The Wright Flyer – the Wright Brothers used it to test out their theories of flight.
Lunar Lander
Bell P-59 AirComet – America’s first jet fighter.
Month: July 2011
Business Ethics Through Film: Monsters Inc. (via You Tube from bdickson14)
There is probably a little more of the movie than business ethics in this little teaching module but it’s still relevant and very, very fun.
If you are teaching business ethics and you want to lighten the atmosphere, this is a good little video.
James Pilant
My privilege is showing. (via Vomits Her Mind)
I like fighters. There are people out there who are just not going to take the status quo. This is one of them.
I have complete confidence that many of you will be in disagreement with some or all of her stances and beliefs. But pause for a moment and think what our society would be like without motion, without change, without difference, and most of all think what the world would be like if everyone agreed not to be different.
James Pilant
via Vomits Her Mind
Flawed economics (via to boondoggle is human.)
This is what I have been saying in many blog posts. We simply cannot keep doing the same economic things over and over again when they have failed over and over again. Some have said that is the very definition of insanity.
It is not ethical or moral to have corporations and the wealthy shed their tax burdens while leaving the average wage earners holding the bag. Those who control large sums of money in this country benefit like everyone else from educational systems, roads and bridges, and the work of police, firemen and our soldiers. Calling yourselves, “job creators” does not place a halo on your head or relieve you of your duty to your country, your state, your community and your fellow citizens.
We need to have a tax code that allocates the taxes paid in relation to the excess wealth accumulated and severely limits the amount paid on the base money necessary for basic needs, like food, shelter, education and medical needs.
I like this blogger’s thinking and I wish him well.
James Pilant
The Biker Code (via HDBikerGuy)
This is a lot more entertaining and probably much more moral than the codes of conduct created by corporations. It’s a fun read and something I didn’t expect to see written out. I was under the false assumption that it was more of an unwritten code like that of the gunfighter. Well, I learn things all the time while blogging.
James Pilant
via HDBikerGuy
stealth marketing (via consummate consumer)
I think this is a very clever post about a growing method of marketing. This is a kind of supercharged “keeping up with the Jones” method which has more than a few moral failings. Of course, in movies and television, the struggling middle class is largely absent. We focus on corporate over achievers with vast sums of money (The Proposal, etc.) or supposedly Middle Americans who never seem to have real money problems. This move is, of course, tripe, and the author here calls it out appropriately.
It’s a good post and this blogger is focused on consumer, So, you might pay more than one visit.
James Pilant
Outcasts: Tonight Tens Of Thousands Of Formerly Middle Class Americans Will Be Sleeping In Their Cars, In Tent Cities Or On The Streets (via Evil of indifference)
The Middle Class is shedding population. People leave for many reasons. But in the last few years, off shoring, foolish trade agreements, corporate financial speculation and a government little concerned with the plight of average wage earners, has parsed the Middle Class without obstacle.
I agree with the blog post below.
James Pilant
What I’m Reading Today – Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
I ordered this online and I have been very impressed. This is the first book by Chris Hedges that I have ever had. I am annoyed with myself for not having discovered him earlier.
Here is an excerpt – The inability of the liberal class to acknowledge that corporations have wrested power from the hands of the citizens, that the Constitution and it guarantees of personal liberty have become irrelevant, and that the phrase consent of the governed is meaningless, has left it speaking and acting in ways that no longer correspond to reality. It has lent its voice to hollow acts of political theater, and the pretense that democratic debate and choice continue to exist.
I think the correctness of his reading is illustrated today by the negotiations over the debt ceiling held between Congress and the President. The liberals, toothless and pointless, are not at the table. The great accomplishments of the liberal and progressive movements over the past one hundred years lay like so many cuts of meat served up on the negotiating table between the two sides, and the Progessives in Congress may just as well not exist. The President proposes cuts to both Social Security and Medicare with no one to stop him. Even the AARP folded like a house of cards. Liberalism as an effective political force is a joke, a satire on its past and a cautionary tale of expediency and stupidity destroying a movement. In particular, the willingness of its candidates to court corporate money and to sell out teachers, workers, soldiers and retirees speaks more of a moral vacuum than it does of effective politics. Without idealism and morality, political movements based on doing the right thing for the poor, the working class and the disadvantaged, have no identity.
I am often asked what we should do about a Wall Street excess, an unfair law, the rich evading taxes and many other things. I’ve taken to dodging the question because explaining to concerned citizens and students that there is no one to turn to, no one to vote for, no one to ask for help, … is depressing in the extreme.
There are two parties in the United States. One is devoted to privilege and a desperate need to stay in power. The other is devoted to privilege and a desperate need to stay in power. Neither deserves a single vote or a moment of serious concern.
Nevertheless, the only remaining arena of possible action is there. However, I have been getting a sense of the nation, that perhaps other choices beside the peaceful are being considered. I do not want to see violence but it is more and more likely.
James Pilant
To get your own copy, you can go here. jp
Only Ed
“Only Ed” is the web site of Ed Mortimer. (It is subtitled – News and views on Environmental Sustainability.) He is an amazing blogger. He posts often and well. Mr. Mortimer is also topical and passionate about the issues. I constantly have to avoid the temptation to re-blog everything he puts up. Like me, he often includes posts of things that interest him off the path of his usual issues. I appreciate that. I often worry that my occasional attempts at humor and general interest stories damage my credibility. Nothing I have seen of his posting detracts from his general message. I hope my postings manage that as well.
Here are his last five postings –
1. Located here, the title link takes you to the news article.
Environmental Justice and Quality for All: Baldwin Hills Victory
Agreement Reached to Reduce Urban Oil Drilling in Los Angeles
Settlement Provides Greater Protections to Residents, Drilling Restrictions
2. Located here, the title link takes you to a news article.
Indigenous resistance is the new ‘terrorism’
In Ecuador, protesting for the rights of the Earth and trying to preserve natural resources may make you a “terrorist”.
3. Christian young people to be trained for eco-justice action
4. Birds may show Japan nuclear disaster’s global effects
And 5. Women, Poverty and The Environment in Latin America
It might be wise for many of you to favorite this site and maybe even subscribe. Of course, you may not share his environmental concerns, but even if this is the case, the news stories are from all over and are unlikely to be seen without his assiduous pursuit of them.
James Pilant
Latest From The Pen Of Philippe Leroux: ‘X-Rays and Nuclear Fumbles’ (via The Crisis Jones Report)
What level of x-ray exposure is safe? Over the last roughly one hundred years, the amount of such radiation considered dangerous has been changed repeatedly and always downward. This article is critical of the nuclear industry and its reaction to an x-ray exposure at one of the facilities.
Now, there is some evidence that there is no safe level. I have included a brief quote from Wikipedia evidencing that point of view. If you are interested in the medical safety of x-rays, I found a wonderful site put up by the University of Oklahoma which I link to here.
From Wikipedia – Diagnostic X-rays (primarily from CT scans due to the large dose used) increase the risk of developmental problems and cancer in those exposed.[28][29][30] X rays are classified as a carcinogen by both the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. government.[26][31] It is estimated that 0.4% of current cancers in the United States are due to computed tomography (CT scans) performed in the past and that this may increase to as high as 1.5-2% with 2007 rates of CT usage.[32]
I’m very fond of the web site Crisis Jones Report and suggest that you favorite it.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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