06.28.2010 | 05:50 PM • Filed in:
Brooklyn:Sports
While dining at
Amorina, we rooted for
Mexico, but Argentina clearly kicked butt.
06.27.2010 | 11:49 PM •
The last weekend of Vanderbilt Ave’s street fair
included a Capoeira demonstration.
06.26.2010 | 05:47 PM • Filed in:
Brooklyn
06.25.2010 | 05:46 PM • Filed in:
Light:Weather
06.24.2010 | 03:02 PM • Filed in:
News
That was what Ronnie Lee Gardner ate for his last
meal. He was executed by firing squad in Utah a few
minutes after midnight on June 18th. A victim of a
terrible childhood, Gardner went on to kill two
people, one a lawyer in 1985. Most likely he will be
the last to be executed by this barbaric method. His
surviving family apparently played Lynrd Synyrd’s
“Free Bird” as the 4 real bullets from 5 shooters
(one was a blank) pierced his heart. Timothy Egan has
a good
piece on capital punishment
in general and this method in particular.
Regardless of the victim’s heinous offenses, to
me, capital punishment is nothing more than
state-sanctioned murder. It does not deter. It
should be abolished.
06.17.2010 | 03:50 PM • Filed in:
Science
Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton,
wrote a stimulating
piece for the Times’ new “The
Stone” blog which addressed reproduction and the
future of the planet. Over 1200 people
responded, many furious with Singer’s seemingly
aloof posture. At the end of the essay he posed
a handful of provocative philosophical
questions:
If a child is likely to have a life full of pain
and suffering is that a reason against bringing the
child into existence?
If a child is likely to have a happy, healthy
life, is that a reason for bringing the child into
existence?
Is life worth living, for most people in
developed nations today?
Is a world with people in it better than a world
with no sentient beings at all?
Would it be wrong for us all to agree not to
have children, so that we would be the last
generation on Earth?
I highly recommend reading this
piece and the
followup Singer felt obliged
to write after so much feedback. As a recent
father, I struggled with the moral implications
of bringing a child into a world that certainly
will be more complicated, overpopulated, and
polluted than mine was when I was born.
06.15.2010 | 11:48 PM • Filed in:
Street
Photography
06.09.2010 | 11:11 PM • Filed in:
Pic of the
Day
06.08.2010 | 11:10 PM • Filed in:
Animals
06.03.2010 | 10:55 PM •
...Go for wood! A master shipbuilder in Tokyo,
Sueshiro Sano, started making racing bikes out of
mahogany. Above is Bike #8, a recent creation, which
a seasoned rider reached 56 km/h on. To see Sano’s
website, click
here. There’s also a brief
video (In Japanese.)