Food Snobs
Comment:
In a world full of hunger and depravity, where we face the monopolization of food by mega corporations and the GM industry, it is obscene to turn food into a “hobby”.
The pursuit of and discussion of food (gluttony) as a fashionable behavior with a name like “foodie” is actually disgusting.
Nature has a way of dealing with excessive behavior like this, including type II and III diabetes, obesity, heart failure, stroke, and other “replies” to human dietary excess.
…from an article on the vogue foodie movement.
10/02/2012 Leave a comment
An Insurance Mess
Comment:
“John Gilmore once explained to me how he manages his health care. He’s self-employed and pretty well-off, but he’s also incredibly smart and very good at cost-benefit analysis. John’s approach (if I recall correctly) is to take out disability insurance and catastrophic injury/illness insurance, both of which are relatively cheap. Then he pays cash for *everything* else – and negotiates a cash discount for all the services he uses. He’s pretty confident that this is much cheaper than any private health insurance he’d get, and unlike an insured patient (who is a pain-in-the-ass liability for a PCP, who has to deal with the insurer to get paid), John is a paying customer with the power to take his business elsewhere, who represents cash-on-the-barrelhead for each visit, and that means his doctors treat him like a VIP, not an inconvenient hassle.”
…from a blog post on the mess of a system that is insurance in America – the write is the wife of the guy who runs kottke.org.
I find it terribly sad that we can’t fix this because of ideological rigidity.
08/15/2011 Leave a comment
5 Emotions Invented by the Internet
Comment:
“Another “new” emotion that a coworker of mine first articulated is that feeling of suspense one experiences when one has copied something (so it’s in the buffer) but not yet pasted it anywhere. It’s not quite on point, since it’s more generally computer derived than specifically internet related (another one of those being the false expectation of being able to Undo some action in real life when it led to a negative outcome).”
…from a blog post on the 5 emotions that have cropped up as a result of our interactions with the ole internet.
I love the moment before you hit Command+V and shoot your copied text all over the place.
01/21/2011 Leave a comment
Mobile Economics to Web Economics
Comment:
“I might pay to not see ads, especially on my Android where it is virtually impossible to scroll without triggering ads that are across the top and bottom, something means I can’t read the Times on my phone.”
…from a blog post on where the mobile marketplace is going in terms of how it will be delivered to users and monetized.
Amen – can we just pay you to never see advertisements again :)?
01/03/2011 Leave a comment
War Against Middle Class – Senator Bernie Sanders
Comment:
“FACT: Southwest Airlines requires Bernie Sanders to pay for two seats because of his massive balls”
…from a Youtube video of a speech given by Senator Bernie Sanders on the shrinking of the middle class and the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts.
That’s just funny.
12/12/2010 Leave a comment
GOP, Dems near deal on taxes and jobless benefits
Comment:
wow ,this is a great article !. I am a 30-years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a young man who can give me real love , so i got a username autumngirl555 on —-A’geGapS’ingles. C○M—— .it is the first and best club forI’m not Republican or Democrat. I do like the Obama Idea for taxing the rich and finally cutting Middle class a break. I wish I could say I like more about Obama or any other goverment personal. wealthy people and their admirers. e…you don’t have to be rich ,but you can meet one there , lol i love it
…from a Yahoo article on the impending deal between our two lunatic parties on taxes and jobless benefits.
After reading the article and feeling frustrated (why do Republicans want to give tax breaks to millionaires? Didn’t seem to trickle down these past few years. How about they pair their fair share? Not dollar amount, but %), this spam comment stole the show. God bless Spam.
12/06/2010 Leave a comment
Winner Take All Politics
Comment #1:
…Which is why all this concern over widening wealth gaps is mostly nonsense — its an unavoidable consequence of economic growth…
Reply:
…Perhaps I can demonstrate the shortcomings in this “argument” with the following parallel statement:
Which is why all this concern over traumatic brain injury to servicemen is mostly nonsense — it’s an unavoidable consequence of modern combat.
My statement — like the one defending growing wealth gaps — contains a self-evident statement about the relationship between a consequence and its cause. But neither statement does anything to advance the argument that the concern in question is “nonsense.”
Reply to “..traumatic brain injury…”:
Except that Bill Gates being rich doesn’t harm me in any appreciable way. Also, my neighbor has a better house than me, but that doesn’t hurt either. Well unless envy = harm nowadays.
Reply to “Except that Bill Gates…”:
I believe you’ve misconstrued the issue. It isn’t the effects of people like Bill Gates beingrich. It the effect of people like Bill Gates being profoundly richer than the vast majority of Americans.
And that distinction is consequential.
For instance, when the United States Supreme Court has declared the expenditure of money to be equal to speech, one can see how such a vast disparity of wealth, and the subsequent disparity of political power, could be recognized as appreciable harm.
…from a book review of Winner Take All Politics on the excellent BoingBoing.net blog.
All I’ll say is this is a book everyone should read. Don’t jump off into the talking points of a few of the comments on this post. Read the book. It’s numbers objective. And infuriating.
12/04/2010 Leave a comment
Qatar Gets the World Cup
Comment:
“As part of the arrangement, Qatar has been asked to allow Women basic human rights, stop their slave trade, allow alcohol, allow homosexuals to enter the country, and of course recognize Israel as a state. Oh wait…none of that happened. They just paid the most. If nothing got us to discover alternate energy sources before, surely this will spurn some innovation?”
…from an ESPN article announcing Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, beating out the US.
As a passionate US Soccer supporter, this really sucks. And, in all honesty, me posting this comment is definitely based on my feelings about the decision right now.
12/02/2010 Leave a comment
November Wikileaks
Comment:
“Hmm. If this is all to get information into the public domain where it “should” belong, what happens if as a result of these leaks people stop talking to each other? Some people will prefer to say nothing at all rather than have their private thoughts leaked.
This could affect sources talking to journalists, not just diplomats. And many journalists also get their information from diplomats, who themselves had heard something.
It is a good idea to have a default position of being open rather than closed, but you have to think about what happens as a result of leaking confidential information.
I sometimes wonder if Assange doesn’t actually care about the free flow of information in the future, just that he wants to get noticed and be some sort of “information hero”. Or maybe he is so naive to think that people will carry on as they have done, rather than remain tight-lipped when they’re next asked about something important.”
…from a Guardian article on the leak of classified information by the site Wikileaks.
Good question by this poster. I don’t think most people live in a world of utter black and white where the truth is the truth is the truth. And it must be spoken at all times. What happens when people zip their lips, stay silent, and don’t spread any information? Or, that’s too black and white, people share less.
11/29/2010 Leave a comment
Romney Stakes Out New Position
Comment:
Where does Romney stand on the evolution of corporations from simpler, more primitive, forms of business organization like the sole proprietorship or the partnership? Does he believe that they came into existence spontaneously, selected by market forces as the most efficient form of business, or that there was some intelligent designer of the corporate form?
…from a blog post on covering Mitt Romney’s statement that corporations are people too.
You gotta love the irony. Hi5 to this commenter.
08/31/2011 Leave a comment