Scientists studying honeybees have learned a lot about how a swarm decides where to locate its hive. The decision is critical, because a wrong decision can leave the hive exposed to deadly winter weather; therefore, bees need an effective voting system that reliably and efficiently yields their optimal hive location. …
In my day-to-day life, the people I encounter (friends, neighbors, co-workers, students) all generally seem to be good; they want the best for themselves and the world they live in, they do not wish to do harm, and they are concerned about global warming, the wars, and biological threats. They want to be happy, and they want the people around them to be happy. Many of them are actively engaged with projects and endeavors that benefit others; they are motivated by a sincere desire to change the world in which they live.
I started thinking about this the day after attending a performance by a troupe called “Bench Press Burlesque.” Four of the members of the group take yoga classes with me and I wanted to support them. I had seen them perform previously and was delighted with the wit, intelligence, and cutting-edge weirdness with which they deal with current issues and culture. Their most recent production, “Bad Jokes and Tight Ropes” did not fail to deliver, in my opinion. Perhaps I am a bit prejudiced (I know them and I love them!) but I was again tickled and pleased to see them as they took on President Bush, Technology, Corporate Environmental Rape, Bad Parenting, Gender Mis-identification, and the Catholic Church in their unique, campy, low-budget, sexy and freaky style. There was a decent performance of a West African dance that had the audience clapping and stomping, a puppet show on Sex Education and musical interludes by the house band …
The Pew Internet & American Life Project survey on blogging, published July 19, 2006 contains lots of good data on who all of those bloggers are. The survey contains lots of statistics, charts and commentary. Here's the summary. The Pew Internet Project blogger survey finds that the American blogosphere is…
The conservative right loves to use the term “family values” as a token cover for their backward bigotry. Used in opposition to abortion, gay rights, or even the increase of women in the workplace, “family values” summons a particular image of the conservatives’ imaginary era of perfection and bliss.
Many people refer to this image as a real time, probably somewhere in the 1950’s; “the good old days” when men worked to support their families, women stayed happily in the home with the children, no one divorced, and no children ran off to live renegade alternative lifestyles tainted with wanton sodomy, teen pregnancy, or drug abuse.
We may have even heard older people reminisce about “the good old days” in terms that make the time seem authentically wonderful: “no one locked their doors”; “neighbors looked after each other”; “marriage meant something back then”; “it was a simpler time”, and so on.
Even if we don’t buy into the conservative agenda against basic equal rights, we may concede that the world has become a much more frightening, complicated place, and that a time period such as the allusive 1950’s seems preferable, even tantalizing.
Unfortunately, no amount of regressive activism on the part of Republicans can return us to a grander time, because those “good old days” simply never existed. I like comedian Lewis Black’s take on the shiny 1950’s ideal:
…“It was called the ‘50s. The wife cooked and raised the kids and sent the husband off to work, where
I like money. With money I can clothe myself, pay for my grandchildren’s piano lessons, drive a reliable car, eat some great food, and visit friends in faraway places. I don‘t want a barter economy, especially since I have nothing physical to barter for necessities, unless you count the endless reams of paper I can generate. But this American drive to get rich, and get rich now with a minimum of effort, is doing us in.
Some people use the lottery. Lotteries, or gambling in general, do not particularly offend me. I do think they are the resort of people who failed 6th grade math, and I dislike the false advertising claiming the lottery benefits our school systems (the percentage going to education is way too low to make that an advantage of lotteries). But I don’t think they ought to be illegal (funny how they don’t pass laws requiring that we eat our Brussels sprouts, everyone is too busy trying to outlaw the fun things, like alcohol, sex, etc.).
Some people “collect” things, believing that if they buy every coffee mug with a logo on it, someday their ‘collection’ will be worth millions. I think collections are junk that gather dust and requires me to buy shelves or boxes or storage space to put it (think of George Carlin’s monologue on buying so much stuff that you have to buy stuff to put your stuff in or sell some stuff to buy other stuff). That doesn’t seem to be …