Archive for June, 2010

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Collapsitarian Visions Of A Shiny New Apocalypse

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 21, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Monday, June 21st, 2010

The fact that our civilization is doomed doesn’t make me a pessimist.

On a day-to-day basis I’m probably one of the most upbeat people you’ll meet, but in the big picture, I’ve been waiting for the end of the world since the 1980′s, when it seemed pretty obvious – at least based on the fashion of the era – that it was just around the corner. In fact, back then it was quite fashionable to be awaiting the apocalypse. Many of the best dystopian films (Blade Runner, Brazil, Mad Max, etc.) were made in that decade, and Reagan ended the cold war by bumping things up a notch with the Star Wars Defense Initiative and flippant sound check jokes about outlawing Russia and bombing them. Which is why I’m so excited that apocalyptic thinking is back in style, and that people like me even have a catchy new name: Collapsitarians. I have to admit that ever since the financial catastrophes of late 2008, I feel a gleeful giddiness every time the global markets wobble, excitedly anticipating their total collapse and ensuing mass financial panic and social disorder. My enthusiasm for this sort of cataclysm isn’t the same as the crowd yelling at the person on the ledge to jump, nor does it stem from some Gloomy Gus attitude. No, I just have an intuitive understanding that the industrial age is toast, and as Einstein said: “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them“. I’m not hoping for “the end of the world” like some kind of Rapture hopeful, I only welcome the demise of our current way of life as a means to expedite a new and better way of life. If you have a hard time embracing this idea because of your consumer culture driven cognitive dissonance, I highly recommend John Michael Greer’s The Long Descent: A User’s Guide to the End of the Industrial Age, which explores our impending demise in a kinder, gentler fashion. In it he does a great job of explaining concepts like peak oil, but in a less alarmist manner, and with a broader cultural context than the intellectual NPR liberal that typically rants about topics like this. He also points out that we’re not likely to see some abrupt cataclysmic collapse, but rather a slow “slide down statistical curves that will ease modern industrial civilization into history’s dumpster”. For a quick insight into his line of thought without reading the book, check out On Catabolic Collapse, in which he outlines the simple ideas that 1.) Historically, most civilizations’ expansions have exceeded the availability of the resources they were built on, and 2.) There are outcomes that are more likely than the polarized extremes of eternal progress or total collapse. I for one would welcome a more difficult future if it meant we’d all be too busy simply surviving to argue ignorantly about politics or prattle on all day about who’s going to win on American Idol. Read the rest of this entry »

Mean Green Machines

[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 20, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Now available in two, four, and eight wheeled versions.


Photo: Amadeus Photography via PopSci.com

If you love the growl of a high-performance race car engine, this round up of cars that do 0-60MPH in less than 4 seconds will have little appeal for you. We’re sorry to inform you petrol addicts that these vehicles also won’t be contributing to any of those oil spills you seem so fond of. Just ten years ago, the idea of a stylish, high performance electric car or motorcycle still seemed a bit far-fetched. But as our oil-addicted culture sputters into the 21st century, the number of sexy electrics available is expanding rapidly. You may have heard of the innovative Tesla, which has an even brighter future now that Toyota is getting involved. Toyota’s decision makers were impressed with Tesla’s commitment to Monozukuri, which is part of the origin of Toyota’s 70 year philosophy of “contributing to the society through the manufacture of automobiles”. But Tesla’s not the only electric on the block these days. Finally, you can make a list called World’s Top 10 Fastest Electric Cars. And if the Shelby SuperCars Aero EV (no relation to this super car by Shelby) is for real, there’s some astounding innovation going on; they claim a 150-200 mile range from a mere 10 minute recharge on a standard 110V outlet. Some people have their doubts, but remember, it was just over a hundred years ago that people were calling those two guys in North Carolina crackpots for saying people could fly. This new focus on sexy, high performance EV’s isn’t limited to autos though. The MotoCzysz – a racing bike by American motorcycle developer Michael Czysz – just took a title in the legendary Isle of Man bike race, and Mission Motors lays claim to “Fastest Production Electric Motorcycle in the World” with their Mission One Superbike which can “pop wheelies” at 70MPH. And finally, if two or four wheels don’t strike your fancy, how about eight? The Eliica may look strange, but pulls a faster 0-60 than a Porsche 911 Turbo, and the designers intend to use it to break existing land speed record for street legal vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Archive Or Back Up Your Facebook Account

[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 19, 2010 by admin in Technology

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

There’s no single simple way, but there are some free and cheap tools that will do the job.

