Archive for February 2nd, 2008


Interview: Weather Underground co-founder Mark Rudd

Today, Rudd is unsparing in his critique of the organization he helped found. “It was juvenile, it was less than juvenile,” Rudd said. Though the Weather Underground gained rapid notoriety for its views, the group, Rudd argues, helped pave the way for the unmaking of the student left. By discarding SDS and pursuing militancy, says Rudd, the Weather Underground abandoned the basic principle of any strong political movement: a commitment to organizing. According to Rudd, this is a legacy that persists in contemporary student movements.

“People only get won over through person-to-person engagement, not through spectacle,” Rudd said. “But self-expression is not the same as organizing. The problem is very few people today know this simple truth.”

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Britney. Someone get that poor girl some help

With her father taking legal control of her financial affairs amid reports of irrational screaming fits from Britney, it’c clear something serious is wrong with her.

When someone has psychotic breaks, yes, some do recover and resume normal lives again. But it can take a major psychic toll on them and they may never be quite the same again.

This isn’t a celebrity having a few bad days, this is someone approaching mental breakdown.

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LED store

TheLedLight.com

What, you’re still using those archaic CFLs? LEDs are the future!

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Fertility and real estate

The NY Times asks, is the current boomlet in fertility rates due to increased home ownership?

In the wide-open mortgage climate early this decade, creative loan products allowed more people than ever to buy homes, often a precursor to having children.

One factor, not mentioned in the article, could also be crucial. I read once that thin walls in apartment buildings were often a hindrance to couples having and enjoying sex. That problem goes away if you live in a house.

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Cheap hydrogen from sunlight

hydrogen

The fuel cell economy inches ever closer, and hydrogen from sun is as clean and renewable as it gets.

Our future renewable power economy will be a mix; hydrogen powering fuel cells, solar, geothermal, wind, wave, tidal. Yes, it can happen.

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French firm to build 12 nuclear reactors in South Africa

nuclear power plant

South Africa is experiencing severe, ongoing power shortages. Nuclear power, however controversial, can deliver huge amounts of energy - way more than any other source. And that’s what South Africa needs and wants now.

Yes, we need all kinds of renewable clean, power, and plenty of conservation and smart grids too. But as Jim Kuntsler has said, nuclear will keep the lights on until we figure out what comes next.

80% of the power in France comes from nuclear. They’ve never had the slightest problem, and their third-generation nukes are state of the art.

Yes, the storage problem for the depleted fuel is troublesome. But we also need to keep the lights on without emitting huge amounts of carbon.

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