Monday Links: October 6th, 2008

A quick announcement before I share the links: Jarred and I have replaced the lagging “Asides” column on the right hand side of the page (—->) with our Twitter “tweets.”  We’ve both been using Twitter more recently (and, in Jarred’s case, writing about it), so it seemed like a good fit for regularly updated, short form content.  If you’re on Twitter, or we convince you to sign up, you can follow us: Taylor and Jarred.

On to the links!

• So we have a bailout bill.  After waffling all week (and, like many of you I’m sure, struggling to understand issues that are well beyond my expertise and complete understanding), I ultimately came down in favor of what I think is a tremendously imperfect solution.  Since it’s hard to comprehend a figure like $700 billion, I figured I would pass along this great clip from Good magazine explaining an even more incomprehensible figure: the cost of the Iraq war.  [Hat tip: Ezra Klein]

• I love discovering a new blog with a distinct voice.  My latest favorite is ecofrenzy.  Among other topics, author Amie wisely encapsulates a niche of the new environmental movement that I find particularly hopeful and fascinating:

I think i coined a new term the other day – Garbage-to-Goods – to describe the slice of the green economy I am most drawn to – this is where innovative product design coalesces with waste reduction and landfill diversion. I’m talking about making something useful out of someone else’s trash – saving the planet on two levels with one product – by reducing the flow to our big fat landfills, and by eliminating the need to extract or purchase virgin materials to create something new.

In this ‘Garbage-to-Goods’ vein, Amie writes about a company called Recycline:

Recycline’s first product was the Preserve toothbrush, a case study in groundbreaking innovation.  Why a toothbrush?  Toothbrushes should be replaced every 3 months, and we should all be using them.   That’s a lot of waste at the population level.  The Preserve toothbrush is made of 100% recycled plastic including Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups and Preserve encourages customers to return the brushes to the company when their usable life has passed, where they will be carefully disassembled and ground up to be reused as plastic lumber for products like park benches.

• You’ve probably already seen this ‘Don’t Vote” video (it’s loaded with celebrities and shamelessly trying to go viral…), but I’m curious to hear if folks think this is effective or just forced:

• The more things change, the more some things remain the same similar; in this case, pirates.  The Atlantic blog featured a fascinating and chilling post on modern piracy, based on recent events off the coast of Somalia (covered well by the NYT here):

The word “pirate” summons all sorts of romantic images from the great age of piracy in the 17th century Caribbean: a ship flying the Jolly Roger and manned by cutthroats with black eyepatches and sashes around their heads.  The Indian Ocean pirate of the early 21st century — in his flip-flops, tank-top, and light jacket — is different in some ways but similar in others. Only through the distance of time can we find anything charming or romantic about Caribbean pirates, who were murderous thugs just like their modern-day Indian Ocean counterparts.

Piracy is the maritime ripple effect of anarchy on land. Somalia is a failed state with a long coastline, so piracy flourishes nearby, as it does offshore from other weakly governed states like Indonesia and Nigeria. But it is particularly prevalent off the Somali coast because the anarchy is far more severe than in the other two countries. [...]

• I’ve been closely following an intense discussion (on normally very serious, legitimate blogs) on one of the crucial questions of our time: why don’t Star Trek battles employ the ‘tons of tiny little fighters attacking big ships’ battle plan used throughout Star Wars?  It’s a tough time folks, and we all need a diversion now and again…

• Speaking of the bailout…via, appropriately, the Bike Commuter Tips Blog, comes news that a small (and we’re talking tiny) tax incentive for bike commuting was included in the $700 billion bailout bill:

[T]he Bicycle Commuter Act provides employers a tax break of up to $20 a month if they give some bicycle commuting benefits to their employees. It’s a modest step forward.

“Modest” is putting it mildly.  It’s more like a condescending pat on the head to those ‘adorable, impractical little bike commuters,’ but I guess you have to start somewhere.  On a related note, I can’t wait to live in a city where bike commuting is possible.  California, here I coooooooome (maybe eventually).

• Last week I mentioned an artist who crafted creative sculpture out of every day items; well prepare yourself for pencil sculpture (thank you, Mental Floss).

Well the Red Sox just lost (curses!) in 12 innings, so I guess it’s time for me to wish you a happy Monday.