Technologies that we’ve lost – and the quest to find them again – io9

Greek fire. Damascus steel. These are two technological innovations whose secrets are said to be lost to time. Even the original schematics for the Apollo missions have disappeared into the mists of history, forever hidden inside hopelessly obsolete computers.

Wednesday Geek Woman: Marita Cheng, Robogals founder | Geek Feminism Blog

…Robogals…is an engineering and computing outreach group, in which women university students run robotics workshops for high school age girls.

Marita, while still in the final year of her undergraduate degree, is also an entrepreneur…

tags: women_in_stem_fields

The Gendered Politics of Precarious Labor as It Relates to the Inclusiveness of Economic Freedoms in the New Deal | Rortybomb

…the relationship between pity-charity liberalism and unconditional, universal programs related to economic security. A perfect example is how labor in the New Deal was treated differently by gender. …Precarious, vulnerable work was once relegated solely to women, but in this day and age more and more of us will fall into that category.

…the precarious worker is “indebted, insecure, vulnerable.” If the classic notion of a worker “relies on having a bargaining place at the table with the boss,” then precarious workers aren’t workers (even though all they do is work or try to cobble work together).

…the precarious nature of gender and work is both reflected in and amplified by governmental regulatory regimes, and…the future looks bleak in terms of bending those regimes toward just ends. Suzanne Mettler’s Dividing Citizens: Gender and Federalism in New Deal Public Policy (1998) is useful for this conversation. …

[Re FDR's New Deal] It just so happened that the federal government’s role regulated the work and lives of white men, while the state and local role retained authority over women and minorites. …

The crucial point is that liberal inclusion was based on long-term, full-time work for a single employer. If you had a job along those lines –and these jobs were held by white men at that time — then you were included in a regime of universal economic security.

…For insight into how the current administration’s approach is playing out in this model, take a look at the administration of health care reform. …

[Whoa. I know kung fu. -L]

tags: feminism racism economic_justice

Give Komen the Pink Slip: Five Ways to Support Women’s Health for All – News – GOOD

News broke Tuesday afternoon that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, the omnipresent charity battling breast cancer, is pulling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of grants it had awarded Planned Parenthood to fund cancer screenings. The official reason? A new rule forbids the organization from funding any group currently under investigation in Congress. (Planned Parenthood is being investigated by legislators who oppose abortion rights and want to make doubly sure federal funds aren’t being used for abortions). But many assume Komen caved to anti-abortion activists, and possibly to anti-choice higher-ups within the foundation.

At best, this decision is spineless. At worst, it’s cruel. Rescinding the Planned Parenthood funding implies that the only women who deserve to receive breast cancer screenings are those who can afford a private doctor. …

If you’re pissed off, show it with your dollars — even if you can only part with a few of them. And afterwards, be sure to tell the Komen Foundation where your money went.

tags: call_for_action reproductive_justice womens_health

Judge blocks cut to healthcare for poor Californians – latimes.com

How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’ | NationofChange

The Depression hit bottom in 1931. More people were jobless [in Norway] than in any other Nordic country. Unlike in the U.S., the Norwegian union movement kept the people thrown out of work as members, even though they couldn’t pay dues. This decision paid off in mass mobilizations. When the employers’ federation locked employees out of the factories to try to force a reduction of wages, the workers fought back with massive demonstrations.

Many people then found that their mortgages were in jeopardy. (Sound familiar?) The Depression continued, and farmers were unable to keep up payment on their debts.

tags: history

Civil Rights Advocates Meet in L.A. to Discuss Voter Suppression Laws | California Progress Report

According to research conducted by the NAACP, fourteen states have now passed measures “designed to restrict or limit the ballot access of voters of color,” and more states are looking to follow suit. In addition, civil rights organizations say the states with the highest minority voter turnouts during the 2008 national election are now the very ones pushing for more restrictive voting laws.

…A “Map of Shame,” unveiled during the briefing by the Lawyers’ Committee, showed that roughly half the country’s state legislatures are now attempting to pass laws that would require voters to produce a photo ID at their polling place.

“I’ve been a member of Congress six times, but [my] identification will not be valid for me to vote in some states,” said Edgar.

Senators Don’t Want Your Netflix Viewing History on Facebook [VIDEO]

A number of U.S. senators are opposed to amending the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act to let Netflix automatically publish user views on Facebook via frictionless sharing.

[This seems oddly specific to me. -L]

Paint Your Desktop with Words with These Typographic Wallpapers – LifeHacker

Turn Your Android Phone Into a Scientific Calculator, Plot Graphs and Revise Math Formulae With These Free Android Apps | TECH YARD

The real way to build a social network – Fortune Tech – CNN.com

If there is a guru of networking, it is [LinkedIn co-founder] Reid Hoffman. Here he explains how to do it right — and wrong — in an excerpt from his new book with Ben Casnocha, The Start-Up of You.

Strengthen your alliances
The diversity of weak ties
Three degrees of separation
The best network: Wide and (selectively) deep
Giving helpful help
Set up an “interesting people” fund
Reid’s rules

Mint App For Android Updated With A Tablet-Optimized Interface, Lets You See How Broke You Are On A Bigger Screen – Android Police

[Props to Android Police for the headline. -L]

The Anti-Piracy Discussion We Haven’t Had Yet – ReadWriteWeb

In 1959 (as I recall), my mother, an acclaimed professional artist, had entered a handful of her oil paintings into an annual art show. Someone attending the show noted that one particular work, the face of a peasant boy, strongly resembled a photograph that had appeared in Life magazine. Well, there was no coincidence about it: Mom had studied precisely that face, and her work was based on that photograph. (The card tacked to the wall actually said so, if anyone had bothered to read it.)

So it was that the local newspaper “exposed” my mother as a fraud, a counterfeiter. It ran a story with the painting next to the Life magazine photograph itself. Thus began a lifelong dialog that became one of the threads of my life: a case study in fair use that fueled endless debates in the Socratic method between Mom and her art students for the next four decades.

…the true problem we face as a people and as a society, as we continue to take what truly are the first steps in the age of digital communication, is that we don’t know what we’re talking about. It’s impossible to legislate a principle that we have not yet defined in the public mind.

tags: war_on_efficient_copying

What the Angry Birds Look Like after Battling the Pigs [Images] – How-To Geek

The Angry Birds go into battle looking their finest, but what about after the fighting is done? deviantART user Scooterek answers that question with this fun gallery of battle-weary birds in need of recuperation.

Want to Search Google Images? Draw a Picture [VIDEO] – Mashable

HootSuite Now Ties In Digg, InboxQ and Trendspottr – Mashable

…social media management dashboard HootSuite is adding three apps to its App Directory and releasing its Engagement API.

Users can now integrate Digg, InboxQ and Trendspottr into their dashboards … until today allowed users to share content only to Constant Contact, Flickr, Formulists, Get Satisfaction, Summify, Tumblr and YouTube.

Spirit Adds $2 “Dept. Of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee” – The Consumerist

…Spirit Airlines…is now taking a stand against another government regulation — one that requires airlines to allow passengers to change flights within 24 hours of booking without paying a penalty — by adding two dollars to everyone’s ticket.

Dubbed the “Dept. of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee,” Spirit claims the two dollars will go to “cover the costs of this misguided and expensive regulation.”

Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn

…now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study.

Eight Clever Things You Can Do with Your Underused Personal Domain Name

Create a Personal Landing Page
Create Your Own, Personal Start Page
Direct Your Domain to a Dynamic DNS Service to Provide a Custom Domain for Your Home Network
Use Your Domain for Link Shortening/Forwarding
Roll Your Own File Sharing Service
Provide Custom Dropbox Public Links
Sign Up for Google Apps
Use Your Domain as a Better Vanity URL for Social Media Sites

Occupy Protestor’s Twitter Account Subpoenaed – Mashable

“I’m not sure why they’ve singled me out, but I’m not too worried,” Harris told Mashable. “The charge against me is disorderly conduct, which is a violation, not even a misdemeanor, for blocking traffic, just like the other 700 people arrested. ”

Harris is due to appear in court for that violation on Feb. 29.

The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on this issue. Mashable also asked if the DA would subpoena Twitter for account information for the hundreds of other people arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge during the protests. The office declined to comment.

tags: occupysolidarity united_states occupywallstreet

America Spends Less on Food Than Any Other Country | Mother Jones

…back in 1963, when Molly Orshansky, an employee of the Social Security Administration, created the nation’s first poverty threshold, she simply tripled the cost of the FDA’s “thrifty” food plan, since at the time most families spent about a third of their incomes on food. So how’d we end up spending just a fraction of that four decades later?

To find the answer, we have to go back four decades to the 1970s, when rising food prices and technological developments led to a host of transformative changes in the US food system whose effects still determine the way many Americans eat.

BBC News – Contraceptive pill recalled in US

Around one million packets of birth control tablets are being recalled in the US, as they might not prevent pregnancy.

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer said a “packaging error” meant the doses were not correct. …

Pfizer is advising women affected to use non-hormonal forms of contraception immediately.

Daily Kos: Jon Stewart destroys Mitt Romney’s key argument (updated with Colbert)

“Mitt Romney’s pitch to Americans appears to be: Elect me as your President. I have 25 years of business experience doing something I believe this country should never, ever do.”

Romney, citing safety net, says he’s ‘not concerned about the very poor’ – The Washington Post

Romney explained that he was confident that food stamps, housing vouchers, Medicaid and other assistance would keep the poor afloat — he pledged to fix holes in that safety net “if it needs repair.”

[What about protecting the safety net from those who would dismantle and defund it? -L]

Daily Kos: More than 40% of households are less than three months from poverty

The scorecard finds that the asset poverty rate of American households is 27.1 percent—these families don’t have enough savings or other assets to subsist at the poverty level for three months if they lost their income, even if they were able to liquidate every asset they had in that time. Liquid asset poverty, a measure that excludes hard-to-get-rid-of things like houses and cars, is still higher, at 43.1 percent. That means a great many people who are working now, who aren’t showing up on traditional poverty measures, are leading incredibly fragile lives and could easily be thrown into poverty by any crisis. As with almost every measure of this kind, there are huge racial gaps—34.1 percent of white households are in liquid asset poverty, in contrast to 64.6 percent of households of color.

These things don’t just happen in isolation, as the scorecard shows. States can take action through policy to make it easier for low-income people to save money, strengthen their financial position, educate their children. Expanded eligibility to Medicaid or access to COBRA coverage can mean that a medical crisis doesn’t become a financial devastation. But too few states do adopt the policies that would help families…

The ‘Buffett Rule’ in History’s Grand Sweep | California Progress Report

All these changes would certainly make for a more progressive tax code. But these changes, taken all together, would still leave today’s rich and super rich paying taxes at substantially lower overall rates than America’s rich and super rich used to pay decades ago.

A half-century ago, in 1962, Americans making over what today would be $1 million, after taking inflation into account, paid 42.8 percent of their total incomes in federal income tax. Ten years earlier, they paid even more. In 1952, millionaires — in today’s dollars — paid federal income tax at a 55.2 percent rate, show IRS historical data.

And those rich in 1952 were actually getting a good deal, compared to their counterparts ten years earlier. In 1942, the first full year of World War II, taxpayers who would be millionaires in today’s dollars paid their federal income taxes at an overall effective rate that hit 68.9 percent.

Why History Needs Software Piracy – technologizer

Piracy’s preserving effect, while little known, is actually nothing new. Through the centuries, the tablets, scrolls, and books that people copied most often and distributed most widely survived to the present. Libraries everywhere would be devoid of Homer, Beowulf, and even The Bible without unauthorized duplication.

tags: intellectual_property

Morning People May Be More Creative in the Afternoon – Miller-McCune

New research finds problems that require a flash of illumination to solve are best approached during the time of day when you’re not at your peak.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Joins 11 States in Filing Brief Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Against Discriminatory Housing Practices | State of California – Department of Justice

…urging the court in Magner v. Gallagher to rule that federal anti-discrimination law can be enforced in cases where a housing or mortgage policy appears neutral on its surface but has a discriminatory effect. …

This case involves a policy of the City of St. Paul, Minnesota to remedy “problem properties” by targeting low-income renter-occupied properties for housing-code violations, condemnations and evictions.

tags: racism

Komen Drops Support for Planned Parenthood Breast Cancer Screenings | Mother Jones

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the ubiquitous charity dedicated to fighting breast cancer, is cancelling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grants to Planned Parenthood that help pay for cancer screenings…

The anti-abortion groups’ campaign to force Komen to cut its funding for Planned Parenthood has been going on for several years, but this is the first time Komen has caved on the issue. Planned Parenthood issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon noting that it is “alarmed and saddened” that Komen had “succumbed to political pressure” in ending the grants, which have paid for 170,000 clinical breast and 6,400 mammogram referrals since the groups began their partnership in 2005.

Police Violence Targets Occupy Oakland Demonstration – NLG San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

The National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (NLGSF) condemns Oakland Police (OPD) and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) violence, mass arrests and abuses against Occupy demonstrators at Saturday’s demonstration. Police violently attacked activists with chemical weapons, so called Less-Lethal munitions, and physical assaults. Hundreds were arrested unlawfully, without opportunity to disperse, and then detained for many hours on the street and then in buses, in stress positions, and without bathrooms, food or water. Once in jail, protesters faced inhumanely crowded conditions, abusive treatment and were denied access to legal counsel. Many remain unaccounted for, though certainly arrested and awaiting booking two days after being detained.

tags: occupysolidarity united_states california police_brutality

House Republicans Renew Attack on Jobless Workers, UI Benefits | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG – by Mike Hall, Jan 30, 2012

In December, after being battered in the arena of public opinion, House Republicans reluctantly agreed to a short extension of unemployment insurance (UI) for the nation’s jobless workers. That reprieve runs out Feb. 29 and House Republicans are set to relaunch their attack on UI. …

NELP has published a detailed legislative analysis of the Republican bill…

Legislators Totally Cool With Required Drug Testing Unless It Applies To Them – The Consumerist

One way to get a politician to withdraw a bill requiring drug-testing for welfare applicants? Just tell him lawmakers also have to get tested, and see how fast he boomerangs. Rep. Jud McMillin, a Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly, took back his drug-testing bill after one of his helpful Democratic colleagues amended it ever so slightly.

Everyone hates Citizens United ruling | by Jason Williams – Jan 27, 2012

It’s undeniable Gingrich would be out were it not for a single large donor and SuperPAC support, and that has Republicans seeing a problem with SuperPAC money, what with him being Newt and all.

tags: plutocracy

Tea Party Group Wants To ‘Soften’ Slavery In Textbooks – News Story – WCYB Tri Cities

Some members of the Tea Party say what’s in your kid’s textbook may be giving them a negative opinion about our nation’s founding history. …

Notably, they’re hoping to make changes in how slavery and encroachment on Native Americans are portrayed to students. “Slavery is of course portrayed in the textbooks nowadays I’m sure as a totally negative thing. Had there not been slavery in the South, the economy would’ve fallen,” Rieck said.

[THIS is why we can't have nice things. -L]

tags: wtf racism tennessee

The Austerity Debacle. – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman – January 29, 2012

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real G.D.P. since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it did during the Great Depression. …

Nor is Britain unique. Italy is also doing worse than it did in the 1930s — and with Spain clearly headed for a double-dip recession, that makes three of Europe’s big five economies members of the worse-than club. …

Britain, in particular, was supposed to be a showcase for “expansionary austerity,” the notion that instead of increasing government spending to fight recessions, you should slash spending instead — and that this would lead to faster economic growth.

Daily Kos: NASA: 130 years of global warming in 30 seconds

NASA has produced a stunning 27 second video that maps earth’s temperature for the past 130 years. The rapid warming for the past 30 years concentrated in the Arctic is shocking.

…the video does not show why it has happened. To understand why we need to examine the factors that are affecting the earth’s temperature. These factors are called “climate forcings” by climatologists.

A 2011 paper by Dr Jim Hansen and colleagues examined all the important climate forcings in detail. This paper [link] clearly shows that the rapid warming over the past 30 years is caused by rapidly increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Daily Kos: I no longer have to “check that box”, except that I still do.

That little box was a big red flag saying “do your worst, employers, because I have no options and no future.”

…I was told that I should take the full GED as soon as possible, I did so, and got a perfect score on 3 out of 5 sections, one of the top 5 scores in Ohio that year. …

I’m on my 4th year in college with a 3.5 GPA. I’m far enough along that I’m looking for civil engineering co-op jobs, handing out resumes, talking to company reps at job fairs, and going to interviews.

…even though I don’t have to “check the box” on my applications, I still have to “check” it verbally. Every interview, every interaction with a company rep. Every. Single. Flipping. Time.

Paul McCartney’s New Album, Kisses On The Bottom, Streaming for Free | Open Culture

…it’s Paul McCartney’s 35th post-Beatles album, his most provocatively-titled album to be sure, and a great stroll down memory lane. The album features covers of jazz standards, mostly written during the 1920s and 1930s. It’s the music that McCartney’s father loved to play on the family piano, giving the younger McCartney his first introduction to music. Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton make guest appearances. …stream it for free (in its entirety) on NPR or via The Guardian.

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained – LifeHacker

‘Megaretrieval’ Effort Launched to Help Users Get Access to Files on Website Raided by Feds – News – ABA Journal

Customers and other users who stored personal materials on Megaupload have another two weeks to retrieve their files, under an agreement negotiated by the embattled website and its hosting companies.

However, it isn’t clear whether and how individuals can access their property…

The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation has teamed up with one of Megaupload’s hosting companies, Carpathia Hosting, to launch a megaretrieval.com website in an effort to help.

Unigo Expert Network: Most Common Scholarship Scams | Huffington Post

This week, our experts weigh in on the most common types of scholarship scams and the best ways for you to avoid them.

BBC News – What do people on £1m salaries do with their money?

BBC News – Caution on Twitter urged as tourists barred from US

Holidaymakers have been warned to watch their words after two friends were refused entry to the US on security grounds after a tweet. …

After the interview, Homeland Security reported: “Mr Bryan confirmed that he had posted on his Tweeter website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe.

“Also on his tweeter account Mr Bryan posted he was coming to destroy America.”

