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| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
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Selected National Intelligence Estimates on China, 1948-1976 |
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| Topic: International Relations |
8:36 am EDT, Oct 19, 2004 |
This collection of declassified National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) is the first such release of analytical products exclusively on China. The editors' aim was to include Estimates that tracked the general trends of China's internal politics, foreign relations, national economy, and the growth of its military establishment. They also sought to cover the drama of the final stages of the Chinese civil war and the establishment of Communist rule in 1949, the new regime's first Five Year Plan of 1953-1957, Mao's principal ideological campaigns -- the Great Leap Forward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution -- and the Sino-Soviet split. Generally speaking, China is big. Selected National Intelligence Estimates on China, 1948-1976 |
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Jenna Tells It Like It Is |
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| Topic: Literature |
8:33 am EDT, Oct 19, 2004 |
"Generally speaking, people are not very original." Who knew? Jenna Tells It Like It Is |
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Family Films but Decidedly Not Rated G |
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| Topic: Movies |
8:31 am EDT, Oct 19, 2004 |
Films rated PG and PG-13 drew 75 percent to 90 percent of the domestic box office, compared with 10 percent or less for G-rated, or family, films, among the 20 highest-grossing movies for each of the last four years, according to the MPAA. Generally speaking, kids love crap. Family Films but Decidedly Not Rated G |
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Jon Stewart in the Crossfire |
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| Topic: Media |
12:08 pm EDT, Oct 17, 2004 |
The irony is killing me. Caught in the Crossfire, Stewart's un-funny is oh-so-funny. STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one. The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...
CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.
STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Go ahead. Go ahead.
STEWART: I watch your show every day. And it kills me.
CARLSON: I can tell you love it.
STEWART: It's so -- oh, it's so painful to watch.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: You know, because we need what you do. This is such a great opportunity you have here to actually get politicians off of their marketing and strategy.
CARLSON: Is this really Jon Stewart? What is this, anyway? Jon Stewart in the Crossfire |
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'Oops. I Told the Truth.' |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
12:05 pm EDT, Oct 17, 2004 |
The one thing that has gone totally missing, not only from this election, but from American politics, is national leaders who are actually ready to level with the public and even criticize their own constituencies. Good jobs are being outsourced to Indians and Chinese not simply because they'll work for less, but because they are better educated in the math and science skills required for 21st-century work. In China, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America, Britney Spears is Britney Spears. One-third of the Arab population is under the age of 15. 'Oops. I Told the Truth.' |
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What Derrida Really Meant |
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| Topic: Philosophy |
11:48 am 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 |
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US job picture isn't drawn in the Oval Office |
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| Topic: Elections |
10:29 pm EDT, Oct 12, 2004 |
Job creation is one of the biggest domestic-policy issues in this year's presidential campaign. But if elected, either candidate will find it hard to set the course of job growth in the $11 trillion-a-year US economy. Its direction is set by more than 130 million workers, long-running technological and demographic trends, and massive flows of trade, investment and spending not easily swayed by any one person -- even if that person is the president. There's no consensus on what's holding back the job market, but most of the big factors often cited by business economists -- high oil prices, technological changes, rapidly rising health care costs, debt-laden and overspent consumers, and a new cost-consciousness and aversion to risk among businesses -- are not under any president's immediate or direct control. This is one of the more insightful "Dr. Obvious Says" articles I've seen in USA Today. I've always been irritated at the way pols take credit and place blame for jobs numbers specifically and the economy generally. US job picture isn't drawn in the Oval Office |
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| Topic: Elections |
4:05 pm EDT, Oct 11, 2004 |
Although every Bush slip gets delighted examination -- he called Kerry "Kennedy" and he said, "Internets"; can you imagine? -- Kerry's minor gaffes attract little notice. When citing his overseas travel in the first debate, Kerry talked of visiting the old KGB headquarters "in Treblinka square." He meant Lubyanka Square; Treblinka was the Nazi death camp. We all make mistakes. How Bush Won Round 2 |
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Grand Theft Auto San Andreas |
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| Topic: Games |
11:04 pm EDT, Oct 10, 2004 |
Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas ... a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers. Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas |
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Dr. Strangelove - 40th Anniversary Special Edition (Two-Disc) (1964) |
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| Topic: Movies |
12:38 pm EDT, Oct 10, 2004 |
"You can't fight here! This is the war room!" DVD Features: "No Fighting in the War Room or: Dr. Strangelove and the Nuclear Threat": new documentary including interviews with Bob Woodward, Robert McNamara, Roger Ebert, and Spike Lee; "Best Sellers: Peter Sellers Remembered"; Interview with Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense under President Johnson; Collectible scrapbook with original production photos and an essay written by Roger Ebert Dr. Strangelove - 40th Anniversary Special Edition (Two-Disc) (1964) |
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