By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Apr 6, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The first debris from last year’s Japanese Tsunami is getting close to US shores. Officials will have to figure out the best way to deal with it. [yahoo.com]
Scientists have recently discovered evidence that our ancestors may have been using fire earlier than previously thought. [latimes.com]
Plans to build a factory in Brazil make deriving fuel from algae one step closer to an economic reality. [nytimes.com]
Rep. Yarmuth proposes taking subsidies away from oil companies and giving them to car owners. That may be a short term solution to rising gas prices but only hurts any long term strategy of energy independence. [leoweekly.com]
Quinoa is a super food that has recently gained a global appeal. This means rising prices for the Andean farmers but also increased headaches and concerns. [yahoo.com]
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 6, 2012 at 8:00 AM ET  Fair readers, have no fear: This column is not a revelation of yours truly as a self-hating “self-hating Jew.”
Nor is it a critique of Jonathan Miller, the News Corp executive, Jonathan Miller, the Birmingham Rabbi, Johnathan Miller, the Iran-Contra felon, or even Jonathan Miller whom God called to run for Congress in West Virginia.
Rather, my deep disappointment is directed toward the most famous Jonathan Miller.
For those of you who are under the age of 50 and have never tried to Google me, THE Jonathan Miller is “is a British theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humorist and sculptor,” best known for being a frequent guest in the early 1980s on The Dick Cavett Show.
 That Jonathan Miller also recently committed an act of transparent anti-Semitism.
Miller co-signed a letter (along with three dozen other British actors, directors, and writers, including two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson), asking Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London to withdraw its invitation to an Israeli theater company “so that the festival is not complicit with human rights violations and the illegal colonisation of occupied land.”
A charge of anti-Semitism, of course, is quite severe, especially concerning a fellow Jonathan Miller. And I’m not one to consider every pronouncement against Israeli policy anti-Semitic or even anti-Zionist.
Furthermore, I strongly support a two-state solution in the Middle East that would require Israel to return most of the West Bank lands it captured in its defensive struggle for existential survival during 1967’s Six Day War. I believe that criticism of the occupation, and particularly of many of the Jewish settlements in these territories, can be — in the proper context — a profoundly Zionist statement.
But this is far from the proper context.
Read the rest of…
Jonathan Miller: Jonathan Miller’s Anti-Semitic Act
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Apr 2, 2012 at 9:46 AM ET  Greetings from my third favorite city in the world (behind Lexington & Jerusalem — sorry Vegas!): Florence, Italy.
The weather is perfect, the food extraordinary, the art sublime. Only trouble is that the RPettes and I are going to try to watch THE GAME at 3 AM while Mrs. RP sleeps.
At least everyone over here is part of the Big Blue Nation. I spotted the T-shirt to the left at Florence’s famous leather marketplace. Didn’t know Audrey Hepburn was a Cats fan, but apparently she anticipated Marquis Teague’s three-point form decades before he was born.
We are sincerely hoping that tonight Sylvester finally catches Tweety bird — What’s a Jayhawk anyway? — as Thomas Robinson discovers that Anthony Davis owns the paint on both sides of the court. He’s not in Kansas anymore!!
(I assume that joke’s being overused back home, but it’s getting big laughs here in Italy! Or maybe they are laughing because they have no idea what I’m saying.)
 Anyhoo, our trip got diverted a bit thanks to Delta and a little rain, and we got to spend the afternoon yesterday in Amsterdam. Being a huge proponent of municipal infrastructure improvement, I decided to take a tour of the so-called “Red Light District.”
Well, it seems there was a little misunderstanding. Let me put it this way — I didn’t take any pictures. The T-shirt at right is the best PG-rated presentation of the scenery in the Red Light District.
To recover from the shock and awe, I decided to take a detour into a “coffee shop.” Turns out they didn’t serve coffee, and the place was hazy and smelled like a Jimmy Buffett concert. The good news is that after spending a few minutes in the place, all of my cares disappeared, and I became relaxed and happy; although for some strange reason I was (Terrence) Jones-ing for a bag of Cheetos.
Apparently, I’m very popular in Amsterdam as well. Whenever I introduced myself, people asked if I was the same Jonathan Miller who wrote an article in The Huffington Post advocating for the legalization of marijuana.
OK, back to my vacation…I promise to send another post(card) soon.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 12:03 PM ET In my latest column for The Huffington Post, “The Media’s Double Standard for Israel,” I argue that the American media too often places disproportionate attention on the flaws of radical Israeli extremists, failing to report them in the context of Israel’s broad and loving embrace of progressive values.
Click here to read “The Media’s Double Standard for Israel.”
Whether or not you agree with me, I’d love to hear your point of view. And I’m excited to report that — thanks to the trailblazing technology of a Lexington-based startup, Punndit.com — today, I will be engaging in an interactive video debate with the RP Nation.
That means you! Please watch my video below, and underneath the video are instructions on how you can use the camera on your computer to record your 30 second take on the issue. And I will respond in kind.
Sound fun? Or at least worth trying? Watch below and join in!
Now it’s your turn:
- When you are ready to begin your recording, click on the “Rec” button at the far left of the red line under the video. (The red line is called the “PunnBar”)
- If this is your first time at Punndit, you will be prompted to sign in through Facebook or Twitter.
- The Record button will change to a “Stop” button after recording begins. Clicking on Stop will end the recording and begin playback of the recording for you to review.
- To submit your video then click the “Post and Save” button that will appear.
- Your punns (videos) are limited to 30 seconds, so there’s a countdown recording clock that will show you how long your recording is running.
- You can type in a title for your video response that will show in the PunnBar just below your thumbnail picture.
- Be sure to share your video response with your friends through the social networking buttons available after your recording is finished.
