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| Topic: Society |
12:06 pm EDT, Oct 10, 2004 |
MEMRI's TV monitoring center operates 16 hours per day, overseeing every major Arab channel. The center has the in-house capability to translate, subtitle and distribute the segments from Arab TV in real time to Western news channels across the world, effectively "Bridging the Language Gap Between the Middle East and the West." MEMRI's TV monitoring center focuses on political, cultural, religious, and other developments and debates in the Arab and Muslim world and in Iran. If you go to memri.org, there's a "trailer" for MEMRI TV which includes, among other shockers, a rather intense clip of this little girl -- maybe ten years old -- emphatically calling her people to jihad. Watch it in full screen mode. MEMRI TV |
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| Topic: Society |
7:31 pm EDT, Oct 9, 2004 |
do tank n. A research institute that focuses on actions rather than ideas. The Word Spy - do tank |
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| Topic: Society |
9:10 am EDT, Sep 30, 2004 |
Is it possible, after all these years, that white folk have come to speak "black" far better than blacks speak "white"? Just axing. Changing Places |
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| Topic: Society |
7:45 pm EDT, Sep 11, 2004 |
"We used to have the Orgasmatron out in front on the Esplanade, but the sheriff came around a few too many times, so we moved it out of sight. You know, it's not like it used to be around here." Kidsville has tripled in area and numbers over the last two years, and rebellious individualism -- along with the guns and heroin so prevalent in the early '90s -- has been replaced with something ever-so-much more admirable. Safer, more family-friendly, environmentally conscious and orderly, Black Rock City has evolved into a lovely place to live. The Taming of the Burn |
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The Literature of Intelligence |
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| Topic: Society |
12:27 am EDT, Sep 7, 2004 |
The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments What is here? With some caveats, most major, many minor, and some obscure books dealing in some fashion with intelligence matters are listed. As often as possible, these are accompanied by comments or reviews. The Literature of Intelligence |
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Workers of the World, Relax |
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| Topic: Society |
11:09 am EDT, Sep 6, 2004 |
A firm belief in the necessary misery of life was for centuries one of mankind's most important assets, a bulwark against bitterness, a defense against dashed hopes. Now it has been cruelly undermined by the expectations incubated by the modern worldview. Now perhaps, as many of us return from summer vacations, we can temper their sadness by remembering that work is often more bearable when we don't, in addition to money, expect it always to deliver happiness. Workers of the World, Relax |
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| Topic: Society |
5:53 pm EDT, Aug 21, 2004 |
Six prisons in three states have already welcomed them into their facilities -- tiny, 8-week-old puppies in need of discipline, care and a little bit of love. But the dogs' raisers are not the prison officials or even the corrections officers; they are the prisoners themselves. Through a nonprofit program called Puppies Behind Bars, prison inmates can raise guide dogs for blind people--and, since 9/11, bomb-sniffing police dogs. In a way, the prison serves as a sort of canine prep school. The "puppy raisers," as they are called, teach the dogs manners and obedience before they begin formal training. But the teachers are learning even more, and their babies' puppy love is unlocking qualities they never knew they possessed. New Leash on Life |
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| Topic: Society |
11:38 pm EDT, Aug 2, 2004 |
Why do certain ideas become popular? The naive view is that it's because they're true, or at least justified. This fascinating book, influenced by evolutionary biology and epidemiology, is the first full-scale examination of some of the other reasons. Consider Aaron Lynch's example of optimism--it may not be true or warranted, but it tends to prevail because optimists tend to have more children to pass along their outlook to. Sometimes, Lynch points out, there is a paradoxical but predictable expansion-contraction pattern to the social spread of ideas. If nothing else, lobbyists need to look into this stuff to see which side their bread is really buttered on. Warning: this book is densely written. But it's worth the wade. Thought Contagion |
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Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think and Communicate |
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| Topic: Society |
11:34 pm EDT, Aug 2, 2004 |
In _The Selfish Gene_, Richard Dawkins sought to describe cultural evolution in biological terms with the newly coined term "meme." Here, Cambridge anthropologist Robert Aunger theorizes on the nature of this so-called "thought gene." In doing so, Aunger coins a term of his own, "neuromemetics," proposing that memes are in fact self-replicating electrical charges in the nodes of our brains. The author explains that the shift in perspective from Dawkins's purely social memetics to a memetics working at the intercellular level is akin to sociobiology's view of social behavior as a genetic trait subject to evolution. This is an ambitious book on a par with Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine. Unlike the handful of pop-culture treatments out there, Aunger steers clear of the popular image of the meme as a VD-like brain parasite passed by word of mouth. That said, this book is that rare hybrid of crossover science writing that carries enough intellectual punch to warrant thoughtful peer review, and yet should appeal to those ambitious general readers who are in the market for a megadose of mind candy. This rocks! 400 pages of serious thought about memetics. Amazon offers up the book's introduction for your review. Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think and Communicate |
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On Memes, and MemeStreams |
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| Topic: Society |
11:32 pm EDT, Aug 2, 2004 |
Vile wrote:
] Once again, we have a news story. Listen up, all you amateur
] reporters out there in memestreamsland, we can get the news
] from multiple (more reliable) sources. Please offer us some
] recommendations for art, literature, movies, music, et al. It's not about "news." It's not about "recommendations." It's about memes. That's why it's called MemeStreams. If it's recommendations you want, I suggest Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine, and Aaron Lynch's Thought Contagion, for starters. This is not a "web log." This is not a "collaborative filter." It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about memes. On Memes, and MemeStreams |
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