No Big Fukushima Health Impact Seen, UN Official Says: Scientific American

The fact that some radioactive releases spread over the ocean instead of populated areas also contributed to limiting the consequences…

New Cornell High-Tech Campus Recalls Former Research Glory of Small New York City Island: Scientific American

During World War II, Goldwater researchers participated in a government program that recruited conscientious objectors from the Civilian Public Service (CPS)—set up in 1941 for draftees willing to serve their country but unwilling to engage in military service—to take part in various medical experiments. CPS volunteers became human guinea pigs. In a 100-bed Goldwater research unit, Columbia University and New York University physicians studied the effects of malaria, cold weather, starvation, arthritis, liver disease and other conditions on CPS volunteers…

Cats Reveling in Huge Piles of Cash | The Fluffington Post

If you’ve never heard of the website CashCats.biz, you’re really missing out.

It features the latest images of cats rolling around in piles of money.

The Internet will never be the same for you, will it?

tags: wtf

Daily Kos: A Conversation w/ My Rich, Republican Father

…when you have millions to invest you are given opporutnites “Joe/Jane ‘Mainstreet’ Smith” isn’t offered. You can get into funds that are not advertised that seem to never lose money. When the stock market was in the “shitter” a few years ago and quarter by quarter my 401K accounts were losing money hand-over- fist, as the rest of America had happen to them, my parents were earning returns that would choke a horse.

…last I asked my parents are making around $89,000 a month on their investments. And since they touch almost none of that, it just keep going back into investments. …

My dad at 67 doesn’t see why politicans think he will create jobs if given more of a tax break. … He has worked around 60 years. He doesn’t want to work anymore. He doesn’t want to start a business, which has risk involved.

Daily Kos: Occupy London: Video of Bailiff Driving Through Protesters – Jan 30, 2012

About one minute in is where the bailiff drives through protesters and then drives down the street with a protester on the hood of his car.

The police do nothing as this man uses his car as a weapon.

tags: occupysolidarity united_kingdom

Three anti-abortion bills to be taken up in Florida Legislature | The American Independent

Abortion safer than giving birth: study | Reuters

Researchers found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion.

Experts say the findings, though not unexpected, contradict some state laws that suggest abortions are high-risk procedures.

Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. …

The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote.

Defendant in Texas Gang Rape Says Gay-Bashing Made Him Do It

Clearly, being the victim of gay-bashing isn’t a justification for statutory rape. But the defendant’s case does shed some light on how groups of guys can police masculinity with horrifying consequences. We don’t know the exact circumstances of the assault, but the defendant wouldn’t be the first teenage boy to have sex — or participate in a rape — just to show he’s a man.

tags: homophobia rape_culture

6 Powerful Social Media Persuasion Techniques | Social Media Examiner

Senate Dems should force GOP to hold vote on Buffett Rule – The Plum Line – The Washington Post

Picture this scenario. The Senate holds a high-profile vote on a proposal focused directly on implementing the Buffett Rule, one that would bring the current tax rate for millionaires paying lower rates on investments up to 30 percent. This, at at exactly the moment when the GOP is picking a nominee who is worth $250 million and is personally benefitting to an enormous degree from the current rate — one that’s lower than many middle class taxpayers pay.

It could happen. I’m told that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is set to announce a proposal to do just this. The Senate Dem leadership is not commenting on this idea, but Dem leaders are looking for ways to hold votes on the agenda Obama laid out in his State of the Union speech. …

The bill would ensure that taxpayers who make over $1 million would pay at least a 30 percent tax rate on all their income, Whitehouse aides say. It would do this by requiring millionaires to calculate their overall effective tax rate under the regular system — by taking into account all their sources of income and the various rates they are taxed at.

[Also, I just want to comment on how confusing it is that there's a politician named Whitehouse. I keep misreading headlines. -L]

Study Finds Teen Parents Didn’t Think They Could Get Pregnant | RH Reality Check

First it’s clear that too many teens are not using contraception. Even one of the study’s co-authors admitted to being alarmed…

It is also disturbing that 50 percent of teens were using contraception when they became pregnant.

New Report from CDC Finds Drop in Risky Sexual Behavior | RH Reality Check

Chandra explained that this study was valuable because it looked at behaviors on a “household level” rather than just looking at high-risk populations as HIV research has often done. Not everyone, however, agreed that this was a new or beneficial approach.

North Carolina GOP Lawmaker Calls For Bringing Back Public Hangings, Starting With Abortion Providers | ThinkProgress

Which Companies Are Using Aborted Human Fetuses in Their Food? – Gawker

As an impartial journalistic outlet, we’re not here to tell you that Ralph Shortey is an utter moron whose incompetent attempts to ban stem cell-derived medicine reveal his all-encompassing idiocy, nor to tell you that the use of aborted human fetuses in food would already be in clear violation of a variety of different federal and state laws. Nor, for that matter, are we here to tell you that you should or should not be eating aborted human fetuses. What we are here to do is find out what foods are made using aborted human fetuses. We’ve contacted a number of the country’s largest food companies and asked: do you use aborted human fetuses in your food products? …

Why ‘Once Upon a Time’ Works Better than ‘Grimm’ | ThinkProgress

Because I have a particular fondness for fairy tale retellings, and occasionally, a girl’s got to watch television that she doesn’t analyze to death, I’ve been keeping up with both Grimm and Once Upon a Time. Both could be loosely described as fairy tale procedurals. …

I think there are two reasons Once Upon a Time is working better than Grimm for me. First, the serialization in Once is much stronger than it is in Grimm. …

Second, I think the re-envisioning of the detective role is more interesting in Once Upon a Time than in Grimm. Nick is basically your standard white-boy detective with a black partner for balance and some extra equipment. It’s true that it’s not totally unusual for blonde white women to be cops either. But Emma’s operating in a world that feels different because it’s largely ruled by women …The show doesn’t hammer it in obsessively, but it is nice to spend time in an environment where the normal assumptions about who controls things are flipped.

Daily Kos: USDA’s New Map for Gardeners and Farmers Shows a Warming America

An updated map that will likely be familiar to anyone who has planted a packet of seeds was presented today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This is the first new version of Plant Hardiness Zone Map since 1990.

The government is “catching up with what the plants themselves have known for years now: The globe is warming and it is greatly influencing plants,” Stanford University biology professor Terry Root told the Associated Press.

GOP Voters Continue to Give Field Subpar Ratings | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Amid a bruising primary campaign, Republicans remain unimpressed with their party’s presidential field. In fact, more Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say the GOP field is only fair or poor (52%) than did so in early January (44%).

…finds that far more voters say Barack Obama understand the problems of average Americans than say that about either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. More than half of all registered voters (55%) say Obama understands the problems of average Americans very or fairly well.

FSU students challenge school’s Koch agreement | Florida Independent

Last May, the St. Petersburg Times reported that the Koch Foundation had pledged $1.5 million for positions in Florida State University’s economics department. “In return,” wrote Times reporter Kris Hundley, Koch representatives “get to screen and sign off on any hires for a new program promoting ‘political economy and free enterprise.’” In total, FSU received a pledge of $6.5 million over the course of six years from the Koch Foundation. …

The FSU Student Senate is now introducing a resolution against the Kochs’ “undue influence on academics as established by the current agreement between the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the FSU Economics department.”

In their words, “no public institution should accept funding that is conditional upon a willingness to fulfill or conform to a private entity’s ideological goals.”

Study: States With Higher Taxes Are Better For Children | ThinkProgress

It may seem intuitive that states that invest more in public services are better places for children to grow up, but the Foundation for Child Development now has the numbers to prove it. The foundation is out with a new study that confirms the “strong relationship” between higher state taxes and children’s health.

The study used a comprehensive Child Well-Being Index (CWI) to assess children’s quality-of-life in each state. Some of the key findings include: …

Daily Kos: HELL YES: Tennessee Restaurant Throws Out Anti-gay State Senator (Sponsor of “Don’t Say Gay” Bill)

State Senator Stacey Campfield, sponsor of a bill that would prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in the classroom until 9th grade, was thrown out of a Knoxville restaurant yesterday.

Martha Boggs, owner of The Bistro at the Bijou, refused to serve Campfield, who has compared homosexuality to bestiality and claimed that one cannot contract AIDS through heterosexual sex.

Afterward, she posted a short, devastatingly pointed note on the restaurant’s Facebook page defending the establishment’s action: …

tags: my_schadenfreude_let_me_show_u_it

Jonathan Coulton – MegaUpload

…I’m guessing that the people who ran MegaUpload were knowingly profiting from the unauthorized download of other people’s intellectual property (including mine). Probably they were making a lot of money that way. That’s certainly illegal, and it doesn’t exactly give them the moral high ground either. In fact, it’s kind of a dick move. Essentially, they did bad things and they got in trouble for it. Here are the issues that, for me, make this complicated.

…Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan. …right now everyone’s fighting to control distribution channels, which is why I can’t watch Star Wars on Netflix or iTunes. It’s fine if you want to have that fight, but don’t yell and scream about how you’re losing business to piracy when your stuff isn’t even available in the box I have on top of my TV.

tags: intellectual_property war_on_efficient_copying

Top 2011 Religion Stories That Weren’t | Religion Dispatches

[Underreported news. -L]

Nobody does the Vatican’s bidding anymore. …

There’s an argument going back decades …on the theological/ethical problems relating to land possession. Mainstream media show us the fanatics, of course, but they don’t show us the extent of Jewish unease with land mania.

…For people who take their Baptist traditions seriously, this is yet more weirdness…

The Metropolitan Community Church came into its own in the ’70s and ’80s when most other denominations were distinctly unwelcoming. Now that so many mainline churches are totally okay with gay people, the MCC is losing members…

The Latino Catholic latitudinariansm on marriage tracks another almost-unreported finding, to wit: that the single most gay-friendly religious body in the U.S., bar none, is the lay Catholic community.

…there are now many places in the country where, if a dominant [health care] provider that toes the bishops’ line won’t provide the service, area women will be out of luck and deprived of benefits they are entitled to receive by law.

…far fewer Americans think there’s anything “superior” about this country. …

In mid-November, distinguished architects of the modern civil rights movement showed up at various Occupy sites around the country to give what can only be considered a historically significant blessing to the new upwelling of hope and hunger for justice. …

What gives the New Nihilism a certain degree of invisibility is that some of the fiercest functional nihilists claim to be staunch supporters of traditional beliefs and traditional hierarchies.

…interesting and unreported story…about what might be called the cultural “faith” of the post-soul generation.

Maurice Sendak | Mano Singham

I was tempted to not watch Stephen Colbert interview children’s book author Maurice Sendak, thinking it would not be interesting. I was wrong. Sendak turns out to be a funny and feisty guy, one of the few who can match wits with Colbert.

(To get hints on how to view clips on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)

tags: video

Study: Sugar & HFCS Not As Identical As Some Would Have You Believe – The Consumerist

While the corn industry waits on the FDA to decide whether or not it can have high fructose corn sugar (HFCS) relabeled with the marketing-friendly “corn sugar” label, it continues to push home its assertion that the human body reacts the same, whether the sweetener is HFCS or table sugar. But a new study claims that just isn’t the case.

…it has been reported that some folks at the FDA are none-too-taken by the Corn Sugar campaign, considering that the regulators have yet to rule on the name and already have “corn sugar” on the books as an acceptable name for dextrose.

[I expect the folks with corn allergies have a lot riding on this, and hope they won't be forgotten. -L]

How About Some Cocaine To Go Along With That Terrorism Textbook You Ordered On Amazon? – The Consumerist

Sophia is taking a class on terrorism, and purchased the $30 textbook from Amazon… She was thumbing through the book when something unexpected fell out of it…

Since she was reading up on people sending bombs in the mail in her textbook at the time, the idea of anthrax in the mail came to mind, so Sophia took the package to the police. Turns out the powder was a different kind of danger to society.

tags: wtf

Relax: Twitter’s New Censorship Policy Is Actually Good for Activists | Mashable

The takeaway here, though, is that Twitter’s rules have always allowed them to remove illegal content at the request of governments, and they never said they wouldn’t. So what has changed? …

The new censorship technology announced by Twitter allows the company to block tweets or users on a country-by-country basis. Previously, blocking tweets had to be done globally, meaning if an oppressive regime asked Twitter to remove a tweet or block a user, it had to be done for everyone in the world. Now, Twitter can remove that tweet in that country, but allow the world to see it.

…because Twitter has promised to increase their transparency about takedown requests, it should become easier for activists to monitor which countries are censoring their citizens.

The Front Line of the U.S. Censorship Battle Is Behind Bars | PBS – MediaShift Idea Lab

A big focus [of Prison Legal News] these days is making sure the target audience in prisons can actually receive the magazine. This requires extensive litigation. [PLN] has obtained consent decrees in nine states, ordering state prisons to deliver the magazine. PLN is currently litigating in New York and Florida …

Almost every state’s prison system has censored and banned the magazine at one point or another, Paul told us. …

It’s not just PLN getting banned. In one case, in South Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union had to sue when a prison banned all books except the Bible. …Paul is currently facing an argument that the staples used to bind the magazine might be used as dangerous weapons. …

In some prisons, prisoners can no longer send or receive information beyond what fits on a postcard.

What You Should Know About ACTA and Your Rights | ReadWriteWeb

The most controversial measures of concern to Internet users in the final version of the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for most Internet users are 1) that signing governments pledge to allow copyright holders a way to request, under court warrant, personal information about a suspected infringer from that person’s ISP; 2) that means will be provided for a rights holder to legally pursue someone suspected of circumventing rights management technologies; 3) that goods crossing countries’ borders may be made subject to search and seizure if they’re suspected to contain infringing material, with exceptions provided for things like personal luggage.

President Obama signed this treaty on October 1, 2011, effectively ratifying it on behalf of the United States.

What ACTA is not….

How To Learn Who Has You In Their Google+ Circles | ReadWriteWeb

The second-most important thing about social media is talking to people. The most important thing is to know whom you’re talking to.

Solar particles and Northern Lights on Tuesday night « Flickr Blog

tags: photography

New Virtual Helper Challenges Siri – Technology Review

…Evi, like Siri, can answer questions posed aloud in a conversational manner. But unlike Siri, which is only loaded on the latest iPhone, Evi is available as an app for the iPhone and phones running Google’s Android software.

[But can Evi tell you where to find a women's health clinic? -L]

Google tracks consumers’ online activities across products, and users can’t opt out – The Washington Post

A user signing up for Gmail, for instance, might never have imagined that the content of his or her messages could affect the experience on seemingly unrelated Web sites such as YouTube. …

The company said the change would simplify the company’s privacy policy — a move that regulators encouraged.

Still, some consumer advocates and lawmakers remained skeptical.

tags: privacy

NYT Smacks Around a Biglaw Partner While Behaving as If Mitt Romney Needed Tax Advice From Stephen Hawking « Above the Law

I get that to lay people, the tax code seems incredibly complicated. It is complicated, and years of both parties legislating through the tax code has made it that way. …

But honestly, the mainstream media has to stop acting like Mitt Romney is beset on all sides by Byzantium forces that only our greatest theoretical physicists can understand. …if you have modest investments and intelligence, you probably could do your taxes on the hood of your pick-up truck, provided you had a Macbook and downloaded TurboTax.

If, on the other hand, you want to make millions of dollars a year, enjoy the benefits of sophisticated investments, and keep money offshore to avoid paying American taxes on it, then you’re going to have to hire a freaking professional to help you. We’re going to cry over this? We’re going to be sad that we live in a world where people who make extraordinary amounts of money have to rely on trained professionals to help them make just a little bit more?

FTC Commissioner Puts Verbal Smackdown On Facebook & Google Over Privacy – The Consumerist

“Reasonably safeguarding consumer information is critical to a trusted online marketplace,” and that companies can’t just have policies laying that out, they have to actually enforce them. Facebook and Google, you didn’t do it well enough, [Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill] says.

US voters are less partisan than they think – science-in-society – 27 January 2012 – New Scientist

People’s views on a series of touchstone issues do not follow party affiliation as strongly as is popularly assumed. What’s more, little has changed since the early 1970s, according to a new study. …

This suggests that close electoral races are often decided by voters who are driven by false fears about others’ views – and may mean that the party which most effectively stokes these fears among its supporters is likely to carry the day.

No Conviction, No Freedom: Immigration Authorities Locked 13,000 In Limbo

On a single day this past fall, the United States government held 13,185 people in immigration detention who had not been convicted of a crime, some of whom will not be charged with one, according to information The Huffington Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Instead, at a cost of roughly 2 million taxpayer dollars per day, the men and women were detained while immigration authorities sorted out their fates.

This case stands in stark contrast to the stated goal of immigration policy under the administration of President Barack Obama: to detain and deport unauthorized immigrants who’ve been convicted of crimes. …

Locking people up is big business. The Corrections Corporation of America, which gives heavily to both parties, is explicit about the connection between immigrant detention policy and the private prison company’s bottom line.

Phone hacking: News of the World journalists lied to Milly Dowler police | Media | The Guardian

Surrey police report released by MPs reveals reporters interfered with investigation as well as hacking missing girl’s phone

tags: murdoch_empire shenanigans

Slave port unearthed in Brazil – CSMonitor.com

The Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janerio was the busiest of all slave ports in the Americas and has been buried for almost two centuries.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore: An Oscar-Nominated Film for Book Lovers | Open Culture

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore offers a modern tribute to an old world. Made with an animation style that blends stop motion with computer animation and traditional hand-drawing, the silent film pays homage to a bygone era when elegantly printed books inhabited our world.

tags: video

Why Davos is ignoring Occupy | Felix Salmon

I went to one session on executive compensation yesterday, which was filled with global CEOs of various stripes. And a couple of questions that Lance Knobel would like to ask were, amazingly, raised: should there be some kind of cap on CEO compensation? Maybe in terms of the ratio between the CEO’s pay and that of the average employee? The answer came swiftly and unanimously: no.

…there is one outstanding problem with CEO pay: the time when you most need executive talent is not when things are going great, but rather when things are going badly. And often, in that case, compensation structures linked to stock options and the like turn out to be largely worthless.

Jan. 26, 1950 | India Becomes a Republic – NYTimes.com

…two and a half years after gaining independence from Britain, India proclaimed itself a republic, ending its status as a British dominion.

