Category: Culture

Impact Lab > Culture
Animals, Art, Culture, Current Events, Entertainment, government, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues

China Bans Satirical Bunnies

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnw5BvxSDmM[/youtube]

As China gears up for the Year of the Rabbit, the nation’s Communist authorities have censored a bunny cartoon with political overtones. The Chinese New Year – which falls this year on February 3 – is the country’s biggest holiday. Families come together for several days of feasting and gift-giving. But, this year, a New Year-themed cartoon posted on a popular Chinese website seems to have rankled officials. Censors have deleted the video, in an apparent reaction to its biting political satire.

The three-minute animation begins with rabbit babies being poisoned, a blatant reference to a recent toxic milk scandal that left six children dead…

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Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Corporate Manipulation, Culture, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Internet, Latest News, Latest Trend

Google Engages in Subtle Form of Censorship

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Google, the company that fought censorship in China and vowed not to censor even anti-Semitism, has begun a subtle censorship campaign of its own.

As of today, if a Google search user begins typing in a term such as “BitTorrent,” Google’s Auto Suggest feature stops listing possible terms as soon as he types the second “T” in the word. Likewise, it won’t auto-complete the pirate-familiar words “megaupload,” “utorrent” or “rapidshare.”

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Culture, Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend

Ending Left Turns

left_turn

Left turns have their place, don’t they?

UPS saved a lot of money by eliminating left turns from its delivery routes. Would this practice be effective on a larger scale? At Smithsonian, Sarah Zielinski writes:

UPS minimizes left turns for its delivery trucks to save on fuel. (And it works, as the Mythbusters demonstrated last year.) In the 1960s, the state of Michigan designed an intersection known as the “Michigan left” that prevents people driving on side streets from making left turns onto a multi-laned divided road; if they wish to go left, they’ll first have to go right and then make a U-turn…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Culture, Current Events, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, Medical Breakthrough

Becoming The Wal-Mart of Weed

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Big Plans for the Future Growth of Marijuana

Dhar Mann, 26, and Derek Peterson, 36, are the owners of the weGrow marijuana superstore in Oakland, California. The 15,000 square-foot weGrow is just their first hit though. Mann and Peterson are also shooting a reality show pilot, training medical pot growers, and manufacturing high-end grow gear. They say they’re in contract on 75 franchise stores in 5 states and are considering an IPO. According to Mann, their vision is to become the “Wal-Mart of Weed.”

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Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Fashion, Health & Fitness, Human Behavior

BottomsUp: Padded Underwear For Men

bottoms up briefs

Canadian company BottomsUp offers a line of padded underwear for men that gives the illusion of a rounder, fuller butt.

Men, does “flat butt” syndrom bum you out? Well, there’s an uplifting news: now you can get off your duff and don a pair of padded underpants to give your booty more bounce.

The padded underpants in the spotlight are manufactured by a Canadian company appropriately dubbed BottomsUp, which operates under the motto: “Building a Better Bottom.”

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Animals, Art, Crazy Photos, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Humor, Photo Perspectives

Top 10 Photos of the Week

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When spies attempt to infiltrate the ranks of PETA, nothing can be left to chance

“People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine.”
David Letterman

“People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine.” – – David Letterman

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Analysis, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Culture, Current Events, government, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, New Discoveries

Portugal: 10 Years of Decriminalized Drugs

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Here’s a good Boston Globe report on the first decade of Portugal’s bold experiment with drug decriminalization and increased treatment. Ten years ago, Portugal — whose drug problem had been spiraling out of control — decided to treat drug addiction as a public health matter, not as a criminal matter. They decriminalized possession of drugs, and increased treatment available to addicts, and experienced an immediate, dramatic and sustained drop in negative effects from drug use — though the use of some drugs went up…

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Analysis, Art, Big Problems, Culture, Current Events, Globalism, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News

The Plight of Female Drug Addicts in Afghanistan

Afgan drug addict woman 123456 by R Persson

Addiction strikes many women in Afghanistan.

Photographer Rafaela Persson has lived in Afghanistan since 2008, and spends time getting to know her subjects.

I had an idea to photograph female drug addicts. Afghanistan is the world’s biggest producer of opium, from which heroin is derived. According to a study made by U.N. Drugs and Crimes Office in 2010, the rate of drug addiction in Afghanistan is twice the global average; Afghans have become the leading consumers of their own opium.  Approximately one million Afghans, or eight percent of the war-shattered country’s total population is suffering from drug addiction, a 75 percent increase since 2005. What is even more alarming is that studies show that 50 percent of Afghanistan’s opium-using parents give the drug to their own children…

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Animals, Art, Crazy Photos, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Humor, Photo Perspectives

Top 10 Photos of the Week

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He didn’t have brainstorms often, but when he did, they were a doozy

What does a squirrel do in the summer? It buries nuts. Why? Cos then in winter time he’s got something to eat and he won’t die. So, collecting nuts in the summer is worthwhile work. Every task you do at work think, would a squirrel do that? Think squirrels. Think nuts.
David Brent

“What does a squirrel do in the summer? It buries nuts. Why? Cos then in winter time he’s got something to eat and he won’t die. So, collecting nuts in the summer is worthwhile work. Every task you do at work think, would a squirrel do that? Think squirrels. Think nuts.” – – David Brent

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Culture, Historical Perspectives, Science & Technology News

First Baby Boomers Turn 65 in 2011, But Are They Ready for Retirement?

baby boomers

The first baby boomers will turn 65 in 2011, but is this generation truly ready to leave the workforce?

“Baby boomer” is the name given to the generation born in a “baby boom” following World War II, between 1946 and 1964. There are about 78 million in all, which is 26 percent of the population. Those turning 65 this year will be eligible for Medicare, and full retirement in 2012.

 

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