February 2010
January 2010
3 tags
Haiti's coffee: Will it come back?
Jennifer Ward writes in The Atlantic:
In the 18th century, when Haiti was still a French colony, the country grew a grand cru of its own: beans of the original arabica typica varietal, the first species of coffee to be cultivated, far superior to the other major commercial varietal, robusta. Consumers in France and Italy coveted the island’s distinctive coffee, and the industry thrived. But after...
Haiti's coffee: Will it come back?
Jennifer Ward writes in The Atlantic:
In the 18th century, when Haiti was still a French colony, the country grew a grand cru of its own: beans of the original arabica typica varietal, the first species of coffee to be cultivated, far superior to the other major commercial varietal, robusta. Consumers in France and Italy coveted the island’s distinctive coffee, and the industry thrived....
Why are Europeans white? →
It’s not just sunlight; Aleuts, Sami and Chukchi people live at least as far north and aren’t as pale.
Some good thought and data here.
Article at Google Knol
Party of No →
Paragons of fiscal discipline, every Senate Republican today voted against reestablishing “pay-as-you-go” budgeting rules that mandate that any new spending must be paid for. The rule passed on a 60-40 party line vote. (via azspot)
This post links to an incendiary blog post →
This sentence highly recommends clicking the link! This is the link.
Kids' TV hosts terrorism-stopped for pew-pewing...
via boingboing: The presenters from British TV channel ITV’s Toonatik were filming in London wearing safety gear and brandishing hairdryers. Of course, this presents a danger to Queen and Country, so the ever-vigilant Met held them and issued them a warning under the anti-terrorism act. And Londoners survive another day!
“Jamie and I were kitted out in fake utility belts....
Open letter to Tea Party Patriots →
Why you will not get a raise this year. or ever again. Your paystub is the only prop you’ll need to follow this simple but eloquent reasoning, at slacktivist.
Disney-logoed DDT-impregnated wallpaper for the...
Embiggen.
Does your 1947 tenement apartment suffer from the kind of disease-bearing insects that thrive in filth? Why not protect your children from this infectious influence by wallpapering every surface with DDT-impregnated wall-paper? It’s hygienic and stylish! Available with Disney trademarks!
(via boingboing: Vintage Ads)
Financial reality break
James Howard Kunstler writes:
The underlying reality is that the financial sector of the economy has got to shrink. It ballooned from about five percent of the US economy to about 22 percent over the last two decades — mainly as a way to compensate for our declining real productive activity as we off-shored and outsourced and disassembled US industrial capacity.
Capitalism only works when...
Notes on my lunch
Chris at Great Moments in Christory has been saving the notes his wife sticks to his lunch bag.
See More…
1 tag
A wonderful revelation to the world
An excerpt from An Extraordinary Peace: St. Seraphim, Flame of Sarov
Conversation of St. Seraphim with N. A. Motovilov
It was Thursday. The day was gloomy. The snow lay eight inches deep on the ground; and dry, crisp snowflakes were falling thickly from the sky when Father Seraphim began his conversation with me in a field adjoining his near hermitage, opposite the River Sarovka, at the foot of...
WatchElectric Sheep by the Baaa-Studs
7 tags
The Loneliness of the Cities
From Athonite Flowers: Seven Contemporary Essays on the Spiritual Life by Monk Moses. The author was born in Athens, Greece and has been living the monastic life on Mount Athos since 1975. He is the Elder of the Kalyvi of St. John Chrysostom at the Skete of St. Panteleimon of the Koutloumoussiou Monastery. He devotes much of his time to studying the lives of saints and poetry, to writing articles...
Congress: NASA, will you meet the 2020 deadline we... →
NASA won’t meet Congressional orders to track most city-smashing-sized asteroids in Earth’s neighborhood by 2020, an expert panel concluded Friday, because the government didn’t provide the money to detect such Near-Earth Objects. More…
Fixed: The Odd/Even Star Trek Movie Law →
Balance has been restored.
“If the tradition which claims that war may be justified does not also admit that...”
– John Howard Yoder (via azspot)
100% confirmed photo of an Apple tablet computer →
Click!
Most Americans would trim liberties to be safer →
pleasedontsqueezetheshaman:
azspot:
The survey found 51 percent of Americans agreeing that “it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism.”
Is liberty the new love handles? Then sign me up for some land-o-the-free liposuction!
Sorry folks, you’re the opposite of safe if your government can stick fingers in you every time you fly and...
Can you use "orthogonal" in a sentence?
Justice Antonin Scalia: “Orthogonal… Ooh.”
WaPo: Supreme Court Justices, law professor play with words