[weekly linkdump, somewhat edited]
#best news this week
The Ecuadorian Library – Bruce Sterling – "The Iraqi weapons of mass destruction never existed. Climate change does exist, and could drown Wall Street any day now. The abject state of global finance is obvious, yet it makes no difference to the ongoing depredations. Drones are stark assassination machines, and they don’t stay classified. Anyone could go on. And, yeah, by the way, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Google et al, they are all the blood brothers of Huawei in China — because they are intelligence assets posing as commercial operations. They are surveillance marketers. They give you free stuff in order to spy on you and pass that info along the value chain. Personal computers can have users, but social media has livestock."
Sterling’s “The Ecuadorian Library” vs civil liberties groups – "despite Bruce’s keen observations, he hasn’t been paying very close attention to what groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been doing since 2005. Indeed, when it comes to the view he presents of Internet activists, Bruce is just plain, flat-out, factually wrong."
#watch and
The Abramovic Method Practiced by Lady Gaga – "Last week at a three-day retreat in upstate New York, Marina instructed Lady Gaga in the Abramovic Method–a series of exercises designed to heighten participants’ awareness of their physical and mental experience in the present moment."
“From One Second To The Next” Documentary – "Xzavier, Chandler, Debbie, and Reggie all know the horrors of texting & driving firsthand. Watch their stories in this It Can Wait Documentary. " By Werner Herzog
#learn
Bikram Yoga Founder Hates Sluts and Fatties, Loves Talking About Dicks – "An ex-employee and two former students recently accused Bikram Yoga founder Bikram Choudhury of a variety of not-so-enlightening practices including rape, sexual harassment, and racism."
Thank you Edward Snowden! – "Tell Edward Snowden, "Thank you for exposing the NSA’s illegal spying programs. We support your whistleblowing."
PLUTO Data Tour – "Many thanks to advocates inside and outside who worked tirelessly for years to liberate one of New York City’s most fundamental datasets."
An Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC – "An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world."
Unseen World War I photos: German Trenches – "Walter took advantage of some unique opportunities to capture WWI on film. His photos tell the stories of living in the trenches, visiting home with friends, his work as an aerial reconnaissance photographer and his increasing understanding of the horrors of war."
What do you do the day after a death threat? – "On Monday, I received a bomb threat. This has been happening to several prominent British women journalists and politicians recently, and I suppose it’s some sort of dubious distinction, but it didn’t make it any less frightening and enraging to have to call the police and then find somewhere else to stay for the night"
EduPunks Atlas – “Mapping education’s evolving landscape; a sortable database of educational resources from the Edupunks’ Guide and around the web.”
The Plethora of Pasta Permutations – "A delicious charting of over 250 shapes of pasta, broken down by those that emerge from machines (like penne, rigatoni, and fusilli) and those that are traditionally crafted by hand (like tagliatelle, gnocchi, and pappardelle)."
What is Killing the Bees? – "This study is more interesting than many others I’ve seen. It looked at how pesticides interfere with honeybee’s resistance to a common parasite Nosema ceranae. Bees exposed to a widely used agricultural fungicide, chlorothonatil, were more likely to succumb to nosema. The most provocative result for me was that bees exposed to fluvalinate, a miticide used by beekeepers on their own bees, were also likely to get nosema."
#lang:de
Various & Gould » #HolyHelpers – Aufruf zur Prozession, 13. August, Berlin – "Das Berliner Künstlerduo Various & Gould ruft auf zur ersten Berliner Sankt-Nimmerleins-Prozession am 13. August 2013 um 14:30 Uhr! Bei dieser Kunstaktion werden vier Plakatfiguren aus ihrer Serie der Modernen Heiligen den öffentlichen Umzug begleiten und feierlich an passenden Orten platziert."
Glückliche Hennen findest du nicht im Supermarkt – "Von der Idee „Bio“ ist nicht viel übrig geblieben außer teures biologisch produziertes Futter und Bilder vom lächelnden Bauer mit Strohhut auf der Packung. Vor den Bio-Farmen stehen genauso die Kadavertonnen aufgereiht, und so mancher Hühnerbaron, der vorher über ein Imperium aus Käfigbatterien herrschte, hat Bio- und Freiland für sich entdeckt. Denn die Labels mögen sich ändern, die Mentalität der Leute im Hintergrund hat sich nicht geändert. Auch Bio-Haltung bedeutet Ausbeutung bis zum Letzten."
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