Pictured above is a chocolate novelty called Kinder Surprise or Kinder Joy. It’s a chocolate egg, costing about $2 or $3. Each egg has a little toy inside, measuring no more than an inch or two. While most common in Germany, Italy, and the rest of central Europe, Kinder Surprise can be found around the world — except for the United States, where they’re illegal.
In 1938, the American government passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FFDCA), a law which, among many many other things, bans the import or manufacture of …
Contraband Confection
15.1.12
Occupy Wallstreet is not just a whim...
In his speech to the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park, Slavoj Žižek lamented that “It’s easy to imagine the end of the world, but we cannot imagine the end of capitalism.” It’s a paraphrase of a remark that Fredric Jameson made some years ago, when the hegemony of neoliberalism still appeared absolute. Yet the very existence of Occupy Wall Street suggests that the end of capitalism has become a bit easier to imagine of late. […]
One thing we can be certain of is that capitalism will end. Maybe not soon, but probably before too long; humanity has never before managed to craft an eternal social system, after all, and capitalism is a notably more precarious and volatile order than most of those that preceded it. The question, then, is what will come next. Rosa Luxemburg, reacting to the beginnings of World War I, cited a line from Engels: “Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.” In that spirit I offer a thought experiment, an attempt to make sense of our possible futures. These are a few of the socialisms we may reach if a resurgent Left is successful, and the barbarisms we may be consigned to if we fail. […]
There are therefore four logical combinations of the two oppositions, resource abundance vs. scarcity and egalitarianism vs. hierarchy. To put things in somewhat vulgar-Marxist terms, the first axis dictates the economic base of the post-capitalist future, while the second pertains to the socio-political superstructure. Two possible futures are socialisms (only one of which I will actually call by that name) while the other two are contrasting flavors of barbarism.
read the whole article at Four Futures
One thing we can be certain of is that capitalism will end. Maybe not soon, but probably before too long; humanity has never before managed to craft an eternal social system, after all, and capitalism is a notably more precarious and volatile order than most of those that preceded it. The question, then, is what will come next. Rosa Luxemburg, reacting to the beginnings of World War I, cited a line from Engels: “Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.” In that spirit I offer a thought experiment, an attempt to make sense of our possible futures. These are a few of the socialisms we may reach if a resurgent Left is successful, and the barbarisms we may be consigned to if we fail. […]
There are therefore four logical combinations of the two oppositions, resource abundance vs. scarcity and egalitarianism vs. hierarchy. To put things in somewhat vulgar-Marxist terms, the first axis dictates the economic base of the post-capitalist future, while the second pertains to the socio-political superstructure. Two possible futures are socialisms (only one of which I will actually call by that name) while the other two are contrasting flavors of barbarism.
read the whole article at Four Futures
11.1.12
overpopuation in China...?? no way!
What if you built a glitzy new town but no one turned up to live in it? That is the state of affairs at Kangbashi, Hu Yinan discovers in Inner Mongolia.
Like most newcomers to Kangbashi, Wang Yuanyuan was instantly enthralled with its glittering towers, architectural wonders and grand sculpture gardens when she arrived in 2007. The only thing missing was people.
read more… Ghost Town
Like most newcomers to Kangbashi, Wang Yuanyuan was instantly enthralled with its glittering towers, architectural wonders and grand sculpture gardens when she arrived in 2007. The only thing missing was people.
read more… Ghost Town
2.1.12
30.12.11
28.12.11
26.12.11
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