May 2012
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"I Have No Enemies: My final Statement" by Liu...
I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies. Although there is no way I can accept your monitoring, arrests, indictments, and verdicts, I respect your professions and your integrity, including those of the two prosecutors, Zhang Rongge and Pan...
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The Mentality of the Rich
As socioeconomic and political inequality continues to rise in this country, it seems that our society is increasingly being split along two very different realities. Indeed, the rich and poor seem to live on different worlds – literally.
Aside from life experiences that are poles apart, America’s various economic classes are less and less exposed to one another personally (a worrying trend I’ve...
April 2012
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The Amazing Clubbed Winged Manikan
This curious little creature from South America is unique for two reasons: one, as the title suggests, it can moon walk (or something like that), as seen here;and two, it can make music - with its feathers. See a demonstration on that here.
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Awesome T-Shits For Humanities Buffs →
Ugly and Beautiful
How is it the world can be so cruel and tragic, yet also kind and beautiful? One moment I read about genocides, oppression,and injustice; then shortly after, I find stories of altruism, self-sacrifice, and progress. I see this contrast play out in my everyday life: I’ve encountered both the worst and best that humanity has to offer.
This duality puts my mood in flux. Sometimes, I feel the...
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First Grader Without Hands Wins National... →
I think someone was cutting onions around me while I was watching it…
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“I have no knowledge of myself as I am, but merely as I appear to myself.”
– Immanuel Kant
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“There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we had no courage...”
– Vincent van Gogh
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“Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man’s cottage door and...”
– Horace
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“Man’s greatest concern is to know how he shall properly fill his place in...”
– Immanuel Kant
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“The wish to talk to God is absurd. We cannot talk to one we cannot comprehend —...”
– Immanuel Kant
It always fascinates me how so many people claim to speak on behalf of God. There are so many different interpretations of the same being even within the same religion. Who’s got it right? Who has the accurate view of God’s intentions, nature, and desires? The inability to...
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“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not...”
– Albert Camus
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“See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll,
Suck my last breath, and catch my...”
– Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
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“It is easier to build strong children then to repair broken men.”
– Frederick Douglas.
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“When you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody...”
– J.D. Salinger, Catcher In The Rye (via philphys)
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Purpose
There is perhaps nothing more valuable to our existence than having a sense of purpose. As animals, we otherwise exist only to continue our existence: every organism is driven by the same innate impulse to survive long enough to procreate and continue the next generation (which will in turn do the same, over and over).
But we have a higher cognitive capacity. We have the ability to conceptualize,...
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Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round →
jtotheizzoe:
If Earth is a blue marble, it’s certainly not one you’d want to depend on in the chalk circle. Instead of being a sphere, it’s actually far more irregular (and not just the mountains, duh). Charles Q. Choi lays out lots of oddities about our lumpy planet at SciAm.
Here’s some tidbits:
Earth is actually an oblate spheroid, bigger at the equator than at the poles.
Gravity is...
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I Love This Song →
“Gollum’s Song” by Emiliana Torrini. Sad but beautiful.
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A lot of people have a hard time recognizing the nuances of any given debate. Take healthcare, which is consistently viewed as a black-and-white tussle between free-market and “socialized” medicine. Just about every universal healthcare system in the world, especially the best ones, are a mix of *both* public and private approaches. France, which has consistently been ranked as having the best...
“Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power...”
– Goethe (via redsnappergroupie)
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Man Devotes 40 Years to Saving Pristine Island →
Now that’s commitment.
Thanks to one man’s dedication and love, the beauty and wonder of an island in the Seychelles will be around for years to come, the Daily Mail reports.
According to the Daily Mail, Brendon Grimshaw bought Moyenne Island, off the north coast of Mahe, Seychelles, in 1964 for £8,000. At the time, he was asuccessful newspaper editor in Africa who was itching to...
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themillenniumfalconteahouse asked: just in general sadly im used to it
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Anti-Privacy Forces Strike Back: What is CISPA? →
Read it and weep. It’s like a game of whack-a-mole trying to stop these insidious bills.
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“A living man can be enslaved and reduced to the historic condition of an object....”
– Albert Camus 