Really I need to not read Metafilter as soon as I wake up, it takes an hour off my day easily. An hour I could spend at the gym instead of getting panicked by financial forecasting. Oh well, later when I have no money and have to eat those plastic wrapped old vegetables with brown spots that they sell for 50 cents I am sure I will look svelte and have nicely hollowed cheek-bones. Why am I worrying now, we're headed for a massive recession!

More than a decade of economic and financial-market chaos followed, as the dollar remained the international currency but traded without an absolute measure of value. Inflation rose not just in the United States but around the world, grinding down the worth of many securities and brokerage firms. The Federal Reserve pushed interest rates into double digits, setting off two global recessions, and new international standards and methods for measuring inflation and floating exchange rates were established to replace the gold standard. After 1975, the United States would never again post an annual merchandise trade surplus. Such high-value, finished-goods-producing industries as steel and automobiles were no longer dominant. The new economy belonged to finance, insurance, and real estate—FIRE.

It's a long complicated article but well worth the read.

My friend sent me a link to the "two girls one cup" viral video a while back, I lasted literally 2 seconds before closing my browser window in a panic and firing off an angry - "Why in gods name did you want me to watch that?!" email.

We've been reading Heidegger this week, and while I do have problems with his writing style, he does offer some really cogent critiques of a mind-set towards technology which is not just dehumanizing, but takes what Heidegger refers to as "the essence" out of life.

This was on Boing-Boing so I am not doing anything exceptional posting it here, though I do want to mention that Lola watched the whole thing, it's the first time she's shown any interest in politics.

Only because Simon had to send back another article in response to this Harpers Annotation (blueprints for Googles new data-farm next to the Dalles Dam on the Colombia River) I sent him:

Keyword: evil

The blueprints depicting Google’s data center at The Dalles,Oregon, are proof that the Web is no ethereal store of ideas, shimmering over our heads like the aurora borealis. It is a new heavy industry, an energy glutton that is only growing hungrier.

This is actually very cool, and yes probably represents the loss of another 45 minutes worth of productivity.

All Voices

The goal of Allvoices.com is to create a global community that shares news, videos, images and opinions tied to events and people that have impact. Unlike a traditional news portal, our style of presentation creates new contexts in which stories are tied together in order to provide multiple points of view.

That's one sexy map you got there.. I am not sure how well it will work , but it's worth noting that the site is launching from Pakistan.