More news for today.

[wolven7]

'"I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics," he said, "but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

'He said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and rappers Jay-Z and Ludacris were "great talents and great businessmen."

'"It would be nice if I could have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying that they were getting bad images of themselves," he added.'

YES! This pleases me, in more ways than I know how to precisely calculate...

The variables and shifts capable, from that simple a statement... I want to see this everywhere.

'Global Warming Called Security Threat'

'For the second time in a month, private consultants to the government are warning that human-driven warming of the climate poses risks to the national security of the United States.

'A report, scheduled to be published on Monday but distributed to some reporters yesterday, said issues usually associated with the environment — like rising ocean levels, droughts and violent weather caused by global warming — were also national security concerns.

'“Unlike the problems that we are used to dealing with, these will come upon us extremely slowly, but come they will, and they will be grinding and inexorable,” Richard J. Truly, a retired United States Navy vice admiral and former NASA administrator, said in the report.

'The effects of global warming, the study said, could lead to large-scale migrations, increased border tensions, the spread of disease and conflicts over food and water. All could lead to direct involvement by the United States military.'

As I said to my cousin, yesterday, you have to put these things in terms that people can understand; put it to them in a way that shows them how it affects them, right now. This is a report that people have been needing for many many years, but the public intersection only recently became probable enough to spill over into actuality.

It's frustrating, yes, but better late than never, yes?

Number of Rich people is rising.

So is the number of poor people.

Middle class is disappearing, across the world.

It can't all be good news, right? But we can use the good to fix the bad.

Time for the Colbert Report.

Comments

[mendori.livejournal.com]

I hate to be the bringer of doom and gloom, but we are due now for the every 100 year depression. Every 100 years, the US has a major economic collapse - its a part of the economic cycle we have developed, and corrects for the constant inflationary growth we otherwise experience.

The Panic of 1819 was based around foreclosures, bank collapses, and credit shortages. The Great Depression (1929-1939) was actually the final sharp downturn of a series of predepression panics that began as early as 1907, as well as the post WW1 recession of 1918-1921. The Great Depression was of course triggered by a massive stock market crash on Black Tuesday, but was prefaced by a series of massive economic downturns as early as 1928. However, a great bit of the contributing influences to its cause were a massive inflation in debt and lending practices prior to it.

Of course now, we are lining up again for another downturn, starting with the recessions of the early 80's, 90's and 00's, in a similar pattern of the preceding events of the 1929 collapse. I predict the collapse will probably happen between 2010 and 2015, a bit early but it will be very massive. Again, over-lending, over-spending, and inflation are massive contributory causes. As with previous depressions, the gap between poor and rich becomes greater, the middle class vanishes, and it starkly becomes an issue of Have and Have Not.

Call me in a few years... I'm going to be busy canning food and hiding supplies. My parents may laugh at my grand parents who have a pantry full of canned goods, dry goods, and cold stores, but I think they are damned smart for never forgetting that lesson.

[mendori.livejournal.com]

http://notes.strixus.net/2008/06/coming-storm.php

Annotated version.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Good links. Still nothing to make it so, other than our letting it happen.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

This model is broken and I reject it.

There is nothing in our way of life that Necessitates this. Nothing at all.

Why don't people realise this?

[nausved.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Poor economic policy leads to economic collapse. It's not a rule of nature that economies must cyclically rise and fall.

It's similar to rises and falls in animal populations. Some years deer reproduce like nuts, and other years they crash. But it's not because that's just the nature of populations. It's because individuals produce and consume beyond their means—and they do it because it's in their genes; they evolved under pressures of predation. Now, without predators, there is little holding them back from their full reproductive potential.

Similarly, individual humans over-consume and over-produce because we no longer have the technological limitations that once kept us in check. The only options are to control our own individual economic decisions (difficult, since we evolved under tremendous pressure, like the deer) or introduce external controls on our economic decisions (namely, carefully crafted regulations; in the case of deer, this would amount to managed hunting).

That being said, I do think we have way, way over-stretched ourselves in the last few decades, and that it will be compensated with a substantial recession/depression in the near future. The shrinkage could happen suddenly (especially if policy-makers panic and try to force further economic growth) or it could happen more gradually and naturally (if policy-makers recognize that growth is unsustainable and, instead, focus on achieving economic equilibrium).

