Good Magazine: Blog

Graduate Housing

2008-08-19T17:48:00-04:00

A Yale graduate student is building a tiny off-the-grid home to make the best use of her paltry graduate stipend. She's no Andrea Zittel, but she's doing a fine job so far.

Sad Wittle Wiberals

2008-08-19T16:25:00-04:00

According to a study by psychologists at New York University, people who call themselves conservatives are happier than people who call themselves liberals. From Readers Digest:

"[C]onservatives are less upset by inequality because they believe people generally get what they deserve in life."

"Jaime Napier and John Jost gave questionnaires to over a thousand Americans and found that conservatives were happier than liberals even after controlling for the possible influence of demographic differences, such as in wealth and religiosity. Crucially, they found that at least some of the difference in happiness was explained by the conservatives being less bothered by inequality."

It's all very interestingand fun to try to reconcile with some compelling conservative interpretations of Batmanbut did we really need a scientific study to confirm that sensitive people are less happy than those who ignore the plight of others? Haven't liberals been known as "bleeding hearts" for years? They sure havebecause others' hearts are literally bleeding...like in Georgia.

If this whole thing seems overly reductive, then how does this rub you? Liberals are more creative than conservatives. Paging David Mamet to the blog.

Intermission

2008-08-19T14:55:00-04:00

We spotted this stunning, slow-motion skate video on Kottke early this morning, and we haven't gotten any work done since.

skate - shot on red - 120 fps from opus magnum prod. on Vimeo

The Fabulous Mystery Of Gay Genes

2008-08-19T14:31:00-04:00

One of the classic, politically charged "mysteries" of evolutionary biology (along with questions about the evolution of the female orgasm) is how genes for homosexuality propagate in a population. Gay sex, after all, doesn't lead to procreation. So genes for gayness should be on the short list for extinction, right? Explain that, Darwin! Gayness can't be genetic.

Well, here's one novel explanation: The same genetic factor that makes men like men might also make women like men (more). When this factor is expressed in men, they're more likely to be gay. When it's expressed in women, they're "hyper-heterosexual." They're really attracted to guys and end up having more kids. And they pass on to those kids, male or female, this gene for attraction to males. Boom. New Scientist has the details.

Photo: Ad for gay jeans from GOOD 002.

Two Questions: Made In China, Ending In Suburbia

2008-08-19T13:38:00-04:00

Today at Slate, the Green Lantern asks whether American consumers (who buy heaps of toys and appliances that are made in China) are to blame for air pollution in Beijing. The answer: kind of, but it's tough to determine the extent. In the end, the Lantern reminds us that, "for all of China's environmental problems [and regardless of how much of that is our fault], Americans still emit about four times more carbon dioxide per person."

That got us thinking about our daily acts of consumption and wastefulness back home, especially those of us commuting types that make our homes in the suburbs. We couldn't help but think of our all-time favorite superlative, which comes from the documentary The End of Suburbia. Therein, James Kunstler refers to the mass construction of suburbs in the United States as "the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world."

Knustler, it just so happens, recently contributed to a Freakonomics forum (with four other forward-thinkers) in an attempt to answer the question,"What will the suburbs look like in 40 years?" The answers: no one's certain, but it's somewhere in the range of slum, wasteland, and flexible hybrid of groundbreaking modular design.

Big Ideas From Big Think

2008-08-19T12:19:00-04:00

In a ten-week series called Think Science Now, web site Big Think welcomes shameless nerding out with ten interviews from the world's leading scientists about their cutting-edge research in biology, chemistry and human disease, and their biggest personal inspirations.

For example: Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa describes his experience as a Mexican migrant farm worker-turned-neuroscientist who left the fields, learned English and graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School to become a brain surgeon. And, Dr. Pardis Sabeti, a Rhoades Scholar considered to be among "the 100 smartest people in the world," plays in a rock band on top of her career exploring natural selection at the level of individual genes. Totally inspiring/hot.

Bonus: Viewers are encouraged to cast a vote for the most compelling profile, and for every ballot cast, Pfizer donates $1 to DonorsChoose.org. And you can vote for each scientist once. Go ahead; Pfizer can afford it.

Image: This week's interview is Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, a research scientist in neurobiology and genetics who earned his M.D. by the age of 22.

The Real McCain

2008-08-19T08:38:00-04:00

To help combat this apparent issue of Obama fatigue (Frank Rich's Times op-ed last week explained America was hearing "too much" about Obama and "doesn't know who on earth John McCain is,") we thought we'd bump you this link on McCain's campaign donations from bazillionaire Fortune 500 CEOs, in contrast to Obama's funding from, well, the little guys.

