Egalite For All. Toussaint Louverture And The Haitian Revolution (PBS) PBS Documentary On Toussaint Louverture

What I went looking for was an answer to a deeper question about the metaphoric holes left in a person, a family or a community by murderous acts, whether by guns, knives, or bare hands. If nothing else, talking about guns can serve as a beacon, starting me on the road toward answering the question: Why do Americans kill so much? […] There are two kinds of social capital—bonding and bridging—and each impact a society differently. Bonding capital is what you get within a given group. These tend to be closer and more reliable bonds that form the foundation of our social capital. Yet bonding social capital is not always positive: Tight-knit groups can turn insular, reaching their logical conclusion in gangs and militias but with negative effects found in everything from families to groups of friends to certain kinds of religious communities. In contrast, bridging social capital reaches across a societal divide such as race, region or religion and is by nature weak. But it also promotes empathy and tolerance and enlarges our radius of trust, allowing us to see other people as people, not as a faceless other. This sense of bridging a divide is especially important in the U.S. because, contrary to popular opinion, we regularly put the needs of the group ahead of the needs of the individual in a way Europeans don’t. In surveys, Western Europeans are more likely than Americans to say citizens should follow their conscience and break an unjust law or that citizens should defy their homeland if they believe their country is acting immorally. On the other hand, Americans are more likely to believe they control their own fate and to believe in a more laissez-faire relationship with the state. It’s a more complex mix than our myths allow for, and the end result is that it can be hard to fathom just how different Americans are from the rest of the world. […] Perhaps, like a true original sin, groups in power in the U.S. have systematically destroyed social capital in vulnerable communities and between groups of all kinds in order to gain wealth and power and deny it to others. And perhaps they have done this in more ruthless fashion than in other comparable cultures. This could explain why the murder rate in New York has been more than five times higher than London’s for 200 years, though the American propensity for violence reaches even farther back than that, going all the way back to frantic religious refugees with visions of the Apocalypse both at their back and before their eyes.

Bad Land – Nathan Hegendus explores the social psychology underpinning gun culture in America.

Also see Stephen King on gun control and violence.

(via explore-blog)

Tiger Bay, Cardiff, 1950, Bert Hardy

From Laughing Squid, 3D-Printed Paintings of Nanomolecular Structures by Shane Hope.

Shane has a pretty interesting website:

Q: Is your work deliberately trying to be opaque, and if so, what are the benefits of hyper-complexity (both conceptual and aesthetic)?

A: Many have been too hypnotized by technocratic solutionism to see that not all clarity is benevolently about accuracy and not all lack thereof should be immediately suspect. Getting obsessive-compulsive about the future can be counterproductive inasmuch as it often precludes a greater gamut of adaptability. Ambiguity, opacity, allusion, metaphor and semantic slippage can all serve as really important tools when making artwork, or realities for that matter. From the butterfly flap you choose, emerges the superstorm you deserve.

Hm.

Representation in STEM: Black Women Making Their Mark in Space and Science

Today, there is an increased push for the American education system to improve their STEM programs as well as to get students to show interest in the fields. It is important to bring attention to some of the African-American females that have, and are still, paving the road for future scientists, astronauts or any STEM degree holders.

These women are just some of the many examples of African-American contributions to science. (Descriptions pertain to the women in the order they appear on the photoset, from up down, left right)

Mercedes Richards PH.D is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Originally from Jamaica, Dr. Richards received her Doctoral degree at the University of Toronto. In 2010 Dr. Richards received the Fulbright Award to conduct research at the Astronomical Institute in Slovakia. research focus is on binary stars; twin stars formed at the same time.

Willie Hobbs Moore PH.D is the first African-American woman to earn a PH.D in physics in 1972. She received it at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Her thesis research involved important problems in vibrational analysis of macro molecules.

Beth Brown PH.D (1969-2008) was an Astrophysicist in the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Born in Roanoke, VA, she grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars and was fascinated with space. In 1998, Dr. Brown becoming the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in Astronomy from the University of Michigan.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein PH.D is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Observational Lab in Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. Originally from Los Angeles California Dr. Prescod-Weinstein specializes in theoretical cosmology.

Dara Norman PH.D is a professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Norman grew up in the south side of Chicago Illinois. She went to MIT as an Undergraduate and worked at NASA Goddard in Maryland. Dr. Norman currently specializes in gravitational lensing, large scale structure and quasars (quasi-stellar objects). This year she was honored with the University’s Timeless Award for her contributions and accomplishments to astronomy. In 2009 she was invited to the Star Party at the White House.

Jeanette J. Epps PH.D from Syracuse NY is a NASA astronaut. She received her PH.D in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Marylan in 2000. Dr. Epps was selected in 2009 to be one of the 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class. She recently graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training.

Shirley Ann Jackson PH.D is the second African-American woman to earn a PH.D in physics and the first from MIT. In 2009 Dr. Jackson was appointed to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She is currently the President of the Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Drax Files 14: Immersiveness and creativity

Reblogged from Living in the Modem World:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P7xykJkgSI&w=625&h=352]

Second Life has always been a powerful medium for artistic expression, whether it be 2D (through the creation of photographs and machinima  taken…

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https://www.youtube.com/embed/myuyQXJQD7Q?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myuyQXJQD7Q)

अनन्त का छंद - 9

अनन्त का छंद – 9 प्रसन्न कुमार चौधरी टिप्पणियाँ 1. “दोनों (इतिहास और प्रकृति के अध्ययन के) मामले में आधुनिक भौतिकवाद सारतः द्वन्द्वात्मक है और उसे अन्य तमाम विज्ञानों से ऊपर किसी तत्वशास्त्र की अब ज़रूरत नहीं रह गई है । जैसे ही चीजों, और चीजों कके हमारे ज्ञान की विराट समग्रता में अपनी स्थिति स्पष्ट करना प्रत्येक पृथक के लिए ज़रूरी हो जाएगा, वैसे ही इस समग्रता से जुड़ा एक विशेष विज्ञान भी…

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अनन्त का छंद - 7

अनन्त का छंद – 7 प्रसन्न कुमार चौधरी घ. चेतन अस्तित्व सामान्य 96. अपने जीवनयापन के क्रम में मनुष्य निरन्तर अपनी समृति में डूबता-उतराता रहता है, अपने होने के अनेको अर्थ उलीचता जाता है, अपने को परिभाषित और पुनर्परिभाषित करने की ज़द्दोज़हद में उलझा पाता है । मैं नहीं जानता मैं क्या हूँ, मेरा मन भटकता फिरता है । ऋग्वेद के एक श्लोक का कुछ ऐसा ही भावार्थ है । स्मृति ही भौतिक जीवन के परस्पर विरोधी…

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Helen Levitt, Children with Soap Bubbles, New York City, c. 1945

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Helen Levitt’s photographs of everyday life in her own New York neighborhood have epitomized domestic urban life for over sixty years. This image of children - one of her most common subjects - demonstrates Levitt’s astute portrayal of gesture, praised as “lyrical” by James Agee in the introduction to her book, A Way of Seeing. As the viewer’s attention echoes the children’s glance toward the left of the scene, the picture poses a riddle as to the bubbles’ source, transforming this gritty city street into a magical metropolitan playground.

Untitled by Ivana Stojakovic