Top Posts of 2007

Most Popular/Most traffic:

• Jesus Camp: Review August 06, 2007
  
• White Woman's Burden June 03, 2007
  
• Economic Growth Creates Poverty In The World April 26, 2007 - and the related The Good Life and The Economy April 28, 2007
  
• Creepy Love Songs June 21, 2007
  
• Ten out of Ten Bears Prefer Beef Fat to Menstrual Blood February 20, 2007
  

Most controversial/Most comments:

• Terrorism as a Rational Act of Resistance October 21, 2007
  
• Guilt, Privilege and the Pain of Living in a World of Domination July 04, 2007
  
• This upsets me so much I can't even think of a title for this post - (about so-called Parental Alienation Syndrome) May 22, 2007
  
• Punished for Electing the Wrong Leaders (Hamas) February 08, 2007
  

Some other popular posts I particularly like:

• How the Cult of Busy Protects Capitalism June 23, 2007
  
• Afghan Women: Used by the Taliban, Used by Us March 05, 2007
  
• Underpaid women: Stupid Letters to the Editor July 25, 2007
  
• She Hit Me First! And Other Poor Justifications for War May 07, 2007
  
• A Better Communications Strategy? No, We Need Safe Drinking Water May 11, 2007
  

Most unfortunately overlooked (IMHO):

• Last Night I Dreamt of War May 03, 2007
  
• Free Education Isn't Always Enough February 16, 2007
  
• Mud Pies: Haitian Staple Food September 05, 2007
  
• Inventing Whiteness March 21, 2007
  
• Humanitarian War in Afghanistan? February 23, 2007
  

Top posts of 2006 here

Since 2005 when I started this blog, I've published 440 posts. The last two months were very light on posting as I was incredibly busy. New Year's blog resolution? Post more often. Post more quality.

Make Me a Reading List - Open Thread

I've been so busy lately I've been unable to do the rounds and visit all of my favourite blogs. So I invite you to help me prioritize.

Leave a comment with one of your most important recent blog posts with a short description, and, time permitting, I will visit it. Hooray for free links!

Thanks everyone!

In return, here are a couple of comics relating to Bush's veto of the children's health insurance bill:

Link Love

On account of Capitalist Propaganda 101 (uh, the Economics class I have to take before September), which I've recently added on top of my already stressful full time job, my posts have been short and sporadic. I just don't have time to craft many long and well-thought out posts. So, bear with me for the next month or so. Meanwhile, here's some good readin':

Thinking Girl's Feminism Friday - domestic goddess series, part 1: Nobody Likes a Blatant Simulacrum: Betty Crocker as a Marketing Technique, Guest Blogged by Shannon

My New Crush about Nassim Taleb and the perils of prediction. It doesn't seem to be loading right now, so you might need to try Google's Cache.

The Corporate Climate Coup by David Noble, and the accompanying controversy. How exactly does science fit into progressive politics and activism?

"Liberal" Types and Official Enemies via Thought, Interrupted by Typos.

The 39th Carnival of Feminism

Finally, More Interesting Stuff to Read from my feedreader - updated daily

That should keep you busy for a while. :)

Updates and Etceteras

All loosely related by the continent of Africa.

Mahmood Mamdani on Democracy Now the other day, discussing "The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency" - which I discussed a couple months ago.

Then follows the politics around genocide. And the politics around genocide is, when is the slaughter of civilians a genocide or not? Which particular slaughter is going to be named genocide, and which one is not going to be named genocide? So if you look at the last ten years and take some examples of mass slaughter -- for example, the mass slaughter in Iraq, which is -- in terms of numbers, at least -- no less than what is going on in Sudan; or the mass slaughter in Congo, which, in terms of numbers, is probably ten times what happened, what has been happening in Darfur. But none of these have been named as genocide. Only the slaughter in Darfur has been named as genocide. So there is obviously a politics around this naming, and that's the politics that I was interested in.