Been looking for convenient and easy way to archive your Facebook account? Well, tough patooties. There’s no convenient and easy way to do it, but we’ll outline a few methods you can try below. Like many users, I’ve been pondering how Facebook fits into my life, and how I feel about Mark Zuckerberg’s longstanding arrogant disregard for our privacy. I’m not alone; although Quit Facebook Day was a bust, according to a recent Soros poll 60% of users are thinking about quitting, and 16% already have. And although “How Do I Delete My Facebook Account” spiked as a search term in May, there are no numbers to indicate a mass exodus from Facebook yet. I personally won’t be quitting, but Facebook is no longer the more closed, verified network it was when I joined, and that was what I actually valued most about it. As a result, I’ve decided to change how I use Facebook a little bit until something better comes along, and part of that meant archiving and deleting my wall. I might have just deleted it all, but my friends are just too darn witty, and their comments just too precious and ginormously highlarious to click into oblivion. So how do you archive these sentimental treasures? Unfortunately, you can’t just go to “File > Save As” with your Facebook wall. Because of the fact that the site makes such extensive use of proprietary AJAX-like code, you can save a page, but rarely with the comment threads and older posts expanded. Even if you could do it this way, you’d end up with one massive, browser-crashing web page. So I put several tools to use, because each had its own shortcoming. The first thing I tried was the Firefox plug-in ArchiveFB. It’s based on another plug-in called Scrapbook, and allows you to fairly easily  Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Birthday To Us! Dissociated Press Enters Its Terrible Two’s

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 11, 2010 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Let us know what you think. Your input may have a big impact on the future of the site.


This is me in 98 years if I
keep writing for Dissociated
Press every day.

That’s right. Dissociated Press turns two years old today. So what does that mean? It means that every single day for two years we’ve served up something for your amusement. You know what else it means? It means we’ll be taking some time off. How long? That depends a little on you. That “Add A Comment” link below isn’t just window dressing, and this Dissociated Press Birthday Fund link works too! While we take some time off, let us know what you think. We value your input, whether it’s your thoughts or your money, so put your money where your mouth is, or put your words where the comment box is. While we (and by “we” I mean “I”; there’s only one of us!) take a quick breather, dig deeper into the site. With over 700 articles, even if you’re a regular visitor, there’s bound to be something of interest. View them backwards by date, or view them by tags, or view them by category. I like to think we’ve consistently offered up an interesting spin on Pop Media, Technology, Politics, and Lifestyle that stays relevant without simply regurgitating the content of the endlessly reposted blogosphere. If you’re a writer or developer, or just curious, read this to learn more about what Dissociated Press was meant to be, and where it might go. And in any case, thanks to all 30,000 of you for stopping by each month!

Dissociated Press Seeks Partners & Contributors

[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 11, 2010 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Friday, June 11th, 2010

If you’re a writer, web marketer, or Wordpress whiz, drop us a line.

I originally launched Dissociated Press in June, 2008 merely as a way to force myself to write each day. I wanted to do something more like a magazine than a blog, so set the site up with specific magazine-like categories. At various times over the last two years, writer friends have said they’d start contributing, but never did. So I kept plodding along, and the site traffic grew, but not to a number of page views that generates significant revenue. With a busy schedule, I had to choose between fresh daily content and marketing, and opted for the former. Unfortunately, the organic search traffic (as one might expect) hasn’t provided quite the oomph I need to keep this up, so I’m making the tough decision to make one last stab at soliciting contributors or partners, or moving on to other projects. I’m almost finished with a book, and am also working on a small startup, among other things. If you’re a writer, web marketer, or WordPress whiz, drop me a line and we can discuss possibilities.

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