Apollo 1: The Fire That Shocked NASA | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

NASA’s Apollo program began with one of the worst disasters the organization has ever faced. A routine prelaunch test turned fatal when a fire ripped through the spacecraft’s crew cabin killing all three astronauts. Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire…

The real problem was communication. Static made it impossible for the crew and mission control to hear one another. An increasingly frustrated Grissom began to question how they were expected to get to the Moon if they couldn’t talk between a few buildings. …

The fire that claimed the lives of Grissom, White, and Chaffee is eerily similar to one that killed cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko in 1961.

The Virtual Academic

…just click the “generate” button below, and Pootwattle, our Virtual Academic(TM), will write one for you. …

Special bonus! Fridays only! Today is your lucky day. Smedley, our Virtual Critic(TM), will write a review of Pootwattle’s sentence for you — at no extra charge!

tags: funny

Margaret Fell (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

On the strength of her 1666 pamphlet, Womens Speaking Justified, the Quaker writer Margaret Fell has been hailed as a feminist pioneer. In this short tract, Fell puts forward several arguments in favour of women’s preaching. She asserts the spiritual equality of the sexes, she appeals to female exempla in the Bible, and she reinterprets key scriptural passages that appear to endorse women’s subordination to men. Some scholars, however, have questioned …

Here Comes The Sun: The Lost Guitar Solo by George Harrison | Open Culture

Dhani Harrison, the son of the late guitarist, returns to the recording studio (presumably at Abbey Road) with George Martin, the Beatles’ legendary producer, and Martin’s son Giles. Together, they play with the mix of “Here Comes the Sun,” and then the wondrous little moment of discovery happens. They stumble upon the long lost guitar solo that never made the final cut.

tags: video music

Google Music Finally Lets You Download Your Own Music – Mashable

The Ins & Outs Of Getting And Using Your Free Credit Report – The Consumerist

Each of the bureaus comes up with its own score, generally ranging on a scale from 300 to 900 points, and often the only way you can get that score for free is if you’re denied credit or a loan because of a low score. In that case, the bureau is legally obliged to provide you with a free copy of that score. However, that’s probably too late for you to be getting the information.

But both Consumerist and Consumers Union think it’s time to change that.

Go HERE to sign our petition to tell our leaders that we should be able to get a free copy of our credit scores…

If Google’s New Privacy Rules Have You Ready To Flee, Here’s How To Close Your Account – The Consumerist

tags: privacy

Slacktivism: Why Snopes got it Wrong About Internet Petitions | frogloop.com – care2 – Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media

Make Better Quality Decisions with the Help of This Spreadsheet – LifeHacker

Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square to mark anniversary of uprising – The Big Picture – Boston.com

A massive demonstration of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo today to mark the anniversary of the uprising that eventually led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. Political divides are still in force with liberals and Islamists differing on their visions for the future of the country. Mubarak is now on trial for complicity in the deaths of protesters. The uprising in Egypt last year was one of the initial protests of what is called the Arab Spring, which has included the slaying of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy and the ongoing protests in Syria. — Lloyd Young (31 photos total)

tags: photography egypt

VatorNews – Audiobooks.com creates unlimited Netflix-like streaming

Toronto-based audio book company restructures how you buy your favorite authors

Tango: The First Polish Short Film to Win an Oscar, 1980 | Brain Pickings

Jan. 23, 1973 | Nixon Announces End of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam – NYTimes.com

The Paris Peace Accords ended America’s direct involvement in the Vietnam War. But despite the ceasefire and provisions calling for “genuinely free and democratic general elections” in South Vietnam and the reunification of Vietnam “through peaceful means,” it did nothing to end the war between North and South Vietnam. Mr. Kissinger and Tho were awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, but Tho refused to accept because a true peace had not been reached.

North and South resumed fighting later in the year, and in January 1974, President Thieu declared the accords no longer in effect.

Jan. 17, 1893 | Hawaiian Monarchy Overthrown by America-Backed Businessmen – NYTimes.com

The coup led to the dissolving of the Kingdom of Hawaii two years later, its annexation as a U.S. territory and eventual admission as the 50th state in the union. …

U.S. President Grover Cleveland opposed the provisional government and called for the queen to be restored to power, but the Committee of Safety established the Republic of Hawaii and refused to cede power. In 1895, Hawaiian royalists began a coup against the republic, but it did not succeed.

Jan. 13, 1990 | L. Douglas Wilder Becomes First Elected Black Governor in U.S. – NYTimes.com

While Mr. Wilder was the first black man to be elected governor, he was not the first black man to serve as governor. That honor belongs to P. B. S. Pinchback, the lieutenant governor of Louisiana who served 35 days as governor from December 1872 to January 1873 after Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth stepped aside because of impeachment charges.

Jan. 12, 1915 | Congress Votes Against Women’s Suffrage Amendment – NYTimes.com

The vote was the second defeat for a suffrage amendment in less than a year, as the Senate had voted against one in March 1914. Nonetheless, suffragist leaders were pleased to have had the issue discussed in Congress, which had gone 46 years without voting on whether women should be allowed to vote. The only other time was in 1868, when the suffrage amendment was first brought before Congress.

41 Years Ago – Idi Amin Takes Power in Uganda | About.com African History

General Idi Amin Dada took power in Uganda by military coup on 25 January 1971 while the existing president, Milton Obote, was at a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore. This was a pre-emptive strike since President Obote was arranging for General Amin to be arrested and replaced as chief of staff.

23 January 1879 – Zulu Defeat at Rorke’s Drift (Anglo-Zulu War of 1879) | About.com African History

Following an overnight battle at Rorke’s Drift, 150 British and Imperial soldiers successfully defended this isolated station against a force of more than 3,000 Zulu warriors, at a cost of 15 dead and 10 wounded. …

22 January 1879 – Zulu Victory at Isandlwana (Anglo-Zulu War of 1879) | About.com African History

The main Zulu army attacks the British Centre column at its campsite at the eastern base of Isandlwana hill. Approximately 470 of the 1,300 British casualties were black African combatants …

Anglo-Zulu War Begins – 11 January 1879 | About.com African History

When the British ultimatum delivered to King Cetshwayo’s representatives at the Lower Thukela Drift (on 11 December) expired – it required King Cetshwayo to dismantle the Zulu military system, a demand that the British High Commissioner, Sir Bartle Frere, knew would be impossible to accept …

The Bantu Women’s League Campaign Against Pass Laws – 7 January 1919 | About.com African History

Remembering Melvinia | About.com African-American History

Seeing the first lady take her seat in the visitor’s gallery of the House of Representatives for President Obama’s State of the Union address was a reminder of the history of America and its people.

In 1850, presidents did not yet deliver their Constitutionally required message to Congress in person. And the Compromise of 1850, which was hammered out in the Capitol, gave America the Fugitive Slave Act, one of the most despised and controversial laws ever enacted.

And in that same year, 1850, a plantation owner in South Carolina wrote his will, and among his possessions he listed a 6-year-old girl known simply as Melvinia. She was a slave. …

Perplexed by “Nonplussed” and “Bemused” : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Yesterday, our “Editorial Emergency” duo of Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner launched a salvo against a common usage of the word nonplussed, a word they “wager more people get wrong than right.” That opens an interesting can of worms: if a word or phrase used to have Meaning A, but more people now use it with Meaning B, is it time for the Meaning A folks to stand aside?

In the case of nonplussed, the old meaning is “bewildered,” while the new meaning is “unfazed.”

…the two primary meanings of bemused are “deeply absorbed in thought” or “perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements.” The way that political reporters have used it about Obama, however, is “above it all, with a trace of amusement,” …the newer sense, influenced by amused, has become mainstream enough to enter some dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate. …

We’re left with words that are difficult to use in either the old or the new way: if you use the traditional meaning, you might confuse those who are unfamiliar with with it, and if you use the newer meaning, you might annoy those who feel that the meaning is wrong. Bryan Garner, in his book Garner’s Modern American Usage, refers to such words as “skunked terms”: …

Changes in the Wealth and Income of Those at the Bottom Over the Past 30 Years | Rortybomb

Alex Gourevitch has a recent post that brings up an excellent point. So much of our conversation on changes over the past thirty years describes what is going on at the median or average value. There’s an active debate on whether or not median incomes have stagnated and what that means. But there’s little focus on what is going on at the bottom end of the distribution and less discussion of the wealth distribution.

…notice the strong gains in income for those at the bottom in the late 1990s – full employment really does raise all boats.

…whatever is going on for the average American, there are a huge group of Americans worse off, in absolute and relative terms, in the wages they get in the current market economy and with the wealth they’ve tried to build.

tags: class_warfare

A New Metaphor for Student Debt Burdens: Faculty Taxes | Rortybomb

[The word "faculty" is being used here to mean "capability", not "group of teachers". -L]

I love when economics is so squarely focused on the problem that a poor person might get away with something. To clarify [Francis Walker], if two people are identical, but one is a teacher and the other works for Wall Street, they should pay the same taxes – specifically the teacher should pay the high rates that the Wall Street person does. Why? Because, the teacher is capable of making Wall Street money but chooses not to work on Wall Street, instead choosing less remunerative work. His or her “social and industrial delinquency” (a phrase I promise to use more) is an “evil behavior” that punishes the whole of society by preventing productive work from being done, and it shouldn’t be rewarded by the tax code.

tags: class_warfare

Getting to Know Martin Luther King Jr. | About.com Race Relations

In an effort to paint a more complete picture of who King was and why the U.S. government viewed him as dangerous, I’ve compiled notable quotes from King’s lesser-known speeches and a list of facts that many people don’t know about the slain civil rights leader. Are you aware, for example, that King opposed the Vietnam War, in part, because he viewed it as a threat to poor people? …

Cynthia Nixon On Being Gay: ‘For Me It’s A Choice’ | Huffington Post

Turkish drought reveals 1,600-year-old city | A Blog About History – History News

A 1,600-year-old harbor town called Bathonea has been revealed after drought lowered the water level in Lake Kucukcekmece in Turkey.

Cambridge Nights: Late Night TV-Style Show Takes Deep Look at Scientific Thinking | Open Culture

Cambridge, Massachusetts is one of the world’s great intellectual crossroads. With Harvard University at one end of town and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the other, many of the most influential thinkers of our time either work there or visit. …

Hidalgo is a professor at M.I.T., where he studies the relationship between physics, network science and economic development. Building on his own interdisciplinary curiosity, Hidalgo thought it would be interesting to share a little of Cambridge’s intellectual wealth with the outside world, so in October he and the M.I.T. Media Lab launched a series of informal Web interviews called Cambridge Nights: Conversations About a Life in Science.

Cambridge Nights is a little like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, if Leno talked about things like fractal geometry in the metabolic theory of ecology. …

tags: video science

Jim Henson’s Zany 1963 Robot Film Uncovered by AT&T: Watch Online | Open Culture

tags: video

Watch Sunday & Wild Life: Two Animated Shorts Just Nominated for an Oscar | Open Culture

When the 2012 Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday, there must have been plenty of smiles at the National Film Board of Canada. For the eighth time, the Canadian film producer/distributor scored a double nomination in the same category. In this case, Sunday by Patrick Doyon, and Wild Life by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, were selected as finalists for Best Animated Short Film.

tags: video

Unknown Voltaire letters uncovered | A Blog About History – History News

An academic in Oxford has discovered 14 previously unknown letters written by the famous writer Voltaire.

Circus Physics | PBS

The Big Apple Circus’ jugglers, clowns and high-flying acrobats provide an entertaining and engaging way to introduce basic physics concepts to high school students. Eight videos feature footage from the series and interviews with the performers to illustrate the laws of physics at work.

tags: education physics science

Previously unknown medieval Jewish manuscripts turn up on antiques market | A Blog About History – History News

More than 200 Jewish medieval Jewish manuscripts have been discovered along the Silk Road in Afghanistan and are up for sale.

The YES! Breakthrough 15: Deb Richter — YES! Magazine

Deb Richter resolved to fix the health care system almost as soon as she began practicing medicine more than two decades ago in inner-city Buffalo. …

It was the tragedy of a brother and sister who had been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that brought things sharply into focus. “They kept up with their insulin and needles, but they often couldn’t afford the 50-cents-apiece test strips when they didn’t have insurance,” says Richter. By the time they became her patients, the siblings were in bad shape. The boy lost his vision, his health declined, and he died at 21. His sister had a fatal heart attack at 25. …

She and her husband and two young boys moved to Vermont in 1999, where they bought a house just two blocks from the statehouse in Montpelier. It suited a physician-activist who was raising a family. “I could testify before the legislature and walk home to do the laundry.”

Richter kept up her medical practice three days a week, while lobbying for a single-payer system the other two days.

[And doing the laundry. -L]

Ditch Hard Drive Clutter with an Organized, Automated Home Folder – LifeHacker

Legal Blog Watch – Paterno’s Death Causes Key Grand Jury Testimony to Be Inadmissible Under Sixth Amendment

…Curley and Schultz, however, deny that McQueary told them that the shower incident was sexual in nature, which makes Paterno’s testimony potentially important. After all, one former prosecutor told The Times, “[w]hy would he have told it to Paterno and not told them? McQueary becomes more credible when you hear Paterno tell his version of it….”

The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance: Scientific American

Author Susan Cain explains the fallacy of “groupwork,” and points to research showing that it can reduce creativity and productivity

The Scientist: Jim Hansen Risks Handcuffs to Make His Research Clear: Scientific American

James E. Hansen never thought his decision to study atmospheric models would lead to his arrest. But there he was in handcuffs this summer, protesting at the White House against a pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico.

It wasn’t the first arrest, either. Hansen, who has directed NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies for 31 years…[testified] before Congress in 1988 on the dangers of global warming. He appeared again in 1989. Then he quietly returned to his work, turning aside television and media requests for the next 15 years because, as he said, “you have no time to do the science if you’re talking to the media.”

That approach changed in 2004, when he realized government climate policies worldwide failed to reflect the dangerous story his science was telling.

[interview]

tags: global_climate_change

In perspective: One hour of video uploaded to YouTube per second – FlowingData

YouTube surpassed the one hour of video uploaded per second threshold recently. To put that rate into perspective, they launched a fun illustration-based site, One Hour Per Second. …

BBC News – Star Wars crowdsourced film reaches million YouTube views

A “directors cut” of a fan-made version of Star Wars has passed one million views on YouTube.

The film, uploaded on 18 January, is made up of hundreds of 15-second scenes created by internet users.

The Star Wars Uncut project is widely regarded as an example of the power of crowdsourcing.

BBC News – IMF: Global economy ‘in danger zone’ over euro crisis

The IMF predicts the global economy will grow by 3.25% in 2012, down from an earlier forecast of 4%.

The growth forecast for the UK economy has been cut to 0.6% from 1.6%.

But the eurozone is set for a “mild recession” in 2012, with GDP expected to shrink by 0.5%, compared with a previous forecast of 1.1% growth.

Daily Kos: Another Whistleblower Indicted Under the Espionage Act

Criminal prosecutions for officials who authorized or conducted torture and warrantless surveillance: 0

Criminal prosecutions for so-called “leakers,” who are more often than not whistleblowers: 6

[Author of this piece is "Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights director for the Government Accountability Project, which represented former National Security Agency official Thomas Drake in an Espionage Act case that collapsed last year" -L.]

JFK Tapes Related: 7 Revealing Moments – The Daily Beast

President Kennedy recorded more than 260 hours of his life in the White House, unbeknownst to even his top aides. Now the Kennedy library has released the final 45 hours of the archives, providing a rare window into Kennedy’s life in the three months before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

State Bill Outlaws Using Fetuses In Food Industry; Meets Visceral Reaction : The Two-Way : NPR

Since the bill was introduced late last week by State Sen. Ralph Shortey, a Republican from Oklahoma City, corners of the Internet have been buzzing with the news, as people try to figure out two things: 1) is this real; and 2) is there any reason the bill might be needed?

tags: wtf

Daily Kos: Some thoughts on observational studies

In statistics and research design, there are two types of study: Experiments and observational studies. Some people also use the term “quasi-experiment” but I do not like it. In an experiment, the key thing is randomization. We assign subjects (e.g. people) to different conditions (e.g. drug and placebo) randomly. Often, though, such assignment is not possible or not ethical. In social sciences, it is rarely possible. We cannot, for example, randomly assign people to different levels of education. We can only observe relationships between (say) education and political party.

When we present social science research, we often get the “correlation is not causation” reply. …While correlation does not imply causation, it is evidence of causation. And we can strengthen that evidence. There are at least three ways this can be done: …

Daily Kos: Backyard Science: Knowing What’s In Your Backyard (Wildflower Photos)

The photos in this diary were taken yesterday (Sunday 01/22/2012) in Chattahoochee Nature Park, along the Apalachicola River in north Florida.

tags: photography botany

Daily Kos: When mythology becomes fact: the 1.2 million people who “left” Greece in 2010

If the World Bank is citing OECD statistics that are non-existent, then where did the figure of 1.21 million actually come from? A hint can be found on page 17 of the Factbook, which states that some of the data that is published was constructed for modeling purposes…

For instance, the Factbook lists 3,540,600 emigrants from Germany in 2010. If we are led to believe that over 1.2 million Greeks left Greece in 2010, then it would follow that according to the same statistics, over 3.5 million Germans left their country that same year…

Based on this evidence, it is safe to say that immigration out of Greece, while on the rise, is far, far below the millions who supposedly departed the country. This assumption was confirmed by The Guardian, which recently published a retraction to their original article, stating that according to the World Bank, the figure of 1.2 million accounts for the total “stock” of Greeks living overseas as of 2010 and not the number of Greeks who left the country that year. Indeed, this statistic shows a decline in the number of Greeks living abroad between 2005 and 2010.

…the damage has been done. The story of 1.2 million Greeks leaving Greece in a single year has been picked up by reputable news outlets in Greece and all around the world, attaining factual status in the process. This reality is indicative of three very serious issues. First, it is demonstrative of the utter lack of responsible journalism in contemporary times.

tags: skepticism

Daily Kos: F**k Joe Paterno and I have an idea, and I need your help

As you may have heard, a public memorial service is being held for Joe Paterno at the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday, January 26th at 2PM. Tens of thousands are expected to attend, and I’m sure it is going to be broadcast across the country, and replayed ad naseum. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I will be avoiding the news for pretty much that entire day. …

Many people have commented and sent me messages about their own experiences with sexual trauma- including tragic stories of loved ones who have died, in no small part, as a result of that trauma.

