The Conversation
- Seeking Asian Female (2)
- Raguel: Fuck me halfway through that trailer my testicles nearly crawled back into my body. What a fricking...
- trolldetector: All you need is love.
- About A Boy by Nick Hornby (5)
- Raguel: I could be wrong but the distribution windows for media and especially film seems very hierarchical. If you...
- bigWOWO: Illegal streaming? I had no idea anyone did that! Well, I really should check out some movies one of these...
- Eurasian Sensation: Actually the trailer’s voiceover makes it seem wayyy more cheesy than it is. I don’t...
- Superbowl Recipe and Xenophobic Superbowl Ad (22)
- Raguel: Time to get your concealed carry licences, folks!
- Eurasian Sensation: Jeff Yang has a good article about this ad: http://inamerica.blogs.cnn....
- Raguel: I haven’t even gotten to why the ad really is so offensive to us, ROFL
- Jeremy Lin shines (20)
- N: @danny You should youtube his college games. The two against Boston college and the one against UConn. Lol, he can...
- Lingyai: @Ben Efsaneyim Why would it be surprising a non Asian crowd cheering for Lin? Most of the NBA fans going to...
- bigWOWO: Danny and Mojo, Holy crap! That’s amazing! I didn’t know he could dunk either! I think...
- Holy Jesus, Jeremy (1)
- Lingyai: Lin’s style on the court: http://oi39.tinypic.com/f1xnvd .jpg Lin call Stanford coach a liar and says...
- “But he hit me back first!” (32)
- trolldetector: CHINESE PRIDE MUTHAFUKAZ
- bigWOWO: I didn’t post that video to mock Koreans (again, why do you seem to think everything is against...
- jstele: Stay classy, Byron. This whole argument isn’t even about race, but your ego and inability to admit that...
- Stop SOPA and PIPA (9)
- Raguel: ^ Nice one Byron! I’m reading through the NYT picks, they’re good!
- bigWOWO: The Times had an Op-Ed by the President of the RIAA, and I commented. My comment was picked as a...
- Raguel: Found a great website, take a look at this: https://www.cdt.org/ Why should privacy be important, in an age...
- The Perversity of Human Biodiversity, a.k.a. “Scientific” Racism (402)
- bigWOWO: Here’s an interesting suggestion coming out of MIT: Connectome by Sebastian Seung...
- Battle Hymn of the Kitten Daughter (36)
- Raguel: You know Andre, you and me, I think we and a lot of other folks may have gone through some pretty harrowing...
- Andre M. Smith: Russians call me German, Germans call me Russian, Jews call me a Christian, Christians a Jew....
- Two podcasts that address racism in the military, and Danny Chen the person (9)
- Raguel: The origins of racism in the American military as described by loudestfuckingazns is accurate. Very recently,...
- bigWOWO: Sorry, Larry, just noticed that the spam robot junked your comment. Approved!
- bigWOWO: Agreed. It just has more weight if you include your name. Not that the ideas are any less valid, but it just...
- Facebook IPO (5)
- King: Actually WOWO, I bump into plenty of Asians up at the Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu/a...
- bigWOWO: Agree with King. This might not be a bad thing for Asian Americans to hear about. We can jump off the STEM...
- Raguel: People are too accustomed to thinking about value only in terms of money. Even artists are guilty of it. Some...
- Activism is as activism does (10)
- trolldetector: Brooks also goes onto say ‘You should attach yourself to a counter-tradition and school of...
- bigWOWO: By the way, speaking of activism, there was a great David Brooks column recently. He talks about how people...
- Raguel: I have no experience whatsoever with activism. I simply do not feel safe participating in it. There is always...
- How to Win a Streetfight (18)
- bigWOWO: No worries. I feel the same way. Nothing against her, but just doubtful.
- Raguel: Hi Byron! I’ve been occupied doing a lot of reading and thinking recently. I suppose its just another...
- bigWOWO: Hey Raguel, What about your comments on ASSK?
I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
- What Cultures Value (19)
- UFC 117 Sonnen vs. Silva Recap (1)
- bigWOWO: I think Michael Bisping solved the Chael Sonnen puzzle today, even though he lost a controversial decision....
- 6 on 1 Beatdown of Asian Man (36)
- King: “I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima...
- SWR: Apparently the girl in the second video was not the girl who filmed the fight. It was probably unwise of her to...
- Raguel: I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima in...
- Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan (Review) (6)
- bigWOWO: Jeff, You called it! They were (if I recall correctly) 7 (twins) and 2. He’s still in the honeymoon...
- jeffat8asians: “Overpaying?” With the possible exception of college tuition (and even that is arguable),...
- Hitler: Kids suck lol.
- The Asian Rock Thread (16)
- ben: I’ve been getting into Asian rock music recently so thank you all very much for uploading all these videos.
- Simple Pickup on ABC News (132)
- Tommy: I think I’m coming here more for Moro’s comments than BigWoWO’s posts.
- Moroboshi: I didn’t say that. All I said was guys who believe in HBD are the same guys who probably also follow...
- Chr..: Moro, I don’t want to argue with you anymore! You seem to think that AMs are just as popular as other...
- “Lazy” Americans and the Decline of the American Middle Class (6)
- bigWOWO: But kobu, how can we have literature and art without money to support artists and writers? About...
