Funny take on Mel Gibson's antisemitism:

this movie really sucks, though

I have often wondered: if you were gay and happened to find someone with your same name attractive, would that be a little weird?


Answer: no, and Eva Green is really hot.

Phoenix Haus Christmas with the Cat

I want to make tacos. I want to eat Chinese food.

Another fine video, complements of da Biggest. Can't really begin to explain the woman:

I thought this picture was funny...

harlequin type ichthyosis

holy shit balls this video is heartbreaking. worst skin disorder i've ever seen! i do not recommend google image searching the disorder. in case you do, i've attached a picture of what appears to be a princess feeding a baby unicorn flowers while the big unicorn watches. the giant moon and the impossibly crystallized castle really set the scene, as the patriarch of the unicorn family neighs on pride rock. this image might help you feel better about the babies.

I JUST LOST THE GAME.

see yas

Thanks for everything, guys. I can't say that I could have asked for anything more from Phoenix Haus. My happiest days of the last few years were here. Don't have too much fun without me next semester.

"nice guys"

Here is what's been distracting me from writing papers tonight!



Accompanying links:
Some people arguing sensibly, a few people missing the point completely
A Nice Guy rant
A rebuttal to a defense on Nice Guys
"Why Nice Guys Are Often Such Losers" from Heartless Bitch

A quote:
"There are a lot of Nice Guys out there, and they are incredibly insidious, because on the surface they SEEM so sweet, so misunderstood, so very different from the boorish asshole who cheated on you or told you that those pants do, indeed, make your ass look fat. But in the end, they turn out to be using their "niceness" as an excuse to hide behind, much like medieval aristocracy used cloying perfumes to cover up the ass-stank of their unwashed bodies.

I have some news for you, Nice Guys of the world. "Nice" isn't as much of a selling point as you'd think. In fact, for most women, it's like expecting that your new car will come with wheels attached."

ANYWAY WHATEVER, I am am going to go live in Homeworksville USA now.

Jizz In My Pants

This is a personal apology to anyone afflicted by this horrific condition, as well as any la la la laadddiiiieeeessss i may have left unsatisfied

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

I am excited to watch this Lil Wayne documentary. It'll be premiering at the Sundance film festival this year. Carter Carter Carter!

what really makes things happen anyway?

"Cooperation, makes it happen," states the video short on Sesame Street. Dancing muppets, working together, singing in harmony; a creative image of what cooperatives can do for people to develop a better society that focuses on people and not on profit and its destructive luxuries. Reaching as far back as the 1600s, the Cooperative Movement in the US based itself in fighting oppression, facing economic crises, and developing an alternative structure and mindset for society.

"The fact that many Europeans migrated to North America to escape oppression contributed to their enthusiasm for cooperative projects to build a better society in their new homeland." (Merrett & Walzer, 28)

The Massachusetts Bay Colony, best known by the pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, may be the first example of a utopian community in the US. Many of these cooperative and communal living communities grew from the religious oppression rampant in Europe. Many Europeans migrated to the New World seeking to establish a counter-culture that accepted them. These communities were organized under specific communal religious principles like New Harmony in Indiana.

"They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. [...] All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need." (New American Bible, Acts 42-46)

New Harmony was later run by the welsh utopian and social reformer, Robert Owen, who is considered the father of the cooperative movement. The Owenites of New Harmony represented the change from independent utopian communal communities to a more organized cooperative movement. Not long after the founding of New Harmony, the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society birthed the modern cooperative movement and wrote the principles that govern the activities of cooperatives.

From desires to live in an alternative society to European models and economic needs, the Cooperative Movement in the US did not become widespread with the establishment of utopian communities, but with agricultural agendas. In the late 1800s cooperatives were actively promoted by The Grange organizations that worked in local regions to promote farmer owned stores based on the Rochdale principles. The Grange organization and cooperative movement received a boost after the Long Depression of 1873 characterized by economic over-expansion after the Civil War, the Black Friday panic, equine influenza that crippled industry, and the Chicago fire.

"[...] movement sprang out of farmer protests against the crop-lien system of the South." (Merrett & Walzer, 30)

This was followed by the expansion of cooperatives across the US in agricultural business. In the 1890s, the Farmer's Alliance was elect a majority of its affiliated members to Kansas Congress in able to develop into a national political party, the People's Party, that held the most successful third party contest in federal elections. In 1916 the first national organization for cooperatives was founded, the Cooperative League of the US, later to become the National Cooperative Business Association. In 1922 the Magna Carta for cooperatives was signed into law, the Capper-Volstead Act. A few years later the Great Depression hit.

"Between World War I and the Great Depression of the 1930s, the movement acquired ideological and organizational focus. A series of visionary leaders conceived of consumer cooperatives as a general answer to numerous social ills. Their vision, though it drew on experiences of working-class and farm movements, was not strongly tied to class [...] but was instead a general doctrine of consumer sovereignty and democracy through co-ops" (Merrett & Walzer, 40)

The social protests of the 1930s, grew the movement as people disillusioned with the current economic system and desperate for economic relief joined cooperative organizations. There were now over 1000 credit unions and the cooperative movement expanded further in various consumer realms: housing, health care, rural electricity, and other fields. The 1930s also saw powerful government support for cooperatives. Roosevelt's administration passed legislation in support of credit unions and other co-ops, individual legislation was also passed in roughly 26 states.

The 1940s and 1950s saw consolidation of cooperatives into stronger and more centralized organizations. In 1946, the North American Student Cooperative League, later to become the North American Student Cooperative Organization in 1968, was founded to support low-cost student housing during World War II. Cooperatives such as Land o' Lakes, GreenBelt, and Farmland Industries broke into large industry showing that cooperatives can compete economically. New York's state government started a number of cooperative housing initiatives supported by labor unions and legislation was passed to provide These decades also saw the development of new kinds of cooperatives which became more well known later.

