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Month: April 2006
The Iran Plans
Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker:
One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”
Web Hit: Music
The oddly named hip-hop duo Gnarls Barkley made history in the U.K. with the song "Crazy," which debuted at No. 1 despite being available only as a digital download. It was the first time a song had reached the top spot without being available on CD, tape or record.
"Crazy" can be heard at www.gnarlsbarkley.com.
Trunk Monkey Videos
A Jazz Diaspora Redraws the Musical Map
WSJ.com – A Jazz Diaspora Redraws the Musical Map
New Orleans is busy rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. But when it comes to jazz, the city's most important cultural touchstone, it's becoming evident the damage could be permanent. Displaced New Orleans musicians say they didn't fully appreciate how much better the financial opportunities were in other cities until the hurricane forced them to relocate.
"New Orleans never treated its musicians well," says Wynton Marsalis, the trumpet player and artistic director of New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center.
New Insight on Social Punishment, Human Cooperation
In an experiment with volunteers at the University of Erfurt in Erfurt, Germany, two thirds of the study participants initially chose the group in which members could not punish others, many abandoned this non-punishing group after seeing the greater financial rewards that come with cooperation that is maintained when individuals choose to punish freeloaders.
This new evidence for a competitive advantage for groups in which individuals can punish freeloaders may bring scientists closer to a general theory of human cooperation, the authors say.
Congressmen Grill Swiss Bankers Over Ties to Bin Laden, Iran, Cuba
Congressmen Grill Swiss Bankers Over Ties to Bin Laden, Iran, Cuba
It is the latest in a series of inquiries spawned in 2003 when American soldiers liberating Iraq discovered $762 million in American currency stashed in hideouts belonging to Saddam Hussein. The serial numbers on the banknotes were traced to UBS, which distributed the currency as part of the Extended Custodial Inventory Program run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Federal Reserve program, in cooperation with international banks, allowed clients to exchange old American banknotes for new ones. One condition of the program was that the international banks were not allowed to accept cash from countries against which America maintains sanctions. They also were not allowed to transfer cash to such countries.
When American investigators probed the $762 million that emerged in Iraq, they found that UBS had also provided $3.9 billion in American currency for Fidel Castro's Cuba, $1 billion for Iran, and $30 million for Libya.
Human Catapult – Video
Combine the adreneline rush of bungee jumping and base-jumping…
Animated GIFs — From MathWorld
Animated GIFs — From MathWorld
See Math in a whole new way. Try starting with the "rotating square illusion".
The ‘Let Us Eat Cake’ Generation
Foreign Policy: The ‘Let Us Eat Cake’ Generation
When Marie Antoinette purportedly said, “let them eat cake,” it showed how out of touch the French aristocracy was with the people. Now, it’s the people who are out of touch with the world beyond France. The new generation wants what their parents had: jobs guaranteed for life, complete with five-weeks of vacation every year.