Immanuel Wallerstein
IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN LOOKS AT THE GLOBE AND FINDS TURMOIL AND THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT IN THE “MIDDLE RUN” FUTURE.
While predictions for a given year are a “fool’s mission” and those for centuries in the future only too easy to make, those for the “middle run” of a decade or so hence are subject to some reasonably accurate such predictions. Wallerstein sees the increasing polarization of the world into geo-political conflicts between conglomerations of nations and an intensification of the current situation of austerity and authoritarianism by means of which the privileged struggle to maintain their dominance over the under-privileged. The “hope” he sees in the situation lies in the “butterfly effect” of immediate progressive actions, as the wings of a single butterfly’s movement create ripple effects around the world.
(IWallerstein.com)
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IF A LITHIUM BATTERY IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR MY CELL-PHONE, WHY ISN’T IT GOOD ENOUGH TO HELP POWER THE BOEING 787 DREAM-LINER?
The Federal Aviation Administration is considering that question, as a fire attributed to one such battery, used by Boeing because it is “lighter” than other batteries (as the whole plane is touted to be) produced a fire that easily could have incinerated the (ultra-light) shell of the plane.
(McClatchy)
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BURNING HOUSES TO KEEP AWAY VISITORS AND PRESERVE A LOCAL WAY OF LIFE.
This is one of the desperate resorts of long-time residents of British Columbia’s central coast who try to carry on a traditional lifestyle based on the cultivation and harvesting of the herring fish which spawn in abundance along the coast. House burning is something of a community ritual, based on the logic that outsiders will stay away if they have no place to live when they visit.
(Indian Country Today)
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A NEW $1 BILLION STADIUM TO REPLACE THE GEORGIA DOME IN ATLANTA?
The people don’t want it, the austere times seem inopportune to replace a 20-year old stadium that is in good shape, but developers and the Governor say it may be necessary to keep the Falcons in Atlanta so of course we have to do it.
(Atlanta Journal Constitution)
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WHY DO ONLY 17% OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE IN FLORIDA ACTUALLY RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS?
A major reason is that the state recently established procedures that made it difficult for people to apply for the benefits. The procedures, for example, require applicants to file their claims online, when many unemployed people do not have computers—or even the computer skills to navigate a complicated online procedure on the local library’s computers.
(Sarasota Herald Tribune)
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Quote of the day…
Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars. It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, on U.S. Justice Department’s prosecution of Aaron Swartz for taking files from an adjunct of MIT and offering them for free on the internet, a prosecution foreshortened by Swartz’s suicide.
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