged in any country, when i have never been a fugitive?” well the answer mr. assange, is that you revealed the truth.  and not “all” of the truth is generally required.

if you don’t know much about this start reading yourself, but here’s a TV guide version of this tragedy. wikileaks founder julian assange finally lost his uk supreme court fight against extradition to sweden to face accusations of sex offenses (apparently having consensual sex in sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment for a minimum of two years for rape). some of the claims were filed by anna ardin, an accuser with alleged CIA ties. ardin had worked with “las damas de blanco” a feminist anti-castro group in cuba backed by the CIA. apparently ardin had slept with assange on more than one occassion and after the last one had thrown a party in assange’s honour at her flat after the alleged ‘crime’ and tweeted to her followers that she is with, “the world’s coolest smartest people.” somehow, she turned on him afterwards. ardin also happens to be the author of a 7-step guide on legal revenge of cheating boyfriends. the plot thickens. whatever it was, the CIA or the jealousy we could actually understand both. what we can’t understand is sweden? the assange case was originally thrown out of the court by one judge for lack of evidence, months later another “lay judge” (lay judges are appointed in sweden because of their political affiliations to adjudicate in criminal proceedings and have no formal legal training), this lay judge suddenly reopened the case and issued a warrant for assange (all of this as clinton and the rest of world powers were condemning wikileaks). now what has resulted in england is also expected, but of all places sweden? we saw the nords as the pillars of true democracy without the for-sale sign. it appears sweden is no longer any different than the rest. they best take good care of him, we will need people like that. by jm (george orwell’s niece)

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calling all aspiring losers: here’s kim kardashians awesome IMDB biography

IMDb writer jon hopwood penned a very honest and thoughtful biography for kim kardashian…

“kim kardashian is emblematic of the shallowness of american culture in the first two decades of the new millennium. while some cultural critics call her the prime avatar of the “famous for being famous” faux celebrity crowd, she along with paris hilton is a new breed of cat whose celebrity comes from the release of a sex tape and the canny exploitation of the resulting publicity. like her good friend miss hilton (their relationship predates kim’s “celebrity”, kardashian is possessed of photogenic good looks but is short of any other discernible talents outside of the bedroom. both expanded their celebrity by becoming reality tv “stars”.

“…in the decadence that is america of the $15-trillion deficit and no serious plans from either party for a solution to the economic problems of the “great recession,” kim kardashian is welcomed to her second white house correspondents association dinner in washington, d.c. in 2012 and made fun of not only by host jimmy kimmel but by the president of the united states…that the woman’s fame rests on the february 2007 “leaking” of a four-year-old home sex [tape] (for which she ultimately received $5 million from vivid entertainment) is an apt metaphor for socio-economic-cultural malaise in washington and the country beyond, where everything seems to be run by amoral prostitutes in bed with each other and merely out for a buck.” by fm

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big speaker without the big bad bass: Dunlavy Audio Labs SCIV loudspeakers

dunlavy SC-IV, anechoic response on HF axis at 3m with grille on, with nearfield midrange response below 400Hz, nearfield woofer response below 700Hz, and complex sum of nearfield midrange and woofer outputs in the ratio of the drive-unit diameters.

 colin jordan of the boiler room mastering studios on his dunlavy SCVI-A’s (the “A” stands for the newer generation of SCIV’s with modified bass drivers producing slightly deeper bass than the SCIV’s)

dunlavy audio labs: the DAL factory in colorado springs before it closed down

hand made to last a lifetime

its been over a year that i have been looking for a pair of speakers that can fill my large room at low volumes without dealing with exaggerated bass or loss of midrange. i seriously considered magnepan 3.6 or 3.7’s (a brand i owned years ago) but ended up here. i finally had a pair of dunlavy SCVI’s delivered over the weekend and i’m super excited to set them up. they are to be customized for me in white (pics to follow) to blend the 6 foot tall monoliths into my space a bit. dunlavy loudspeakers are a rather special bunch (measurements/specs), hand produced for a short period of time in the 90’s in colorado springs USA by john dunlavy (formerly head designer of the duntech out of australia) before DAL disappeared, as most idealist companies do… john dunlavy also passed away in 2007 making his speakers, and life’s work immortal. the SCVI’s were honored as stereophile’s 1994 loudspeaker of the year and then product of the year. stereophile editor robert deutsch who reviewed the speakers in april 1994 ended up not returning the speakers as they do with the usual reviews and instead ended up buying a pair himself. back in 1994 (more than 18 years ago) they cost what many considered a reasonable $4,995-$5,495/pair or $6,995-$7,495/pair for SCIVAs plus shipping (a considerable amount given they are over 500lbs, 250lbs each) plus tax. today they are still sought after by those looking for an un-exagerated, flat bass, and neutral mids that is due to its dense un-ported modular cabinetry that houses each driver separately. i had listened to them before purchasing them and while they fill the room beautifully at low volumes they still have the incredible ability to be fast unlike the magnepans. i will write more later. by dd

CATEGORIES: audio-electronics, read

ON ART – CHARLES SAATCHI

ok, so first of all, the guardian is really a great newspaper for anything cultural/art/design related and THIS ARTICLE on charles saatchi’s thoughts on art made my day. a must read. same here charles (even if you started all this bullshit). by pp.

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