Didactic Synapse
hip-hop, politics, education, movies, books, killer robots, and video games
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Here’s what Colbert said while David Koch was sitting right in front of him.
Of course, all of us should be honored to be listed on the TIME 100 alongside the two men who will be slugging it out in the fall:Â President Obama, and the man who would defeat him, David Koch.
Give it up everybody. David Koch.
Little known fact — David, nice to see you again, sir.
Little known fact, David’s brother Charles Koch is actually even more influential. Charles pledged $40 million to defeat President Obama, David only $20 million. That’s kind of cheap, Dave.
Sure, he’s all for buying the elections, but when the bill for democracy comes up, Dave’s always in the men’s room. I’m sorry, I must have left Wisconsin in my other coat.
I was particularly excited to meet David Koch earlier tonight because I have a Super PAC, Colbert Super PAC, and I am — thank you, thank you — and I am happy to announce Mr. Koch has pledged $5 million to my Super PAC. And the great thing is, thanks to federal election law, there’s no way for you to ever know whether that’s a joke.
By the way, if David Koch likes his waiter tonight, he will be your next congressman.
Top 3 Links
- Olympic goods made in sweatshops
- A History of robot violence
- Frontline: Money. Power, and Wall Street
Current Events
- Charles Taylor convicted
- BP Executive charged
- Israel’s top general says Iran unlikely to make bomb
- CeCe McDonald: Self defense of second-degree murder?
- Blind Man escapes house arrest in China
Economics
Education
Killer Robots, etc
- Robots and moral agency
- Mind-controlled robots help paralyzed people
- Billionaires plan to mine asteroids
- New computer smell
- Sarah Palin lies or is wrong about Obama’s farm plan
Hip-Hop
New show! Lots of stuff — probably my most dense show yet! Enjoy,
Top 3 Links of the Week
- Marissa Alexander faces 25 years in prison
- The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders
- ‘Stock-Picking Robot’ a Fraud, SEC Says
Current Events
- Kenneth Chamberlain Sr: Officer shouted racial slur before 2nd cop killed black man
- Kony 2012: Ugandans Criticize Popular Video for Backing U.S. Military Intervention in Central Africa
- Gene Sharp – How to Start a Revolution Trailer
- U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers
- For cosmetic surgery, chins are the new breasts: ‘Chinplants’ on the rise
Economics
- Latin America v. Obama: U.S. Policy on Cuba, Drug War, Economy Under Fire at Colombian Summit
- Increasingly in Europe, Suicides ‘by Economic Crisis’
- Republican Whipping-Boy Illinois Beats Wisconsin on Jobs
- How to Pay No Taxes: 10 Strategies Used by the Rich
- Why Are McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Intuit Fleeing ALEC?
- High Frequency Trading (HFT): Wall Street’s Latest Scam
- Algorithmic Trading May Spur Volatility, Mispricing, Turner Says
- Optiver, High-Frequency Trading Firm, To Pay $14 Million Over Use Of ‘The Hammer’ To Influence Oil Prices
- SEC Chairman: Markets need to be fair
Education
- Afghan schoolgirls poisoned in anti-education attack
- 6-year-old Georgia girl throws tantrum, gets handcuffed by police
- In Blur of A.D.H.D., Sleep Troubles May Be a Culprit
- PBS Frontline: The Medicated Child
- RSA Animate: Sir Ken Robinson
Killer Robots, et cetera
- DARPA Robotics Challenge Seeks Emergency Response Robots
- Robot Guards Patrolling Prisons in South Korea
- The Pulitzer Prizes | Citation
- Nomophobia
- Sarah Palin Sculpture
Hip-Hop
As we come to the end of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye in AP English, I came across the following passage about the nature of hotels, written in a letter by the character Soaphead Church.
It reminded me — as, yeah, okay, everything always does — of Barton Fink.
A hotel room is a place to be when you are doing something else. Of itself it is of no consequence to one’s major scheme. A hotel room is convenient. But its convenience is limited to the time you need it while you are in that particular town on that particular business; you hope it is comfortable, but prefer, rather, that it be anonymous. It is not, after all, where you live.
When you no longer need it, you pay a little something for its use; say, “Thank you, sir,” and when your business in that town is over, you go away from that room. Does anybody regret leaving a hotel room? Does anybody, who has a home, a real home somewhere, want to stay there? Does anybody look back with affection, or even disgust, at a hotel room when they leave it? You can only love or despise whatever living was done in that room. But the room itself? But you take a souvenir. Not, oh, not, to remember the room. To remember, rather, the time and the place of your business, your adventure. (Original emphasis.)
It also reminds me of Henry James, who spoke in his travelogue The American Scene, of the “hotel-civilization” so prevalent in the US.
An interesting debate about whether we need nuclear power or not. Brand presents some very interesting information, and Jacobson makes some silly points, but I remain convinced that nuclear is the wrong way to go. (Note that this was filmed before the Fukushima meltdowns.)
It’s nice to see an intellectual exchange based in ideas and facts, not hyperbole and vitriol. The world needs more of this sort of thing.
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