Professors regularly make it hard for me to 'bookmark' them in anything but my bookmarks app in my browser (which is huge and not so friendly), no blog, no twitter account.
When that happens I post some content they've produced, here.
I did find a sort of 'fan' page in Facebook as I was writing this (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minqi-Li/112989562049383?sk=info) - it's basically the Wikipedia article posted into Facebook. (Perhaps someone with the same bookmarking problems I'm having decided Minqi Li needed a place marker in the social networking tools too.)
When he is introduced he prefers a bio that includes the fact hat he was held as a political prisoner by the Chinese Government from 1990 to 1992.
That element raised my BS antenna, thinking that he might be - as is so common - embroiled in a political fight with the forces that be - making his voice far from balanced and his contributions unreliable in the pursuit of truth.
But all those reservations were quickly dispelled in this interview with The Real News Network's Paul Jay. His analysis of Chinese Political Economy is complex and multi-vectored - and more full of questions than answers. That's what a science based approach sounds like.
Often I have found, especially in the cold war era, dissidents from communist, one-party, socialist states couldn't translate their political experience in the west after defecting - many times allying themselves with right wing cold warriors - far from any truth they may have been pursuing when they were oppressed by the State in the country they came from.
Professor Minqi has been through the swings though, according to Wikipedia's un-notarized article on him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Minqi), Minqi Li embraced the Chicago School of economics, (aka 'The Straussian School', after Leo Strauss) in the late 1980's, morphing into a passionate democracy activist involved with the Tiananmen Square protests - and around full circle to study the works of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong.
Minqi Li now considers himself a part of the "Chinese New Left".
Minqi Li has a PhD in economics - but - like the elite thinkers of our time, he is researching in many related areas, and studies the relationships between them (political economy, historical social science, political economy, Marxism, world systems, and the Chinese Economy).
The most interesting thing about this I think - is that it reminds us that while Leonardo Da Vinci first imagined this 650 years ago - we still haven't figured it out.
They're friggin' reptiles for frigging sake!
Think of the consequences to the transportation economy.
Nice try though, fellas.
I don't believe a word of it.
The bad production attacks your skepticism, and one believes for a moment All the while your science brain is yelling, "YaBut!" over, and over, and over...
Interestingly, what clinched it for me was the lack of personality conflicts on the team.
New Media videographer, Tim Pool - who's coverage of Occupy Wall Street has been second to none - sums up yesterday's 6 Month Anniversary, 'Cultural Re-occupation of Liberty Plaza' - #OWS "# M17 March – 6 Month Anniversary" - http://www.nycga.net/events/event/m17-march/.
"How To Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners"
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) - part of U.S. Homeland Security - spent a Billion dollars on Full Body Scan microwave imaging technology for U.S. airport security. The technology became famous a couple of years back because it produces nude images of passangers - and may cause cancer or sterility with repeated exposures.
Apparently - as blogger, Jonathan Corbett's video demonstrates - it's reallyeasy to circumvent - AND - the TSA knew this before they gave their best friends at the scanner corporation the billion dollar contract to supply them.
Now TSA says not to talk about this - and you guessed it - for 'security reasons'.
The would be terrorists absolutely, already know about this - so why the probelem wih re-publishing this video? Perhaps because it rips to shreds you preception that you are safe?
'Security Theatre' as it's known - creates massive government spending and a fear phycosisi in the poulation that enables fear marketing - a really effective, and thus efficient brand - so they can sell us more junk we don't need; plus it lays the physiological foundations for mass marketing more imperialist wars (that sometimes cause "Blow Back" - that enables more 'security' spending, and more wars).
Neat eh?
So the TSA doesn't want you to watch this...
So please, watch and share as broadly as plossible.
These are two posts, copied and pasted (and re-jigged a little in order that they fit here) - of some content that I produced using OpenMedia.ca media suggestions.
To share in html, copy and paste any part of the content - or the whole thing! Whatever shakes your boot.
Click on the link to each post to go to my original post at Facebook, copy and paste from there - or sign in and 'Share' that way.
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Found this video on Charles LeBlanc's 'alternate site'.
The recently arrested Fredericton blogger has a new site up after police shut down his Blogger.com blog, seized his computer, and charged him with Criminal Liable against a Fredericton Police Officer.
