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The Problem Is Capitalism, Not Just the Banks

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:33:15 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

This article is based on the Deutscher Lecture which Rick Kuhn, Reader in Political Science at the ANU, will deliver in London on 7 November. Dr. Kuhn's book Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism won the 2007 Deutscher prize.

Clip Source: mrzine.monthlyreview.org

Don't panic! That's the panicked cry of governments and central bankers around the world. Meanwhile their behaviour shows that they expect a very, very deep recession.

More 'transparency' and better regulation of banking won't deal with the underlying issue which is low average rates of profit across the global economy.

Capitalism has a tendency to break down that is expressed in deep crises like the current one. Grossman argued that

capitalist production is characterized by insoluble conflicts. Irremediable systemic convulsions necessarily arise . . . from the immanent contradiction between value and use value, between profitability and productivity, between limited possibilities for valorisation and the unlimited development of the productive forces.

The fact that production is organised not to satisfy human needs but to make profits for the capitalist class is the ultimate cause of the system's recurrent crises.

Tags: capitalism, economy, crisis, finance

10 Most Brilliant Gadgets Of 2008

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:33:27 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: Popular Mechanics announced its picks for the 2008 Breakthrough Awards awards in what the publication called The 10 Most Brilliant Gadets of the Year. Here's the list of international winners; you may be surprised at the gadgets on the list.

Clip Source: inventorspot.com

1. Microsoft Phyotosynth

he Photosynth software, arranges the shots in a browsable 3-D format, so you can see and share photos

in 3D! Visit Photosynth for more information

2. Spore

the attraction to Spore is that players get to create their own characters to interact with each othe

visit Spore

3. Amazon Kindle

You can read almost any popular book,

Amazon Kindle.

4. Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

The Livescribe Smartpen lets you combine voice recording with note-taking

Visit Livescribe

5. Craftsman Nextec Multi-Saw

powers through touch jobs and can operate at 2000 strokes per minute

Craftsman

6. Potenco PCG1 Power Generator

power generator

for small gadgets like cell phones, GPS devices, and MP3 players. It is powered by human energy

7. Nissan Around View Monitor

new navigation system

enables the driver to see the surroundings of his car as he parks... all sides, 360 degrees around

8. M-Spector Digital Inspection Camera

Milwaukee Tool

9. Intel Atom Processor

Atom

10. Caroma Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet

here.

Why as our knowledge & expertise increase, our bility to innovate tend to taper off ?

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:27:00 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: In her book, “Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine — and What Smart Companies Are Doing About It,” Cynthia Barton Rabe proposes bringing in outsiders whom she calls zero-gravity thinkers to keep creativity and innovation on track.“Look for people with renaissance-thinker tendencies, who’ve done work in a related area but not in your specific field,” she says. “Make it possible for someone who doesn’t report directly to that area to come in and say the emperor has no clothes.”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

IT’S a pickle of a paradox: As our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off. Why? Because the walls of the proverbial box in which we think are thickening along with our experience.

it becomes nearly impossible to look beyond what you know and think outside the box you’ve built around yourself.

once you’ve become an expert in a particular subject, it’s hard to imagine not knowing what you do. Your conversations with others in the field are peppered with catch phrases and jargon that are foreign to the uninitiated. When it’s time to accomplish a task — open a store, build a house, buy new cash registers, sell insurance — those in the know get it done the way it has always been done, stifling innovation as they barrel along the well-worn path.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

When experts have to slow down and go back to basics to bring an outsider up to speed

it forces them to look at their world differently and, as a result, they come up with new solutions to old problems

People who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch...

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:48:38 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: 'Is it possible to shift from a fixed mind-set to a growth mind-set?

Absolutely, according to Ms. Dweck. But, “it’s not easy to just let go of something that has felt like your self for many years,” she writes. Still, she says, “nothing is better than seeing people find their way to things they value.”

Clip Source: content.clipmarks.com

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t?

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

“Society is obsessed with the idea of talent and genius and people who are ‘naturals’ with innate ability,”

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

A Digital Tattoo

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:08:32 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Wow
another step to merge technology and biology.
looks amazing!

Clip Source: gadgets--electronics.blogspot.com

Digital Tattoo Interface: creepy concept that runs on blood

The mockup photos explain this concept in greater detail, so I’ll give you a short synopsis of what it is and what it does. The DTI is a Bluetooth device that’s embedded under the skin that’s powered by blood and oxygen. For example, an incoming call will illuminate the display of a mobile phone on your arm and displays video while you’re on the call of the person on the other end. It also monitors your vitals to warn you in case something is wrong. It’s a crazy concept, right? But it just might work.