- kobukson: I don’t know why everyone seems to think the notion of the decline of the middle class is such a bad...
- bigWOWO: There are a lot of veterans (supposedly) on that site. I can kind of understand it–military guys are...
- Aung Sung Suu Kyi Movie with Michelle Yeoh (45)
- bigWOWO: Eurasian, Lee Kuan Yew has always been upfront about Singapore’s hybrid system. To the best of my...
- Eurasian Sensation: @ BigWowo: New governments following independence or a major power struggle often have the sort...
- N: @bww And ironically, one of the rare democratic successes in the region that is Singapore behaves much closer to a...
- Paper Pushers by the Stunt People (4)
- Andre M. Smith: I divide my year annually between New York and Shanghai. One of my common visitations in the latter...
- Raguel: Smiley tests 8 )
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- Seeking Asian Female (2)
Category Archives: Politics
Ha-Joon Chang book review coming up
Ha-Joon Chang
I know this is short notice, but I’m going to be reviewing Ha-Joon Chang’s 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism next week. If anyone wants to read it to discuss later, go buy it now. It’s a phenomenal book by a Cambridge economist who is against free markets. I’m usually not a big fan of simplified pop-econ books written by professors (didn’t care too much for Freakonomics), but this book is excellent. I will caution you: it’s actually not easy reading and takes a bit of extra effort to understand the points he makes. But it’s well worth reading, given the fact that we all need to be thinking about economics during these hard times. If you’re interested in reading it, post below. Learn more about Mr. Chang here.
Economics, Artists, and Everyone Else
I saw the video above at RT (Russia Times). In the video, filmmaker Peter Joseph talks about the Zeitgeist Movement, which promotes moving from a “monetary based economy” to a “resource based economy.” He says that the current system is broken and that we need to change our values. It sounds like socialism. When the interviewer asks him about communism, he says to think about this new system as a family, where everyone works for the benefit of everyone else, where “you’re not tipping your mother every time she brings you something to the table.”
Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser (Review)
I heard of this book in a column by David Brooks: Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser. I ordered it from the library and was the very first person to get the book! Brooks had said it was a great book, and after reading it, I concur.
Posted in books, Politics, Reviews
3 Comments
Threshold Earners
David Brooks came out with Part II of his Sidney Awards. Check it out here. I’ve only read one essay so far, but it’s good. Check out Tyler Cowen’s essay on the wealth and income inequality in America, and why it’s here to stay.
I have to say that this is probably the best essay on the wealth/income inequality that I’ve read.
Health Care: Forcing People to Buy Insurance
I heard parts of a really interesting segment on the Mark and Dave Show where they talked about how a federal judge from Virginia struck down Obama’s provision to require insurance as unconstitutional.
Republicans Block Child Nutrition Bill
The Republicans blocked a bill yesterday that would provide thousands of school meals for hungry children and would make those meals healthier. Not only would the bill feed more children, but it would also cut back on high calorie sweets and soft drinks in vending machines. So why would they block this?
They don’t want government to, you know, teach kids healthy eating habits.
Republicans say the nutrition bill is too costly and an example of government overreach.
The Politics of Fiction
Thought some of you might enjoy the video above, where novelist Elif Safak talks about identity politics and fiction. See it on the TED site here. It was similar to Chimamanda Adichie’s talk about the “single story” but from a slightly different angle. Here was my favorite part:
That if you want to destroy something in this life, be it an acne, a blemish or the human soul, all you need to do is to surround it with thick walls. It will dry up inside. Now we all live in some kind of a social and cultural circle. We all do. We’re born into a certain family, nation, class. But if we have no connection whatsoever with the worlds beyond the one we take for granted, then we too run the risk of drying up inside.
North Korean Artillery Attack
North Korea launched an artillery attack on a disputed South Korean island today. They killed two soliders, and they injured 15 soldiers and three civilians. CNN reports:
The incident — in which two South Korean marines died — is “the first direct artillery attack on South Korean territory since the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a formal peace treaty” in the 1950s, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Arguing with Christine O’Donnell
Got this video from here.
My goodness. It’s absolutely amazing that Christine O’Donnell is her party’s nominee for Senator of Delaware. She didn’t know that the first amendment separates Church and State, and she argues “intelligent” design as a valid theory that children should learn in school, based on local school decision-making. If you listen to the video above, the students erupt into laughter after her comment about church and state. I have to hand it to Chris Coons. He remained calm and respectful despite having to argue with someone who clearly doesn’t have the credentials or knowledge to be at the same table. He also successfully defended fact (not even his views) without getting derailed by her Palin-esque interruptions. If the video gets taken down, see an AP article here.
Posted in News, Politics
Tagged Christine O'Donnell, evolution, Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Tea Party
12 Comments
Scary Thoughts for Your Weekend on the Chinese Economy
Thanks to Alpha Asian, who posted this article on the topic of whether the Chinese are manipulating their currency. According to the article, people in the U.S. take it for granted that China is manipulating its currency, while the Chinese think that American politicians are twisting and oversimplifying a complex issue just before elections.
I think it’s hard to refute that China is controlling its currency. It’s quite clear that that is why they’re buying all those treasuries. If they let it float, the reminbi would shoot up.
