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I went to SXSW in Austin. Man, I should live in Austin at some point.

Stars Pulse to the Golden Mean

Not all stars, actually just a certain type. This story starts with a theory, that intelligent civilizations might communicate with one another by tweaking star behavior with nutrino blasts. It turns out this discovery is no consistent with such a fascinating hypothesis. But what we have learned is that starts do not blink in non-chaotic ways, their pulsing occurs in a very specific way, one that corresponds to the ever-impressing golden mean.

A discussion with the “Buddhist Bin Laden”

Burma is a very buddhist country, and in an effort to dispel stereotypes, it practices religious violence on muslims. There is an ethnic group in the nation’s east, the Rohingya, who are related to the Bengali people, that are the target of monk-led ethnic cleansing. Hear what the all but  unknown leader of this effort has to say.

Christianity and the State of the USA

The roots of the United States as an explicitly Christian nation have their roots in the depression. Many poor and disaffected turned to their church for answers in those hard times. They also turned to the government for answers, and as history will tell you, Roosevelt’s federal government offered popular solutions. Elite capitalists, their grip on the government as loose as it may have ever been, turned to the church for real and spiritual salvation. The (re)joining of america’s civil religion with christian-capitalism was born, and later solidified during the red scare.

Justice Capitalism

A central creed amongst many if not all Social Justice Warrior circles is that capitalism is incapable of producing a just world. I think this aversion to capitalism often prevents their messages from being accepted in circles that might otherwise embrace them. Paul Tudor Jones II, from his name alone you can tell he’s a capitalist, tries to imagine a system where social justice can feel at home in a capitalist world.

Trolls on Wikipedia

Never trust everything you read, especially things on, or citing, wikipedia. Why? Because it is so far from perfect, and there is a class of person who seek to come up with the most perfect wikipedia hoax. I appreciate, on one hand, the moxie, if you will, that these hoaxers have, but I love my social goods too much to be happy about it. The Bicholim Conflict is the most successful wiki-hoax known to date.

Being loud and obnoxious is the way to riches

I don’t know when in society is became a thing to profit off cynical self-parody in a totally non-ironic way. But in america, without joking, you can just say “I’m an asshole, give me your money, this is how it works.” And it works! This is a thing now. Maybe its always been a thing, and now its reported, but we’re there, as a society.

 

The Right learns to love the first amendment

Historically the right wing has loved the second amendment, and the left wing has gotten to love the first one. Now that corporations are people, the roll of the first amendment in society is changing. The doctrine of corporate personhood is allowing the corporate sector to use the religious and speech protections in the bill of rights to escape regulations the left likes. No word yet on what it will take the right to love the tenth amendment.

Run, don’t walk away from Minnesota

You can ejaculate on food, as you please, consequence free. So frat life there just became the worst ever.

You are being hacked at a restaurant

I am not sure there is a lot you can do with this information, but at least you now know how you are being exploited.

A talk with Jane Goodall

She’s the best! And cartoons.

ALERT

I think I want to start highlighting minor miracle workers. Today’s is a judge in new york who decided to stop allowing his court room to exist as a racist nuisance.