I would like to use Thursday, 2:00 PM, to honor them.

…a memorial fund-with the proceeds going towards RAINN-The Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, which is The nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.

Daily Kos: Retail industry sells New York workers short with discrimination, low wages and schedule abuses

A large majority of the 436 New York City retail workers surveyed for the newly released study Discounted Jobs have at least some college education. They’ve been working in retail for an average of five years, and half have been at their current job for more than a year. Half of them earn less than $9.50 an hour, only 29 percent get health care through their retail job, and of the 44 percent who do have paid sick days in theory, only 54 percent have used a sick day—in many cases due to pressure from their managers and fear of retribution. …

One of the great brutalities of the retail industry today is that workers are, on the one hand, not given the hours they need to make a living, but are, on the other hand, expected to be always available to come in to work with little notice. For poverty wages, companies demand absolute control over their workers’ schedules—and, this study finds, the burden falls most heavily on Latino workers and least on white workers. Luce and Fujita identify how “hours are the new bonus,” given as rewards or taken away as punishment. Rather than offering raises, managers just give a favored worker more hours.

Daily Kos: Occupiers Charged BOOO! Then Charges dropped!

Occupy has certainly made headlines of people being arrested. But then what happens?

…this poor fellow: …
How did the cops justify keeping him in jail for that long (2 1/2 weeks) with no trial?

tags: occupysolidarity united_states

How Fares the Dream? – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman

Economic inequality isn’t inherently a racial issue, and rising inequality would be disturbing even if there weren’t a racial dimension. But American society being what it is, there are racial implications to the way our incomes have been pulling apart. And in any case, King — who was campaigning for higher wages when he was assassinated — would surely have considered soaring inequality an evil to be opposed.

tags: racism class_warfare

‘Citizen Kane’ gets inside the castle – latimes.com

When the film “Citizen Kane” came out in 1941, William Randolph Hearst gave it an unequivocal two thumbs down.

The press lord kept ads for the film out of his many newspapers. Just before its release, one of his allies in Hollywood tried to buy the footage in order to burn it. Another approached FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who launched a decade-long investigation of Orson Welles, the film’s 26-year-old director, producer, co-writer and star.

But rosebuds bloom in unlikely places. Seventy-one years after Hearst’s effort to derail it, “Citizen Kane” will be shown at Hearst Castle’s visitors center, with the blessings of the Hearst family.

Civil rights in Chile: Maid’s refusal to get on a gated community minibus prompts protests – The Washington Post

Felicita Pinto arrived early at the gates of the luxurious community where she labors as a maid, but the minibus to her employer’s home was late. So she decided to walk six blocks to work, on streets lined with broad lawns and imposing homes.

Security guards quickly chased her down and forced the 57-year-old widow back to the gate. Pinto’s employer protested, as he had before, against the community bylaws that forbid servants to move at will.

Daily Kos: So You Think Occupy Wall Street Has Faded? Think Again.

[Photos from around the nation. -L]

tags: occupysolidarity united_states

Occupy protesters jailed in Madison County | Athens Banner Herald Mobile

Madison County deputies arrested two protesters this morning, members of an Occupy Wall Street group that has walked all the way from New York City to Athens, headed for Atlanta. …

When the deputies asked the group members to produce identification, two refused, because they felt it was a violation of their civil rights as Americans, Annussek said. The Madison deputies took the pair into custody, charging them with obstruction of a police officer…

tags: occupysolidarity united_states georgia civil_liberties

More charges expected against ex-Walker staffers, sources say – JSOnline

A new round of criminal charges is coming soon against at least a couple of Gov. Scott Walker’s former county staffers for doing extensive campaign activity while on the taxpayers’ dime, sources say.

tags: wisconsin shenanigans

Daily Kos: Sen. Rand Paul to make a federal case (literally) about his airport detainment

One difference between being a senator and being the rest of us? If you get stopped by an airport security scanner, it’s all part of the price for our Enhanced Security Nation. If an archconservative senator gets stopped by the exact same scanner, it is quickly seen as evidence of a probable conspiracy: …

As was pointed out previously, Rand Paul was detained because he refused to be patted down by a government-paid stranger after the first scanner triggered. Apparently he felt strongly about this government-sanctioned invasion of his privacy, which led to him being delayed while traveling to give a speech on how government should have expanded powers to take people’s privacy away from them.

It’s not clear if the scanners have a “detain this person” button. It is clear, however, that they are carefully calibrated for irony.

tags: reproductive_justice security_theater civil_liberties

Daily Kos: Supreme Court shifts concept of what ‘right to privacy’ entails

The Supreme Court today unanimously held that the warrantless placement of a GPS tracking device on the outside of someone’s car constituted a “search” under the language of the Fourth Amendment, thus affirming the DC Circuit’s reversal of an alleged drug dealer’s conviction on trafficking charges because it was obtained via illegal evidence. In doing so, however, the majority largely abandons the sometimes-circular “reasonable expectation of privacy” test for one focused on physical invasions of one’s property, and the effects of this shift are important. …

While the Court was unanimous as to the outcome here, it was not unanimous as to the reasoning. The majority view was penned by Justice Scalia, with the Chief Justice, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, and Justice Sotomayor signing on. According to these five, whether Jones’ reasonable expectations of privacy were violated was not the question, but rather, whether the search violated the expectations of privacy in existence when the Fourth Amendment was adopted, which was centered around invasions of one’s property: …

tags: scotus civil_liberties

The Associated Press: Wash. has enough votes to legalize gay marriage

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — As lawmakers held their first public hearing on legalizing same-sex marriage, a previously undecided Democratic senator on Monday announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married.

tags: washington_state marriage_equality

Basics of Photography: The Complete Guide – LifeHacker

Run Your Home Network Like a Coffee Shop for Easier Guest Access and Family-Friendly Browsing – LifeHacker

How Can I Remove Personal Info (Like Location) From Photographs? – LifeHacker

Wolfram|Alpha Blog : The Wolfram Education Portal Is Here!

We are happy to announce the launch of the free Beta version of the Wolfram Education Portal. The portal comes equipped with a dynamic and interactive textbook, lesson plans aligned to the common core standards, and many other supplemental materials for your courses, including Wolfram Demonstrations, widgets, and videos. The Education Portal currently contains full materials for Algebra and partial materials for Calculus, but will continue to grow and improve with your comments and feedback.

tags: education mathematics

When Not to Google: Searches You’re Better Off Making Elsewhere

Going Google-Free: The Best Alternatives to Google Services on the Web

Upgrade Flickr with the Better Flickr Firefox extension – LifeHacker

How to Identify and Avoid Spreading Misinformation, Myths, and Urban Legends on the Internet

tags: skepticism

Photos: Animals That Blocked the Rejected Keystone XL Pipeline Path

The Dutch Queen Juliana Riding a Bike, 1967 | Brain Pickings

In researching last week’s piece on how the Dutch got their bike paths, I came across this fantastic archival photograph from The Netherlands’ Nationaal Archief, depicting the Dutch queen Juliana riding a bicycle during her 1967 visit to the island Terschelling.

We’re in the dark about Wall Street pay | Felix Salmon

It’s bonus season on Wall Street and Goldman’s employees are about to learn their “number,” the annual object of obsession that makes up the bonus portion of their compensation. …

In turn, many of us will be instantly disgusted by Wall Street’s pay.

There’s a problem, though, with anger about Wall Streeters’ paychecks: we know almost nothing useful about the way the industry rewards its employees. We know that Wall Street pay is high, and certainly far higher than the median American income, which is a serious problem. …

Beyond that, though, talking about Wall Street pay becomes an exercise in gossip.

Here’s a sample of recent reports: Bloomberg, relying on bank sources and pay experts, reports junior bankers won’t see annual guaranteed salary increases this year.

Who Writes Wikipedia? (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)

[2006 article based on statistical study of Wikipedia edits. -L]

…everyone has a bunch of obscure things that, for one reason or another, they’ve come to know well. So they share them, clicking the edit link and adding a paragraph or two to Wikipedia. At the same time, a small number of people have become particularly involved in Wikipedia itself, learning its policies and special syntax, and spending their time tweaking the contributions of everybody else.

Other encyclopedias work similarly, just on a much smaller scale: a large group of people write articles on topics they know well, while a small staff formats them into a single work. …

If Wikipedia is written by occasional contributors, then growing it requires making it easier and more rewarding to contribute occasionally. Instead of trying to squeeze more work out of those who spend their life on Wikipedia, we need to broaden the base of those who contribute just a little bit. …

Unfortunately, precisely because such people are only occasional contributors, their opinions aren’t heard by the current Wikipedia process. They don’t get involved in policy debates, they don’t go to meetups, and they don’t hang out with Jimbo Wales. And so things that might help them get pushed on the backburner, assuming they’re even proposed.

Out of sight is out of mind, so it’s a short hop to thinking these invisible people aren’t particularly important.

Punitive Damages, Remunerated Research, and the Legal Profession – Volume 61, Issue 3 – November 2008 – Stanford Law Review

This practice of soliciting and then funding “for-litigation” research is not unique to Exxon. [full article is a pdf]

Open Library

Open Library is yours to browse, search & borrow.
Books to Read – The World’s classic literature at your fingertips. Over 1,000,000 free ebook titles available. …

Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.

Just like Wikipedia, you can contribute new information or corrections to the catalog. You can browse by subject, author or lists members have created.

Information Diet | How to Be a Better Activist

Lola Elfman from Change.org talked a lot about a theory of change. One key piece of advice she had for activists was to develop a theory of change and to take an inventory of your assets. What’s that all mean?

A theory of change is the idea that you should work backwards from your ultimate goal, and leverage every asset that you have in order to get there. So, the change you want to make is “end world hunger” then you should ask yourself how does that get achieved, and work backwards until you start finding some immediate actions that you can cause in order to create that change. …

Jeremy Carbaugh from the Sunlight Foundation showed off a plethora of tools for how to monitor what’s going on in Congress and perhaps explore some of those levers of power inside of Washington. Tools like Influence Explorer, OpenCongress.org, and OpenGovernment.org aren’t just educational tools… When you make your inventory of activism assets, make sure to include these.

Ready, set, go / Waging Nonviolence – People-Powered News and Analysis

…acquiring the vision and tools of nonviolent change does not happen by magic. As she stresses, “these methods are neither intuitive nor spontaneous; they’re a system of logic, skills and techniques that must be learned.” Like other skills, they require study, reading, practice, and mentors who know the ropes and who can model what strategies for nonviolent action look like.

[Links to many organizations that offer training in activism, conflict resolution, etc. -L]

Challenging the Republican’s Five Myths on Inequality | On the Commons

Recent comments by Mitt Romney, the probable Republican nominee for President all but guarantee the inequality issue will remain front and center this election year.

When asked whether people who question the current distribution of wealth and power are motivated by “jealousy or fairness” Romney insisted, “I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare.” And in this election year he advised that if we do discuss inequality we do so “in quiet rooms” not in public debates.

A public debate, of course, is inevitable. …

In 2010 hedge fund manager John Paulson made $5 billion. That year, according to Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston, Paulson paid no income taxes. Am I envious Mr. Romney? You bet I am. But I’m also angry at the stark injustice of it all. And terrified of the power such wealth can wield in a country that allows billionaires to spend unlimited sums influencing legislation and elections.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of Americans now believe the conflict between rich and poor is our greatest source of tension.

MSF Closes Two Large Medical Centers in Mogadishu after Killings of Staff | Doctors Without Borders

Other Medical Projects in Somalia Continue, But MSF Assistance in Somali Capital Reduced by Half

McAfee Promises Peace Of Mind After Turning Users’ Computers Into Spammer Paradise – The Consumerist

TechSpot says the vulnerability was discovered last week when a company complained to McAfee that their emails were being blocked and IP addresses were blacklisted for sending spam. Turns out spammers were able to relay unsolicited messages from users’ computers, unbeknownst to them.

Khan Academy explains SOPA/PIPA – Boing Boing – By Cory Doctorow

The globally praised Khan Academy comes out against SOPA and PIPA in this explainer video, which does a really excellent job of digging into the implications for legitimate sites (like Khan Academy) in a world where SOPA/PIPA become law. This is a great explanation of what SOPA and PIPA means for people trying to communicate with a broader public, but one thing to keep in mind as you watch is that there’s another constituency that’s missing: all the people who are using the net for other reasons: people who want to post videos of human rights abuses, [etc]

tags: video

Answer: Which Steeple Is the Oldest? – Lifehacker

Googler Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can’t get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution—using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week’s challenge: Which steeple is the oldest?

DLESE Teaching Boxes

Teaching boxes are classroom-ready instructional units created by collaboration between teachers, scientists, and designers. Each box helps to bridge the gap between educational resources and how to implement them in the classroom. The Teaching Boxes contain materials that model scientific inquiry, allowing teachers to build classroom experiences around data collection and analysis from multiple lines of evidence, and engaging students in the process of science. – focusing on gathering and analyzing scientific evidence. All educators may use DLESE Teaching Boxes free of charge.

tags: education

NSDL Science Literacy Maps

Helping teachers connect concepts, standards, and NSDL resources

NSDL.org – National Science Digital Library

NSDL is the nation’s online portal for education and research on learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

tags: education

The Biology Corner

The Biology Corner is a resource site for biology and science teachers. It contains a variety of lessons, quizzes, labs, web quests, and information on science topics. You can find lessons related to biology topics in the links listed under “topics” on the sidebar. Topics include: Ecology, Genetics, Anatomy, Cells, Scientific Method, and Evolution. I do not at this time have answer keys for the worksheets posted, as students use this site to access their own homework and assignments.

tags: education

Teachers’ Domain

…a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities.

Climate change becomes a flash point in science education – latimes.com

Some states have introduced education standards requiring teachers to defend the denial of man-made global warming. [The National Center for Science Education] says it will start monitoring classrooms.

U.S. News – Prosecutors aim new weapon at Occupy activists: lynching allegation

Sergio Ballesteros, 30, has been involved in Occupy LA since the movement had its California launch in October. But this week, his activism took an abrupt turn when he was arrested on a felony charge — lynching.

Under the California penal code, lynching is “taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer,” where “riot” is defined as two or more people threatening violence or disturbing the peace. …

Ballesteros is not the first protester to face this 1933 California law. …

In the handful of protest cases in which lynching has been used as a charge in the past, it later has been dropped. However, in one case, a court concluded that “lynching” could include “a person who takes part in a riot leading to his escape from custody.” …

Ballesteros is an activist outside the Occupy movement — building homes through Habitat for Humanity during his spring breaks, aiding at a children’s camp for the poorest kids in the Appalachians during the summer, and acting as mentor for disadvantaged kids in the Los Angeles area.

[Clearly, he must be locked up to protect public safety. Also, there is nothing at all perverse about this appropriation of the anti-lynching laws. -L]

tags: 2011_protests united_states occupysolidarity

Daily Kos: Warmer Summers and Winters, More Great Lakes Algae Blooms

Here’s a good explanation of algae blooms in the Great Lakes [link] from Andrew Paterson, a senior scientist with the Ministry of the Environment in Canada.

There appears to be an increase in algae blooms across the Great Lakes…this is particularly evident in Lake Erie where an algae bloom visible from space [link] is an annual occurrence, now.

…Climate change models for the Great Lakes predict less ice cover, more snow, and declining water levels. We may have to add more algae blooms to that list as well.

tags: global_climate_change

Walker turning down $37 million for health care – Yahoo! News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin will turn down $37 million from the federal government that had been awarded to help implement health care exchanges under President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday.

Daily Kos: FOTHOM XXXIII: Smoking Guns Confirmed! Corporate Coverup and Phone Hacking on US Soil

Today in the High Court, News Group Newpapers, the News Corp subsidiary responsible for the defunct News of the World and The Sun, is settling dozens of hacking and surveillance claims in an attempt to avoid a high court case on Feb 13th which could result in punitive damages.

There are over 60 hacking victims with ongoing cases, and at least another 800 confirmed and subject to litigation. Financially, this could be very costly for News International. But in terms of the hacking saga, it could be devastating for the Murdochs…

In terms of the legal statements now being made in court, perhaps the most important is the admission of corporate cover-up.

…where does this leave the FBI investigation? The DOJ is still looking at violations Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and potential RICO violations. But this is a clear cut admission of intercepting wireless telephony on US soil.

tags: murdoch_empire shenanigans

More scrutiny for Romney: Overseeing Marriott during years of kickback charges | Open Channel – MSNBC

Chart of the Day: Republicans Don’t Trust Anyone (Except Fox News) | Mother Jones

Public Policy Polling is out with their 3rd annual TV news trust poll. Among Republicans, as the chart on the right shows, the shape of the river is simple: they don’t trust anyone except Fox News, who they adore.

…maybe this just means that trust in the media is really low these days? Nope. Democrats and Independents may not trust Fox, but they do trust everyone else. The percentages vary, with more skepticism toward some outlets than others, but what non-Republicans don’t do is simply dismiss television news en masse as a bunch of lying corporate shills.

tags: extremism

Franklin Garcia: D.C. to Make Medical Marijuana Available in Spring 2012

‘Vulture Capitalism’? How Private Equity Firms Work : NPR

GOP candidates have attacked Mitt Romney as a “vulture capitalist” who destroyed jobs. The charges center on his 15 years at the private equity firm Bain Capital. But what are private equity firms, and what do they do?

BBC News – Sopa and Pipa protests not over, says Wikipedia

The encyclopaedia said the site had been viewed 162 million times, with eight million people following instructions to contact politicians.

The protest led to eight US lawmakers withdrawing their support for the proposed bills. …

In the UK, the plans around Sopa and Pipa have been keenly watched, particularly by those worried about the effect the measures could have on internet companies in the country.

Anti-Choice Extremists Introduce New Intimidation Tactic | RH Reality Check

Rachel Maddow reports on a new abortion doctor database compiled by long-standing, anti- choice extremist group “Operation Rescue” and its implicit, terroristic threat of violence.

Reproductive Rights Prof Blog: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abortion

In the apparent absence of definitive evidence regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s views on abortion (his support for contraception is clear), he is being portrayed as both pro and con.