What has the G8 accomplished in the last 2 years? As predicted, Death for Millions, not "Victory for Millions". 33rd verse, same as the first. Why G8 has failed the Afrikan continent:

So the reality is far from helping Africa the 2005 G8 summit failed to deliver on the promises made and as a result the African continent is even more exploited whilst the vast majority of its citizens live in inordinate poverty.

Relating to my earlier post, The Problem with Bill Gates' Philanthropy in Africa... comes Is Bill Gates Trying to Hijack Africa's Food Supply?:

Corporate foundations that have pledged millions believe that genetically altered crops will rescue Africa from endemic shortfalls in food production. Are they creating a 'green revolution' or hijacking the food supply?

The Rules of Cuteness

Apologizing in advance for all the wasted time this link may cause, I feel I am obligated to inform the readers of this blog about CuteOverload.com, where you can discover the official Rules of Cuteness. Warning: potential for sweetness overload, take in small doses.

For Evidence, I Present Samples:


I must be getting soft in my old age - two lazy posts in a row. I promise an ascerbic entry soon, full of righteous indignation or, if you're lucky, a nice long rant.

V-Day Link Roundup

On a normal day, my blogging is enhanced with coffee, that low-grade cocaine substitute that makes me irritable and therefore prolific. (I think it could be scientifically proven that the number of words written is in direct proportion to the degree of ill temper.) Today, however, my chocolate-induced dopamine overload is leaving me rather uninspired.

So, here's a roundup of Valentine links you'll love.

• Darwin Dating helps attractive people find other attractive people with whom they can breed. Try the quiz if you're not sure about your evolutionary status (Via The Skwib)
  
• Code Pink's message to open our hearts and Make Love, Stop War. They say "On this day of love, let's work to stop war. What could be a more loving act?" Also, see Socialism is love
  
• How to be green today - For one thing, send an ecard to your favourite climate change skeptic
  
• Your brain uses copious amounts of glucose, so candy should make you smarter right? Exercise that noggin with the Candy Hearts match-up from Mental Floss
  

And finally, watch ZeFrank's hilarious Valentine's Message

Ok, one more: Monogamy, Polyamory, and Beyond by Jorge N. Ferrer on sympathetic joy, love, jealousy, and infidelity. This essay speculates for example that we may be socially monogamous, but that is really a mask for biological tendency to polyamory. Interesting read.

My Top Posts of 2006

Some things are important enough to be repeated... or maybe I'm just feeling lazy today. In any case, here are some of my top posts of 2006. They were chosen based on comments, traffic, links, and votes.

December 21, 2006
Bright Sparks of Light, on the Longest, Darkest Night. Me being optimistic. Good to know it happens at least once a year.

November 29, 2006
Who Are the 400 Poorest? Well, after all, it's a good question!

November 16, 2006
Microcredit and Women Empowerment This year's hot topic in development

October 29, 2006
Non-Violent resistance in Israel and the Occupied territories Because violence begets more violence, but there are always courageous people working for peace

October 22, 2006
"Environmentalists need to get on the Social Justice Bus" No, I'm no hippy, but I can clearly see it's all connected.

October 05, 2006
Connecting Movements = Solidarity Two environmentalists walk into a Take Back the Night March... Just kidding. It isn't a joke. Women's rights movements really are related to environmental movements.

September 21, 2006
"War, War, Rumours of War" From Afghanistan to Iran to Bob Marley to Bonobos... why can't we all just get along?

September 15, 2006
"Gaza is a Jail. Nobody is allowed to leave. We are all starving now" This post is mostly just a quote from a piece on Common Dreams, but it got so many votes, I thought I should include it

August 16, 2006
UK "Terror Plot" too Convenient Why airport security doesn't let you bring bottled water through

March 16, 2006
Why Do People Vote Right-wing? In order to change minds and hearts, we need first to understand them.

March 08, 2006
International Women's Day We're not quite where we hoped to be, but women have come a long way.

February 09, 2006
Pseudo-Scientific Hate Propaganda and "Women Drivers" In which women are scientifically proven to be poor drivers and homeosexuals are found to eat human feces and die young.

January 19, 2006
Canadian Election Strategies for Progressives Looks like we'll be needing this in 2007