[LINKS] Winter break begins...

LINKS because I've already written people too many emails.

+ U.S. reversal under pressure leads to climate deal. This article is a surprisingly poignant look at the politics behind the Bali Action Plan. I was originally going to link the New York Times version of the article because there was one sentence that I had found particularly heart wrenching, but when I looked at the article again, the paragraph was gone. A few hours later, I looked for the article and couldn't find the one I was looking for in particular. In either case, I had written down the quote and found the IHT article:

As so often happens in such complex worldwide negotiations, the last-minute standoff that inspired such emotions would look trivial to an outside observer. The dispute centered on the placement of three words: "measurable, reportable and verifiable." It was significant because it focused on the role developing countries should have in combating climate change.

And when I was reading it for the first time that first sentence struck me, because it's just such a hopeless line. "The last-minute standoff that inspired such emotions would look trivial to an outside observer." There is a world of frustration and underappreciation and a battle against apathy there. It is that one outside perspective that made me realize how sad this whole thing is. The world is being fought over and we would think it's silly.


+ Another line from the NYT that caught my eye, for a slightly different reason:

From Who invited the dog?: Ari Henry Barnes, who works in a New York law firm, is so devoted to his cat, Romeo, that he wipes the animal's behind every time he does "a stinky boom boom."


+ TED.com. Technology. Entertainment. Design. Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers. -- I was just introduced to this website last week and finally had time to sit down and immerse myself for the first time. It is wonderful. There are speakers from all walks of life on every topic imaginable (this may be an exaggeration, but only slightly). In just over an hour, I watched Murray Gell-Mann talk about the elegance of physics, Mattieu Ricard about happiness, V Ramachandran about intriguing (if often poked at) psychology, and the Pilobius dance duet, and had to stop only because I couldn't choose what to watch next. If you have any soul at all, go forth and learn. You get so few chances to hear people talk about their area of expertise with such passion.