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xkcd: Cost of everything | FlowingData • Nathan Yau
Randall Munroe of xkcd charts the things that money pays for, from the item off the dollar menu all the way up to the total estimated economic productivity of the human race.
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Great piece in .net magazine about nerdydaytrips.com | Bad Science • Ben Goldacre
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Surprising pathway implicated in stuttering | EurekAlert! – Breaking News
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have obtained new evidence that at least some persistent stuttering is caused by mutations in a gene governing not speech, but a metabolic pathway involved in recycling old cell parts. Beyond a simple association, the study provides the first evidence that mutations affecting cellular recycling centers called lysosomes actually play a role in causing some people to stutter.
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Revolution 2.0 – By Steven A. Cook | Foreign Policy
What is happening in Tahrir Square — as frightening as it is — may very well be a clarifying moment. From the start, the Egyptian military’s declarations that it was preparing the ground for democracy were far from credible. The officers’ interest in remaining the sole source of political legitimacy and authority, the military’s economic interests, and the Ministry of Defense’s conception of stability are simply not compatible with a more democratic Egypt.
The proximate cause for the current confrontations in Cairo — and now it seems elsewhere around the country — is the result of trigger-happy security forces.
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Berkeley Wealth Gap Not Caused by Students – In the Newsroom – The Bay Citizen
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Police Clear Occupy Oakland Camp from Snow Park – Pulse of the Bay – The Bay Citizen
Police cleared an Occupy Oakland encampment from Snow Park early Monday morning, leaving Oakland without any Occupy encampment for the first time since Oct. 26.
According to protesters at the scene, about 10 to 15 tents were still pitched in Snow Park when dozens of officers arrived shortly after midnight, and the camp was cleared quickly and peacefully. …
Protesters on Saturday sought to establish a new encampment in a vacant lot near the corner of 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue, but were evicted by police Sunday morning.
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Ruling: Foreign Competition Triggered Solyndra’s Demise – The Bay Citizen
The ruling supports claims made by Obama administration officials, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, that the company failed because of market pressure from China, rather than wrongdoing connected to the company’s $535 million federal loan guarantee.
The decision, issued Friday after a two-and-a-half-month investigation, means more than 1,000 of Solyndra’s former workers will be eligible for up to $14 million worth of additional unemployment, job training and relocation benefits under the federal Trade adjustment Assistance program, which helps workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign trade.
“This is great news,” said Peter Michael Kohlstadt, a former Solyndra engineer. “A lot of people will definitely need it.”
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Afghan Women Are Not “Pet Rocks” – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon | The AfPak Channel
Women’s group leaders say that just like in the 1990s, when they lobbied to stop the Clinton Administration from recognizing the Taliban government, they will not stand by quietly while women half a world away are denied their constitutionally guaranteed rights to work and education. They note that Afghan women are making progress for themselves, pointing to the rising number of girls attending school, as well as female midwives, police officers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, civil society activists, parliamentarians and educators as evidence.
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“In the meantime, we will be striving along with other parties to abort the sedition that the interior ministry has instigated in the country,” the statement said.
Cairo police on Monday fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day on Monday and the death toll rose to at least 33, with many victims shot, in the worst violence since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
The party demanded that the ones repsonsible for the killing of potesters be brought to justice. In the meantime, it linked the Tahrir clashes to “desperate attempts made for months to halt the process of handing power over to the peoeple through the parliamentary elections.”
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BBC News – Iraqi civilians win legal bid for torture inquiry
Over 100 Iraqi civilians have won a UK Court of Appeal battle in their bid for a new public inquiry into allegations of torture against British soldiers.
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BBC News – South Africa MPs pass controversial ‘secrecy bill’
South African MPs have overwhelmingly approved a controversial media bill despite widespread criticism of it.
Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it “insulting” and warned it could be used to outlaw “whistle-blowing and investigative journalism”.
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BBC News – Cuba to allow farmers to sell directly to hotels
Under the new rules, Cubans will not have to go through government middlemen to sell agricultural produce.
For the first time in decades, farmers will also be allowed to take their products to market themselves.
