March 2009
sacrifice
so chuck todd asked obama to ask people to sacrifice to help the country. obama mentioned that a number of people have sacrificed jobs, houses, college educations, food, as a result of the current economic problems. yglesis wrote about it, and he also assumed that any sacrifice would be economic.
i’ll agree that cutting back on oil consumption or nylons doesn’t make a lot of sense in...
this does not surprise me
boingboing came across this tax info from the IRS:
Can I still write off a child as a deduction if they’ve been kidnapped?
According to the IRS website, the answer is “yes,” if two conditions are met: 1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child’s family, and 2. The child...
what has become of us
this morning, a friend emailed me a video of a kitten eating broccoli with this comment:
So, at some point, I think forwarding videos/pictures of cute animals went from (1) something annoying that one’s parents did, to (2) something that was funny because it related to an ironic meme, to (3) something that I did because I started liking watching videos/pictures of cute animals. Does that...
happy ada lovelace day
today is an international day of blogging to recognize women in technology. it’s named after ada lovelace, who wrote the first computer program for the analytical engine invented by babbage.
i want to honor and congratulate all the women who participate in online communities - those here on tumblr, on twitter, with their own blogs, who play world of warcraft online - all of it. this makes...
When Slim Budgets Mean Better Prisons →
state prison managements, faced with shrinking budgets, save money by focusing on more effective rehabilitation and post-release support programs.
Kanasas Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholz has changed the way his state does corrections. In 2005, Werholz began a campaign to focus on rehabilitating convicted felons rather than simply locking them up. Werholz wanted his parole officers to...
Understanding the Dialogue around Lovelle Mixon →
samhita at feministing writes a great post putting lovelle mixon (the man who killed 4 cops in oakland recently) in the larger context of the power relationship between police and black men. lots to think about.
If there were a scoreboard that displayed the number of police killed by black people versus the number of black people killed by police - it would look like the scoreboard of the Lakers...
I think a major problem
katoleary:
{tirimmed from original post} I truly believe that education is the key to rape prevention, but it seems like, as a culture, we’re afraid to acknowledge the societal forces that contribute to sexual violence, let alone instruct our children in how to combat these forces. Some people believe that the mere recognition of such negative influences on young men sends the message that all...
student obesity linked to fast food within walking...
A recent study by researchers from UC Berkeley and Columbia University [found] a link between obesity and the easy availability of fast food. The academics studied body-fat data from more than 1 million California ninth-graders over an eight-year period, focusing on the proximity of the school to well-known chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. The...
feminist issues for men to take on
woah did that original post get some attention. so in the spirit of starting a discussion on some of those issues, let’s talk about rape education for men. (to be clear, i’m not saying rape prevention is entirely the responsibility of men, this just came from a list of feminist topics for men.)
the organization men can stop rape is, clearly, all about mobilizing men to prevent...
“R Kelly is somehow involved in a South African money scam. A Durban woman named...”
– bossip.
“Across the country, women who have lost their job are finding openings at strip...”
– daily beast.
so many things about this make me cranky. first, the implication that it will always be easier for women to use their bodies than their brains to make money. second, the sure contrast between the reactions these women will get and those to lower-income women who have been forced to...
losing languages
A little more than a century ago, the Comanche ruled the Great Plains. Now, The Guardian reports, the 14,000 strong tribe is one of several Indian tribes making desperate bids to preserve their language. The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee has created a dictionary, holds language courses and has even offered financial incentives for parents to teach their kids Comanche....
I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill... →
the author recently wrote an article for think progress criticising o’reilly’s controversial comments on rape victims. and then: “This weekend, while on vacation, I was ambushed by O’Reilly’s top hit man, producer Jesse Watters, who accosted me on the street and told me that because I highlighted O’Reilly’s comments, I was causing “pain and suffering” to rape victims and their...
