Freyburg

I’ve been digging around Current.com, partly to see if there’s any way I can make a buck or two for Freyburg Media, and partly because there’s some really good content on the site. Here’s a story about how Argentines have coped with their recession (something we’ll have to start doing soon)…

and here’s another report from Angola about China’s rising influence in the region.

Stewart Brand made a name for himself with the Whole Earth Catalog and the “back to the land” movement (though always with the caveat of networked communication and other high-tech innovation), but he’s now changed his opinions, and says that cities actually help the environment by reducing population (less kids born in cities than in the countryside) and letting subsistence-framed land go back to its natural state.

This time from the Reboot conference.

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Bit of a stretch, but the Times draws parallels between each Star Trek series and the political schema within which the series aired. The classic series was Johnson’s Great Society all the way, Obama is kind of like Spock, and the new Trek is an optimistic take on the current situation, etc, etc. Basically, it’s nerd bait for the rare dork (like myself) who loves politics, history, societal shifts AND warp drives and green chicks, but an interesting read nonetheless.

In a speech on Meet the Press worthy of Obama’s elecution, General Colin Powell explained that he feels Obama is not only a “transformational figure” but that Sarah Palin is not ready to be President of the United States (which is, after all, her job as VP) and that the Republican Party has swung too far to the right. Special mention should go to his addressing the insidious nature of calling Obama and Arab and Muslim. As Powell put it, it wouldn’t matter is he was, and if seeing Obama inspires some seven-year old Muslim American to someday become president, so much the better.

As fears of peak oil, resource wars and economic collapse dot the headlines, it’s a fair question whether aviation, which chews up an enormous amount of fuel and greenhouse gases, is still a viable form of transport. The New Republic has an interesting piece about how flying defines our economy, and how screwed we’ll be if aviation goes away.

Matt Taibbi (who usually writes for Rolling Stone) has posted a cynical, angry and heartfelt screed on Smirking Chimp about what Sarah Palin’s candidacy says about middle-class America’s love of image over substance and blind consumerism over thoughtful discourse. It’s certainly biased and bile-filled, but it’s also exceptionally well written and not without some truth.

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As seen above, Sarah Palin’s grasp of geopolitics leaves something to be desired. And there’s the outside chance she could be the President one day, so there’s that.

Rolling Stone has a great article up about how Bush, along with the Republican Party’s tendency to exploit and create polarity between Americans, has essentially ruined the party and flushed away a legacy that began with Reagan. It’s Rolling Stone, so it isn’t exactly the most unbiased source, but it’s a fascinating read.