Saturday Links of the Week — October 27, 2007

Ruffed grouse painting by Walton Ford, a satire on the style of Audubon, in The New Yorker. Manatus is the Dutch name for Manhattan, then near-wilderness New Amsterdam, and 1626 was possibly the year of the arrival of Dutch slave ships. Mast was a common Dutch name of the time. Beyond the social commentary, the painting reminded me of my beloved PucPuc (hope she’s doing well, wherever she may be).

The usual weekly report on impending crises:

Global Oil Production to Halve by 2030: A new study by Energy Watch Group predicts that the End of Oil will bring war, social strife, huge economic dislocation and widespread suffering.

Update on the US SouthEast and Western Droughts and Fires: A personal account by someone living in the midst of the crisis.

And the Earth is Reaching the Point of No Return on Global Warming: This from the latest UN study by climate scientists. Oil crisis and global warming crisis ahead, US dollar in free fall, oil at $92/bbl. Yet the stock markets are once again nearing record high territory.

Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Now Twice the Size of Texas: And doubling every few years. It weighs 3.5 million tons. Thanks to Craig De Ruisseau for the link.

Harper Regime Again Toes the Line on US Blacklist: Canadian customs has again prevented Col. Ann Wright from visiting Canada despite an invitation from Members of Parliament, because she’s on a USblacklist for peaceful anti-war protesting in the US. Disgraceful.

Low-Credit Lender Countrywide on the Ropes: Countrywide is the poster child of reckless lending, and it is trying to recover by selling even more credit to high-risk borrowers. The company reported a $1.2B loss in the last quarter, and the stock price immediately shot up.

And in better news…

Free Online Library of Thinking Guides: From exploratree, tools to help you think better. Thanks to my colleague Greg Turko for the link.

Great List of KM Blogs: Luis Suarez counts down some of the best KM blogs on the Web. I’m proud to have mine on the list.

Dave Snowden on Web 2.0: My friend Jon Husband has done a podcast with Dave. Great stuff.

Thought of the Week: Lyrics of the moving Pink song “Dear Mr. President”:

Dear Mr. President, come take a walk with me.
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and you’re not better than me.
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror? Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President, were you a lonely boy?
How can you say no child is left behind?
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind.
They’re all sitting in your cells while you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
You don’t know nothing ’bout hard work hard work hard work. Oh.

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You’d never take a walk with me. Would you?