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The Art of Hamad Butt

June 12, 2023 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In The Guardian is an obituary of artist Hamad Butt and a review of his work. Fascinating and dangerous, Butt was one of the Young Brits who, having died in 1994 of AIDS, didn’t receive as much exposure as his peers.   So why haven’t we heard of Butt before? His lack of visibility is … [Read more…]

Posted in: Arts, Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: AIDS, contemporary British art, emotion and intellect, genius, Gilane Tawadros, Hamad Butt, high art and gothic horror, homophobia, London, racism, science and the supernatural, Tate, the sacred and profane, viruses, YBAs, Young British Artists

Long shadow of US invasion of Iraq

March 14, 2023 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Guardian – Iraq war: 20 years on Long shadow of US invasion of Iraq still looms over international order Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimates that the taxpayer bill for post-9/11 US wars reached $8tn, representing a profound diversion from civilian spending. About 400,000 Iraqis died. Guardian – Iraq war: 20 years on

Posted in: History, Politics, Racism, Thinking about, This Day in History Tagged: Arab Spring, Bashar al-Assad, chaos, Condoleeza Rice, David Petraeus, de-Baathification, Gaddafi, George Bush, hubris, insurgency, invasion, Iraq, Iraqis, liberal interventionism, March 20 2003, Saddam, sanctions, Shia, Sunni, Tehran, Tony Blair, unilateralism, Vladimir Putin

Casey Hayden Dies at 85

January 14, 2023 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Casey Hayden, a Force for Civil Rights and Feminism, Dies at 85 New York Times By Neil Genzlinger Published Jan. 13, 2023 While working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the early 1960s, she helped write two memos that spurred the modern women’s movement. Casey Hayden with Dorie Ladner, a fellow member of the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, History, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Thinking about Tagged: 1962, anti-segregation, Casey Hayden, civil disobedience, Civil Rights, Ella Baker, Freedom Rides, New York Times, Port Huron Statement, S.D.S., sexism, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society

Books in 2023

January 10, 2023 by sergneri 2 Comments

Last half of “Bleeding Edge” by Thomas Pynchon 01/06/2023 – Done – enjoyable. Checked out “Rising : dispatches from the new American shore” by Elizabeth Rush from the library – good account the present impact of rising seas on a few areas in the world and a cautionary tale about the future. She’s an excellent … [Read more…]

Posted in: Arts, Climate Change, Content, Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, History, Politics, Racism, Science, Sea Stories, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about, This Day in History, What I Read Tagged: A Canticle for Leibowitz, Against the day, Albert and the Whale, American Midnight, Bleeding Edge, Coal wars : the future of energy and the fate of the planet, Don DeLillo, Elizabeth Rush, Herbert Gold, How Markets Fail, John Cassidy, Ka, Philip Hoare, Richard Martin, Roberto Colasso, Slow Learner, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Thomas Pynchon, Walter M. Miller Jr, White Noise

Lee Lorenz, 90, Cartoonist at The New Yorker, Dies

December 10, 2022 by sergneri Leave a Comment

This obituary of Mr. Lorenz contains many links to other cartoonists as well as his insights on the New Yorker.

Posted in: Content, Faits Divers, History, Obituaries, Politics, Thinking about Tagged: Cartoonist, Jack Ziegler, Lee Lorenz, Robert A. Gottlieb, Roz Chast, The New Yorker, Tina Brown, William Shawn

Big Oil talks ‘transition’

December 9, 2022 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Big Oil talks ‘transition’ but perpetuates petroleum, House documents say A House committee, accusing oil companies of deception, releases a trove of internal documents revealing how these firms view the ‘energy transition’ By Steven Mufson and Timothy Puko December 9, 2022 Some of the world’s major oil companies remain internally skeptical about the “energy transition” … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Finanace, Future of Work, Politics, the Anthropocene Tagged: 2022, BP, Canadian oil sands, carbon, carbon capture, carbon footprints, climate science, economy, energy transition, ExxonMobil, House Committee, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, low-carbon, low-carbon economy, oil company, oversight, Politico, Reform, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute, TotalEnergies, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

John Prados, Master of Uncovering Government Secrets, Dies at 71

December 7, 2022 by sergneri Leave a Comment

John Prados, Master of Uncovering Government Secrets, Dies at 71 New York Times By Clay Risen Dec. 3, 2022 John Prados, miner of declassified documents, dies at 71 Washington Post By Emily Langer December 5, 2022

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, History, IT Failures, Obituaries, Politics, Thinking about Tagged: antiwar activist, classified documents, Dr. Prados, George Washington University, John Prados, National Security Archive, Richard M. Nixon, scholar, U.S. government archives, Watergate

Jaron Lanier on Poisoning

November 27, 2022 by sergneri 1 Comment

Trump, Musk and Kanye Are Twitter Poisoned The New York Times, Opinion Guest Essay, Jaron Lanier, Nov. 11, 2022 ‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity, The Guardian, Edward Helmore, Sun 27 Nov 2022. Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist who pioneered research in virtual reality and whose … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Slavery, the Anthropocene, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: addiction, antisemitism, behavior-modification, cancel culture, Elon Musk, engagement, fandom, Jaron Lanier, Kanye West, online bullying, operant conditioning, public behavior, slavery denialism, Twitter Poisoned

The Crime Spike Is No Mystery

November 23, 2022 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In The Atlantic, Patrick Sharkey writes about the causes of crime; “By zooming out and looking at the big picture, the question of what causes violence becomes quite answerable.” November 23, 2022 Patrick Sharkey is the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He … [Read more…]

Posted in: Environment, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Finanace, History, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Chicago, crime, geography of violence, Patrick Sharkey, Segregation, The Atlantic, Urban Crime, violence

Herman Daly, 84, Who Challenged the Economic Gospel of Growth, Dies

November 8, 2022 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The New York Times 11/08/2022 poking “a big hornets’ nest with a short stick.” Perhaps the best-known ecological economist, he faulted his mainstream peers for failing to account for the environmental harm growth can bring. Herman Daly, who for more than 50 years argued that the economic gospel of growth as synonymous with prosperity and … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Environment, Ethical and green living, Finanace, History, Obituaries, Politics, Science, the Anthropocene, Thinking about Tagged: ecological, economist, environmental, growth, growth economy, Herman Daly, natural resources, Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen, pollution, steady-state economy
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