are sold out. My life is ruined. That is all.

sevenpoints:

learnwhydemonstray:

Reblog Reblog Reblog!

Don’t lose hope. If it’s being shelved and edited there’s still time to make Congress do the smart thing and consult people who actually know how the internet works.

They’re probably hoping the hype will die down and they’ll be able to quietly do whatever they want, which will inevitably be a huge problem for all of us. Don’t let it. Keep up with what’s happening and keep pestering your congresspeople.

(via of-praxis)

David Rohde, in the Reuters Magazine article “The Drone Wars.”

Read the rest of the article | Download Reuters Magazine [PDF]

(via brooklynmutt)

“I’m not an Apple fanboy. I just prefer products that work well, rarely ever crash, and help me create value. Apple products meet those needs perfectly, whereas most PCs I’ve used simply don’t.

If those were the only things I cared about in life, I wouldn’t give those products a second thought. But there’s more to life than a functional piece of consumer electronics. Those items should exist to help me do the things in life that I want to do, to help me live a better life. They’re tools, not ends.

Even that’s not sufficient. One of my main goals in life is to build a better world, to ease suffering, end oppression, and provide equality – all in order that others may have the freedom to pursue their own dreams. A well-designed product can certainly help that process along. But what if the way that product is made actually undermines those broader goals? Suddenly, there’s a problem.

In the last year or two, it’s become increasingly clear that the way Apple makes its products is deeply flawed. Working conditions at the factory which makes most of their products – Foxconn in Shenzhen, China – are so appalling that workers engaged in a rash of suicides in 2010 to ameliorate their own suffering. Earlier this year workers threatened mass suicide over pay and working conditions. And of course, there’s the fact that Apple makes these products overseas rather than in the United States, where unemployment remains at some of the highest levels we’ve seen since the Great Depression….”

The Institute of Environmental and Public Health, a Beijing non-profit, has listed Apple as the lowest ranked of the 29 companies it surveyed for issues of responsiveness and transparency of health and environmental concerns in China.

Now it’s hard to say what kind of methodology was used by this group, particularly given what I assume is the hostility of the Chinese government to publicizing this information. Apple’s defenders will say it is being picked on because of its visibility. And possibly this there is some truth to this, not in the big picture but in relation to other corporations. The real issue here is that measuring these factors is nearly impossible because of the complete lack of transparency within supplier companies. That is the responsibility of multinational corporations and governments. Apple, Wal-Mart, and whoever else use contracted suppliers in part to save costs, but also to shield themselves from blame when workers get sick or die or when the factories pollute an entire ecosystem. And yet they are at least as morally and materially guilty as the supply companies since they demand the goods at extremely low prices. Apple could easily step up to the plate, reveal all its suppliers, investigate conditions, ensure healthful workplaces and dignified wages. 

(Source: abbyjean, via of-praxis)

(via of-praxis)

They cut off my electricity this morning and Jaret is working overnight so I have to spend the night alone in the cold darkness : (

Barney Frank, advocate for pot decriminalization, responding to an interviewer who didn’t seem to believe that Barney doesn’t smoke pot himself.

FTW.

motherjones:

Watched the GOP debate? Then you probably heard a lot chatter about something called “self-deportation.” Adam Serwer explains what it is, and why it’s such a chilling concept.

(via of-praxis)