ruff linkage 20154710 min read

[weekly linkdump, somewhat edited from my delicious]

#tumblr

Tumblr Image of the Week

#twitter

A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation? – “police searches of electronic devices, Internet censorship and freedom of association. Rather than enganging in any thorough consideration of the causes that led to the killings and of the way to solve this complex situation, the entire French political class betrays itself by responding to this unprecedented attack on our liberties with a broad restriction of our civil liberties.”

The Paris Attacks, Refugees, and the Brutal Fiction of Borders – “In the aftermath of a mass murder, it’s natural to want to do “something.” That something could be lying to ourselves that Syrians are carriers of a terrorism virus, not humans like us, forced by war to risk their lives for safety. It could mean more security, more closed minds and borders. It could mean shrinking our world down, putting up barriers for some false sense of security. It could mean giving IS exactly what they want.” Molly Crabapple.

If the West closes its borders, the terrorists will have won – “We cannot say for certain that opening Europe’s borders would not allow a few terrorists to cross over into our cities along with hundreds of thousands of needy innocents. What we can say for certain is that closing those borders would allow the terrorists into our hearts. Kindness, diversity and decency are weapons that can only be brought to one battlefield, and it happens to be the one territory that Isis cannot afford to lose.” Penny Red.

An Improbable Survival – “Sébastien rescued a woman hanging from the window of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. Then he survived a two-hour hostage standoff.” This video really brings it home.

In Wake of French Terror, Maybe Pastafarians Aren’t So Crazy – “This is proof that the world has gone bonkers. The end HAS to be near. There is no hope.” Comment made, no, not regarding the attacks in Paris, but regarding the Pastafarian woman in Boston allowed to wear he spaghetti strainer on her drivers license.

Terrorism Works – “We are richer, and mightier, and far more deadly than any of our terrorist foes could dream of being. And yet we happily play into their hands.”

To Defeat ISIS, We Must Call Both Western and Muslim Leaders to Account – “I have no patience anymore for people who claim that Muslims do not speak out. They do, every day. Muslims are the primary victims of ISIS, and its primary resisters. It is an insult to every one of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim victims of terrorism to lump them with the lunatics who commit terror.”

Here come the Paris truthers: Paranoia, the American right, and the missing complexity from our terrorism debate – “Everyone and no one is innocent in wartime, and once the shooting starts, there is no such thing as moral clarity. It would be so much easier if that were not the case.”

Terror in Paris: Preis der Freiheit, Kommentar von Nils Minkmar – “die Opfer, in denen sich jeder wiedererkennen kann, über eine Ewigkeit völlig schutzlos waren. Das wird nicht dadurch geheilt, dass man verspricht, künftig dies und das zu tun, damit die Mörder keine Chance haben -nächstes Mal. In Wahrheit ist diese Schutzlosigkeit, die Fragilité das Kennzeichen unserer offenen Gesellschaft und die hohe Zahl der Opfer ihr Preis. Diese Wahrheit sollten wir uns ehrlich eingestehen.”

Tuer le bonheur – “Seul l’amour de la liberté permet de rester libre. Ces convictions doivent gouverner la riposte. Supprimer des libertés, proposer des lois d’exception, c’est déjà céder.”

Exploiting Emotions About Paris to Blame Snowden, Distract from Actual Culprits Who Empowered ISIS – “As one Twitter commentator put it yesterday when mocking this new It’s-Snowden’s-Fault game: “Dude, the drug dealers from the Wire knew not to use cell phones.””

Warum Terroristen nicht gewinnen können – “Und deswegen haben sie auch nicht gewonnen. Solange wir es schaffen, uns nicht über Hass und Gewalt zu definieren, sondern unsere Leben in Offenheit und Frieden zu gestalten, können sie nicht gewinnen. Denn selbst ein gewaltsam beendetes Leben in Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung ist unendlich viel lebenswerter als das traurige Dasein religiös verblendeter Glaubenssklaven.”

“… to not let those men win.” [they can never ever win.] – “I promise that their last thoughts were not on the animals who caused all this. It was thinking of the people they loved. As i lay down in the blood of strangers and waiting for my bullet to end my mere 22 years, I envisioned every face that I have ever loved and whispered I love you. over and over again. reflecting on the highlights of my life. Wishing that those i love knew just how much, wishing that they knew that no matter what happened to me, to keep belieivng in the good in people. to not let those men win.” This gives me so much hope.

#watch and

Eric & “Anna” — Field of Vision – “A story of youth, dissent, love and betrayal in post 9/11 America woven exclusively with FBI surveillance, ERIC & “ANNA” tells the story of a teenage informant and the activist she helped to put in prison for nearly 20 years.”