Tags: electronics, cell phone, tattoo

Her Words Jolt

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:44:38 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“There was no dinner,” she said.

“It was me who was dinner. Me, because they kicked me roughly to the ground, and they ripped off all my clothes, and between the two of them, they held my feet. One took my left foot, one took my right, and the same with my arms, and between the two of them they proceeded to rape me. Then all five of them raped me.”

The audience, which had been called together by local and international aid groups and included everyone from high-ranking politicians to street kids with no shoes, stared at her in disbelief.

Congo, it seems, is finally facing its horrific rape problem, which United Nations officials have called the worst sexual violence in the world. Tens of thousands of women, possibly hundreds of thousands, have been raped in the past few years in this hilly, incongruously beautiful land.

After years of denial and shame, the silence is being broken

A new study :Smarter men have healthier sperm

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:12:56 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: inventorspot.com

a new study shows that smarter men have healthier sperm

Researchers at the University of New Mexico have discovered that men scoring high on intelligence tests also had high numbers of healthy sperm. On the other side, low scores on intelligence tests showed that those men had fewer sperm as well as unhealthy sperm.

Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist from the University of New Mexico, states: “It's not necessarily that the same genes are influencing sperm quality and intelligence. Rather, the two traits could be linked through a tangled web of biological and environmental interactions that has evolved to help women pick a mate.”

While the connections between intelligence and sperm were not more pronounced, they are still highly significant.

“I'm thinking of intelligence as being quite closely related to individual fitness,”

“About half of our genes are switched on in the brain, so intelligence might provide women with a rough but handy read-out of mutations in our genomes.”

Moral Sense Test

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:28:56 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: The philosophy of psychology. Interesting to read around: for a start the implicit values of moral testing in psychology, or, for that matter in any moral judgments.

Clip Source: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com

Fiery Cushman at Harvard and I are running a new version of the "Moral Sense Test", which asks respondents to make moral judgments about hypothetical scenarios. We're especially hoping to recruit people with philosophy degrees for this test so that we can compare philosophers' and non-philosophers' responses. So while I would encourage all readers of this blog to take the test (your answers, though completely anonymous, will be treasured!), I would especially appreciate it if people with graduate degrees in philosophy would take the time to complete it.

The test should take about 15-20 minutes, and people who have taken earlier versions of the Moral Sense Test have often reported it interesting to think about the kinds of moral dilemmas posed in the test.

Here's the link to the test.

Tags: moral sense test

Obama camp calls for special prosecutor in fraud investigation

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:12:11 GMT

clipped by: citizenbfk
clipper's remarks: Very interesting. Obama certainly knows how to fight back.

If this does all get turned over to this FBI investigator -- who is also the special prosecutor recently appointed to investigate the U.S. attorney firing scandal. --I think the Republicans are going to wish they never started this hyped-up, unfounded ACORN story.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Obama camp calls for special prosecutor in fraud investigation

The Obama campaign announced Friday that it is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to turn over any investigations of voter fraud or voter suppression to Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy.

Dannehy is also the special prosecutor recently appointed to investigate the U.S. attorney firing scandal.

It's the latest salvo in an escalating war over allegations of possible voter irregularities during the upcoming presidential election.

Underwater museum for Egypt / Jacques Rougerie

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:32:39 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Fascinating.

Clip Source: www.archdaily.com

Architect Jacques Rougerie -an expert when it comes to space and underwater structures- has designed the soon-to-be first underwater museum. It will be located off the coast of Egypt, near the new Library of Alexandria, where Cleopatra once had a palace on an island in one of the largest human-made bays in the world back in the day, submerged by earthquakes in the 4th century.

The ruins were discovered years ago, and include several sphinxes, statues, roman and greek shipwrecks and pieces believed to be from the Pharos of Alexandria lighthouse (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world).

[Video]

This ruins haven’t been moved, since it would be a tremendous effort that could damage the ruins in the process.

With that in mind, the museum is designed as both inland and submarine. The building will have four tall structures shaped like the sails of fellucas, the traditional sailboats used in the Nile.

Actual ruins on the seabed:

Tags: archeology, egypt, museums