Intermission

2008-08-19T05:41:00-04:00

What a treat. Old, scratchy audio of a teenage kid from Toronto interviewing John Lennon on the subject of peace, accompanied by brilliant, stream-of-consciousness style digital animation.

John Lennon was never a policy expert, but that didn't stop him from articulating truths: "You gotta try to work your own head out, you know, and get non-violent. It's pretty hard 'cause we're all violent inside. We're all Hitler inside and we're all Christ inside and it's just to try and work on the good bit of you."

You can learn more about the piece and see a high-quality version at imetthewalrus.com

Ray Bradbury Once Hawked Prunes

2008-08-18T20:30:00-04:00

The masterful science fiction writer Ray Bradbury (who would fit nicely in the future-narrative section of the blog) once did a TV commercial for prunes. Check out this bizarre (and either brilliant or heart-wrenching) advertisement.

Thanks, Atley!

Back To The Past

2008-08-18T19:15:00-04:00

Browsing through these color photographs of American cities from the 1940s and 1950s is as close to time travel as we can imagine. We actually feel a little nostalgic for the easy simplicity of the era (no clue if the '40s and '50s actually felt simple to the people living through them).

Don't Mess With Texas (Teachers)

2008-08-18T19:00:00-04:00

We just posted GOOD 12: The Education Issue for your perusal. Here are a few outside stories to keep you in the scholastic mindset:

- In case you missed our previous mention: this fall, a Texas school district will allow teachers the right to bear arms. The districts superintendent justifies his life-and-death decision as such: "We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense.

- The Wall Street Journal offers a provocative argument for why college is a waste of time and a CPA > BA.

- It turns out were not the only ones who think playgrounds arent what they used to be. Here is our scoop and here is The Wall Street Journal seconding our notion, PTA-style.

- Finally if you happen to be a teacher, or just love to learn, here are the 100 best YouTube videos to expand the mind.

Musharraf: Let's Blow This Pakistan

2008-08-18T15:53:00-04:00

Pervez Musharraf stepped down as Pakistan's president today. He was facing impeachment charges. Musharraf has had a funny (odd funny, not ha-ha funny) relationship with the United States in his nine years at the country's helm.

After September 11, Musharraf was one of the most vocal and proactive supporters of our efforts to bring the evil-doers to justice. But part of the reason he's been an effective ally is because he decided he gets to lead Pakistan's military and government, gets to redraw the constitution, and can alter the lineup of the supreme court by fiat. He had expansive powers.

It's unclear who will fill the role of president. Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhuto's widower, is one option. It's also unclear what the role of president will be. Will the new president retain the powers to dissolve the parliament and choose the army chief? Pakistan's in for some tough negotiations.

We just hope there's some fairness in the process of picking a new leader and that whatever government emerges is stable. Pakistan's a nuclear power, after all.

Controversial Cartography

2008-08-18T14:28:00-04:00

We hope you've had a moment or two to click your way through our interactive map feature, Wanderlust. That in mind, we just noticed that Mental Floss posted an awesome, anti-colonial rejoinder to it back on Friday (though it wasn't necessarily a direct response). Its controversial mapsthe one with only 38 states, the one where Greenland is the same size as Africa, and the one where the Chinese got here firstreveal the ways that design can either uphold or challenge a racist narrative, as well as the ways that maps can deceive themselves.

Sliding Door To Destiny

2008-08-18T14:10:00-04:00

We recently wrote about repurposed ice-cream trucks. In the comments on that piece, bbqpancho points out one we missed. Destiny is a former ice-cream truck that's been converted to serve as a mobile dub party. Shakespeare, one of the truck's DJs, informs us that they "don't even put gas in it...it runs on reggae music and love."

We haven't actually seen these guys around L.A. yet. Have any of you?

My Moon, My Land

2008-08-18T09:16:00-04:00

For geography buffs and real estate sharks, a new frontier: Lunar real estate. In the interest of funding privatized exploration, settlement and development of the Moon,Lunar Registry is selling seemingly legit deeds to lunar property by the acre. While their mission statement to permanently inhabit the Moon by 2015 seems somewhat loonyor at least astronomically ambitiousshares of lunar land are copyrighted and deposited in the U.S. Library of Congress, the U.N. Depository Library, and international trademark and patent offices, among all kinds of other legal mumbo-jumbo, to indicate that for between 20 and 30 bucks an acre, you could secure a pretty solid post-apocalyptic back-up plan. The full moon atlas lists locations (Sea of Cold, Sea of Love, Sea of Clouds, etc.) and their zoning parameters (tourism, residential, scientific and commercial industrial) to assist you in choosing the best spot to set up outer-space shop. Recommended soundtrack for lunar real estate shopping: Feist's "My Moon, My Man"