Rev. King’s niece, Alveda King, asserts on Fox News that he was anti-choice: [video]

Jezebel: No, Fox News, Martin Luther King Jr Wasn’t Anti-Abortion, by Erin Gloria Ryan…

Perry Leaves Race, Iowa GOP Puts Santorum In Lead : NPR

BBC News – Rick Perry ends White House bid and backs Newt Gingrich

The Republican presidential race has been dramatically shaken up after Texas Governor Rick Perry quit and endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

His exit came as it emerged front-runner Mitt Romney had not won Iowa’s caucuses, as initially thought, because of a mix-up on the vote count.

A resurgent Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, faces embarrassment after his ex-wife claimed he wanted an open marriage.

Super Mario Bra – Poorly Dressed People of the World – Fashion Fails

[Oh, I don't think it's so bad. Plus, it's underwear, so as long as you know your audience... -L]

Supreme Court Overturns ‘Right v. Wrong’ | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source

tags: satire

Keep a Journal of Awesomeness to Boost Your Self Esteem – LifeHacker

tags: mindhack

Two Senators Change Tune On Online Piracy Legislation – The Consumerist

Earlier this morning, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was actually a co-sponsor of the PIPA legislation, pulled a complete 180 and came out against the bill. Likewise, Texas Senator John Cornyn has asked his fellow lawmakers to think a little longer about these particular proposals.

Congress members change Twitter avatars to oppose online piracy bill – The Hill’s Twitter Room

What’s Next in the SOPA Fight? | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan Says He’s Fine With Split From Obama On Gay Marriage

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday that his public support for gay marriage has not put him in an awkward position with President Barack Obama, who only supports civil unions.

Confirmed: More on Romney and his offshoring – The Plum Line – The Washington Post

What timing! No sooner do I quote an expert speculating that Mitt Romney might be reluctant to release previous tax returns because of possible offshoring, then ABC News breaks the story open: …

His campaign says the offshoring is about attracting foreign investments and doesn’t give Romney any tax advantage. But experts interviewed by ABC said there were still problems here, ones that cost the U.S. Treasury: …

Bernie Sanders Vows To Fight To Uphold Obama’s Keystone XL Decision

In December, Senator Sanders urged Obama to call the Republicans bluff on Keystone XL. President Obama did more than call their bluff. He let the Republicans kill Keystone XL for him.

Republicans set themselves up for this one when they demanded that the 60 day deadline be included in the payroll tax/unemployment benefits extension. Republicans are already trying to spin Obama’s decision as a refusal to create jobs, but the truth is that Keystone XL project would only create 6,000 or so jobs. Most of the full time jobs would not be filled by locals, and the other jobs would be temporary construction.

The Keystone XL project is not a job creator, or a path to energy independence. The oil that would come from the project was destined to be sold on the global market.

YouTube Tries to Make “Doing Good” Part of its Everyday Routine

One of Google’s earliest YouTube employees is now leading a new charge at the company: Trying to figure out how to make YouTube a better service for social good – focusing on nonprofits, education, and free expression/activism.

YouTube has long worked with nonprofit-types to help them spread their causes and raise money. About 16,000 organizations are currently in its program for nonprofits, which gives them access to special YouTube features and support…

But a new team, led by former YouTube product head Hunter Walk, is designed to integrate the notion of “doing good” into everything YouTube develops…

How to Prioritize When Everything Is Important – LifeHacker

It just so happens that there’s a career that focuses specifically on juggling competing tasks and priorities: These people are called project managers. …Here’s how you can apply some of those techniques to your everyday life.

Wednesday Geek Women: Joanmarie Diggs, Máirín Duffy, Jessica McKellar and Stormy Peters, open source contributors | Geek Feminism Blog

…four women who have inspired me to no end with their work, insight, and community outreach. Every interaction with them has motivated me in my work. Essentially, by being as dedicated as they are, they bring out the best in other people. I’m lucky to have met all of them and to have worked with them on community outreach efforts.

Joanmarie Diggs has worked for the Carroll Center for the Blind for the last 14 years, helping visually impaired people learn to use assistive technology. She decided to teach herself programming in order to contribute to Orca, GNOME’s screen reader. …

Máirín Duffy is an interaction designer at Red Hat. …

Jessica McKellar is a recent MIT graduate who works at Ksplice. She organizes Boston Python Workshops for women and their friends. …

Stormy Peters is the Head of Developer Engagement at Mozilla. Before that she was the Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. …

tags: women_in_stem_fields

The Internet on Strike: To Protest SOPA, a Taste of the Censored Web

In fact, SOPA has been having a rough road of late: the Obama administration came out against it, knocking it off course for the time being, and three co-sponsors of the bills withdrew their support as the Internet blackout (which the L.A. Times estimates to include some 10,000 websites) began. But PIPA is still set for mark-up next week.

And so the protest continues.

Forced Sterilization of Swedish Transgender People Is a Violation of Dignity

A campaign is underway to remove Sweden’s requirement that transgender people undergo forced sterilization before the state will officially recognize their correct gender identity. … The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights has recommended that European states remove physical requirements to official gender change, noting that sterilization requirements “clearly [run] against principles of human rights and human dignity.” WPATH’s current standards of care state that “[t]ranssexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people should not be refused reproductive options for any reason.”

Forced sterilization in any case is a violation of human dignity. …

If you would like to support this campaign, a petition is currently underway [link] to urge Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to stand up for the rights of transgender citizens of his country.

Heroine of Monmouth – Weekly Women’s History Image

A heroine of the American revolution at the battle of Monmouth in 1778, she’s known by a nickname rather than her real name.

[Molly Pitcher - click the pic for more info]

Go Read Charles P. Pierce On Health Care | Echidne of the Snakes

He is telling his own story about what it is like to have good health insurance in the US. Or one tiny aspect of that experience, but I bet it is an aspect many of you have also experienced. I certainly have. …

One very simple example of the ways health care markets fail is in the description Pierce gave us: The bureaucracy. Conservatives argue that it’s the government which creates bureaucracy but nothing is as good at creating duplication and confusion and impossible-to-interpret clauses than the US private health insurance industry.

Keyboard Shortcuts – Adobe, Macromedia, Quark, and More

Want to know all the best keyboard shortcuts, includng ones not found in a menu?

[Focuses on useful shortcuts, rather than trying to comprehensively list ALL shortcuts. Nifty. -L]

40+ Useful Cheat Sheets for Designers | SixRevisions.com – Nov 30, 2008

[This is a bit old, but it has useful reference info for Adobe CS3 and CS4, Gimp, and other topics like a standard paper size table, measurement conversions, etc. -L]

Calif. HS student devises possible cancer cure – CBS News

If you ever worry about the future of America, there is no need: it is in good hands. …

Born to Chinese immigrants, 17-year-old Angela Zhang of Cupertino…

“I just thought, ‘Why not?’ ‘What is there to lose?’” said Angela.

When she was a freshman, she started reading doctorate level papers on bio-engineering.

“At first it was a little bit overwhelming,” said Angela, “but I found that it almost became like a puzzle, being able to decode something.”

By sophomore year she’d talked her way into the lab at Stanford, and by junior year was doing her own research.

Afghan Calligrapher Creates World’s Largest Koran – NYTimes.com

KABUL (Reuters) – An Afghan calligrapher has worked for five years to create the world’s biggest Koran, a bid to show the world that Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage and traditions have been damaged but not destroyed by 30 years of war.

BBC News – Afghan snowfall: 16 dead in Badakhshan province

tags: natural_disaster

Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start repaying the $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan next month, with the first tranche of $1.2 billion that has been allocated in the budget 2011-12.

Pakistanis’ distrust of foreigners impedes aid groups – latimes.com

Pakistan’s suspicions of foreign aid groups rose last year after the CIA staged a fake vaccination campaign to catch Osama bin Laden.

What the World Makes of Mitt – By Uri Friedman | Foreign Policy

Romney’s rise may be producing yawns at home, but the Republican frontrunner has touched a nerve (make that several nerves) overseas.

BBC News – Ethiopia forces thousands off land – Human Rights Watch

Ethiopia’s government has been accused of forcing tens of thousands of people off their land so it can be leased to foreign investors.

Liberia president vows to continue fighting graft – Yahoo! News

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia’s president [Ellen Johnson Sirleaf] was sworn in Monday for a second term in a ceremony attended by her bitter rival, whose refusal to recognize her victory had threatened to undermine this country’s fragile peace.

BBC News – Yemen unrest ‘may delay presidential election’

BBC News – Mexico food aid sent to crisis-hit Tarahumara Indians

BBC News – El Salvador head apologises for 1981 El Mozote massacre

BBC News – China becomes more urban in historic population shift

Martin Luther King Jr.: Notes and Papers Debut Online

A large and comprehensive collection of Martin Luther King Jr.’s documents is now available online. The collection, consisting of nearly 1 million documents, will be available at the King Center Imagine Project. You can find them here.

There are letters and telegrams that show correspondence between King and the likes of John F. Kennedy, Thurgood Marshall and Sammy Davis Jr., to name a few. …

Bill Duke Talks About His ‘Dark Girls’ Documentary

…a new documentary focusing on colorism, recently spoke to The Root DC about the struggles of dark-skinned women. Duke said that the message of the film — in which women from many different cities, backgrounds and ages talk about growing up with dark skin — is one that transcends race. …

Putting money where our mouths are – O’Reilly Radar

As Tim O’Reilly has pointed out, one of the major problems with SOPA and PIPA is that they regulate in favor of an “old economy,” and against the new. It’s sort of like the stage coach companies lobbying for regulations against the upstart railroads, and the railroads lobbying for regulation against the roads and airlines.

The problem isn’t “piracy” or “theft.” In fact, one of the big problems I have is the way the old media companies have been able to drive the language here. As Tim points out, piracy is “primarily the result of market failure” and ceases to be an issue when it’s possible for customers to get what they want on terms that they can accept. It’s about access, it’s about people being able to get the media they want and do what they want with it. In ” Scarcity is a Shitty Business Model,” Fred Wilson tells about being unable to find a good movie to watch at home on a weekend night: nothing good on Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, or the cable company. The end result is predictable…

How to Really Help Afghanistan’s Women – by Lael A. Mohib | The AfPak Channel

Audiences around the world were horrified to see the image of Bibi Aisha, a young Afghan girl whose nose had been cut off by her husband and his family, on the cover of an August 2010 issue of TIME Magazine. Western media outlets largely attributed Aisha’s case to the Taliban, and portrayed it as a warning of what is to come for Afghan women once the international community withdraws from Afghanistan. The unfortunate reality is, though, that there are many other cases like hers happening today…

The AfPak Channel Top 10 – by Peter Bergen and Andrew Lebovich | The AfPak Channel

2011 was an incredible year for news around the world. Now that it’s behind us, here are the 10 most-read articles and collections from the AfPak Channel in the last year…

Don’t Send in the Drones: Resisting War By Remote Control | YES! Magazine – by Valerie Schloredt

Nearly a third of the aircraft used by the United States military don’t carry pilots, according to a new Congressional report. The aircraft are drones, and their pilots are often thousands of miles away…

One such base is the Hancock Air National Guard Base, located near Syracuse, N.Y. Ed Kinane, who lives nearby, says that since strike drones are operated from the base, his home area of New York state is, from a moral perspective, “in the zone of war”…

On Dec 1, when most of the Hancock 38 defendants returned to the court in DeWitt for sentencing, the judge who presided over the case stated publicly that their trial had an impact on his own views about the use of drones.

May Boeve by Colin Beavan — YES! Magazine

While some students bond and form groups around rockclimbing or chess, May and her friends formed a community while working together to force Middlebury to reduce its carbon emissions. When they graduated, they planned to move together to Billings, Mont., to help stop the building of new coal-burning power plants. But author Bill McKibben, who brought world attention to climate change with his book The End of Nature, approached them and asked if they might instead turn the power of the group friendship to the task of building a national and, later, an international climate movement.

With McKibben’s prestige behind them, they used phones, email, social networks, web pages, and community connections to reach every grassroots and impromptu citizens’ group they could.

On April 14, 2007, their nationwide coalition mounted Step It Up—simultaneous actions in 1,400 communities across the country. Next, the group formalized itself into the organization 350.org, named for the number of parts per million of carbon dioxide that the atmosphere can safely contain, according to models by NASA scientist James Hansen.

We (Still) Want Bread, and Roses Too by John de Graaf — YES! Magazine

A century ago, in what has come to be known as the Bread and Roses strike, a group of women walked out of the Lawrence, Mass., textile mill where they worked.

A new law had limited their working hours to 54 a week, two fewer than most of them had been working—so far, so good. But mill owners responded by decreasing the women’s weekly wage, a difference that would cost their already hungry families a loaf of bread a day. …

The women faced clubs, bayonets, and frequent arrests. Many were hauled off to jail, children in tow. One, Annie LoPizzo, was shot and killed by the police. Still, they kept up the strike for two months, while national sympathy for their cause grew. Finally, in March, the mill owners conceded to their demands.

Snoball Links Life’s Passions to Charitable Micro-Gifts – News – GOOD

It’s not unheard of for sports fans to buy a round of drinks for the bar when their team wins. But why not transfer the generosity of that beer-splattered exuberance to charity instead? Snoball, a new micro-donation platform, makes it easy to link small, charitable gifts to the accomplishments of your favorite teams—or, for sports agnostics, other everyday activities.

… The possibilities are endless and allow givers to get creative about the meaning of microphilanthropy in their own lives.

Mental illness protects some inmates from returning to jail

Past studies compared inmates with severe mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and severe affective disorders, with a general population of released inmates and found that those with mental illnesses had higher recidivism rates.

[This] study’s principal investigator Amy B. Wilson, assistant professor of social work at Case Western Reserve, said the researchers took a novel approach to studying recidivism among released inmates … four categories: those with severe mental illnesses, those with a substance abuse problem, those with dual problems of mental illness and substance abuse, and those with neither problem.

When looking at individual groups, those with mental illnesses alone fared better—even compared against those with no mental or substance abuse issues.

…”These findings point to a possible need for more integrated services for mental and substance abuse, and more attention being paid generally to the ways that substance abuse involvement among people with serious mental illness complicates these individuals involvement with the criminal justice system”…

Terrorists! – The Daily WTF

“She’s convinced that terrorists have compromised her computer,” Tom Davidson’s colleague – a front-line helpdesk technician – reported, “best I can tell, it’s some sort of virus problem, or something. It’s is a bit out of my league, but I’m hoping you can help.”

tags: funny

A List Apart: Articles: A Pixel Identity Crisis

The pixel has always been the smallest unit in screen-based design. Because it’s been indivisible, it is the concrete unit of measurement among screen-based designers. …

Now that hardware is changing and pixel densities are growing, pixels are struggling to find relevance as the stable unit they once were. …The truth is that there are two different definitions of pixels: they can be the smallest unit a screen can support (a hardware pixel) or a pixel can be based on an optically consistent unit called a “reference pixel.” …

When implemented properly, this new standard will provide unprecedented stability across all designs on all platforms no matter the pixel density or viewing distance.

Reference pixels are amazing, but now we have two conflicting definitions.

Penn State Law Students: Now Might Not Be The Best Time To Be Getting Drunk And Calling People ‘Queer’ « Above the Law

All right. Let’s give the Penn State students the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t know the entire world would be looking at the school; this drunkening happened before the campus was put under the microscope.

But now, now Penn State students know that they are being watched. They know that the campus is under siege. They know that saying slurs on a list serve is going to get picked up by the press and make the school look bad.

Don’t they?

Academic Earth | Online Courses | Academic Video Lectures

Online courses from the world’s top scholars.

tags: education

Egyptians strike, Chinese workers protest at Sanyo, Russians rally against vote fraud / Waging Nonviolence – People-Powered News and Analysis

California On Track to Meet Clean Energy Requirements – The Equation

A new report from the California Energy Commission indicates that California’s utilities are well on their way to meeting the state’s clean energy goals.

tags: california green_energy

The Science Behind a Bad Mood and What You Can Do About It

tags: mindhack

Netflix Slammed With Class-Action Suit by “Misled” Investors

A group of investors has filed a class-auction lawsuit against Netflix and several of its executives, alleging that the film and TV subscription service purposely misled the plantiffs about its earnings prospects ahead before the company’s stock took a deep dive in the second half of 2011.

[Wow, I'm still ridiculously bitter about their price increases and other shenanigans of 2011. -L]

tags: my_schadenfreude_let_me_show_u_it

King Day at Dome: NAACP Outlines Strategy on Voter ID Laws

Regardless of the content of their addresses Monday morning at the annual “King Day at the Dome” rally at the State House in Columbia, S.C., the joint appearance of NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks volumes in and of itself. Monday marks the first time Holder will have been in the Palmetto State since Dec. 23, when the U.S. Department of Justice struck down its new voter photo ID law, which the DOJ says would likely have disenfranchised minorities, students and disabled voters alike.

The optics of their joint appearance — the leader of the nation’s oldest and most storied civil rights organization and the country’s top law-enforcement officer — send a signal about the intent, through legal challenges and social advocacy, to make voting rights a high priority in an already contentious election year. …

The United States is a nation with a patchwork of laws on voter identification — some states with strict policies, others with no policy at all. …

In Atheists We Distrust: Scientific American

It wasn’t just the highly religious participants who expressed a distrust of atheists. People identifying themselves as having no religious affiliation held similar opinions. Gervais and his colleagues discovered that people distrust atheists because of the belief that people behave better when they think that God is watching over them. This belief may have some truth to it. Gervais and his colleague Ara Norenzayan have found that reminding people about God’s presence has the same effect as telling people they are being watched by others: it increases their feelings of self-consciousness and leads them to behave in more socially acceptable ways.

When we know that somebody believes in the possibility of divine punishment, we seem to assume they are less likely to do something unethical. Based on this logic, Gervais and Norenzayan hypothesized that reminding people about the existence of secular authority figures, such as policemen and judges, might alleviate people’s prejudice towards atheists.

…From a psychological standpoint, God and secular authority figures may be somewhat interchangeable. The existence of either helps us feel more trusting of others.

…another potential way of reducing [anti-atheist] prejudice: by reminding people of charitable and altruistic acts committed in the name of atheism.

