Archive for December 21st, 2009


Solstice 2009

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Samuel Smith under Arts & Literature, Scholars & Rogues [ Comments: 6 ]

2009-winter-solstice-card

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The Shortest Day

Posted on December 21, 2009 by wufnik under Arts & Literature [ Comments: 2 ]

A poem by Susan Cooper read every year at The Revels in Cambridge, and, for all I know, at all the other Revels celebrations around the country as well. It speaks for itself.

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Wolcum Yole!


Happy Holidays – iPhone art style

Posted on December 21, 2009 by mentalswitch under Arts & Literature, Internet, Telecom & Social Media [ Comments: 5 ]

Here are two more from the iPhone-only gallery.  Don’t worry, the second one is more innocuous…

Happy holidays!

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$45 billion: a sour-tasting decade of out-of-control political spending

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Dr. Denny under Business & Finance, Crime & Corruption, Economy, Health, Internet, Telecom & Social Media, Journalism, Politics, Law & Government, Scholars & Rogues, Science & Technology [ Comments: 11 ]

the2000sAdd up every nickel and dime recorded by the Federal Election Commission and state election commissions in this decade now ending. Result: Americans have given more than $24.2 billion in campaign contributions to federal and state incumbents and challengers.

Contributions to all federal candidates for House and Senate seats and the presidency from the 2000 through 2010 election cycles totaled $9.7 billion, according to an S&R analysis of records aggregated by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Contributions to candidates and committees in all 50 states, from 2000 through 2009, totaled about $14.5 billion, according to records aggregated by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

In this decade, thanks to computerization of records and a few top-notch, non-partisan organizations, we’ve learned how to follow the money. Well, so what? Has vastly increased public visibility of political money changed the way politics operates?
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