Confused?
Click here for a full set of instructions.
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Feb 24, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET Organic farmers rally together to turn the tables on Monsanto by suing them. Monsanto is known for their strong arm tactics and teams of lawyers that aim to put small farmers out of business. [latimes.com]
At a time when meat prices are on the rise how would you feel about eating a hamburger grown in a laboratory? [bbc.co.uk]
Fruit flies use alcohol as a defense mechanism. [npr.org]
A new type of planet is discovered by scientists. It appears to be comprised of steam but could have had earth like conditions long ago. [yahoo.com]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The Russians have drilled down to a submerged lake in Antarctica that could contain water that is 20 million years old. This could give scientists a look at what the Earth was like back then. [yahoo.com]
A recently retrieved meteorite from Mars can give scientists a closer look at the Red Planet. [bbc.co.uk]
Digging a trench for future train tracks reveals an impressive archaeological find in California. [latimes.com]
Using “green” rain gardens can help replenish ground water supplies and prevent sewage overflows. [theatlanticcities.com]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET As cheap solar panels come in from China it is important to ask whether it is more important to be ‘green’ or ‘red, white, and blue’. [npr.org]
Many people have opinions on genetically modified vegetables and foods, but what about when it comes to liquors. Is it worth it for a distilled liquor to be organic?[grist.com]
How many parking spaces do we really need? We need to change the way we think about parking in the US. [nytimes.com]
The story of the Catalina Fox, near extinction a decade ago it is now thriving thanks to rehabilitation efforts. [latimes.com]
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jan 16, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET  What has been our greatest act honoring MLK?
A fair question to ask ourselves today.
In 1984, I had the privilege of studying abroad with a group of 500 other students. We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Capetown, South Africa. Nelson Mandela, an anti-Apartheid activist, was in prison and we were taught that he’d surely die there.
Apartheid policy, South Africa’s legal segregation, ensured that the 20% of the population that was white would keep the 80% that were non-white in subjugation.
But that didn’t happen. Apartheid was on a collision course with history. Nelson Mandela not only left prison but in 1994 was elected the first black president of South Africa.
But in 1984 things were very different. Of the 500 students in the program only 4 visited a “Township,” an impoverished urban area where non-white workers were housed.
I was one of them….and encouraged the other three to join me in a taxi ride through a nearby Township. I wasn’t being a martyr. I was mostly curious. My heart went out to the non-whites in South Africa who weren’t allowed to walk on city streets after midnight.
I had given half my cheeseburger the night before to a black man who asked for it–but wasn’t allowed in the diner at that time of night. I felt like I’d traveled back in time 20 years….but wanted mostly to understand.
The cab driver drove us through the Township offering commentary about how the men were bused in from hours away and would stay for several weeks at a time. The scraps from cows (tongue, nose, unwanted parts) were sold on the streets as flies were swatted away unsuccessfully.
I brought a book by MLK with me that day–a collection of his thoughts and quotes. I’m not sure why. Before leaving the Township, I asked the cab driver to slow down. Several men looked inside the cab curious about the 4 young white boys inside. I rolled down the window and handed one the MLK book on civil disobedience and waved good-bye.
The cab driver warned me that was dangerous to do and I shouldn’t have done that. He was an Africaaner. A race with slightly more rights than blacks but still significantly inferior rights to whites.
I doubt the book ever got read becoming a source of inspiration. Who knows? But I’m proud of my act….not really a brave act but a small but caring act showing I was engaged…..and in response to a system we all knew was untenable.
I was not rebelling or meddling where I shouldn’t. I was trying in some very small and almost insignificant way to help —that was personal to me. Of course, the book I gave didn’t matter in the scheme of things….but mattered to me. It was something I could do at that moment. And I did it. And 27 years later, it stands out to me as the personal act that most honored MLK. A great man we honor today.
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The illegal ivory trade gets a lot of attention but the biggest threat to many African animals is the sale of ‘bushmeat’. [bbc.co.uk]
Millions of dollarinof energy saving projects in Southern California go unused because agreements cannot be reached with Southern California Edison. [latimes.com]
The first bluefin tuna sold this year went for $736,000. This is sending the wrong message to fishermen who may illegally fish dwindling bluefin stocks. [npr.org]
Wave farms are an emerging source of green energy. [latimes.com]
By Greg Harris, on Tue Jan 10, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
“Any man today can lay claim to being filmed”
–Walter Benjamin, The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
 Time Magazine recently named “The Protester” its 2011 “Person of the Year.” In a year defined by an Arab Spring where the people of Africa and the Middle East risked life and limb to demand democracy, and Americans “Occupied Wall Street” to reclaim democracy, Time’s choice made perfect sense.
But I submit that a strong runner up for “Person of the Year” should be “Social Media”—that is, “Facebook,” “Twitter,” and handheld devices (PDA’s, etc). No, these social media tools aren’t actual people, but they provided the tools for the protesters to organize and reveal to the world their plight.
 When studying for my doctorate, I immersed myself in the Frankfurt School of philosophy . Many of its leading thinkers were weary of the rise of technology as a tool for totalitarians. Theodor Adorno even warned of a “culture industry” wherein consumerism masks itself as choice, instilling a false sense of personal freedom when there was no real freedom.
A dissenting view within the Frankfort School came from Walter Benjamin, who believed new technologies (in the context of his writing, the increased use of film and photography) could have a political effect that could be liberating if placed in the hands of the people. Benjamin, a Jew fleeing from the Nazis, committed suicide when it appeared he was going to be captured and sent to concentration camps. At a time when Hitler was in power and using film for purposes of mass propaganda, Benjamin’s technological optimism, in context, seems surprising.
Read the rest of…
Greg Harris: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; It Will Be Tweeted
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