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Scenes from Tahrir’s Groundhog Day of Rage | Foreign Policy
Cairo’s Tahrir Square witnessed a nightmarish groundhog day on Monday — recalling scenes from the bloody uprising in February that brought down Hosni Mubarak — as protesters battled with security forces for a third straight day. Since Sunday morning, Egypt’s health minister says, 23 people have died and more than 1,500 have been wounded in the worst outbreak of violence since the revolution, a spasm of popular anger that threatens to delay parliamentary elections scheduled to begin next week.
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Inside Guantanamo, Detainees Live In Limbo : NPR
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: I’ve reported on prisons for years, but Guantanamo felt different. In regular prisons, I’ve had some sort of contact with the inmates, but in Guantanamo, the prisoners are behind glass. It’s like a terrorist museum.
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Occupy The Hood’s National Effort Coordinated By Ife Johari Uhuru, Detroit Single Mom
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Obama Supercommittee Speech Transcript: No Easy Off Ramps to Cutting Deficit
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Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate goes unremembered – The Express Tribune
The Physics genius was born in a small town Jhang on January 29, 1926, a little over 85 years ago.
In 1979, Salam shared the Nobel Prize with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow for the historic unification of the weak nuclear force with the electromagnetic force.
He faced discrimination in Pakistan because he belonged to the Ahmadiyya community, to the extent that the word ‘Muslim’ was erased from his tombstone on court orders. …
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How Christianity and Government Should Mix | The Root
Here are the 12 takeaways on the topic from the [GOP] candidate’s remarks: …
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German Brown Babies Search for Their Roots
…the little-known stories of children born to white German mothers and African-American soldier fathers in the years after World War II. …
Many of them didn’t learn about their roots until they were adults, and the documentaries tell the story of some who have committed to tracking down their birth parents and their family history.
These stories raise issues of race, culture, history and identity from a brand-new perspective, making these films worth a watch for Americans of all colors.
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Young Black Leaders: Nominations for The Root Young Futurists List
Who are the young trailblazers in your community? The Root wants to know. We’re putting the spotlight on the young African-Americans leaders and innovators of the future, and we want your help.
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African American Holiday Traditions: What Our Ancestors Ate
African-American food historian Leni Sorensen says that the iconic images of soul food during Thanksgiving and Christmas represent a small slice of black American culinary customs. “There’s a wide repertoire of food. Everybody understands the iconic list of greens and pork chops and corn bread and sweet potato pie. But that is only a minor list of all of the different foods that people eat within their own communities,” …
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5 Reasons Why No Deal Is Better than a Bad Deal for Women | National Women’s Law Center
The super-committee could not agree on a plan to cut the deficit by $1.2 to $1.5 trillion. Some in the media are calling it a failure – but we’re relieved that there were members who rejected plans that were unbalanced and unfair. Here are five reasons why: …
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Earliest sample of Minoan hieroglyphics found on Crete
A sealstone made of red jasper and featuring the earliest example of Minoan hieroglphics has been found in Western Crete.
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Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development.
We seek to improve the lives of children and youth by conducting high-quality research and sharing it with the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children.
Founded in 1979, Child Trends helps keep the nation focused on children and their needs by identifying emerging issues; evaluating important programs and policies; and providing data-driven, evidence-based guidance on policy and practice.
Our work is supported by foundations; local, state, and federal governments; and private sector funders.
As the nation’s only independent research and policy center focused exclusively on improving outcomes for children, Child Trends researches: ….
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Daily Kos: UC Davis: Speechless (updated 3x)
The video is so quiet you can hear the echo of [UC Davis Chancellor] Katehi’s shoes on the concrete. The students remain seated, staring at her with disdain, less than 24 hours after the police Katehi ordered to disperse the protestors forcibly opened the mouths of some of the them to shove pepper spray down their throats.
I’m in awe of these UC students, here and in Berkeley, who have consistently adhered to the principles of creative, non-violent civil disobedience. …
Kristin Stoneking, the woman seen in the video accompanying Katehi, wrote a long post on Facebook explaining the circumstances leading up to that video.
I include it here in it’s entirety. It’s worth reading to the very end.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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