Since I'm big on bike issues I thought I'd use this nice interview Charles LeBlanc did with an unidetified Fredericton man to show you Charles LeBlanc is a good citizen blogger, not a stupid man and someone who undrstand what the rule of law is supposed to represent. The inidentified interviewee in the video (it looks like) was mistakenly identified by a couple of Constables as a wanted individual.
Acording to the man interviewed, both police officers, with no words directions or orders, tackled, battered, cuffed the man and held him in the back of the cruiser.
When they realize the mis-identification - instead of admitting their mistake, and apologizing to the Frederictonian, they try to justify their actions with the appropriate fraudulent paper work - releasing the man and issuing him with a traffic ticket - for riding his bike on the sidewalk. An action he says he took after while riding his bike on the road, the police used their vehicle as a weapon to intimidate him - rather than communicating to him what they wanted to talk to him about.
Give it time - it gets real good.
More about Charles LeBlanc's arrest in this video (made by him).
The CBC Fredericton has a good piece up that lays it all out pretty concisely I think, "Controversial blogger charged with libel".
Interesting, at the end of the CBC video the section of the criminal code police are charging LeBlanc under has been ruled unconstitutional in three other provinces. So is this an order from the Province to Police to charge someone with this so Provicial Lawyers can get a day in supreme court on this? Some sort of Provincial power pay?
So, two birds with one stone: a test case going up the though the court system so the Attorney General of New Brunswick gets his test case --- and by laying it on a powerless, poor, troublesome blogger, who local police have heard just about enough from, will shut him up while the case is before the courts - in this case, that could be years.
Police higher ups might find this amusing, ironic - screwing with people's lives can be funny when you're the bully. On the other hand I suppose they might think it's cold justice - since LeBlanc, from their point of view, has been making Officers lives miserable...
What this says about the professionalism of the Fredricton Police Force - I'll leave to your judgement.
As part of a budget process in the City of Chicago, schools in poor neighbourhoods are funded without an appreciation that they need a 'leg up' to prosper (funding for social workers, nurses, food programs - all working together to counter balance social problems caused by unemployment, low wages, health and mental problems associated with low income communities).
Under funding the schools causes them to 'fail' (a metric from Bush II's 'No child Left Behind' federal funding formula) - and then they are closed and school districts amalgamated - and then the remaining over crowed schools are privatized. All unionized staff including Principals, Teachers, Administration, Janitors) are fired and a private education company takes over the management of the school, hiring all non-union staff.
This is the neo-con template for privatizing the public school system.
This is functioning right now in Chicago, and it's success there (but not with out a growing public out cry) and is spreading to New York and other cities.
Expect it here in Canada - soon.
The Real News Network has a piece on this - and Democracy Now did a whole show on it.
The Real News Network - "Despite public outcry, Chicago approves closure of 17 schools"
Democracy Now - "Occupy Education: Teachers, Students Resist School Closings, Privatizations, Layoffs and Rankings"
Understand the template, share, discuss with your neighbours, your elected representatives - and learn how we can fight it when it comes here to Canada.
Convenience parking in Bike Lanes, just past busy intersections, is extremely dangerous for cyclists.
This short clip of me cycling the Dundas Bike Lanes at Coxwell on 05March2012, shows pretty well the experience of the cyclist when dealing with a parked van in the bike lane just past a busy intersection.
I’m a veteran cyclist – and I bike this route regularly – so I wasn’t surprised to see a car parked in this dangerous situation. As you can see in the video, I see it half a block before I get to the intersection – so I have time to decide what I’m going to do. (I decide to make a movie
What to Do?
Cyclist: The best thing to do in this situation – if your lucky enough to notice it soon enough – is to change lanes well before the intersection, and take the middle of the centre lane through the intersection. If cars start honking at you use your left hand to signal a stop sign and continue calmly. Once they see the parked car in the bike lane they’ll wish they hadn’t done that.
Convenience Stopper / Parker: For automobile drivers – if you can, if it’s not too far to walk for you, could you please pull your car as far up as you can from the corner – it gives unsuspecting cyclists time to change lanes or stop before they hit your car – or die in a collision.
Civil Society: For the Toronto Police Services Board – could you please see to it that Officers enforce the Bike Lane no parking laws?