The Science of Magic Series

The Science of Magic is a series of easy to do magic tricks made available for the purpose of teaching students about how to apply the scientific method in, what I hope will be, a fun and informative way. …

The concept is simple: perform a magic trick for your students, and then challenge them to figure out how it was done. In the process they will learn about and/or apply the scientific method.

csvkit 0.4.2 (beta) — csvkit 0.4.2 (beta) documentation

csvkit is a suite of utilities for converting to and working with CSV, the king of tabular file formats.

A Whole Lotta Nothing: Lessons for Kickstarter creators from the worst project I ever funded on Kickstarter

Herman Cain Returns! | Mother Jones

After dropping out of the presidential race in November amidst an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations, Herman Cain has reemerged from his self-imposed exile. On Friday, he appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO show, giving one of the first TV interviews since suspending his campaign. (Cain told Maher that Americans need to “lighten up.”)

…Cain’s timing is exceptionally good. His return to the political spotlight comes just as comedian Steven Colbert’s SuperPac has started running ads urging voters to cast ballots for Cain in South Carolina’s GOP primary. … You can watch the Colbert ad here: …

tags: video

Gingrich’s Racial Doubletalk On Food Stamps | Mother Jones

During Monday night’s debate, Fox News debate moderator Juan Williams tried unsuccuessfully to get Newt Gingrich to justify his comment that black Americans should “demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” Instead of explaining himself, as my colleague Asawin Suebsaeng wrote, Gingrich just argued that liberals hate it when people earn money.

Here’s the exchange: [transcript]

Gingrich didn’t actually address the question Williams asked, which was how he justifies implying that black people would rather sit at home living on food stamps than earn money for a living, and that those traits are so ingrained that it would justify Gingrich lecturing black people collectively (in the form of a speech to the NAACP) about the virtues of working for a living. Gingrich was asked why he assumed black people were both poor and lazy (and poor because they are lazy), and he responded by shredding a strawman about how liberals don’t want people to work.

tags: racism

Google Plans Home Page Protest Against U.S. Piracy Measures – Businessweek

Jan. 17 — Google Inc. will place a link on its home page tomorrow highlighting its opposition to anti-piracy measures in U.S. Congress, joining a demonstration by other Internet companies against the Hollywood-backed legislation. …

“We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” Samantha Smith, a Google spokeswoman, said in an e-mail today.

The Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate are backed by the movie and music industries as a means to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods by non-U.S. websites. …

The administration of President Barack Obama stepped into the piracy debate on Jan. 14, saying in a blog post that it wouldn’t support legislation that encourages censorship, undermines cybersecurity or disrupts the structure of the Internet.

New IWHR Reports on Reproductive Rights in Philippines and Sexual Exploitation in Haiti – CUNY School of Law News – CUNY

January 13, 2012

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and the Center for Reproductive Rights jointly submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on issues related to the status of women’s reproductive rights in the Philippines. The paper reports on the efforts of the Philippine Government to adopt public health laws that ensure women’s rights. It finds that some specific laws, including a nationwide criminal ban on abortion without any clear exceptions and restrictions on contraceptive information, “constitute an ongoing and immediate threat to women’s life, reproductive health, and rights.”

Physicist Lawrence Krauss Explains How Everything Comes from Nothing | Open Culture

What is our current understanding of the universe? When did the universe begin? What came before it? How could something come from nothing? And what will happen to the universe in the future?

tags: video

The New York Times Goes All In With The “1 Percenters” – Forbes – 1/05/2012

New York Times employees plan an “urgent” Jan. 9 meeting to discuss their next move because its staff are incensed by the $15 million failure bonus given to outgoing CEO Janet Robinson. Robinson, whose disastrous tenure coincided with a drop in the parent company’s stock price from $40 to less than $8 in seven years, is getting $4.5 million to serve as a “consultant” this year (so the company can avail itself of 12 more months of that storied leadership).

Plus she gets, ahead of schedule, immediate access to a $10.9 million pension (though she is only 61). Her sudden resignation/ouster/defenestration, announced last month, came just three months after Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici said she conducted “what felt rather like a victory lap” to boast of her digital strategy. Third-quarter ad revenue sagged by 8.8 percent.

Meanwhile, according to the president of the Newspaper Guild, the paper is hectoring the workers with demands for concessions. These include pension freezes, savings in the health plan and curtailing bonuses for working late nights or rearranging schedules to deal with unexpected news events. All this would save the company about $9 million this year, or roughly two-thirds of the amount it is paying to a single non-employee: Janet Robinson.

cesare: x-men: school’s out

Mutants also don’t work as a representative of oppressed minority groups because they are explicitly without historical context. Real life oppressions have deep roots: the people involved are trying to win rights and recognition that have been denied to them historically and systematically. In almost all X-Men canons, mutants are vanishingly rare and virtually unknown until the mid-twentieth century…

Burnt-down prehistoric hut found in Texas | A Blog About History – History News

The remains of a prehistoric hut which dates back 3,500 years has been found in San Antonio, Texas.

Women bloggers call for a stop to ‘hateful’ trolling by misogynist men | World news | The Observer

Caroline Farrow, a blogger for Catholic Voices, points out she has nothing in common with writers such as Laurie Penny except her gender, but is subject to the same violent abuse. The wife of a vicar and “quite orthodox”, Farrow decided to write under her own name and photograph to take responsibility for her views. “But the downside is that for some men this seems to make you a legitimate sexual target. I get at least five sexually threatening emails a day.”

Using Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom | Edutopia

Howard Gardner: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed | Harvard Graduate School of Education

…discussed the challenges faced by traditional education in light of two forces: the post-modern critique from the humanities and the disruptive potentials of the new digital media.

tags: video

Projects | Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement | A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future

This report from the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement calls on the nation to reclaim higher education’s civic mission.

Countries and Coastlines: A Dramatic View of Earth from Outer Space | Open Culture

…new high resolution footage from the International Space Station that gives you a dramatic view of coastlines and countries around the world. Produced by Space Rip, this clip will give you an extraordinary view of England, France, Italy, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Greece, the island of Crete, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Cuba.

tags: video

100% Made in the Philippines | Inquirer Lifestyle

With his trademark Mohawk hairdo, and pimped out in an all black outfit and black, knee-high biker boots, Black Eyed Pea apl.de.ap a.k.a. Allan Pineda Lindo Jr. stands out in a sea of white barongs.

The cream of corporate Makati, mostly bank executives and their staff, have gathered together in a Legaspi Village penthouse ballroom to honor Apl who has been chosen one of the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ BPInoy awardees for 2011.

The annual accolade goes to Filipinos who have done their country proud in the international arena. apl has been chosen not only because of his membership in the Black Eyed Peas, a massive global pop franchise that has sold more than 56 million albums worldwide, but also because for the last few years, he has been coming home to the Philippines to give some of his blessings back to the land of his birth.

[A few words are not translated in the article: karabaw (carabao), palengke (market), panganay (first-born). -L]

How capitalism kills companies | Felix Salmon

As Mitt Romney cruises to his inevitable coronation as the Republican presidential candidate, increasing amounts of attention are being focused on his history at Bain Capital, where he made his fortune. Did he create 100,000 jobs, as he claims? Or is he a vulture and asset stripper?

Glenn Kessler has the definitive take on the job-creation claim, which he says is “untenable”; as he says, Romney’s method of counting jobs created when he wasn’t at Bain or when Bain wasn’t managing the companies in question doesn’t even pass the laugh test. Meanwhile, as Mark Maremont documents, Bain-run companies — even the successful ones — have an alarming tendency to end up in bankruptcy. And I think it’s fair to say that bankruptcy never creates jobs, except perhaps among bankruptcy lawyers.

The reality is that Romney would have been in violation of his fiduciary duty to his investors had he concentrated on creating jobs, rather than extracting as much money as he possibly could from the companies he bought.

Authority (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

When is political authority legitimate? This is one of the fundamental questions of political philosophy. Depending on how one understands political authority this question may be the same as, when is coercion by the state legitimate? Or, when we do have duties to obey the state? Or, when and who has a right to rule through the state?

10 Reasonable pronunciations that make Primer Magazine sound like pedantic twits : Notes from a Linguistic Mystic

…an article in Primer Magazine…titled “10 Words You Mispronounce That Make People Think You’re an Idiot”.

…pedantry is seldom done well enough to be immune to further pedantry.

Asian Art Museum Blog » Chinese Artist Chang Dai-chien: Bigger than Picasso?

Chinese artist Chang Dai-chien (also known as Zhang Daqian) may not have the kind of name recognition that Pablo Picasso enjoys, but in 2011 he ousted the Spaniard as the biggest auction earner in recent years. …

As a preeminent painter of twentieth-century China, Chang integrated modern sensibilities into traditional Chinese painting.

tags: art

What the battle over Bain is really about, in one chart – The Plum Line – The Washington Post

The ongoing Dem attack on Romney’s Bain years — which will figure heavily in the general election — could help decide whether Obama can hold blue collar white voters in the numbers he needs. Given that these voters have born the brunt of the economic meltdown, it’s interesting that the GOP is set to nominate a candidate who got very rich partly off the sort of layoffs that helped decimate their communities; pays a lower tax rate than many middle class taxpayers because of investments but won’t release his tax returns; and refuses to say whether concerns about inequality and Wall Street excess are rooted in anything but “envy.”

tags: class_warfare

Bukowski’s “The Blue Bird,” Beautifully Animated | Brain Pickings

Charles Bukowski’s poem “The Bluebird,” originally published in his 1992 anthology The Last Night of the Earth Poems, is a quietly profound meditation on an all too familiar facet of the human condition — our compulsion to conceal and stifle our most tender and vulnerable selves underneath tough, controlled, meticulously architected exteriors. This mesmerizingly beautiful animated adaptation of the poem by Cambridge School of Art student Monika Umba is the perfect piece of visual whimsy to bring to life Bukowski’s magic.

50 Outstandingly Beautiful Desktop Wallpapers from National Geographic | Onextrapixel – Web Design & Development Magazine

tags: photography

Build Spotify Playlists from any Wikipedia Song List – LifeHacker

tags: music

Closet Organization Tips | Organize Your Life

Lazy Jedi Wakes Up | The Mary Sue

Lazy Jedi Shows Us What Telekinesis Would Really be Used For

Today is a Good Day to Look at Insane Klingon Fan Art – io9

Don’t Bother Getting A Kindle Fire Unless You Have A Credit Card – The Consumerist

Heather really likes her new Kindle Fire, once she got it working, but she’s sending it back. Why would she do that? Because the Fire isn’t a very fun device without Amazon Prime, and you need to have a credit card to sign up for Prime. She doesn’t have any credit cards, and she doesn’t want any. So back the Kindle goes.

She wrote an open letter to Amazon on her blog about her experience owning the Kindle Fire, and trying to pay for a Prime membership with a gift card. (Spoiler alert: you can’t do that.)

How Did 15-Year-Old Jakadrien Turner, a U.S. Citizen, Get Deported? – COLORLINES

The bizarre details of Turner’s case make it uniquely outrageous, but immigration experts insist that the phenomena—of U.S. citizens mistakenly getting deported—is not uncommon. And with the expansion of enforcement programs like Secure Communities absent any increased protections for people facing deportations, U.S. citizens have gotten caught up in the dragnet.

“Part of it is the push for so many deportations, which the Obama administration has ratcheted up,” … “If the priority is deporting people then there’s less priority on scrutinizing whether someone should be deported.”

Aside from the political pressures driving increasingly sloppy enforcement, immigration experts explain that the structural mechanisms of the immigration system facilitate these kinds of terrible oversights.

“One of the major weaknesses is there is no due process,” …

Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent Domain | LA Progressive

An electronic database called MERS has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America. Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray. Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods. Straightening out the records and restoring the homes to occupancy is clearly in the public interest, and the burden is on local government to do it. But how? New legal developments are presenting some innovative alternatives.

California Bullet Train Chief Exits | NBC Bay Area

What’s going on with California’s High Speed Rail project?

The system’s Chief Executive Officer, Roelof van Ark, announced Thursday he was resigning from his $375,000 a year post after only 18 months on the job. Van Ark expressed optimism about the future of the project just a few weeks ago, telling the Sacramento Bee, “We’re on the right path to get there.”

Now van Ark is stepping down, telling the project’s board members at a Los Angeles meeting that he wants to focus more on his family and other issues.

The Authority’s board chairman, Tom Umberg, is also stepping down. and the system’s press secretary, Rachel Wall, is also leaving for another public relations job.

BBC News – Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French

Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad – for speaking French.

The ad, released by rival Newt Gingrich, seeks to draw unflattering parallels between Mr Romney and another Massachusetts politician, John Kerry.

This Is Actually Something From the New York Times | The Range: The Tucson Weekly’s Daily Dispatch – Jan 13, 2012

If your “public editor” is positing this idea and asking for input from a comment section on the internet (nothing personal, commenters), that’s a good sign you need to hire a new “public editor”:…

In the sense that the basic premise of what news reporters do for a living is presenting factual information to their audience, then yes, [news] reporters should probably call someone out when they lie.

[This is of course related to the same NYT blog post which recently inspired the Vanity Fair "should we be spelling vigilantes" post. -L]

tags: journalism

MC Hammer would be proud – Poorly Dressed People of the World – Fashion Fails

[MY EYES. -L]

Solar System Scale Model

This page shows a scale model of the solar system, shrunken down to the point where the Sun, normally more than eight hundred thousand miles across, is the size you see it here. The planets are shown in corresponding scale. Unlike most models, which are compressed for viewing convenience, the planets here are also shown at their true-to-scale average distances from the Sun. That makes this page rather large – on an ordinary 72 dpi monitor it’s just over half a mile wide, making it possibly one of the largest pages on the web. This means you’ll have to do a bit of scrolling if you want to find the planets…

The living latticework bridges in the Khasi Hills of India – big picture | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Vines and roots of trees are trained to stretch across rivers and streams, to create a sturdy structure strong enough to be used as a bridge for up to 50 people at a time. Villagers create these living bridges – which take 10-15 years to grow – as a solution to the high annual rainfall, which would cause ordinary wooden bridges to rot

tags: photography

Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

Guggenheim Museum Makes 65 Exhibit Catalogues Free Online

The Guggenheim is one of the real standouts in the global modern art arena. The New York-based institution is no light-weight in the area of arts education. They’ve now extended that mission extensively by making dozens of high-quality publications on artists available to anyone with an Internet connection. …

How Can I Protect My Computers and Data When Someone Else Is Using My Network? – LifeHacker

Designers Print 3D Buildings, Make Models Out of Metal Powder [VIDEO] – Mashable

Report: Hundreds Of Xbox Makers At Foxconn Plant Threatened Suicide – The Consumerist

Magnetic Memory Miniaturized to Just 12 Atoms – Technology Review

The smallest magnetic-memory bit ever made—an aggregation of just 12 iron atoms created by researchers at IBM—shows the ultimate limits of future data-storage systems.

The magnetic memory elements don’t work in the same way that today’s hard drives work, and, in theory, they can be much smaller without becoming unstable. …

How to Say No (Without Being an Asshole) – LifeHacker

Desktop Users Can Send Docs to Kindle in 2 Clicks – ReadWriteWeb

Amazon has released a new ‘Send to Kindle’ feature for PC users. It’s a downloadable extension for Windows that adds a ‘Send to Kindle’ option when right-clicking on a file in Windows Explorer or in the print dialog in any application.

Files sent with Send to Kindle go to the user’s Kindle Library, and they can be downloaded on the e-ink Kindle models as well as the iOS Kindle app.

Watch a model boat float on a sea of gas – io9

Sulfur hexafluoride is one of the densest gases out there. It’s so thick that it’s possible to pour it into a container like a liquid and float a tinfoil boat on it. …

Sulfur hexafluoride is made up of six fluorine atoms attached ringing a central sulfur atom. It’s six times heavier than the air we breathe and a greenhouse gas. It’s produced for the technology, medical, and construction industries, all because of one very useful property: it’s inert. The gas reacts with pretty much nothing, making it useful for insulation, tracing gas leaks, and safely placing pressure on the human body.

tags: video

Pig Chase Is a Co-Op Video Game for Pigs and Humans | Geekosystem

tags: wtf

Disney Announces Into the Woods Movie, We Doubletake | The Mary Sue

…in a move not unlike George Lucas announcing a Spaceballs remake, Disney has announced that they are preparing to bring the heavily narratively deconstructive Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods to the silver screen. Now, before you get worried that all the narratively interesting parts are going to be stripped out before it gets to the set, James Lapine, the original writer (of the text, where Sondheim penned the music) of Into the Woods is on board to adapt the two act musical to screen….

10 Technologies That Congress Tried to Kill – io9

[Some of these are pretty silly, but some not so much. -L]

CG-free clip from Planet of the Apes shows why Andy Serkis should get an Oscar nod – io9

SOPA Author Lamar Smith Is a Copyright Violator | Geekosystem

Jamie Lee Curtis Taete of VICE, while checking to make sure Smith’s website was SOPA-clean, uncovered that Smith was actually guilty of copyright infringment for his use of a background photo. As you can see in the image above, there’s a landscape peeking out from behind the main body of the site, and as it turns out, Smith never got any permission to use the picture. Taete was able to track down the picture’s photographer, DJ Schulte, who confirmed that no one had ever asked him for permission.

…That is SOPA’s primary failing, that common, insignificant mistakes can be blown out into DNS blocking for various flimsy reasons ranging from laziness to malicious intent.

Meet the Woman Who’s Calling the Shots for Doctor Who and The Fades

Caroline Skinner has become one of the most important people in British television science fiction and fantasy, almost overnight. She produced The Fades, the horror-fantasy series which took England by storm, and which hits BBC America this Saturday. And now she’s the new executive producer of Doctor Who, replacing Piers Wenger and Beth Willis.

We were lucky enough to talk to Skinner exclusively on the phone today, and she told us what to expect from both Doctor Who and The Fades. …

tags: science_fiction

Creepicute: Menacing Tarsier is Menacing – Daily Squee

The Courts | The Washington Monthly – The Magazine – Dahlia Lithwick

For anyone considering the 2012 election’s importance to the future of the American judiciary, one fact stands out: next November, Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be seventy-nine years old. If a Republican wins the presidential election, he or she may have an opportunity to seat Ginsburg’s successor, replacing the Supreme Court’s most reliably liberal jurist with a conservative. That would mean that the Court—currently balanced almost elegantly between four liberals, four conservatives, and the moderate conservative Anthony Kennedy—would finally tilt decisively to the right, thereby fulfilling Edwin Meese’s dream, laid out in his famous 1985 speech before the American Bar Association, of reshaping the Court around one coherent “jurisprudence of original intention.” Meese, who was then Ronald Reagan’s attorney general, wanted nine conservative constitutional originalists on the Court. He may soon get his wish.

