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October 18, 2010 - 1:10pm -- jim
News
Culture

Chevron's New Ad Campaign Is a Slick Yes Men Hoax David Zax, Fast Company

Part of the genius of the Yes Men is that they really know when to pull the trigger on a good prank. To wit: They fired off a press release, which we were initially fooled by, to us in the wee hours, before anyone from Chevron could actually respond to real questions for verification (this is an edited version of our original post). And of course, in the wake of the BP disaster, lots of oil-related stories that once seemed unbelievable are now much more plausible.

October 18, 2010 - 5:45am -- jim
News
Ecology

Hundreds of UK Climate Activists Blockade Oil Refineries

Today hundreds of climate activists taking part in the Crude Awakening day of action have successfully blockaded the Coryton and Shell Haven oil refineries in Essex, including the UK's busiest oil refinery and distribution centre.

October 16, 2010 - 6:40pm -- jim
News
Culture

Fractal Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot Dead at 85

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Benoit Mandelbrot, a pioneer in fractal mathematics and the person who coined the term, has died in Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 85.

Aliette Mandelbrot told The New York Times her husband suffered from pancreatic cancer and died Thursday in Cambridge.

October 16, 2010 - 8:32am -- jim
News
Culture

Musopen Is Freeing Classical Music From the Chains of Copyright David Bollier, On the Commons

Ludwig von Beethoven died 183 years ago. So why is his music still locked behind copyrights and not available for free to everyone? Because even if the music itself is in the public domain, the recordings of his music, or perhaps the sheet music (with special arrangements or notation) can be copyrighted by the orchestras that perform the music or the composers who notate it.

October 14, 2010 - 5:31pm -- jim
News
Mainstream Media

News Outlets Follow NPR's Lead: No Staffers at Stewart and Colbert RalliesNate Freeman, NY Observer

After a memo banning staffers from attending rallies — specifically the two high-profile ones to be orchestrated by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert later this month — made its way around the internet and collected backlash in its swath, NPR is trying to get other news outlets to join its side of the fight.

October 7, 2010 - 11:28am -- stevphen
News
Theory

Socialisme ou Barbarie Theorist Claude Lefort Dies at Age 86Tendance Coatesy

The French political theorist and philosopher Claude Lefort died on Sunday the 3rd of October at 86 years old. For the left Lefort’s most significant political and intellectual activity was some time ago, in the 1950s hey-days of the libertarian socialist (and critical Marxist) French group, Socialisme ou Barbarie.

Wikipedia summarises thus:

September 30, 2010 - 5:46pm -- jim
News
The State

Ecuador Declares State of Emergency Amid 'Coup Attempt'BBC

A state of emergency has been declared in Ecuador after President Rafael Correa accused the opposition and security forces of a coup attempt.

Mr Correa was taken to hospital after being hit by tear gas at a protest. Later reports spoke of fresh violence outside as he was being treated.

Troops also took over the main airport, forcing it to close. Unrest has been reported across the country.

September 20, 2010 - 10:17am -- stevphen
News
Economy

Neoliberalism is destroying Europe Christian MarazziThe Guardian

September 8, 2010 - 8:19am -- jim
News
Independent Media

Pirate Bay Down, Police Raids Across Europething.co.uk

Police in up to 14 countries carried out raids against suspected file-sharing servers this morning.

According to file-sharing news site TorrentFreak, the bulk of police action seems to have taken place in Sweden.

Swedish Internet service provider ISP, which hosts both The Pirate Bay and whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks, earlier denied rumours of a police raid, saying that officers had visited them to ask questions over two

August 8, 2010 - 9:33am -- jim
News
Culture

Historian Tony Judt Dies, Aged 62Guardian

Tony Judt, the British writer, historian and professor who was recently described as having the "liveliest mind in New York", has died after a two-year struggle with motor neurone disease.

Considered by many to be a giant in the intellectual world, Judt chronicled his illness in unsparing detail in public lectures and essays – giving an extraordinary account that won him almost as much respect as his voluminous historical and political work, for which he was feted on both sides of the Atlantic.

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