American Censorship Day: This is NOT a Drill

by | posted in: Action, Ape Con Myth, Video | 0

This one is pretty simple.  If you like the internet, whether it be Facebook, Ape Con Myth or anything in-between, you’ve got a little work to do.  Today, Congress begins hearings on PROTECT-IP, a bill that will allow for widespread and systematic censorship of the internet.  And today, the internet is fighting back.

Fight for the Future sums up the situation here:

The word is Congress might try to push this through by the end of the month.  There is no time to waste if you have any interest in wasting more time on the internet in the future.  Write your representatives, sign a petition, and if you’ve got the time and gumption, call your representatives to follow up.

This is not a joke.  This is not a drill.  If you’re getting tired of having to do this kind of stuff, let your representative know that too.

RE-OCCUPY

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Images | 0

The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park was dismantled last night and this afternoon a judge ruled that the protestors could no longer camp on the site, but the trumpets have been sounded and all parties are being called back to Re-Occupy.

Here’s your live stream of the action:

It might be a long night.  If that stream fails, check out OccupyStreams.org for more.

Meanwhile, this Thursday will mark the two month anniversary of OWS and the recent round of raids is only going to redouble sentiment for November 17th’s International Day of Action.

Find out what’s happening in your neck of the woods and join in before you’ve really got nothing to lose.

The Fortunes of the Fortune 500

by | posted in: External Viz, The Economics Devision | 0

As far as charts featuring revenue and profit go, this is about as good as it gets.

(click the image for interactive Fortune 500 fun!)

Ford is just one of over five hundred stories found in this data set.  Clicks and arrow keys will guide you through 55 years of bottom lines for America’s largest corporations.  Ford, despite what you see above, spent the majority of the time ranked around #3, never taking the top spot and only falling as low as #8 in 2010.

[Chart from Fathom via Flowing Data]

Related: Historical U.S. Metro Area Population Ranking

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day

by | posted in: Library, The Cultural Devision | 0

The Nigel Tufnel Day Appreciation Society and Quilting Bee in Favor of Declaring & Observing November 11, 2011 as Nigel Tufnel Day (in Recognition of Its Maximum Elevenness) put it best when it said…

“Only once in every century are we given the perfect opportunity to honor one of the greatest artists and philosophers of our time. This day, this apex of epic riffs, this nirvana of noise, this valhalla of virtuosity, this bodhi of broken eardrums, this moksha of mach, that you know as November 11, 2011, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to collectively experience the enlightenment of Eleven.”

We encourage you all to bask in whatever there is to bask in on the 100% scheduled occurrence of some numbers lining up.  You’ve only got two shots at 11/11/11 11:11:11.  Use them well.

Tonight We’re Not Going To Party Like It’s…

by | posted in: External Charts, The Economics Devision | 0

Notice the big change since 2007?

That’s over 4 million people jobless for a year or more as of the Q3 2011.

Yet the Dow thinks it’s 2007.

Here’s to keeping expenses low and profits high!

[Unemployment data (PDF) from Pew Charitable Trusts via Infectious Greed, Dow chart from Yahoo!]

No Real Than You Are

by | posted in: External Images, The Cultural Devision | 0

Score one for the world where something mysterious and wonderful can still wash up on the shore.
…  No, not oil.

Something wonderful…

Meet Ego Leonard.  Seen here in Sarasota, FL, this is his third appearance on the beaches of the world.  Check out Apt46 for more images and a theory on why he ended up in Florida this time.  Ape Con Myth just wants to stare at his picture a little longer and try to understand the impulse to vote him into public office.

[Image from Sarasota Herald-Tribune; Bonus: The terracotta chalk army that followed a few days later at the Sarasota Chalk Festival, via Prescription Art]

The Civilization Kit

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Other | 0

What would you need to start your own civilization?  Not just a living in huts making fire with sticks scenario either.  Taking advantage of every technology we’ve come up with since those days, what would really be required to start from scratch?

Coming up with the list alone is a challenge.  Thankfully Marcin Jakubowski isn’t going to stop there.  He founded the Open Source Ecology project to create the Global Village Construction Set.  The current roster includes fifty machines covering habitat, agriculture, industry, energy, materials and transportation.

The plan is to produce prototypes of each machine and create documentation so that anyone could build them on their own.  They estimate on average that it will be eight times cheaper to do so.  Eight of the machines have been prototyped to date by groups around the country for building and testing at Open Source Ecology’s headquarters in Missouri, the Factor e Farm.

They’ve got a ways to go, but you can help them get there by joining in their already successful campaign on Kickstarter to continue their buildout.  In the meantime, you can go ahead and start thinking about what you are going to build with your Compressed Earth Block Press.

[Open Source Ecology via Boing Boing]

Try Something New: Join a Credit Union

by | posted in: External Images, The Economics Devision | 0

This is just a reminder that tomorrow, the 5th of November, is Bank Transfer Day.

The idea is to drop your commercial bank and transfer your funds to a not-for-profit credit union.

But what is a credit union,  what’s the difference between a bank and a credit union, and why should you bother to change?

Who knows?

How Much of Our Industry is Unnecessary?

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Library | 0

Ape Con Myth’s mission is to find out if the Ape Con Myth is true.  What is the Ape Con Myth?  It’s a theorized phenomenon in which humanity continues to struggle for survival despite having the means to end the struggle.  Our belief is that this state of humanity already exists in 2011.

Bertrand Russell thought it was here in 1932…

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These selections are from his essay, In Praise of Idleness, which is short and worth a full read even if you still lack the leisure time to do so.

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