| |
|
China, New Land of Shoppers, Builds Malls on Gigantic Scale |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
9:44 pm EDT, May 25, 2005 |
Not long ago, shopping in China consisted mostly of lining up to entreat surly clerks to accept cash in exchange for ugly merchandise that did not fit. But now, Chinese have started to embrace America's modern "shop till you drop" ethos and are in the midst of a buy-at-the-mall frenzy. Already, four shopping malls in China are larger than the Mall of America. Two, including the South China Mall, are bigger than the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, which just surrendered its status as the world's largest to an enormous retail center in Beijing. And by 2010, China is expected to be home to at least 7 of the world's 10 largest malls. Make sure you watch the multi-media presentation... China, New Land of Shoppers, Builds Malls on Gigantic Scale |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
1:42 pm EDT, May 25, 2005 |
America faces a huge set of challenges if it is going to retain its competitive edge. As a nation, we have a mounting education deficit, energy deficit, budget deficit, health care deficit and ambition deficit. The administration is in denial on this, and Congress is off on Mars. And yet, when I look around for the group that has both the power and interest in seeing America remain globally focused and competitive -- America's business leaders -- they seem to be missing in action. I am not worried about the rise of the cultural conservatives. I am worried about the disappearance of an internationalist, pro-American business elite. C.E.O.'s, M.I.A. |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
3:00 pm EST, Dec 12, 2004 |
It's that time of year again. An annual compendium of ideas from A to Z. This is a huge collection of short articles. I'll list a few that are particularly insightful. I've tried to cull as much as possible. Best get a star... Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping
'Acting White' Myth, The
Augmented Bar Code, The
Do-It-Yourself Attack Ad, The
Feral Cities
Fertile Red States
Foolproof Death Penalty, The
*Hawkishness as Evolutionary Holdover
*Income-Variability Anxiety
Invitation-Only, Incentivized Campaign Rally, The
Kill Midlevel Terrorists
Land-Mine-Detecting Plants
*Lawfare
*Listening for Cancer
Making Vaccines Good Business
**Popular Constitutionalism (I'm going to separately meme this...)
*Professional Amateurs
Purple-State Country Music
Strategic Extremism
*Wal-Mart Sovereignty The Year in Ideas |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
2:23 pm EST, Nov 25, 2004 |
It's a "Guns, Germs, & Steel"-informed retelling of the Thanksgiving story by the author of a forthcoming book on pre-Columbian America. In Jennie Augusta Brownscombe's 1914 painting "The First Thanksgiving," as in other depictions of the first Thanksgiving meal, natives and newcomers share their feast on a field of bluegrass, dandelion and clover - three species that did not exist in the Americas before colonization. Clover and bluegrass, tame as accountants at home, transformed themselves into biological Attilas in the Americas. The peach proliferated in the Southeast with such fervor that farmers feared the Carolinas would become a wilderness of peach trees. According to the Pilgrims' own accounts, natives outnumbered newcomers at the meal by almost two to one. But soon after Europeans arrived, European diseases killed 90 percent or more of the hemisphere's original inhabitants. The huge herds and flocks seen by Europeans were evidence not of American bounty but of Indian absence. Unnatural Abundance |
|
Freedom Is Not Just a Slogan |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
12:35 am EDT, Oct 25, 2004 |
The essential element of a democratic society -- trust -- has been weakened, as secrecy, mendacity and intimidation have become the hallmarks of this administration. Rhetoric matters. Freedom Is Not Just a Slogan |
|
What Derrida Really Meant |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
2:23 pm EDT, Oct 17, 2004 |
As an Algerian Jew writing in France during the postwar years in the wake of totalitarianism on the right (fascism) as well as the left (Stalinism), Jacques Derrida understood all too well the danger of beliefs and ideologies that divide the world into diametrical opposites: right or left, red or blue, good or evil, for us or against us. He showed how these repressive structures, which grew directly out of the Western intellectual and cultural tradition, threatened to return with devastating consequences. By struggling to find ways to overcome patterns that exclude the differences that make life worth living, he developed a vision that is consistently ethical. Belief not tempered by doubt poses a mortal danger. As the process of globalization draws us ever closer in networks of communication and exchange, there is an understandable longing for simplicity, clarity and certainty. This desire is responsible, in large measure, for the rise of cultural conservatism and religious fundamentalism -- in this country and around the world. The alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief -- one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know so that we can keep the future open. What Derrida Really Meant |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
8:21 pm EDT, Sep 11, 2004 |
"We used to have the Orgasmatron out in front on the Esplanade, but the sheriff came around a few too many times, so we moved it out of sight. You know, it's not like it used to be around here." Kidsville has tripled in area and numbers over the last two years, and rebellious individualism -- along with the guns and heroin so prevalent in the early '90s -- has been replaced with something ever-so-much more admirable. Safer, more family-friendly, environmentally conscious and orderly, Black Rock City has evolved into a lovely place to live. Burning man is a family oriented event? McDonald's cannot be far behind. The Taming of the Burn |
|
'04 Graduates Learned Lesson in Practicality |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
7:59 pm EDT, May 29, 2004 |
] Yet two years of dismal job prospects, during a recession
] that cut about 2.7 million jobs from peak to trough, have
] imbued the current crop of seniors with an awareness of
] the economy's inherent instability and prompted them to
] be much more deliberate about their careers. A survey of
] college students conducted by the association earlier
] this year found that only slightly more than 10 percent
] of respondents ticked "don't know what I want to do" as
] their biggest obstacle to finding a job, compared with 22
] percent in 2000. A generational shift in new graduates. '04 Graduates Learned Lesson in Practicality |
|
