Higgs

"The Higgs boson is the only Standard Model particle that has not been observed and is thought to be the mediator of mass. Experimental detection of the Higgs boson would help explain the origin of mass in the universe. The Higgs boson would explain the difference between the massless photon, which mediates electromagnetism, and the massive W and Z bosons, which mediate the weak force. If the Higgs boson exists, it is an integral and pervasive component of the material world."

via wiki, and of course this. Read More......

"Hi," said Hayduke, grinning. "I'm a hippie."

Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang: An incredibly sad old book, by the end of things. I wanted desperately to believe old Hayduke made it. Filled my heart with hope that he'd outfoxed them again. The book's free-heeled carelessness up until the butch-cassidy-style standoff was what really did me in, I loved those irreverent anarchists scrabbling at each other, trying to do the right thing, whatever that was. When they finally drop off, one by one, in the dusty canyons and against implacable, stupid greedy conservative militarism you really feel hopeless. The saddest thing about it is what an antiquated book it is, too. Abbey's grasp on the unstoppable industry machine was 35 years ahead of its time, and we're too shocked and awed by all the bullshit going on right now to get our heads around how to respond. It's a slippery world of uselessness and manipulated media out there all right, the damming of Glen Canyon seems like a petty trifle in comparison. We need a hundred Haydukes, some proper outrage. Read More......

Revelations, Destroy All Nations.

Two quick things:
It's pressing and apparent to me now more than ever how artificial and restricting national identities are in terms of jobs, freedom of location, and culture. Nations are on the decline, common ground as a currency of identity on the rise. Most rockin' case in point: fantastic music video of Gogol Bordello's "Immigrandia" and interview with lead singer Eugene Hutz.

In a tangential but very related note, XKCD has come out with a boggling comic mapping the amount of social time spent online and dividing it into 'nations.' Maps like these seem as relevant as the old fashioned ideas of a shared culture or nation in grouping human energy. Maps of belief, network, community, language fluency, skill set, and so on should serve as a counter-identity to the rigid box of 'American.' Those boundaries are as imaginary as they are based on convenient circumstance to enforce.

It must help that right now I'm applying to volunteer in a part of the world reduced to country-wide incarceration and war over abstract notions like statehood and deity worship. There's something terrifyingly disproportionate about the correlation of human-created categories and actual widespread human suffering. Read More......

Dad and Kid in Brooklyn send video camera into space

... And back again! So amazing:


These guys probably used a GoPro Camera, the resulting footage is spectacular. Read More......

Davey D, Hardest working man in Hip-hop.

Did you know?

I appear to be a respectable black journalist!
Check out Davey D's Hip-Hop Corner.

I'm going to jump ahead through the train-of-links that got me to this video, because if you watch one thing from this blog post it's going to have to be this little message of Cornell West's. I love this man:


But back to Davey D. He's not only got a great and distinguished sobriquet, but he seems to be fighting the good fight, as well. This clip particularly resonates with me, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about messaging in mainstream hiphop and the lack of humanity in it.


Next, linking away, I found Mr. Davey D talking with aforementioned favorite eloquent brother of all time, Cornell West:
Read More......