the acceptance of an idea by society is largely a function of the state of society, and not a function of the idea itself. in other words, an idea's value is greatly determined by its timing. therefore, it is plausible to assume that many great ideas had been conceived of, but have been lost to time, since the timing of these ideas, or the ( Read more... )

This Washington Post article reports of copybots stealing Second Life virtual clothing designs from users who earn a living from selling them in this world. Fascinating but shallow discussion of the issue of property rights and intellectual property of virtual creations in virtual worlds. Imagine a future where a career as a virtual lawyer, ( Read more... )

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From an LA Times article by Claire Hoffman on the Girls Gone Wild media company and its founder Joe Francis. (Thanks to sarahfucksup)
Francis has aimed his cameras at a generation whose notions of privacy and sexuality are different from any other. Nursed on MySpace profiles and reality television, many young people today are comfortable with being ( Read more... )

Here's an indepth article about hallucinogens, and their potential use in the treatment of psychological disorders. For a lighter read, check out this article by the BBC on everyone's favourite hallucinogen having benefits for people with OCD.

Thanks to MR again for a great pointer. An article in Business Pundit discusses business networking for introverts, although I find relevance to networking outside the business world as well. I found the following piece of advice amusing but appropriate for me.
Do cool things ( Read more... )

for that is what economists do (thanks to MarginalRevolution.com for a great pointer). Here's an excerpt from the paper by Ariel Rubinstein, a prominent economic theorist at NYU, which is the subject of the MR post (which, by the way, has a few interesting comments):
I could say that this talk will be about some of the research I have been ( Read more... )

This Washington Post article documents a battle between a huge dairy lobby and a maverick dairy farmer that resulted in congressional intervention to protect dairy farm interests (most of which are gigantic corporations) by artificially holding up prices against this innovative milk producer. Noteworthy is Harry Reid's (D-NV) involvement in this ( Read more... )

Read, with disbelief, this story about the Olson twins' doppelgaenger pair. There's a curious logic to their view (as there is one for most extremist views).

Here's a tasty sample of what lies behind the link above:
Known as "Prussian Blue" - a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes - the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been ( Read more... )