foucault and others talk about this, but not with so many examples. i always thought it was a beautiful thought--

Until the early 19th century, people generally believed in the ongoing spontaneous generation of certain forms of life from non-living matter. This was paired with heterogenesis, the belief that one form of life derives from a different form (e.g. bees from flowers).[8] Classical notions of abiogenesis, now more precisely known as spontaneous generation, held that certain complex, living organisms are generated by decaying organic substances. According to Aristotle it was a readily observable truth that aphids arise from the dew which falls on plants, fleas from putrid matter, mice from dirty hay, crocodiles from rotting logs at the bottom of bodies of water, and so on.[9]

In the 17th century, such assumptions started to be questioned; for example, in 1646, Sir Thomas Browne published his Pseudodoxia Epidemica (subtitled Enquiries into Very many Received Tenets, and Commonly Presumed Truths), which was an attack on false beliefs and "vulgar errors." His conclusions were not widely accepted. For example, his contemporary, Alexander Ross wrote: "To question this (i.e., spontaneous generation) is to question reason, sense and experience. If he doubts of this let him go to Egypt, and there he will find the fields swarming with mice, begot of the mud of Nylus, to the great calamity of the inhabitants."[10]

In 1665, Robert Hooke published the first drawings of a microorganism. Hooke was followed in 1676 by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who drew and described microorganisms that are now thought to have been protozoa and bacteria.[11] Many felt the existence of microorganisms was evidence in support of spontaneous generation, since microorganisms seemed too simplistic for sexual reproduction, and asexual reproduction through cell division had not yet been observed.

The first solid evidence against spontaneous generation came in 1668 from Francesco Redi, who proved that no maggots appeared in meat when flies were prevented from laying eggs. It was gradually shown that, at least in the case of all the higher and readily visible organisms, the previous sentiment regarding spontaneous generation was false. The alternative seemed to be biogenesis: that every living thing came from a pre-existing living thing (omne vivum ex ovo, Latin for "every living thing from an egg").

woah damn!

"On the basis of such studies, an arm of the World Health Organization announced in December its decision to classify shift work as a "probable carcinogen." That put the night shift in the same health-risk category as exposure to such toxic chemicals as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)."

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Quoted: GIlbert Gottfried's version of The Aristocrats joke.

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Quoted: This is not created by me. I don't own nothing.This kind of jokes are called the aristocratsJust google it and you will find many other, longer and funnier, ...

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Quoted: Self explanatory

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Quoted: Mime is money - This is Spinal Tap

This is the dramatic story of Chen Yonggui and his community, Dazhai, where he developed an agrarian collective which Mao Zedong hailed as a model for the reconstruction of all rural china.

But Ninth Heaven To Ninth Hell is not just the story of an incredible success, it is also the account of a heart-rending tragedy. For after the death of Mao, his successor, Deng Xioping, reversed the aim of China's revolutionary course. Deng rejected Mao's collective road and instead embarked on a free-market "Socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Summary: Important defence of a maligned epoch
Rating: 4

The manuscript of this book had to be smuggled out of China, where the reactionary government suppressed its publication. Today's Chinese "Communist" Party viciously slanders the achievements of collective agriculture in the community Dazhai and the visionary leader Chen Yonggui who helped to make it a success. Yet thousands of people, both Chinese and foreign, saw for themselves the development of this once backward village into a thriving, highly productive agricultural community. It prospered until the early 1980s, when it was forcibly disbanded by the central government. The effects of decollectivisation were dramatic and criminal: in 1987, Dazhai, formerly a prosperous collective, was not able to feed itself.

Qin Huailu is to be applauded for having the courage to record this important period of history in the face of oppression by the current counterrevolutionary régime. The accomplishments of Chen Yonggui and Dazhai will not be forgotten.

this 'book' changed my life before it was even a book. hot damn they are on version 13.3 now. i remember the old days, printing out verision 1.0.1.6 and highlighting the shit outta it and then doing the same for vers 1.0.1.7 etc. ak press published the first volume and it is 768 pages. that is amazing to me.