MECHANICAL TECHNO DEMONSTRATION – “Mechanical Techno Demonstration by Graham Dunning”

An Irishman In Vegas – “Gave my Dad my GoPro while he was in Las Vegas, I did not, however, instruct him on how to use it, so my dad being my dad, and a culchie, didn’t know which way to point the fucking thing…”

David Graeber on Rojava social revolution – This actually from last january, but it’s good to remember this now.

#learn

A Transitioner’s Guide to COP21 in Paris. | Transition Network – “We’ve got a stall in the Climate Generations area at the official COP21 exhibition where we’ll be drawing on experience from across the Ecovillage, Permaculture and Transition movements and beyond to highlight the power and potential of community. If you’re visiting the exhibition, make sure you come and say hello!”

Conversion via Twitter – “How a prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church came to question its beliefs.” A lot in there on how religious radicals can change their ways and even their views.

This City is the World’s First to Mandate Climate Change Warning Labels on Gas Pumps – “What if every time you fueled up at your local gas station, you were reminded that the world’s addiction to oil contributes to climate change? Would it change your habits? The city of North Vancouver, British Columbia is hoping so. The city council voted unanimously earlier this week to approve mandatory climate change labels on gas pumps.”

PARIS // COP21: SHEPARD REVEALS EARTH CRISIS GLOBE, LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE EIFFEL TOWER – “Shepard unveils his latest work “Earth Crisis:” a giant sphere suspended between the first and second floor of the Eiffel Tower, a call to action to address the global environmental crisis. Visible from November 20 to 26th, it is a strong artistic gesture for Paris that will host the World Conference on climate change COP21.” Impressive art-piece by Shepard. But here’s one thought you should avoid. Don’t see in it the single testicle hanging from the phallic eiffel tour.

Histography – Timeline of History – Awesome visualization, does only work in Safari or Chrome currently.

Why a Climate Deal Is the Best Hope for Peace – “When our safety feels threatened, it’s difficult to think of anything else. Major shocks like the Paris attacks are awfully good at changing the subject. But what if we decided to not let it happen? What if, instead of changing the subject, we deepened the discussion of climate change and expanded the range of solutions, which are fundamental for real human security? What if, instead of being pushed aside in the name of war, climate action took center stage as the planet’s best hope for peace?” Naomi Klein

Why do some hallucinogens cause universal hallucinations? – “if you ask the shamans who use different plants and have done so for hundreds or thousands of years, they will tell you that the visions that occur are often similar. This is because they say that you are being introduced both to the spirit of that particular plant and to the spirits (animal, plant, or energy being) that is associated with that plant.”

The Gay Street Artist Who Has Been Decorating Copenhagen with Assholes and Rainbows – “Homophobes, in a word. I’m actively trying to provoke them and I’m doing it by transforming gay bashing into straight bashing, by slathering homosexuality all over, and shoving it in their faces. I also kind of wanted to piss off the rest of the street art community, particularly the ones who have a problem with gays.”

Turn an Old Mac Into a Cheap VPN with OS X Server – “If you have an old Mac sitting around, you can make use of it by turning it into the simplest DIY VPN around, perfect for browsing safely on public Wi-Fi or grab files from your home computer on-the-go.”

Obama’s drone war a ‘recruitment tool’ for Isis, say US air force whistleblowers – “We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home”

From Paris to Boston, Terrorists Were Already Known to Authorities – “If any lesson can be learned from studying the perpetrators of recent attacks, it is that there needs to be a greater investment in conducting targeted surveillance of known terror suspects and a move away from the constant knee-jerk expansion of dragnet surveillance, which has simply not proven itself to be effective, regardless of the debate about whether it is legal or ethical in the first place.”

La vrai lettre d’Eric Cantona – His resolve to avoid Social media at all cost remains unbroken.

Even in the Hands of an Expert, Mockery Is Tough to Control – “That’s the risk of using mockery. Used on its own, it makes ordinary people feel like you’re clueless and condescending.”

Companies Like Kikkoman Are Still Testing on Animals – “PETA, the animal rights organization, published an investigation of the company’s history of animal testing and found multiple examples of experiments where animals are mutilated and killed for the testing of soy products.”

Love is better than food, if you’re a pair of great tits – “Maintaining a strong bond is so important for these birds that they prefer to stay together even if it means going without food”

‘The history of punk was always HIS story’: the women rewriting rock – “As famous women’s memoirs become ever more familiar sights on publishers’ lists, different expectations of what older women can write will become familiar too – as will those of what older women can do, and what older women can be.”

What ISIS Really Wants – “The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it.” Great time to re-read this now. Let us not give them the world in black and white, the hatred they wanted to provoke in us.

[delicious.com/pieceoplastic or subscribe to this RSS feed – with all the typos]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.