think on this.

» 2GAT123 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2GAT123 is a fictional license plate number that has appeared in a number of television shows and movies. It is used to prevent difficulties for a real person who might coincidentally have the same license plate number as one appearing in a movie.

Movies in which a car bearing the license number 2GAT123 have appeared include Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), K-9 (1989), Eve of Destruction (1991), L.A. Story (1991), Go (1999), Pay It Forward (2000), The Perfect Nanny (2000), Traffic (2000), The Animal (2001), crazy/beautiful (2001), Mulholland Drive (2001), National Security (2003), S.W.A.T. (2003), Harsh Times (2005), Be Cool (2005) and Waist Deep (2006)

The license plate number has also appeared on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, 90210, Charmed, Chuck, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dark Blue, John from Cincinnati, Life, Lost, The Mentalist, She Spies, Sleeper Cell, Modern Family, Two and a Half Men, and The X-Files, commercials for Volkswagen and Miller High Life, and in the videogame True Crime: Streets of L.A..

» this ain't livin': Some Important Distinctions

meloukhia:

People are complaining that the film didn’t provide enough information about autism, or didn’t allow people to understand autism. Newsflash: Autism cannot be “understood” in two hours. And this was a film about Temple Grandin, not about autism. If it was about autism then yes I would expect it to provide information and insight. But it’s not.

Would we expect a movie about Christopher Reeve to be about paralysis? No, we would not. We would expect it to be about Christopher Reeve and his accomplishments. Who he was and what he did. Would his disability come up? Most certainly it would, because it was a part of his identity. But it wouldn’t need to be the focal point. Likewise, I would expect a documentary or biopic about Temple Grandin to focus on Grandin herself. Not her disability.

People. We are not our disabilities.

» New York Foundation for the Arts - Jobs in the Arts

Realistic Painters wanted for full time work in Chelsea studio. Must have excellent oil painting skills and photo-realistic ability. Work with internationally recognized artist Jeff Koons. Please send resume with images of work to JK92106@yahoo.com with “Painter” in subject line. Full Time. Benefits available. Salary based on experience.

» Thoughts on the Marketplace of Ideas

The system of free expression also has a powerful after-the-fact apologetic function.  Elite groups use the supposed existence of a marketplace of ideas to justify their own superior position.  Imagine a society in which all As were rich and happy, all Bs were moderately comfortable, and all Cs were poor, stigmatized, and reviled.  Imagine also that this society scrupulously believes in a free marketplace of ideas.  Might not the As benefit greatly from such a system?  On looking about them and observing the inequality in the distribution of wealth, longevity, happiness and safety between themselves and others, they might feel guilt.  Perhaps their own superior position is undeserved, or at least requires explanation.  But the existence of an ostensibly free marketplace of ideas renders that effort unnecessary.  Rationalization is easy: our ideas, our culture competed with their more easygoing ones and won.  It was a fair  fight.  Our position must be deserved; the distribution of social goods must be roughly what fairness, merit, and equity call for.  It is up to them to change, not us.

A free market of racial depiction resists change for two final reasons.  First, the dominant pictures, images, narratives, plots, roles, and stories ascribed to, and constituting the public perception of minorities, are always dominantly negative… Minorities internalize the stories they red, see, and hear every day.  Persons of color can easily become demoralized, blame themselves, and not speak up vigorously.  The expense of speech also precludes the stigmatized from participating effectively in the marketplace of ideas.  They are often poor — indeed, one theory of racism holds that maintenance of economic inequality is its prime function — and hence unlikely to command the means to bring countervailing messages to the eyes and ears of others.

Second, even when minorities do speak they have little credibility.  Who would listen to, who would credit, a speaker or writer one associates with watermelon-eating, buffoonery, menial work, intellectual inadequacy, laziness, lasciviousness, and demanding resources beyond his or her deserved share?

» Ezra Klein - The Senate's problem is not disagreement. It's elections.

The problem with the Senate is not that you can’t get 60 people out of 100 people to agree on something. It’s that roughly half the folks will lose any chance at a promotion, and they may even lose their job, if they agree with the other half. Bipartisanship isn’t impossible because people disagree on the finer points of American policy, though many of them certainly do. It’s impossible because the parties are locked in a zero-sum struggle for control, and you don’t gain an advantage if you give the other side a major accomplishment and then tell the American people they really did a good job reaching out to your and your colleagues. That’s the equivalent of saying to your employer, “Don’t give me a promotion, and in fact, think hard about whether you might want to lay me off next year.”