The way I see it, that’s 150 million chances lost to improve the quality of the Internet. JSTOR, as the keeper of so much great scholarly work, should be one of the Internet’s dominant suppliers of facts and serious research. But if something is not publicly available, key gatekeepers like journalists and Wikipedians, move to the best available source, even if they know that there probably is a better source behind JSTOR’s paywall. So, instead, JSTOR’s vast troves of valuable information remain within academia and the broader Internet’s immune system is that much weaker.
Destroy the publishing-industrial-complex!
(Source: abbyjean)
Must Watch: An Out-of-Character Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil Degrasse Tyson
This is excellent. Back in 2010, an out-of-character Stephen Colbert sat down with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson at Montclair University to talk for 90 minutes about science, society and the universe. Yesterday, the Hayden Planetarium posted the interview on its website for all to watch.
The interview starts a little more than 6 minutes in. Topics addressed include:
- Why there is something instead of nothing (in ten words or less)
- The ethics of man/animal hybrids
- The “complexity” of evolutionary processes versus the tenants of creationism
- Whether science is a thing, a way to look at the world, or both
- Lab-grown meat
- The plausibility of a multiverse
- The importance of promoting science literacy
- The latest discoveries in astrophysics, including Mars farts
reblaging to watch later!
Authors@Google: Neil Gaiman
Grant Morrison - Disinformation Con Lecture [Complete]
Well, I’m not going to blackout the site (my theme is so customized it would be a pain to have to put it all back up) but all the posts on the main page here deal with opposition to SOPA/PIPA. View the video. And click the link below and notify your representatives that this is wrong, wrong, wrong!!
OCCUPY COMIX: INAUGURAL ISSUE, VOL. 1, ISSUE # 1
“Occupy Comix was born in the stage of Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Comix is being launched to bring you the anecdotes, glimpses, pictures and critical stories and dreams of struggle occurring all around us. This issue is the first of what will hopefully be a free bi-monthly illustrated publication chronicling the lives and issues of the 99%. We believe that artists and writers can help transform our world, to build a new Mythos of Hope. Let us know what you think.”
The (International) Noise Conspiracy - Black Mask
just give me a black mask
- to explode - to overload - to lose control - to steal your soul
Anarchist art group Voina torches prisoner transport truck — St. Petersburg, Russia
New Year’s Eve is a huge deal to the Russian people. So, at 11:25 pm on December 31st, the notorious art group Voina (“War”) climbed the fence into the St. Petersburg precinct №71, set a police prisoner transport truck ablaze and gave the Russian people “a gift” of “Eternal Fire.” Read on for action video and an explanation.
The “auto-da-fe” action was performed with the swiftness of their epic bridge graffiti dick bombing — the catalyst of Voina’s world fame. Armed with Molotov cocktails, Oleg Vorotnikov, Leonid Nikolayev, a pregnant Natalia Sokol and other activists burned up the “prison-on-wheels” used to detain protestors after opposition rallies, “prisons” that they and their friends are intimately familiar with.
In an impassioned, theatrical statement on their blog and Facebook, Voina’s president Leonid “Fucked Lenya” Nikolayev aka Bucket Man explains that this action “Fucked Prometheus” is “not art” — it is “beyond art.” He makes allusions to the Renaissance and repeated references to the police transport van as a trash truck.
“Who the fuck needs art when there are trash vampires, trash trucks and werewolves in uniform about? This fire engulfing the trash must be an Eternal Fire… Let’s destroy all prisons! Freedom to all political prisoners! Feds don’t fuck us – we fuck feds! Happy New Year, comrades!”
The Russian government has slapped the Voina group with the label “Anarchists syndicate” but, until now, it hasn’t quite deserved it. Yet, even though this is by far their most literally destructive performance, and perhaps it “is not art” like Leonid says, I still feel like it fits into the construct of their “Handbook.”
“Voina is involved in developing a new political language with which to adequately address reality,” Leonid has once explained, introducing their ongoing series of extreme artistic performances that serve as guidance for survival in the Russian Federation. Chapter 1: “How to Snatch a Chicken: A Tale of How One Cunt fed the Whole of the Group Voina.” Chapter 2: “Fuck [It] Yourself!” (or the overturned cop car that almost landed them in jail for seven years.) And now, Chapter 3: “If Your Friend Is in Jail.”
Voina rep’s Facebook brags that the vehicle was “totally burned down” and the Russian police have confirmed that the a police van had “suffered damages to the interior.” As a protest action calling for “freedom to political prisoners” including friends and a member of Voina currently in detention, Voina group has vowed to burn one vehicle for each day their friends are in jail. Stay tuned?
http://animalnewyork.com/2012/01/voina-art-group-torched-a-cop-vehicle/
(Source: fuckyeahanarchopunk)
Taken from the Honest Girl Scouts campaign. For a campaign trying to get people /not/ to buy cookies and /not/ support the GSUSA, this is doing an awful lot to suddenly make me want /to/ support the GSUSA. (and I’m saying this a a former Girl Scout of about 6 years who hasn’t bought cookies in years because they’re too expensive).
I see so much acceptance here, and especially in a time in children’s lives where acceptance is so important, taking that away from them is just cruel.
oh man I really want to buy girl scout cookies now
good i’ll continue to buy girl sout cookies
also ugh at “claims to be catholic” … u g h
CACKLING IRL
I just donated $12 to the Girl Scouts of Colorado, one of the organizations that are accepting trans girls into their troops.
In addition to buying cookies I would recommend making a donation, too — you can buy cookies too, but this way you can give directly to GS Colorado and make more of an impact with fewer dollars.
^^^you gize i will say this one million times until i am blue in the face: i am so proud to be a former girl scout, so proud that my best friend is a girl scout leader, and so proud of everyone who supports the girl scouts.
I love that the argument this photoset is making is essentially “Don’t buy Girl Scout cookies! They provide accurate information about reproductive health to girls and support equality for all people!” OH NOES! ANYTHING BUT THAT!
Excuse me while I go blow my savings on Girl Scout cookies.
Oh, Internet, with your balkanized information spheres. One community’s warning is another’s advertisement. I’ve never wanted Girl Scout Cookies more.
(via newleftmedia)
