Go ahead and just turn the volume down unless you’re really into mediocre EPIC trance (hey no judgements here, san francisco values and all that).

:: Link ::

Man, I’m such a sucker for this but the cop one alone is totally worth it.

Agnotology: The term for the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt.

ex 1:

“Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, compared to 21% percent of Republicans.” On what planet should your political affiliation have any effect on an intelligent person’s ability to digest mainstream scientific opinion? You don’t see a similar split between Republicans and Democrats on whether dietary fat contributes to heart attacks.

:: Anya Kamenetz via RS ::

ex 2:

:: Via Raw Story ::

Awesome new video out about the History of the BioTour Project. Many of my close friends have been involved with BioTour (coblogger Wildcard even welded the roof racks). This video is very good.

Honestly, the video leaves a few things out. A sense of modesty doesn’t really convey that BioTour has touched thousands and thousands of people. Not just through simple human interactions and education but by inspiring people to be active participants in an uncertain future.

I think it’s really worth going to their website and signing up for their newsletter if only to see them speak in your area. The cofounders are some of the most articulate speakers I’ve ever met. It is rare enough to meet people who are extremely intelligent and insightful about a particular topic, let alone someone taking so active a role in it.

DJ Tinker just redesigned her myspace page. While myspace as a whole is sort of like a visual representation of hepatitis C, Tinker’s page stands out as an island of reason and beauty in a sea of disgusting chaos. The take home message? Highly notable beats couched in a nice design.

Definitely worth checking out and friending it up.

A recent Zogby/Zagat Macaroni and Cheese Poll About Who Cooks The Best Macaroni and Cheese (1/15/09):
Dustin Boyer: 100%!!!!

Yo my homeslice MufflePult has been working on a project called 100 Beats, where he makes a beat everyday for 100 days. Pretty cool idea and there is lots of stuff in here worth listening to in it’s own rite. His commentary makes it a pleasure to traipse through.

:: 100 Beats (fresher than fish sauce) ::

As I’ve stated before, there’s no question that obama’s popularity is based more on a deep and intense loyalty personal to him rather than grounded in policy issues. I don’t have high hopes for the incoming administration (aside from this) but I am certainly excited to have someone who’s not openly corrupt and/or savagely incompetent running the country.

For the last 8 years I have often proffered this riposte:

If I had a nickle for every time the Bush administration had reduced me to helpless, inarticulate rage…I’d qualify for a Bush tax cut.

and now, I am officially retiring the phrase (granted it’s 401k was mostly lost in the stock market debacle). I also think it’s worth noting that Bush is leaving office with something like a 20% approval rating which goes to show that you can still fool some of the people all of the time.

I’ve heard that the Obama administration has already begun to backpedal on many of it’s campaign promises, including probably not closing gitmo and probably pulling out of Iraq on a 3 year time frame. It remains to be seen but Hope You Can Believe In is frequently at odds with the realities of Washington Politics.

Friday…the outgoing Bush administration tripled import duties on roquefort to 300 percent. The soft, blue and pungent cheese is just one of a list of European products hit by U.S. measures meant to pressure the EU to drop a ban on U.S. beef treated with growth hormones. Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said France was unbowed over the ban on U.S. beef. “We will not import hormone-treated beef, nor will we import the technique of treating chicken with chlorine wash as is practiced in the United States,” he said on France Info radio.

: Cheese via Reuters :

HI-larious! And I’m just going to try to distill this down as much as possible

Our government is so openly corrupt that it’s collectively BAFFLED by France’s unwillingness to accept obviously poisoned food. And PS this isn’t news. This has been going on for at least 15 years.

Really though, the thing that’s super fascinating is Americans who still eat meat. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with those people? Even if you don’t understand complex things like global warming or lack even the most basic empathy, why would you willingly eat poison?

And to some extent I understand the hedonism argument “but…it tastes good, durrr” well then just eat organic, grass fed beef that doesn’t have poison in it. However, people don’t do that. Nor do they even adhere to the logical extension of their hedonism which would be a diet based on chocolate cake and heroin.

The evidence doesn’t indicate that people have rationally assessed the dangers of eating meat, but instead that people have done something for a long time and lack the ability to change behavioral patterns. That’s where things get interesting, how does government policy account for a human’s inability to assess long term risk?

Well for one, factory farms should probably be illegal. It should also be illegal to treat food with hormones and other resoundingly dangerous chemicals. The government should stop subsidizing the meat industry so that people who want to enjoy it can pay a more accurate price.

—-

And PS I know there are lot of meat eaters who are probably pissed I’m saying you’re dumb for poisoning yourself. But hey don’t shoot the messenger.

JonM, ever with the well-timed bon mot, commented “Sleep is a choice” while tending his bees at 4am.

A couple years ago I made a commitment to stop making decisions out of fear or guilt. Looking back, this was trying at times but incredibly useful and has ultimately led to me being quite a bit happier.

To dissect this a little bit more, guilt has internal and external sources. I’m still pushing for a concise explanation of why internally generated guilt is a largely worthless emotion but that’s been my experience. External guilt usually originates when people are trying to get me to do something because they know that upon full consideration, I wouldn’t do what they wanted. Anyone who uses guilt as a method of persuasion automatically garners serious distrust. I’ve found that guilt trips can be easily flummoxed by simply stating that I don’t make decisions out of fear or guilt.

I also find that fear is very useful if identified and handled properly. Fear almost always emerges out of ignorance. If I find that I am afraid of something is serves as a useful way to know that I should learn more about that thing. Thus far, the only problem with this process is that it is sometimes difficult to know when I am afraid of something because I can trick myself using faulty rationale.

The commitment emerged when I realized that it is just as bad to make the right decisions for the wrong reasons as it is to simply make the wrong decisions.