Hamish's Notebook

“Modern political leaders, like their primate counterparts, are often those with a highly...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:31:49 +0100

“Modern political leaders, like their primate counterparts, are often those with a highly developed ability to communicate emotionally, convincingly, and manipulatively with a large number of individuals, without necessarily having an enhanced standard of morality or honesty. On the other hand, in smaller egalitarian groups, peer pressure is extremely effective at limiting the power of any leader; leaders are followed by choice, not by enforceable power. Christopher Boehm (1993) argues strongly that counter domination behavior allows subordinates to neutralize the nominal power of the alpha individuals. In fact, Mark Bekoff (2001) believes that morality was the direct result of experiencing the advantages of trust, fairness, and cooperation in small groups.”

Blesser, Barry; Salter, Linda-Ruth. Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? : Experiencing Aural Architecture. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2006. p 357.

Illustration: Hamish MacPherson

One Minute Manifesto is a project by Lucy Ellinon supported...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:19 +0100

One Minute Manifesto is a project by Lucy Ellinon supported by Battersea Arts Centre and Forest Fringe.

The idea is that people speak for a strictly timed 60 seconds on any subject that they care about. Others listen, supportively – it can often be a daunting thing to share your political views – or even just speak aloud, in public.

Subjects range from ‘Teaching art in our schools’ to ‘Population growth’ to ‘Let’s just slow down!’ to ‘Down with cupcakes!’ - some are written in advance, some are improvised in the moment. It is a truly lovely thing to be the person able to listen to them all. It gives me hope.

Image: Soapboxes spread across Battersea Arts Centre 7 September 2012

Not quite topical but it makes me think that one day soon,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:00:10 +0100

Not quite topical but it makes me think that one day soon, people won’t be able to give speeches without the audience seeing some sort of live fact/bullshit check. At first this will call them out as they say it but then it will change speeches so that eventually they are uncheckable and facts disappear altogether.

Via newsmary

emeraldtriangleprincess: so there’s a lot of beautiful Rosie...

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:24:45 +0100

emeraldtriangleprincess:

so there’s a lot of beautiful Rosie the Riveters out there, and I’ve compiled a set of them, so we can appreciate them all together :)

ps I don’t know the artists or women depicted for most of these, so if you have info, let me know and I’ll add it!

original print (J. Howard Miller)

Sabina England (artist and portrayal)

unknown

Kelly Rowland (portrayal); Derek Blanks (photographer)

Guatelmalan Woman of Quetzalteca Especial (artist: Mario Lanz)

unknown

Roshan the Riveter (artist: Omid Hast)

Latina Rosie the Riveter (artist: my-little-native)

Robert Valadez (artist)

unknown

bindersfullofburgers: Partysystems or why has the US just two...

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:16:31 +0100

bindersfullofburgers:

Partysystems or why has the US just two partys?

ewok-gia: Alternative Limb Project

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:56:54 +0100

ewok-gia:

Alternative Limb Project

annfriedman: In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:00:06 +0100

annfriedman:

In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for understanding haters, I created The Disapproval Matrix**. (With a deep bow to its inspiration.) This is one way to separate haterade from productive feedback. Here’s how the quadrants break down:

Critics: These are smart people who know something about your field. They are taking a hard look at your work and are not loving it. You’ll probably want to listen to what they have to say, and make some adjustments to your work based on their thoughtful comments.

Lovers: These people are invested in you and are also giving you negative but rational feedback because they want you to improve. Listen to them, too.

Frenemies: Ooooh, this quadrant is tricky. These people really know how to hurt you, because they know you personally or know your work pretty well. But at the end of the day, their criticism is not actually about your work—it’s about you personally. And they aren’t actually interested in a productive conversation that will result in you becoming better at what you do. They just wanna undermine you. Dishonorable mention goes to The Hater Within, aka the irrational voice inside you that says you suck, which usually falls into this quadrant. Tell all of these fools to sit down and shut up.

Haters: This is your garden-variety, often anonymous troll who wants to tear down everything about you for no rational reason. Folks in this quadrant are easy to write off because they’re counterproductive and you don’t even know them. Ignore! Engaging won’t make you any better at what you do. And then rest easy, because having haters is proof your work is finding a wide audience and is sparking conversation. Own it.

The general rule of thumb? When you receive negative feedback that falls into one of the top two quadrants—from experts or people who care about you who are engaging with and rationally critiquing your work—you should probably take their comments to heart. When you receive negative feedback that falls into the bottom two quadrants, you should just let it roll off your back and just keep doin’ you. If you need to amp yourself up about it, may I suggest this #BYEHATER playlist on Spotify? You’re welcome.

** I presented The Disapproval Matrix to the fine folks at MoxieCon in Chicago yesterday, and they seemed to find it useful, so I figured I’d share with the class. It was originally inspired by a question my friend Channing Kennedy submitted to my #Realtalk column at the Columbia Journalism Review.

The rise of Americans with no religion

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:33:46 +0100

The rise of Americans with no religion

The Federal Ministry of Movement Affairs (FMMA) of the Repubic...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:29 +0100

The Federal Ministry of Movement Affairs (FMMA) of the Repubic of Austria is the youngest ministry in Austria and so far the only one of its kind in the world. The ministry has existed in its current form since June 8, 2009. Its responsibilities extend to funding, cultivating and upholding all forms of free movement of bodies in space.

explore-blog: Cats may be famous literary pets, but who knew...

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:00:27 +0100

explore-blog:

Cats may be famous literary pets, but who knew the propaganda art of the anti-suffragist movement had an entire cat-centric sub-genre? As felines represented the domestic sphere and thus the feminine, they were used to portray suffragists as incompetent and unintelligent.

The irony, of course, is that everyone knows how a cat boosts your creativity. For non-believers, there’s always The Cat-Hater’s Handbook, which now carries whole new undertones of misogyny.

How to Start a Revolution (nonviolently)

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:56:08 +0100

How to Start a Revolution (nonviolently)

Lecture For Every One is a short artistic intervention...

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:11 +0100

Lecture For Every One is a short artistic intervention consisting of a text that Sarah Vanhee or another performer brings/performs at occasions where people are anyway already gathered in order to discuss/exchange/undertake something together. She intrudes into existent situations that are strange to her, and where she herself is a stranger. The text is exactly the same on all the occasions. Some examples: a sales meeting in a luxury hotel, a city council, a team meeting at a multinational, a high society club, the army, a union meeting, an informal meeting of antique collectors, a choir rehearsal, a football training of homeless people etc. Mostly there is only one person within the organization that knows of her coming, for the others it’s a total surprise. She grafts Lecture For Every One onto the meeting, in a moment where there is the necessary concentration and focus, e.g. just before a meeting starts. When the lecture is done, she leaves immediately.

In the text, she tries to address citizens both collectively and individually, avoiding the rhetorics known from political messages, mass media, advertising, rules and laws, in an attempt to speak “freely”, in a gesture that addresses both the individual and the collective, and considers our contemporary (Western) society as a co-creation of “every-one”.

Hat tip: Gille Kleiman

Kettling Top: G20 protests in London 2009 Bottom left: Student...

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:00:11 +0100

Kettling

Top: G20 protests in London 2009

Bottom left: Student protests in London 2011

Bottom right: G20 protests in Toronto 2010

Where did the state touch you?

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:09 +0100