Crisis hit the global economy in the 1970s:

"[...] the first oil crisis, the collapse of international monetary arrangements in favor of a less regulated system of currencies, and the economic crisis of high inflation combined with high unemployment. [...] followed by a recession of the early 1980s. Old industries that had been the mainstays of economies for a century were downsizing, closing, or mechanizing in new ways, with tens of thousands thrown out of work at a time. There were trade wars, with new rounds of free trade, protectionism, and bloc-building. Commodities faced falling prices on world markets. Growth was in the service sector; part-time work, multiple employments, and career changes became more frequent. With these trends came the information revolution embodied in the widespread introduction of personal computer systems and the emergence of the Internet. The information economy that has emerged during this era has been characterized by globalization, turbulance, and unpredictability." (Merrett & Walzer, 46)

New cooperatives associated with the ecological and organic-food movements. These new co-ops reflected broader changes in society as they became less associated with consuming or producing material goods and more with values, lifestyles, and services. The 1980s and 1990s saw many large successes and failures of cooperatives. Notably the GreenBelt and Berkley cooperatives closed down. 1985, the National Cooperative Business Association was founded from the Cooperative League of the US and gave cooperatives a national network and support base. In 1990, there were over 1 million units of cooperative housing. In 1995, it was reported that almost 4000 cooperatives existed and earned a net income over $2.2 billion. By 2001, there were almost 10,000 credit unions with 80 million members represented.

In the current economic crisis already a year down the recession tube, localization on the rise, recognition of a need to become more ecologically conscious and responsible, desire for accountability in democracy with increased participation, and a newly elected president calling for bottom-up restructuring of society, who is to say that cooperation cannot make it all happen.

from the bottom-up

FIRST POST OHMYGOD

I am taking this time to announce my intention of bringing a new little friend to phoenix haus, providing my parents do the right thing and buy me one for christmas.

A HEDGEHOG.

I'm going to need help naming the little critter, so begin brainstorming, Phoenicians. Hopefully this little fella will be entering our lives after the 25th.

tickets for kings of leon at the msu auditorium go on sale tomorrow. its a pretty good show i've seen it a couple times.

The light at the end of the tunnel

So I know I'm supposed to marry soup, but I found another option for my future love of my life. Yeah, that's right, a Russian catalog-order bride All I need to do is pick her out of the online catalog. I'll take a glance at her profile pic, interests, and cute little quirks in her personal description. Then, when I'm all ready to go, I'll fly over and meet her in "Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Kiev (or even a third country)"!!! We'll get some coffee (or a vodka-drink!) and relax while wiping our brows with dollar bills. I'll be myself and she'll be all lookin like Anna Kournikova-like with her super sexy tennis racket and K-Swiss sneakers. Our marriage will be splendid, so consider yourself invited if you are reading this. Just imagine our cute little tennis-warrior babies, ready to save the planet and unite East and West once and for all.

As the latest stage of my academic career is winding down, I have been reflecting on my path to success a lot.

I decided to leave the office during the time between work and class, and head to Jew class early so that I could secure my seat in the back left corner of the classroom. Fortunately, I was provided with a bit of entertainment because, when I arrived, the room was still hosting the professor and three students of the class held before mine. I was wondering why a girl had her head up the prof's ass, but when I looked at the other two students who were covered in shit, and then listened to the things they were saying, I realized what was going on, and I cannot say that I have ever witnessed such refinement in the act brown-nosing.

This has always been an issue for me. I suppose I can attempt to understand why people so shamelessly seek the favors of the individual who ultimately determines their success, but when it comes to the professors, I cannot understand why they would buy into such transparent groveling. I think it is a sign of being quite unprofessional, and I lose respect for them as a result of their love for self-reassurance. Instead, I appreciate the professor who will identify and call out the bullshit.

To cite a perfect example of a student being called out in an attempt to be an all-star, I would like to reference a class that I had with Haapaniemi a couple of years ago.

It was the first course of our core political philosophy curriculum, and we were reading the classics, such as Plato and Aristotle and all of those guys. Trying to stand out and establish himself as advanced and wholly committed to excellence, one of many dicks in the class decided to attempt to draw parallels between these classical philosophers and Machiavelli, whose theories we had not yet dissected. He pontificated for a while, and then our professor responded:

"Clearly, Miles, you have never read Machiavelli."

He left it at that and continued to call on people who offered reasonable and relevant, in addition to well-argued, points. This was a moment which confirmed my academic strategy, and I think it has paid off.

I maintain a mostly silent presence in my classes, yet I speak up only when I have something I believe to be substantial to contribute. These obnoxious people who approach classes from the kiss-ass angle end up taking away from my in-class study of course material by complicating things with external, irrelevant tidbits, and they have haunted my classes for far too long. I especially enjoy when they do poorly, because it proves that their unnecessary information has not made them any better of a student - if anything, it may have diverted their attention from course material to pulling shit together in an attempt to impress the professor.

I enjoy knowing that I am leaving this university as a successful student, yet I also enjoy the fact that many of my classmates probably think I don't know anything, because I rarely speak. The stereotypical Madison student believes that if you don't participate in class, you are not qualified to be in such courses; I have overheard people arguing this. They think they are better than everyone else at this university, and to them I say: go fuck yourselves.

I like that I have succeeded silently and modestly, and it has refined my strategic approach to many things. I know I am one to argue for things and make my opinions known, but in a different context where I am subject to the judgment of a superior authority, strategy has taken on a new importance. Comfortable in knowing that my professors have recognized my true abilities, I prefer to leave this place as an irrelevant, forgettable presence to my classmates, and a hopefully memorable individual to my friends.