Stephen Fry: Kinetic Typography / Language
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Category Archives: Writing
Dear Ann Romney: Allow Others the Choice You Made
By Dante Atkins for Daily Kos
I am a proud progressive, both socially and economically. My heart bleeds just as much for economic justice as it does for full equality for women and the LGBT community. As a progressive, as a liberal, the primary objective for which I fight is the right to self-determination: people, regardless of race, class, gender, orientation or any other fortuitous circumstance of birth, should have the ability to pursue their dreams. My liberal identity comes from the belief that government must take a proactive role in ensuring that those whose origins were more humble than others are free from discrimination and at least have a ladder to climb, instead of being forced to watch helplessly as the more fortunate dance on the top rung.
Quote: Oscar Wilde
A Tale Of Two Centuries: Charles Dickens Turns 200 (02.07.2012) / AUDIO
Charles Dickens — one of the most beloved storytellers in the English language — was born 200 years ago Tuesday [02.07.2012]. He was a comic genius and a social reformer whose novels made him famous in his own time, and continue as classics in ours.
[…]
Dickens began his literary career with almost no formal education. He was born in Landport, on Feb. 7, 1812, the second of eight children. When he was 12, his father was sent to debtor’s prison. Dickens was forced to quit school and work in a London blacking factory, sealing pots of shoe polish and pasting labels on them. He would rework that hellish experience into his fiction for the rest of his life.
“He was a social reformer who knew whereof he spoke,” says actor Simon Callow, author of a new biography called Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. “He knew what poverty was. He knew what it was to be rejected, to be cast aside, to live in squalor.”
BBC Documentary: The Romantics / Liberty / 2005
The 18th century was a time of opulence and privilege for some. Europe was dominated by the twin authority of the Church and King – but beneath the surface, new forces were gathering to challenge their absolute rule.
Hitchens England Jersey
Happy Christopher Hitchens Day
Quote: Penn Jillette / On Reading the Bible
Greta Christina: The Top 10 Reasons I Don’t Believe in God
“Does God exist?” is a valid and relevant question. Here are my top reasons why the answer is a resounding, “No.”
1: The consistent replacement of supernatural explanations of the world with natural ones.
2: The inconsistency of world religions.
3: The weakness of religious arguments, explanations, and apologetics.
4: The increasing diminishment of God.
5: The fact that religion runs in families.
6: The physical causes of everything we think of as the soul.
7: The complete failure of any sort of supernatural phenomenon to stand up to rigorous testing.
8: The slipperiness of religious and spiritual beliefs.
9: The failure of religion to improve or clarify over time.
10: The complete lack of solid evidence for God’s existence.
Quote: Bill Maher
If you’re a working-class American who still votes Republican . . . you’re stupid.
Always Question Authority 