Do you believe that the contrails left by high-flying aircraft contain sildenafil citratum, the active ingredient in Viagra? Or that light bulbs made from uranium and plutonium are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly? Or that lemons have anti-hypnotic benefits?
If you do, then you are probably a regular consumer of conspiracy theories, particularly those that appear on the Italian language version of Facebook (where all these were sourced). It is easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as background noise with little if any consequences in the real world.
~ Alessandro Bessi et al, from Science Vs Conspiracy: Collective Narratives In The Age Of (Mis)Information
Conspiracy theories on facebook →
They gavage with grain →
They don’t gavage the ducks with steak, eggs, and ham – they gavage them with GRAIN, that wholesome stuff that most of the brain-dead nutritional advisers recommend you eat a half dozen times a day (the ducks only get it three times per day, and look at their livers).
~ Michael Eades from, «http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/saturated-fat/foie-gras-cest-moi/»
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Busy is an addiction →
The issue, just like exercise, is that each time you build, the high becomes slightly harder to achieve. Part of your hormonal reward is based on the fact the thing you just built has never been built before. It’s novel and your brain commensurately rewards the new because it has learned after millions of years of evolution that doing so is collectively good for our species.
~ Rands from, Busy is an Addiction
Elsewhere, this is 4uraai5. — slipbox
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Who do our representatives represent? →
Who do representatives represent?
Elsewhere, this is 4uwewo1. — slipbox
Hint: It’s not you. A pull-quote would be mis-leading from this one. it’s short, so just go read it.
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Remembering the fallen →
Yes, let’s honor those who died in the nation’s many wars.
But if we do not want to keep adding to the soldiers’ graves, let’s also ask why they died.
~ Howard Zinn from, On Memorial Day, Words from the Late Howard Zinn
Elsewhere, this is 4upone1. — slipbox
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Why the austerity fraud matters →
But this week a controversy broke out in economics, and it actually deserves your attention. A paper that has had a major influence on public policy around the world turns out to be wrong. And not just wrong in a subtle way that only geniuses can see, or even wrong in an everybody’s-human way that you look at and say, “Oh yeah, I’ve done that.” This one was wrong in three different ways that make you (or at least me) say, “That can’t be an accident.”
~ Doug Muder from, Why the Austerity Fraud Matters
Elsewhere, this is 4uwewy1. — slipbox
Really, you should read this. Foundations have moved.
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Dietary guidelines →
I believe a big part of the problem can be laid at the doorstep of the US Government, specifically the USDA and their Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines).
~ Michael Eades from, «http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/girth-of-a-nation/»
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The mind wants comfort →
[T]he mind wants comfort, and is afraid of discomfort and change. The mind is used to its comfort cocoon, and anytime we try to push beyond that comfort zone very far or for very long, the mind tries desperately to get back into the cocoon. At any cost, including our long-term health and happiness.
~ Leo Babauta from, The Lies Your Mind Tells You to Prevent Life Changes
Elsewhere, this is 4uzeaa1. — slipbox
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Fish don’t know they are in water →
If you know a little history, you might see some of this, and think that today’s culture battles are part of a tradition that goes back to FDR …
If you know a bit more history, you might see that this culture war stems from North Eastern progressive tradition dating back to the US Civil War.
The truth is that our culture war does date to the Civil War. Just not the US Civil War in 1861. It’s the English Civil War in 1640s I’m talking about.
~ Clark from, «http://www.popehat.com/2014/10/10/strange-seeds-on-distant-shores/»
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Religious freedom turning into passive-aggression →
To make this work, conservative Christians need to divert attention from the people they are mistreating by portraying themselves as the victims. And that requires cultivating a hyper-sensitivity to any form of involvement in activities they disapprove of. So rather than sympathize with the lesbian couple who gets the bakery door slammed in their faces, the public should instead sympathize with the poor wedding-cake baker whose moral purity is besmirched when the labor of his hands is used in a celebration of immorality and perversion.
~ Doug Muder from, “Religious Freedom” means Christian Passive-Aggressive Domination
Elsewhere, this is 4uwere1. — slipbox
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