Via Financial Times, we learn that Swiss Re, one of the leading reinsurance companies in the world, says: “There is a danger that human intervention will accelerate and intensify natural climate changes to such a point that it will become impossible to adapt our socio-economic systems in time.” (emphasis added) The FT article elaborates: The […]
Spiraling out of control (happy thoughts, think happy thoughts)
Posted by Ben on March 4, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/spiraling-out-of-control-happy-thoughts-think-happy-thoughts/
State and Main
(2000) dir. David Mamet – starring Rebecca Pidgeon and Philip Seymour Hoffman, with a bunch of other people Synopsis: Movie crew invades small-town New England. Nothing goes as planned. Townspeople, movie stars, and everybody makes fools of themselves. Hilarity ensues. In a quirky, offbeat kind of way. And there’s an unexpected love story. Review: A […]
Posted by Ben on March 4, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/state-and-main/
One of these fragments is not like the others
People had different reactions to the whole thing. Some were surprised that anything had happened at all. Some were disgusted, angry at Essjay (inexplicably) for provoking Baruch; put off by the actual violence; made nauseous by the sight of blood and a distinctly out-of-line nose; frightened of Baruch; sympathetic of Essjay but only in a […]
Posted by Ben on March 3, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/one-of-these-fragments-is-not-like-the-others/
Round-up
Putting things into perspective: worldwide, 3200 people die every day from road traffic accidents; 186 die from ‘drug use disorders’; 630 die from war. (Via the WHO) Leap Day Year Facts. (Okay, so I’m a little untimely in passing this along, but it’s mildly interesting. Probably nothing you didn’t already know—except maybe the part about […]
Posted by Ben on March 3, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/round-up/
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus (REVIEW)
Author Janine Benyus Biomimicry looks at the ways in which we can learn by studying nature. By (surprise!) biomimicry, as it’s called. This book is surprisingly well-written, thorough, and imaginative. JB’s incredible enthusiasm for the topic is infectious, and helps make the book a quick read. You’ll find yourself quite unexpectedly agreeing that, yes, mussels […]
Posted by Ben on March 2, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/biomimicry-innovation-inspired-by-nature-by-janine-benyus-review/
In other words
“Half of all human languages will have disappeared by the end of the century.” … ” …each language lost leaves a gap in our understanding of the variable cognitive structures of which the human brain is capable. Studies of different languages have already revealed vastly different ways of representing and interpreting the world. Some Native […]
Posted by Ben on March 1, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/in-other-words/
O$CAR: It didn’t seem like a bad idea
Okay. So I have a mild curiosity as to the Oscar winners. No major investment—no money riding on any of the nominees (honest!), just a mild, vaguely saprophytic curiosity. (And yes, I realize that saprophytic almost definintely makes no sense whatosever in that context.) Moreover, using the seemingly bottomless pool of numbers over at The […]
Posted by Ben on March 1, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/ocar-it-didnt-seem-like-a-bad-idea/
The Snow Goose and the Survival of the Human Species (and so forth)
Last night I went to see a noisy staging of snow geese. It was a pretty marvelous sight. And you think to yourself—you’re maybe a little impressed at the showing of birdpower and a little amused by the showing of people parked alongside the road to watch the avifauna—but you have to ask yourself, what […]
Posted by Ben on February 29, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-snow-goose-and-the-survival-of-the-human-species-and-so-forth/
Gaps in logic and law
Every year, passports are stolen. No big surprise there. But many of these documents (more than you’d think) are stolen blank, i.e., ripe for planting pictures and fake names and so forth. Also no big surprise, terrorists/criminals/corrupt officials/etc. can use these passports to cross borders. Interpol (that nifty international crimefighting organization) keeps a database of […]
Posted by Ben on February 28, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/gaps-in-logic-and-law/
From the files
Q: Ever since seeing a Lamborghini in the movie Rising Sun, I’ve had what you might call a preternatural lust to buy one. Well, I thought I’d have to live with this for my entire life—this insatiable, impossible desire. I thought, as you might imagine, that buying one would be way out of my league. […]
Posted by Ben on February 28, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/from-the-files/