…If a Republican successor of Obama gets to replace both Kennedy and Ginsburg, it’s fair to predict that the Roberts Court may include five or even six of the most conservative jurists since the FDR era. Following the ideological disappointment that was David Souter, Republicans have been spectacularly successful in selecting and confirming justices who consistently vote for conservative outcomes. Indeed, the replacement of moderate Sandra Day O’Connor with Samuel Alito may have produced the most consequential shift at the Court in our lifetimes…

Under the rhetorical banners of “modesty” and “humility” and “strict construction,” the rightward shift has done more to restore a pre-New Deal legal landscape than any legislative or policy change might have done.

Weekly Women’s History Image: Boudicca Remembered

This 19th century image depicts the warrior queen Boudicca (or Boadicea) in her war carriage rallying the Iceni warriors against the Romans. Why did she become such a popular cultural image in the 19th century in Great Britain, honored with poetry and statues after being nearly forgotten by medieval British historians? …

Canada’s Conservative Harper government has just torched my marriage certificate? | Pam’s House Blend

Stephen Harper’s conservative government has declared all marriages from any countries where there is not marriage equality null-and-void. …

If the bottom line is that if I’m no longer married, that presents an opportunity — we can do what we could not in 2004 — legally marry in NYC… Shove it, Harper.

More from Dan Savage, who is in the same predicament.

tags: marriage_equality asshattery

Ten Years On: Former Prisoners Describe the Horror Experienced in Guantanamo | The Dissenter

Seven hundred and seventy-five people have been imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. One hundred and seventy-one people remain in the American military detention and interrogation facility.

On the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo, here are some stories from detainees who have been freed from Guantanamo: …

Japanese Department Store May Want to Look Up the Word ‘Fucking’

If only we could have sat in on the meeting where the marketing team for this Osaka department store came up with the idea for their “Fuckin’ Sale,” …

Suze Orman On Why Same-Sex Marriage Is A Financial Issue | ThinkProgress

“My social issue affects my financial issue. And the reason why it affects my financial issue is that if I die, Kathy [Travis] — my partner — is going to lose 50 percent of what I have because we can’t be married.” Watch it: …

James O’Keefe’s Group Appears To Commit Voter Fraud In Order To Gin Up Hysteria Over Non-Existent Fraud Problem | ThinkProgress

In addition, O’Keefe’s group may have run afoul of New Hampshire’s law against hidden recording devices.

tags: lying_liars

Warren Buffett Challenges Republicans To Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is On Deficit Reduction | ThinkProgress

For the past year, Republicans have doggedly insisted that the nation’s deficit is a crisis that eclipses high unemployment. But they’ve only been willing to reduce the deficit through drastic spending cuts — and have denounced Buffett for saying tax increases on the rich need to be part of the solution.

Last fall, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that if Buffett was feeling “guilty” about paying too little in taxes, he should “send in a check to the Treasury. Now, Buffet says he’s willing to do just that to pay down the national debt — if Republicans will do their part too: …

Senate GOP Calls Fed Proposal To Reduce Mortgage Payments ‘Completely Egregious’ | ThinkProgress

Sponsor Of Alabama’s Anti-Immigrant Law Runs For Congress | ThinkProgress

Gaming for Good: Al Gore Brings Climate Reality to Video Games | ThinkProgress

Gore’s nonprofit climate education and advocacy organization, the Climate Reality Project, recently teamed up with global brand and trend consultants at PSFK to challenge design firms to create an interactive video game that uses the momentum of social media and gaming to advocate taking action on climate change and quash misinformation.

Video games and social media will play a key role in the future of fighting climate change, Gore says…

tags: global_climate_change

Who Fires Whom? – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman

No, Romney didn’t actually say that he enjoys firing people — but what he really did say, that competition works in health care because you can fire your insurance company, was actually worse.

…it’s as if Romney doesn’t understand his own health reform…

Businessmen and Economics – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman

…why does anyone believe that success in business qualified someone to make economic policy?

For the fact is that running a business is nothing at all like making macro policy. The key point about macroeconomics is the pervasiveness of feedback loops due to the fact that workers are also consumers. …

A businessman can slash his workforce in half, produce about the same as before, and be considered a big success; an economy that does the same plunges into depression, and ends up not being able to sell its goods.

Feel the Expansion – NYTimes.com – Paul Krugman

…it’s quite clear that at this point investor confidence is unregainable. Greek borrowing costs aren’t coming down to affordable levels for a very long time.

So now the austerity isn’t market-driven — it’s political, the pound of flesh official lenders are demanding for maintaining the trickle of cash. And it really is in large part about punishment; we’ve now seen a fairly impressive demonstration that big budget cuts in a depressed economy hardly even reduce the deficit…

Gov. Corbett declares war on food stamps | Philadelphia City Paper | 01/10/2012

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has announced a major assault on the food stamp program that feeds 1.8 million Pennsylvanians, including 439,245 in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare announced that on May 1, people under 60 with more than $2,000 in savings or other assets will be barred from receiving food stamps. People over 60 would have a $3,250 cap. …

Conservatives frequently bristle at the idea that poor people might have nice things while receiving public assistance (“they have a television on welfare!”). But Pennsylvania will now create the most bizarre of disincentives: dissuading poor people from saving.

tags: class_warfare pennsylvania

For a couple of years there, big time lady rappers really wanted you to use condoms – pandagon.net

What I want to point out is that TLC and Salt’n’Pepa framed portrayals and discussion of safe sex within a larger context of talking about pleasure. Their songs are fun and light-hearted and put a particular emphasis on women as sexual subjects, who have sex for their own reasons and not just because men expect them to. This is in contrast with far too many safe sex messages, which are medicalized and don’t talk about power or pleasure.

Compassionate Mitt Romney Told Unmarried Woman She’d Go to Hell if She Kept Her Baby

…the forthcoming book entitled The Real Romney says the incident happened when Romney was serving as a Mormon bishop. Peggie Hayes, 23-year-old divorced woman, found herself pregnant with her second child while she was a parishoner under Romney’s counsel in Massachusetts. One day, Romney came over to her house to offer her some religious counseling, and encouraged her to give up her child to the Church’s adoption agency after it was born, since the Mormon faith dictates that giving a baby up for adoption is preferable to single parenting. When Hayes balked at Romney’s suggestion, Mittens told her that unless she followed Church teachings, she could be excommunicated. …

Romney, of course, has denied that the incident occurred.

[This Jezebel writer compares Romney to Gollum in the last few paragraphs in terms that made me LOL. -L]

Should Vanity Fair Be a Spelling Vigilante? | Blogs | Vanity Fair – Juli Weiner

Just as New York Times public editor Arthur S. Brisbane is concerned whether his newspaper is printing lies or the truth, we here at V.F. looking for reader input on whether and when Vanity Fair should spell “words” correctly in the stories we publish.

One example: the word “maintenance” seems like it should only have one “a” in it. It should be “maintenence,” right? But it’s not. So is it our job as reporters and editors to spell it correctly?

tags: sarcasm journalism

About the “Lock in Effect” in WordPress Themes and Plugins – Konstantin Kovshenin

Futurity.org – Wanted: Gender-free job ads – May 18, 2011

Because every study participant missed the presence of gendered language, the researchers believe it’s likely that companies unintentionally place gendered job advertisements.

“Many companies want to diversify,” Gaucher says. “Companies that use highly masculine wording may, in reality, be just as welcoming to their female employees as they are to their male employees.”

Sunflowers Inspire Better Solar Power Tech | Wired Science | Wired.com

The florets of a sunflower — small flowers at the center of the petals, which mature into seeds — are arranged in a stunning spiral fashion that’s impressed mathematicians for years.

The arrangement — a form of Fermat spiral — has each floret turned at a “golden angle” – about 137 degrees – with respect to its neighbor.

The researchers twisted each mirror to be 137 degrees relative to its neighbor and it made a huge difference. The optimized layout takes up 20 percent less space than the current layout …

The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C. | Brain Pickings

On their way back to Greece from Africa in October 1900, Captain Dimitrios Kontos and his crew of sponge divers encountered a severe storm, so they decided to wait it out on the small island of Antikythera. …

California Ranks Low in Number of Government Workers – Pulse of the Bay – The Bay Citizen

California’s state and local governments are among the leanest in the nation when it comes to the number of employees on their payrolls as a proportion of the state’s population, according to the latest numbers crunched by economist Steve Levy.

Covert actions used against Iran by Israel, U.S., instead of overt strike: experts

BBC News – North Korea to display Kim Jong-il’s body permanently

BBC News – Afghan leader Karzai condemns ‘US Marines body desecration’ video

Adversaries of Iran Said to Be Stepping Up Covert Actions – NYTimes.com

ACLU Liberty Watch 2012 | Because We’re Choosing a President, Not Our Liberties.

ACLU Liberty Watch 2012 is the voice for the Constitution in the this year’s presidential election. We’re watching the issues, the candidates and the media to hold them accountable to the Constitution and our civil liberties.

Fireflies Win – win.failblog.org

tags: photography

Ten extinct animals that have been rediscovered – io9

Banking Law Prof Blog: NY Investigates Big Banks for Steering Homeowners to Expensive Force-Placed Insurance

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are under investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services. The investigation has uncovered examples of mortgage servicing units of large banks steering distressed homeowners into high-priced home insurance offered by affiliates.

Life in the margins – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

You have no driver’s license because you have nothing to drive. You have no passport because you’ve never been out of the country. You have no other photo I.D. because you have no bank account. You work and get paid under the table, a wad of cash sliding from hand to hand.

It is a life lived in the margins. And if South Carolina and a number of other GOP-controlled states have their way, it will be a life to which a significant new impediment will be added: you will not be able to vote.

…Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, South Carolina and other states and localities with histories of infringing the voting rights of African Americans are required to get federal approval before changing their voting laws. This is the first time the feds have rejected such a change since 1994.

Amazing photos show space station crossing moon – Technology & science – Space – Space.com – msnbc.com

tags: photography

Space station crew eager for private craft visit – Technology & science – Space – Space.com – msnbc.com

The astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS) are gearing up for a milestone event in February — the first visit of a commercial spaceship to the orbiting outpost.

The private spaceflight company SpaceX plans to launch its unmanned Dragon capsule to orbit Feb. 7 atop the firm’s Falcon 9 booster from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. The capsule will carry a load of food, clothing and other supplies for the six-man crew of the space station.

Future of Technology – Robots show randomness in evolution of language

In other words, there’s a tradeoff between communication efficiency and competitive robustness, the researchers note. And, randomness in evolutionary history can affect the outcome of competition between populations.

[BAD COMMA PLACEMENT BAD. -L]

Female Explorer Gets Her Due, 2 Centuries Later ? New Plant Species, Botany ? Exploration, Female Explorers | LiveScience

More than two centuries after she disguised herself as a man and set out on a journey that would make her the first woman to circle the globe, pioneering botanist Jeanne Baret is getting some long-deserved recognition.

A newly described plant species has been christened Solanum baretiae in her honor. Biologist Eric Tepe…named the newfound species after hearing about Baret’s unsung work during a National Public Radio interview with Glynis Ridley, author of the biography, “The Discovery of Jeanne Baret” (Crown, 2010)…

Baret collected thousands of plant specimens from exotic locales around the globe, and, according to Ridley, likely collected the first specimen of one of the world’s most beloved flowering plants — bougainvillea.

Cosmic Log – The secret formula for silly science

“If you were to set out and try to win an Ig Nobel Prize, you would almost certainly fail,” Abrahams told me. “To win a prize, you’ve got to do something that makes pretty much everyone laugh when they first hear about it, and then it gets into their mind enough that they just want to keep thinking about it and finding out more. It’s not that hard to make something funny, and it’s not that hard to come up with something that will make people scratch their head and wonder about it. But it’s very hard to come up with things that will do both of those.”

Roman Catholic church’s paedophile investigator jailed for possessing thousnds of child porn images | Mail Online

He was responsible for child protection at 120 churches and parish community groups for nine years.

Daily Kos: Un-Occupy Guantanamo and give the land back to Cuba

It was…as if the French had stayed around to run things after the American Revolution, which could not have been won without their help. Imagine if Paris had, after years of occupation demanded an amendment be included by the Founders in Philadelphia saying France could intervene whenever it wanted in U.S. affairs and, oh, by the way, we’d like to perpetually lease the Port of Boston. The argument for ratification with that in place might have made for interesting reading in the Federalist Papers.

FEMA to Katrina Victims: Give the Money Back

…more than six years after Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency began mailing out notices to victims of the storm that ripped through the Gulf region. The message: Give us our money back.

FEMA is asking more than 83,000 recipients of aid to reimburse the government an average of $4,622 each… The agency says that clerical or employee errors may have resulted in some victims receiving more compensation than what may now be allocated.

David Bellinger, a 63-year-old legally blind former New Orleans resident who moved to Atlanta after his home was leveled by the storm, said he “nearly had a stroke” when he received his $3,200 bill, with 30 days to pay. “I’m totally blind; I subsist entirely on a Social Security disability check. If I have to pay this money back, it would pretty much wipe out all the savings I have.”

Black Chicago Woman Took Elevator to Death in Fire

If there is one takeaway from this story, it’s that if there is a fire in your apartment, you must close the door behind you [while evacuating].

George Lucas: Red Tails Travails Highlight Racism in Hollywood

OWS, Egypt Expose Limits of Town Square Test – Miller-McCune

If, as TIME magazine declares, 2011’s Person of the Year was “The Protester,” then 2011’s Place of the Year was the town square. This makes the start of 2012 an ideal time to revisit the “Town Square Test,” which was first spelled out by the former Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician Natan Sharansky in his 2004 book, The Case for Democracy.

Soviet specialist Condoleezza Rice gave the test a boost in 2005 when she praised it in her opening statement during her Senate confirmation hearings to be U.S. Secretary of State; her boss, George W. Bush, extolled it as well.

At the heart of the Town Square Test is the notion that the difference between living in a “free” state and living in a “fear” state is clear and comes down to whether a person can go to the town square and “express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm.” …

Where Have All the Doctors Gone? – Miller-McCune

To fully understand the link between medical schools and sophisticated hospitals — to understand medical education at all — you need to go back to Abraham Flexner, an educator who conducted a detailed study of American and Canadian medical schools for the Carnegie Foundation in 1910.

Daily Kos: Hey, Bank of America, how many times do I have to tell you my husband is dead?

Really, Bank of America, it’s so thoughtful of you to ensure that banking transactions are so time-consuming and personal. You see, I have so many tasks and obligations as his widow, but these little exchanges you insist we have really help add some excitement to the otherwise monotonous grieving process.

But that’s not all. Oh no. Because despite the dozens of conversations we’ve had wherein I explain to you—again—that he can’t sign that form you need him to sign on account of him being dead, you felt that his death was no excuse for him not paying monthly fees on his old checking account you were supposed to have closed a year ago. You can imagine my surprise when I received a notice that my dead husband owed you, Bank of America, hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees because you’d been helping yourself to his money, a month at a time, until the account was emptied and then overdrawn.

Is this because I declined your generous offer to pay off his credit card? Is it because you knew I had better things to do than check to make sure that account you said you’d closed was actually, you know, closed?

Daily Kos: Buenos Aires Becomes A Tropical City

…today’s paper is full of articles… There is one about the extreme heat of yesterday…, about power outages in the city due to an overload on the electrical grid…, about living with extreme heat and changing habits, and about preventing cars from driving in the business center of Buenos Aires.

Believe it or not, none of these articles… presents the views of scientists that don’t believe in climate change.

[Provides English translations for some short quotes from Spanish-language articles. -L]

tags: global_climate_change argentina

Rock concert audience evolution – Failblog.org

tags: funny

Newcastle pub sells special beer for dogs | Metro.co.uk

The pub wanted to offer more to its canine customers than just a bowl of water and a dog biscuit.

BBC News – Letter penned by Beethoven uncovered in Germany

In the six-page document of Beethoven’s scrawled corrections, he complains about his illness and a lack of money.

Experts were already aware of the 1823 letter’s existence, but say it is of historic value. …

“It means we can look at his handwriting, which was always untidy, because his father took him out of school very early so he could concentrate on music.”

Fools rush in: liquidating the American Dream | Hullabaloo – Digby

But you can see what he’s saying there. It’s a matter of people working harder and living a “more moral life.” It’s good for ‘em. Teach ‘em the value of a real days work for a change. Make ‘em grateful for they have instead of always wanting more.

This [responding to economic crisis with "austerity"] is tough love for the rubes who have to get used to their reduced circumstances.

tags: classism

From Montana’s Supreme Court to the New York City Council, How Cities and States Are Sticking It to Citizens United by Brooke Jarvis

The Supreme Court may have declared in Citizens United v. the FEC that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, but that doesn’t mean cities and states have to be happy about it.

They’re expressing their disagreement on an increasing number of battlegrounds…

Some of the most interesting recent action has been in the courts, with lower courts — including a state Supreme Court and a federal appeals court — taking on Citizens United.

Exclusive: U.S. Redefines Rape, Updating an 80-Year-Old Characterization of the Crime – blog

The new definition is not only a vital part of accurately capturing crime statistics, but also marks a landmark moment in combating this historically minimized problem. The change means that rape will “become a crime to which more resources are allocated,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation…

Placebo Effect Stronger Than We Thought? – Miller-McCune

Because of research in recent decades, new understandings of how the brain works are undermining the assumptions that support one of the main elements of that traditional trial design: the placebo control. Finding the truth about experimental drugs — and the new medicines for diseases like Parkinson’s that patients need — now requires, he says, a better understanding of placebos.

…[Clinical testing protocols] are rigorously designed to protect patients at nearly all costs from what statisticians call a Type I error, or a false positive — concluding that a treatment is effective when in fact it is not. But Cohen maintains that for Parkinson’s, this design frequently permits Type II errors, false negatives — concluding that a treatment is not effective when in fact it is.

…recent findings…show that there is a connection between Parkinson’s and placebo use that is even deeper than hope or expectations.

