Crisis Pictures is a non-commercial organization dedicated to building awareness of global crisis areas through pictures. Our goal is to make distant events personal by showing real people living through them.
Crisis Pictures
Posted by Ben on March 16, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/crisis-pictures/
Zap! Pow! Oops!
In what’s the only reasonable course of action, the company that produces the taser (Taser International) has decided to make a civilian-issue model.
Which, when you really think about it, is only reasonable. But only if you put too much effort into the thought and neglect common sense. Despite the lingering questions (and lawsuits), Taser officials (scientists? henchmen?) decided it would be a Good Idea to give the X26c more juice. Specifically, the “civilian” version gives the unfortunate target bursts of electricity for 30 seconds, vs. the 5 second bursts of the police-issue model.
Better yet, the new taser doesn’t count as a weapon and can be carried—and concealed—without a permit in 43 states!
Like they say: kill ’em all, and let the market sort them out.
Note: the taser pictured is not the X26.
(St. Petersburg Times: “Taser sales to public worry officers,” by Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler [March 5, 2005]; “Citizen Taser X26c product page” ; “USA: Excessive and Lethal Force?” Amnesty International)
Posted by Ben on March 12, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/zap-pow-oops/
Self-esteem as beer
People with high self-esteem claim they are more likable, attractive and have better relationships than others, but these advantages exist mainly in their own minds, the researchers found.
(FSU.com: “FSU study finds self-esteem programs don’t work,” by Jill Elish; originally via Political Animal)
Posted by Ben on March 12, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/self-esteem-as-beer/
The thoughtful cow worries
Once they were a byword for mindless docility. But cows have a secret mental life in which they bear grudges, nurture friendships and become excited over intellectual challenges, scientists have found.
Cows are also capable of feeling strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety—they worry about the future. But if farmers provide the right conditions, they can also feel great happiness.
(Sunday Times: “The secret life of moody cows,” by Jonathan Leake [Feb 27, 2005])
Posted by Ben on March 10, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-thoughtful-cow-worries/
Sleeping in Airports
It’s a little rough around the edges, and probably not something you’ll want to plan your trip around, but the appropriately titled “Budget Traveler’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports” has some handy information.
Posted by Ben on March 10, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/sleeping-in-airports/
On Evil
What is evil? Is it something in all of us, or is it limited to the most extreme criminals? These and other questions about “evil” are brought up in a NYT article, but to no avail.
(In fairness, evil is relatively hard to unpack in a three-page article. You’ve got your psychiatrists on one side saying, yes, evil is a useful concept, versus on the other side saying “When you start talking about evil, psychiatrists don’t know anything more about it than anyone else. Our opinions might carry more weight, under the patina or authority of the profession, but the point is, you can call someone evil and so can I. So what? What does it add?”)
At any rate, it’s an interesting article, and one you ought to read if evil is a concept you find perplexing.
(NYT: “For the worst of us, the diagnosis may be evil,” by Benedict Carey [Feb 8, 2005])
Posted by Ben on March 10, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/on-evil/
Killer Cars
Not that this should necessarily come as news, but:
The [Heart and Stroke] foundation’s first study of urban versus non-urban living shows that car-dependent Canadians are more sedentary and at increased risk of being overweight or obese.
(via CBC News: “Cars killing suburban dwellers, heart foundation says” [February 10, 2004])
Posted by Ben on March 7, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/killer-cars/
The price of death
Last week, buried at the bottom of a press release on various management changes, funeral services giant Service Corp. International (SRV) noted that its vice chairman, B.D. Hunter, planned to step down, but would remain on as a consultant. What wasn’t included in the press release (but was in the 8-K the company filed on Tuesday) was just how much Hunter will be paid: $91,667 a month in exchange for devoting “substantially his full time to the business of the company” (whatever that means).
(via footnoted.org)
Posted by Ben on March 3, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-price-of-death/
Of books and movies
The Panopticist has an annotation of the first page of DeLillo’s White Noise which, if it’s the sort of thing you’re in to, is interesting.
If not, maybe you’d rather edit your own Psycho shower scene. Yes, the one from the movie. Create your own masterpiece, using the original footage. “All you need is Flash.”
Or combine the literary with the visual in Italo Calvino Vladmasters: a set of Viewmaster-type wheels of images drawn from Calvino’s Invisible Cities.
Posted by Ben on March 3, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/of-books-and-movies/
Erratic posting
Did you notice? My apologies. The clocklike rigidity of days past is not likely to return for a while. Eh. You’re probably not missing anything.
(Also, whether you like it or not, this “new” site design will eventually be changed to reflect the older scheme. It just hasn’t happened yet.)
Posted by Ben on March 3, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/erratic-posting/