Vertical Gardens

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not really into a lot of the art that's out there; my personal tastes just aren't too avant garde. But this is pretty cool.

On the Road Meets the Web Generation

This one goes out to Official Friend of the Brink Ben; I'm a little afraid that he will actually follow the example of these folks and sell all that he has, buy an RV, have a kid named Tristan, and commence to drive around the continental US, stopping at campgrounds to be an occasional knowledge worker.

Hitler, the KKK, and Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood has done a pretty good job distancing their organization from the philosophy of their founder Margaret Sanger, a supporter of eugenics and a proponent of the removal of "human weeds".  Perhaps history's most ardent eugenicists?  The Nazis.  In fact:

During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally and physically "unfit", an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The scale of the Nazi program prompted one American eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of their program, with one complaining that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".

Apparently folks today prefer to remember her as a heroic supporter of the rights of the regular folks to obtain contraceptives, and prefer to forget that she was well received after speaking to the Ku Klux Klan:

"I accepted an invitation to talk to the women's branch of the Ku Klux Klan...I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses...I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak...In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered." (Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography, P.366)

So, count me out when you're celebrating the 92nd anniversary of the Margaret Sanger's first clinic.

Anti-Emo Riots Break Out Across Mexico

I can't exactly explain why I found this headline so funny. I think it's the idea of a riot breaking out over something like the style of music the kids are into today. Plus it features quotes like these:

"They're organizing to defend their right to be emo," wrote Daniel Hernandez of LA Weekly on his personal blog, which has provided stellar coverage of the whole affair.

But sadly there's actual violence with punks and metalheads beating the emo kids, targeting them as homosexuals due to the culture of their music:

Gustavo Arellano, the author of Ask a Mexican and an editor at OC Weekly, said that the sexual ambiguities cultivated by emo fashion helped set the group up for targeting by more macho groups.

Anyway, it's actually pretty sad. I'm always surprised at what people will riot over, so I guess we can add emo to that list now...

The Next Big Thing: Arranged Marriages?

You heard it here first, folks. Old is new, and the hot new thing looks a lot like...courtship.

The best way to find your partner for life could very well be the oldest: the arranged marriage, according to one trend expert.

“Today is the era of the arranged couple who fall into love around the birth of the first child," said Marian Salzman, co-author of "Next Now: Trends for the Future."

"It sounds traditional, but in some ways so much of the future is back to the past, turbo-charged,” she said.

...contrary to the "old" arranged marriage, in which children are forbidden from choosing their own partners, the modern arranged marriage is not about being forced into federation. It’s about relying on the matchmaking mastery of Mom and Dad.

“This is about picking a marriage partner — not about falling into bed for a world-class romance," said Salzman, whose trend forecasts are based on pattern recognition and what stylemakers are talking about.

Click the headline above to read the whole article...