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kottke.org posts about USA

Animated geographic history of the United States

Animated geographic history of the United States. This is pretty cool.


Food and Wine magazine’s list of the

Food and Wine magazine’s list of the ten best new chefs in America.


Good multi-part essay and analysis of peak oil

Good multi-part essay and analysis of peak oil.


FAQ: How Real ID will affect you

FAQ: How Real ID will affect you. So nice that they snuck it in on a completely unrelated bill like that…I don’t remember that aspect of gov’t being explained in that Schoolhouse Rock song about the bill.


Robert McNamara: “the United States must no

Robert McNamara: “the United States must no longer rely on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool. To do so is immoral, illegal, and dreadfully dangerous”.


“A campaign for the Portuguese political magazine

“A campaign for the Portuguese political magazine Grande Reportagem … turns flags of various countries into infographics by adding a legend”. For the US flag: “Red: In favor of the war in Iraq, White: Against the war in Iraq, Blue: Don’t know where Iraq is.”


The Flynn Effect: IQs are rising in the US

The Flynn Effect: IQs are rising in the US. “US test takers gained 17 IQ points between 1947 and 2001.”


Surprise, surprise, government reports show that despite

Surprise, surprise, government reports show that despite vastly increased spending, security at the airport is barely better than it was pre-9/11.


David Byrne on how the tightening of

David Byrne on how the tightening of US borders keeps creativity out of our country. I imagine this has had an effect on the scientific community as well.


There are some signs that Americans are

There are some signs that Americans are actually paying off their credit card debt.


James Kunstler lays out a gloomy and

James Kunstler lays out a gloomy and depressing energy crisis future in The Long Emergency. “Our lives will become profoundly and intensely local. Daily life will be far less about mobility and much more about staying where you are.”


A People’s History of the United States

Zinn’s a Marxist freak (well, according to some), but this book is still worth reading as an antidote to what most American kids learn about in school.