GOOD

The New New Deal

Price — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:02:33 +0000

In this morning’s laptop chat, Barack Obama outlines, in broad strokes, the new New Deal everyone’s speculating about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17pz0R_qZo Thoughts after the jump. Obama says: “We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.” This is…

This Week in GOOD

GOOD — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:31:43 +0000

It was a rough week for Ted Stevens. And most of Somalia. And a bunch of turkeys (and, by extension, Sarah Palin’s PR people). However, things are looking a bit brighter for Hillary Clinton and Henry Waxman. Ben Jervey gave us some much needed perspective on how the EPA “dropped a legal bombshell on Big Coal.” Cliff Kuang argued for a bailed-out Detroit. Anne Trubek offered her thoughts on the brilliance of Art Spiegelman. Michaelangelo Matos carved out a bright…

Ted’s Bogus Journey

Price — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:25:29 +0000

Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history and seven-time convicted felon, lost his bid for reelection in Alaska in a recount. In his farewell speech from the Senate floor yesterday, he said “I don’t have any rearview mirror.” As an explanation for why he didn’t see the law creeping up behind him, that would have been funny. But he meant it as a public refusal to even begin discussing whether he had made any…

In Hindsight, Peter Schiff Had Incredible Foresight

Price — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:13:57 +0000

In retrospect, after a disaster, you’ll always be able to find someone who saw it coming. And in the case of the financial crisis of 2008, that person is Peter Schiff, who predicted the exact mechanics of our present collapse years ago. This video compilation pulls together some of his more prescient interviews. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw By the way, if you have any money managed by Laffer Investments or Ben Stein you might want to rethink that. …

GOOD December Comes to Los Angeles

GOOD — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:17:49 +0000

People have been asking about the next GOOD event in Los Angeles for damn near a year now. Well, when it rains it pours (figuratively—neither ever actually happens in L.A.). We’re holding a two-week event cornucopia next month. The GOOD December event series was a huge success in New York last year. This year we’re bringing it to our new office and community space in L.A. From December 5-19 our doors will be open from 11…

Doh! Meh Makes Its Mark

MarkPeters — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:56:34 +0000

Another Simpsons word lands in a dictionary Yikes! Yeeps! Ugh! Whoo! Ack! Guh! Mmm … Oooh … Whoa … Bleah. Hmm? Aaiiieee! Interjections don’t get the respect of nouns and verbs, but who needs respect when you can communicate so efficiently all by your lonesome? Regardless, a lowly interjection just got its due: meh—The Simpsons-coined, shrug-like expression of apathy—will be included in the 30th anniversary edition of the Brit-focused Collins English Dictionary. The word won a competition in which…

Pirate’s Booty

Price — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:57:59 +0000

There’s still a standoff on the Saudi oil super tanker that Somali pirates seized last Saturday. The pirates are demanding $25 million and fortifying their position. However this situation is resolved, hopefully the two million barrels of crude on that boat stays out of the ocean. This could be a huge environmental disaster. How to “solve” the pirate problem is a larger question. The pirates on board the Sirius Star (pictured) aren’t the only ones looking forward to…

Palin Pals Around With Turkey Murderers

morganclendaniel — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:45:55 +0000

Every year, the president ceremonially pardons a turkey, thus sparing it from the execution. Apparently, in an amusing example of federalism, governors also pardon their own turkeys. I’m piling on here, but: this year, Sarah Palin pardoned the Alaskan turkey. Sadly, in a now typical, and truly hilarious display of incompetent public relations, her post-pardon interview takes place in the foreground, while less fortunate turkeys are being graphically slaughtered behind her. Not for the squeamish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-kjM1asH-8 Via…

Neighborhood Watch

GOOD — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:04:48 +0000

-Slate launched a new video series Wednesday called “Grand Unified Weekly,” which serves up science news with a side of snark. You may remember it under it’s original name: Scientific American’s “The Monitor.” -A man tried to pay his phone bill with the drawing of a spider. It didn’t work. But the email thread between him and the phone company representative is priceless. -A 90-year-old giant tortoise named Lonesome George—he’s the last of his kind—mated this year for the…

Intermission

patrickjames — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:52:34 +0000

If one were to visit the Coraline site and enter the code “moustachio,” one would enjoy a super-duper stop motion treat courtesy of Bo Henry’s substantial handlebars. Via Fabulist.