[wolven.livejournal.com]

We've certainly stretched ourselves, but I'm saying we have the means and the understanding to correct it.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I don't get why people don't realize this. Any explanation I can come up with makes me really dislike humanity in general, so I have stopped trying to apply logic to it.

[necrophonic.livejournal.com]

I think rap has desegregated music the same way that country music has brought women's rights. But that's a whole other rant. Either way, country and rap have always seemed to me to be almost inherently racist or sexist. Even if the genre itself isn't, the fact that people like Redman bitch about Eminem selling more albums, or the way the Dixie Chicks get slammed by the industry for making anti-Bush statements, is just evidence that a portion, if not the majority, of those who participate in the making and/or listening of said genre are a bunch of asshats.

Not that it had to actually be SAID, that a portion or majority of ANY group are asshats, but... Well, I guess I just like saying it.

And our economy is starting to resemble the USSR more and more. Something's going to give, or change, and it's not going to be smooth and pretty.

[unknownbinaries.livejournal.com]

I think rap has desegregated music the same way that country music has brought women's rights. But that's a whole other rant.

I have to disagree...Look how many damned people love Outkast. Period. Look at projects like Gnarls Barkley, and how everyone from longtime hip-hop enthusiasts to indie kids like a LOT of the stuff coming out of Britain and elsewhere. Look at the small, but diverse nerdcore movement. It's slow, because a great many of the really good, respectable artists aren't talking about the things, or picking fights with the people, that get you lots of press. And in most, if not all groups, the assholes are the most visible and loudest.

[necrophonic.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. Rap as a musical genre has definately been embraced cross-culturally, but I was referring (well, alluding to, I guess... I wasn't being really clear) to the fact that the major driving force of mainstream rap is still very ethnocentric, and there are, as you say, some very visible, loud assholes that keep it that way, perhaps unintentionally.

People like Kanye West and Redman make a big deal about race, but then there's the Dr. Dre's that embrace skill wherever it may be. There's definately two sides to the coin, just as there is in punk, where there's bands like NOFX and then the skinhead bands.

I treated the subject with less care than I could have, and probably should have.

[necrophonic.livejournal.com]

I might have to retract my Redman statement, as I can't find a video clip, text clip, and it appears that Eminem is collaborating with him. So, oops.

Apologies.

[unknownbinaries.livejournal.com]

No worries, and I think I was in part agreeing, especially with the assholes part.

I'm just not convinced that any specific art form or technique (and I'm calling rap/hip-hop that because it is less a genre, more a different form of music than singing, IMO.) is wholly racist or sexist or any -ist. It is only what you put into it, 'you' being the person creating.

[pir8m1k3y.livejournal.com]

so say we do enter another world-wide Depression, this might not be all that bad a thing.

for one, i'm sure the planet would thank us.

two, we'd see those already exploring Maker and Homebrew culture thrive, even as the brakes are put on Consumer Culture. this would encourage the further development of DYI fabricators like RepRap

three, it's always a little scary when the whole populace is suddenly time-rich; but i'd like to think that with our now hyper-connected populace, it could be some valuable down-time for a lot of people, as they have the mental space to learn, explore and create.. instead of working 9-5 for the man. could well be much needed opportunity for our planet to culturally level-up.

(or - the opposite, rise of dictators, descent into Fear.. but wait, isn't that almost what we have now? the Fear part anyway)

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it another way, maybe this is just the push we need to get out ST:TNG-style future.

[pir8m1k3y.livejournal.com]

ok, I'll even take a StarTrek future if it gets us off-planet ;)
(see also my comment on your next post)

but yes.. Depressesion=down time=we re-build, re-organise, re-prioritize, ditch the iFuture and GetTheFuckOutThere!!!

(and now i'm very late for work and will be behind the Corp. FireWall of Doom.. so more thoughts (my) tonight)

[wolven.livejournal.com]

should be interesting, all the way around.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I love Jay-Z. Not only do I actually love his music, but I respect him as an artist and a businessman.