On conference organizing and more

A nice post on conference organizing, another look at Copenhagen summit and activism, some more interesting posts and images…

Thoughts on conference organizing

There have been a couple of interesting posts I?ve run across in my attempts to find out what happened at the 2009 AAA conference (see especially Lorenz?s run-down at antropologi.info). These discussions of conferences in general have encouraged me to write something about my own experiences organizing and attending conferences over the past year (see also, Lorenz?s What?s the point of anthropology conferences?, Kerim?s What?s Your Favorite Anthropology Conference? and Strong?s How to attend a conference in a couple hours). I thought I?d add a different perspective; that of the amateur, I?ll-never-do-it-again (dis-)organizer.

Beyond Copenhagen: what kind of bottom-up climate activism do we need?,

As we move into 2010, the feeling of many people across this country seems to be that now is the time to give up on large-scale politics, and focus on small local-level solutions to the outstanding problems of our age, such as manmade climate change (the Transition movement, which began in Totnes and is slowly spreading worldwide, is an outstanding example of such ‘localist’ solution-seeking). It is natural that in the wake of Copenhagen’s failure many people are turning to ways that they as individuals can best contribute.

The Copenhagen accord,

After two chaotic weeks, 188 countries reached a limited agreement in Copenhagen to continue global efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to address climate change.

2009 a Bad Year for Migrants
Source: Human Rights Watch

Many governments? policies toward migrants worldwide expose them to human rights abuses including labor exploitation, inadequate access to health care, and prolonged detention in poor, overcrowded conditions, Human Rights Watch said today in advance of International Migrants Day, on December 18, 2009.

FAILURE AS A STRATEGY

Some thinking on terrorism that may be of interest:

The recent al Qaeda sponsored attempt to blow up an Northwest Airways flight is an example of an interesting, but likely inadvertent strategy:  failure.  Given the earlier example of 9/11, even failed attacks provide the following benefits:

• New and sweeping rules on airline passengers (most inane) and beefed up security.
• New military/intelligence efforts launched against Yemen.
• A potential substantive review and expansion of the broken no-fly lists and other substantial/expensive “systemic” overhauls.

Soldiers as patriotic pixelboards

Fantastic collection of symbols of American history using tens of thousands of US soldiers as pixels. Photographs are taken by photographers Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas. Full size versions after a click. Watch also our human pixel videos.

10 Best Geek Movies for a Cozy Night In

from Mashable! by Amy-Mae Elliott

Zon Ito and Ryoko Aoki at Konrad Fischer

Artists: Zon Ito, Ryoko Aoki

Venue: Konrad Fischer, Dusseldorf

Date: November 27, 2009 ? January 16, 2010

found in Allen & Patty Eckman ? Paper sculptures

Some incredible works by Allen & Patty Eckman, all made with? paper. Click to see and learn more about their works.

Looking at Playboy’s December cover would be one way of getting into the christmas spirit. Or at least it was in the old days. From Asylum

found at Playboy christmas from Sexoteric Blog