It has been a bad week for contemporary Marxist scholarship [
earlier this morning].
This past Saturday, the geography world lost Neil Smith,
versatile theorist,
advocate for social justice,
LA Times Book Award winner, and founder of the
Center for Place, Culture and Politics at CUNY. Best known for
his theory of the uneven spatial development of capitalism and
for changing the way we think about gentrification, his numerous contributions to the field of critical human geography include a
sustained critique of neoliberalism,
a history of American empire, and the declaration that
there's no such thing as a natural disaster. Here's Neil on
Occupy Wall Street,
urban securitization,
deconstructing USA Today in 1984, and
singing the Socialist ABCs.
posted by avocet
on Oct 1, 2012 -
12 comments
You would be hard pressed to find an article about Obama that didn't mention approval ratings. Ditto during Bush's presidency. This
interactive graph lets you compare approval ratings over time for presidents since Truman (article itself is dated but the chart is current).
This graph offers less interactivity but adds some historical points of context.
posted by Defenestrator
on Oct 8, 2011 -
15 comments
'Yep, life'll burst that self-esteem bubble' says USA Today This article can't seem to decide whether it wants to discuss Gen Xers or Millenials. And it quotes Neil Howe (Of The Fourth Turning) toward the end, about the characteristics of Millenials (people born after 1982).
What may be the most interesting aspect of this article is that the author seems uncomfortable speaking negatively about the millenials. The writer is hesitant to criticize the Millenials, and so she initially suggests that the cry babies finishing college who are now entering the workforce were born in the 70s and early 80s. Of course, if that were true, those recent college grads would be in their late twenties to mid-thirties.
And I particularly like that improved self esteem is bad because it leads to "enhanced initiative, which boosts confidence, and increased happiness."
posted by schambers
on Feb 16, 2005 -
57 comments
USA Today Dumps Ann Coulter Citing editorial differences, USA Today dropped Ann Coulter's column before it even began in the paper.
The disputed column on www.anncoulter.com begins "Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston" and devolves rapidly into a bitter little snark against Democrats. I wonder why USA Today had a problem with it?
It ends with "I'd say I love all these Democrats in Boston so much I want them to go home, but I don't. I want Americans to get a good long look at the French Party and keep the 7-11 challenge in mind."
posted by fenriq
on Jul 27, 2004 -
139 comments
And the apprentice is: Kwame Jackson! Trump fired Bill for how he ran a tournament at Trump National Golf Club and hired Kwame for the way he put together a Jessica Simpson concert at the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.
USA Today makes an ooopsie.
posted by riffola
on Apr 16, 2004 -
38 comments
Nude Year's Resolution. SFW. Nude travel makes the pages of USA Weekend (a USA Today magazine). Will it become mainstream? And will the message of "body acceptance" ever have a noticeable impact on industries which prey on our fears of inadequacy?
posted by ZenMasterThis
on Dec 31, 2003 -
22 comments
New Scientist reports that a virus has been built up from mail order components. Other reports on this are in
USA Today and
Nature. This isn't time life has been created in the lab,
as previously linked.
What's interesting is that this study was funded by the
Department of Energy to produce a completely man made lifeform that can create hydrogen or consume greenhouse gasses.
The present virus is an artificially created copy of a naturally occurring virus.
posted by substrate
on Nov 14, 2003 -
7 comments
The September 11th 'Ground And Freeze' order which halted air travel for 4 days didn't come from the president, nor SecTrans... not even the Adminstrator of the FAA. Nope, it came from
Ben Sliney. [ Actual journalism in McPaper. Whoulda? ]
posted by baylink
on Aug 12, 2002 -
22 comments
How creepy is this? Man poses as sportswriter for USAToday and/or SI For Kids who wants to interview female collegiate athletes.
Some he only gets as far as the phone, one met up with him with her family acting as Scooby Gang.
Police say he hasn't done anything to merit charges. Harmless person with mental disorder or person perfecting routine before he escalates?
posted by sillygit
on Jun 29, 2002 -
3 comments
Artist Demolishes Belongings Inside a defunct department store in the heart of London's shopping district, dozens of yellow bins move slowly along conveyor belts toward the mouth a gigantic blue machine. Workers in jumpsuits systematically catalogue and weigh the contents of each one. This is British artist Michael Landy's newest work: The items in the bins - coats, photographs, paintings, furniture - are all of his belongings. Over the next two weeks, everything he owns - including a red Saab - will be destroyed.
posted by Mars Saxman
on Feb 10, 2001 -
37 comments
Zap those wolves into submission - Conspiracy buffs beware. This one's true.
So the U.S. Agriculture Department, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department are conducting experiments involving livestock, electricity and wolves in Montana - on a ranch owned by Ted Turner.
Apparently those nasty wolves have a habit of biting livestock, so to stop it they are strapping electric collars on the wolves to train them with an electric jolt when they get "within biting distance" of a particular calf. The "trained" and somewhat damaged wolves are set to be released into the wilds in October.
Beautiful counter-quote for this is from a USA Today article about Ted Turner's preserve. Turner is quoted as saying "You can see what we're doing, right? We're just getting out of nature's way. That's all we want to do - get out of the way and let nature go back the way it was." (halfway down page)
posted by kokogiak
on Sep 27, 2000 -
1 comment
Identity swapping makes life relative Do any of you do the Safeway Card Shuffle? I think I probably would, but then again the level of tracking where I live is currently negligible, so it isn't yet an issue. How about where you live?
And how does this tie in to online privacy, like advertising cookies and programs like RealPlayer and GoZilla that track and report where you've been and what you've been doing?
posted by lia
on Jun 8, 2000 -
8 comments
The Playstation 2, just like the G4 is considered a Supercomputer too. It's nice to know that hostile nations won't rip apart the system after they get gunned down in Metal Gear Solid.
posted by Cavatica
on Mar 9, 2000 -
0 comments