…arguing that the human brain’s normal response to treatment is not experimental bias or distortion, but rather an element of natural human healing processes that are inherent in all medical interactions…

tags: science

Supreme Court Messes With Texas, Voting Rights – Miller-McCune

The problem arises (again) from a Texas redistricting plan. Last cycle, Texas re-redrew a federal court’s lines, causing Democrats to twice flee the state to gut a legislative quorum. This caused then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to set federal law enforcement on their tail, which in turn earned Mr. DeLay a formal admonishment. …

Because of past discrimination, Texas is subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which means the state must “preclear” election-related changes to ensure that they don’t reduce minority citizens’ practical ability to elect candidates of choice.

People Are Awesome: The South Carolina Coffee Shop Where Everyone Pays for Everyone Else’s Drinks – News – GOOD

It all started two years ago at Corner Perk, a small, locally owned coffee shop, when a customer paid her bill and left $100 extra, saying she wanted to pay for everyone who ordered after her until the money ran out. The staff fulfilled her request, and the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has returned to leave other large donations every two to three months. …

It took a while, but word has started to spread around the tiny coastal town, home to about 12,000 people. Now, more and more customers have been leaving money to pay for others’ food and drink.

tags: people_are_awesome

GOOD Maker

Organizations create challenges for the community, asking for whatever is needed to drive meaningful impact. …

The community submits ideas, plans, and designs to meet a given challenge. …

U.S. Citizen Charged with Terrorism Offense in Florida | Foreign Policy

Burning Our Heritage – By Adel Abdel Ghafar | Foreign Policy

Those books we were able to save, we handed to the army unit that was blocking Sheikh Raihan Street. The irony of handing the books to the army while uniformed soldiers and plainclothes police continued their attack on us from the adjacent roof was lost on nobody.

Egypt lost much more than a building that night.

…it is clear that the only people to gain from this shameful disaster are the elements of the old regime who benefit from this state of chaos and anarchy, which is slowly but surely chipping away public support for the protesters, who were once depicted as heroes but are now increasingly portrayed as thugs and vandals seeking to destroy and destabilize Egypt.

tags: 2011_protests egypt

The Problem Prisoners – By Joshua E. Keating | Foreign Policy

Ten of the most controversial detainees still held at Guantánamo.

2 Oakland Officers Disciplined for Occupy Misconduct – The Bay Citizen

The Oakland Police Department has disciplined two officers for violating department policy during the Occupy Oakland protests, The Bay Citizen has learned. The suspension of one officer and the demotion of his supervisor are the first known disciplinary actions OPD officials have taken in the wake of hundreds of police misconduct complaints following the Occupy demonstrations.

The department suspended Officer John Hargraves for 30 days for covering his name badge with a piece of black tape, a violation of California law. Lieutenant Clifford Wong was demoted to sergeant for failing to properly report the incident, according to police sources.

The department is still investigating the case of protester Scott Olsen, who suffered a fractured skull during an Oct. 25 clash between protesters and Oakland police. Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, is recovering from his injuries and has hired a lawyer, who sat in on Olsen’s first interview with Oakland police investigators several weeks ago.

tags: 2011_protests united_states occupysolidarity california

Meet the molecule responsible for giving Earth all of its oxygen – io9

tags: science

The Fluffington Post – New Invisibility Cloak for Dogs Not Ready for Prime Time

Workers at Xbox 360 plant threaten mass suicide • News • Eurogamer.net

Almost 1 In 3 U.S. Warplanes Is a Robot | Danger Room | Wired.com

6 Small Math Errors That Caused Huge Disasters | Cracked.com

Legos for Girls: A Reprise | The Mary Sue

Lego Friends paints “girl things” only slightly more progressively than most Bratz sets. Lego Friends is tacitly separate from the rest of the considerably diverse Lego universe (town and city, space,robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west, not to mention licensed sets), and the mini-figures themselves are incompatible (in terms of the actual fastening joints of their hands and accessories).

tags: sexism

Super-fat galaxy cluster confirms existence of dark matter and dark energy – io9

The cluster is the result of two smaller clusters colliding into each other at several million miles per hour. It appears that this collision is actually pulling normal matter away from its dark counterpart, as the galaxy’s hot gas has been slowed down by the collision while the dark matter keeps moving at the same speed.

Rutgers astronomer Felipe Menanteau, who led the study of this cluster, dramatically describes El Gordo as “the most massive, the hottest, and gives off the most X-rays of any cluster found so far at this distance or beyond.” As the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity, galaxy clusters are an effective tool for studying the presence of dark matter and dark energy throughout the universe.

tags: science photography

Google Merges Google+ Results Into Main Search | Geekosystem

From here on out, your vanilla Google search will also include personal results from your Google+ account. Obviously, if you don’t have a Google+ account, this isn’t going to affect you too much; but even if you have one you don’t frequently use it, you’ll probably start noticing a few changes. The three big elements as Google lays them out are the addition of Personal Results, Profiles in Search, and People and Pages.

Women Are More Likely Than Men To Purchase Technology Products | The Mary Sue

The Courage to Be Wrong: Reading the Biography of Stephen Hawking | Degrees of Freedom, Scientific American Blog Network

Throughout much of his career, Hawking expressed the belief that humanity was on the verge of a transformative step. He thought we were soon going to discover the ultimate set of laws that govern the universe. Along the way, physicists would reconcile various theories that seemed apt at describing some class of phenomena but not others—for example, gravitation for the formation of galaxies and quantum mechanics for the structure of atoms—and reveal a single consistent rulebook which would explain everything.

Hawking himself had given physicists some clues toward a grand unification by combining ideas from Einstein’s general theory of relativity, quantum physics and thermodynamics to understand black holes. In what is still seen as one of his most profound insights—perhaps one of the most profound of all of 20th century physics—he had calculated that black holes are not really black, but that they slowly radiate energy, losing mass in the process. …

What I found shocking in Hawking and Mlodinow’s new book was that Hawking now seemed to give up on the hope that could even be such a thing as a theory of everything. …

Perhaps, the two authors wrote, this is as good as it gets. There is no overarching way of representing reality. Physics must limit itself to a “model-dependent realism” that can capture one aspect of reality or another.

tags: science

Doomsday Clock Moved 1 Minute Closer to Midnight: Scientific American

The Fukushima nuclear disaster and interest in nuclear power from Turkey, Indonesia and the UAE raised scientists’ concern about the threat of humanity’s destruction

Before DNA, before RNA: Life in the hodge-podge world – life – 08 January 2012 – New Scientist

Take note, DNA and RNA: it’s not all about you. Life on Earth may have begun with a splash of TNA – a different kind of genetic material altogether.

Because RNA can do many things at once, those studying the origins of life have long thought that it was the first genetic material. But the discovery that a chemical relative called TNA can perform one of RNA’s defining functions calls this into question. Instead, the very first forms of life may have used a mix of genetic materials.

tags: science

Chinese tree extract stops rats getting drunk – health – 09 January 2012 – New Scientist

Extracts of a Chinese variety of the oriental raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis) could be the answer [to alcoholism]. The extracts have been used for 500 years to treat hangovers in China. Now dihydromyricetin (DHM), a component of the extract, has proved its worth as an intoxication blocker in a series of experiments on boozing rats. It works by preventing alcohol from having its usual intoxicating effects on the brain, however much is in blood.

Soon, a preparation containing DHM will be tested for the first time in people.

Graphene reveals its magnetic personality

Can organic matter behave like a fridge magnet? Scientists from The University of Manchester have now shown that it can.

[Magneto is pleased. -L]

tags: science

Scientists recreate evolution of complexity using ‘molecular time travel’

Much of what living cells do is carried out by “molecular machines” – physical complexes of specialized proteins working together to carry out some biological function. How the minute steps of evolution produced these constructions has long puzzled scientists…

tags: science

Extinct Giant Tortoise May Still Be Alive in Galapagos | Wired Science | Wired.com

Genetic traces of a supposedly extinct giant tortoise species have been found in living hybrids on the Galapagos island of Isabela.

A few pure Chelonoidis elephantopus almost certainly still exist, hidden in the island’s volcanic redoubts. The hybrids have so much C. elephantopus DNA that scientists say careful breeding could resurrect the tragically vanished behemoths. …

tags: science

Worm-Eating Plant Found—Kills via Underground Leaves

Flowering plants of the genus Philcoxia are the only known plants with the “awkward” feature of subterranean leave, said Rafael Oliveira, a plant biologist at the State University of Campinas in Brazil.

Oliveira’s new research sheds new light on the oddity, showing that the leaves act as traps for tiny roundworms, or nematodes. This worm food is vital for the plant’s survival in the nutrient-deprived savannas of central Brazil.

Casual Marijuana Smoking Not Harmful to Lungs: Scientific American

Can A Cleaner Environment Create Jobs? – Money News Story – KVIA El Paso

Last week a Maryland-based environmental group said efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay would actually create 240,000 jobs over the next several years, mainly by employing people to upgrade sewage systems.

In a recent report defending stricter mercury pollution limits on power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency said 8,000 more people would be needed to build and run the pollution control equipment than would be laid off as a result of older plants shutting down.

Economists that aren’t aligned with either industry or activist groups say that, when it comes to creating or destroying jobs, environmental regulations come out somewhere near neutral — adding costs to industry but producing benefits in public health or other areas.

But they say framing the argument just in terms of jobs is misleading, at least in times of economic expansion. This applies not only to environmental groups but also industry, like recent claims that the controversial Keystone pipeline expansion will create 20,000 jobs.

“That’s monkey math,” Trevor Houser, a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “They assume that if the money isn’t spent on that project, it will get burned in the street.”

Study establishes importance of tracking diseases associated with illegal wildlife trade

…identified evidence of retroviruses and herpesviruses in illegally imported wildlife products confiscated at several U.S. international airports… The preliminary results of the program clearly demonstrate the potential human health risk from the illegal wildlife trade at major international travel hubs as a pathway to disease emergence in animals and humans.

tags: science

Maslow’s hierarchy of internet needs « Why Evolution Is True

tags: funny

Information Diet | Congress Being Stupid on Technology is a Bigger Problem than You Think

Part of the problem with government not understanding technology is a lack of paid advocates that lobby on the technology industry’s behalf as compared to other, more entrenched interests. But the larger problem is that government doesn’t have enough access to the technology that it is supposed to regulate. I first began to learn this when I met with former federal CIO Vivek Kundra in 2009.

…I started noticing: every person working in technology in the federal government has two computers on their desk. One of them is used to display a screensaver with some official looking logo on it. It’s usually the 2006 Gateway all-in-one unit pictured above. That’s the one the government put on the desk when they got to work one day. The other one is usually a macbook or macbook pro from about 2009 or 2010. It’s the one that the worker brought from home that they do most of their work on.

Photo Pin : Free Photos for Your Blog or Website via Creative Commons

paregmenon | Dictionary.com

The juxtaposition of words that have a common derivation, as in “sense and sensibility.”

How To Search A Dumpster « forensics4fiction

I have written before about criminals using trash cans to dispose of evidence. Sometimes they do it out of habit or routine but most of the time criminals think that disposing of a body or other evidence in a dumpster is the best way to get rid of it. Truthfully, CSIs routinely look in all trash cans at the crime scene or surrounding area. They will likely even search dumpsters around the suspect’s home and work…

Searching a dumpsters sucks. It is one of the least desirable tasks assigned to a detective or CSI. Most of us would sooner attend an autopsy.

Bread and Roses Strike Centenniel – About.com Women’s History

Ten thousand workers in textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked off the job on January 12, 1912, to protest a pay cut which the owners implemented when the legislature cut the number of hours women could work.

Fifty Years of Progress? – About.com Women’s History

In 1893, Lucy Stone reflected on the progress of woman over the previous 50 years — progress that Stone herself had been part of. I find it interesting to see what a woman of that time thought was most important.

110 Years of Women Skating Champions – About.com Women’s History

Boycott SOPA for Android Scans Products, Warns You If the Manufacturer Supports SOPA

Android: We’ve discussed several ways you can stay on top of the fight against SOPA, and ways you can get around it, but Boycott SOPA is an Android app that turns your smartphone into a powerful tool to speak with your dollars, and avoid financially supporting companies that support the bill.

Once installed, use Boycott SOPA to scan the barcodes of books, CDs, magazines, DVDs, and other media to see if the producer or publisher is a member of the RIAA, MPAA, the BSA, or another organization that’s publicly supported SOPA. …

Much like the No SOPA Chrome add-on, Boycott SOPA is designed to warn you if you’re about to support a company or product that in turn supports the bill.

The Lifehacker App Directory Curates the Best Apps for All Your Gear

Lifehacker’s App Directory is a constantly maintained and updated directory of the best applications and tools for computers (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and smartphones (Android and iPhone). Want to make sure you’ve got the best of the best installed on your system? Simply click on your platform-of-choice below to get started.

Leave Yourself a Treat on Your Desk on Friday for a Better Monday Morning Start to the Workweek – LifeHacker

Speak in a Lower Pitch to Boost Your Confidence When Speaking with Authority – LifeHacker

Samsung develops emotion-sensing smartphone | ExtremeTech

The technology behind the emotion-sensing smartphone is surprisingly simple: It infers your state of mind from how you use your phone. By analyzing how fast you type, how much the phone shakes, how often you backspace mistakes, and how many special symbols are used, the special Galaxy S II can work out whether you’re angry, surprised, happy, sad, fearful, or disgusted, with an accuracy of 67.5%. …

Emotion recognition is part of a larger school of computer science called “affective computing.” In essence, it deals with computer software that can measure, interpret, and react to your feelings.

Paying a Price, Long After the Crime – NYTimes.com

A stunning number of young people are arrested for crimes in this country, and those crimes can haunt them for the rest of their lives. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Crime Commission found that about half of American males could expect to be arrested for a nontraffic offense some time in their lives, mostly in their late teens and early 20s. An article just published in the journal Pediatrics shows how the arrest rate has grown — by age 23, 30 percent of Americans have been arrested, compared with 22 percent in 1967. The increase reflects in part the considerable growth in arrests for drug offenses and domestic violence.

The impact of these arrests is felt for years. The ubiquity of criminal-background checks and the efficiency of information technology in maintaining those records and making them widely available, have meant that millions of Americans — even those who served probation or parole but were never incarcerated — continue to pay a price long after the crime. In November the American Bar Association released a database identifying more than 38,000 punitive provisions that apply to people convicted of crimes, pertaining to everything from public housing to welfare assistance to occupational licenses. More than two-thirds of the states allow hiring and professional-licensing decisions to be made on the basis of an arrest alone.

Fed hands $76.9 billion to Treasury – The Fed – MarketWatch

The Federal Reserve transferred $76.9 billion in earnings to the U.S. Treasury during 2011, the central bank announced Tuesday, a side benefit of its unprecedented efforts to stimulate the economy through asset purchases.

» “The sting of a hornet”; Edwardian hat-pin self defence

Media Ignoring Teamsters Strikes Throughout the Country | Crooks and Liars

The Teamsters is a varied union including warehouse workers, tankhaulers, solid waste workers, rail workers, public services, port workers, newspaper, magazine, and electronic media, industrial trades, freight workers, food processing, dairy, building materials and construction, bakery and laundry workers and numerous others. Currently hundreds of Teamsters members are on strike across the country and some of them have been on strike for more than a year…

The Remarkable Public Sector Depression | FDL News Desk

It irks me to hear Democratic officials hail “private sector jobs numbers” or the “rebound in the private sector,” as if there are somehow two economies out there, and the amount of jobs up or down in the one where governments happen to sign the paychecks somehow has no bearing on the other. When cops and firefighters and teachers and nurses lose their jobs, they lose purchasing power. They lose the ability to hire private contractors or visit private businesses for the purchase of goods and services. Public employees don’t use a different currency or a different set of businesses. You cannot divorce them from the private sector.

And writing the public sector out of the equation like this really obscures the incredible nature of the depression in public sector jobs over the past few years. While looking for something else, I found this chart from Calculated Risk…

Kansas: GOP House Speaker prays for President’s death, calls First Lady “Mrs. YoMama” | Pam’s House Blend

[What. the fucking. fuck. -L]

tags: wtf asshattery racism extremism

How to tattoo an ant in the name of science – io9

This is the most endearingly strange thing you’ll watch all day. Andrew Quitmeyer, a PhD student at Georgia Tech, has alerted us to his handy video tutorial on painting ants for scientific experiments. …

Those readers with vise-like memories may remember Andrew’s previous project, the giant duck head that vomits candy at children.

tags: video science

Under New Internet Rules, URLs Like AboveTheLaw.YourMom Will Soon Be Available « Above the Law

At IKEA, ‘In Stock’ Doesn’t Mean ‘We’ll Actually Get It Down For You’ – The Consumerist

Gingrich’s Firm Refuses to Release Freddie Mac Contract – Businessweek

A lawyer representing a consulting firm founded by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said today he was barring the release of a contract between the Republican presidential candidate and Freddie Mac.

Gingrich said last week that it was up to his partners in his former company, the Center for Health Transformation, to determine whether to release the documents. Earlier, he said he would be happy to release the contract, yet couldn’t make it public because Freddie Mac, the mortgage company now under U.S. conservatorship, refused to waive a confidentiality agreement.

Freddie Mac officials said last week that Gingrich was “welcome” to release the contract, under which his consulting firm was paid at least $1.6 million over eight years for his services.

Map of Reddit | FlowingData

Electronics Makers Have Worst Labor Practices of Any Industry, Says Report – Technology Review

Intel backs ultra-light laptops with new age controls

US chip giant Intel on Monday heralded a coming wave of affordable high-powered, thin laptops that could double as tablet computers and be controlled by gestures or spoken commands.

Intel vice president Mooly Eden showed off coming “ultrabooks” by Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Samsung, Toshiba, LG and Hewlett Packard as well as a curiously innovative prototype Nikiski laptop powered by yet-to-be-released Windows 8 software.

Bruce Judson: The Foreclosure Crisis: A Nation in Denial

Last week, a number of important events occurred in Washington, including important recess appointments by President Obama. However, the most noteworthy event did not make front page news: the Federal Reserve’s (apparently) unsolicited memo to the committees of Congress that oversee financial services warning of the dangers the current housing market poses for the economy.

This represents an extraordinary action and underscores both the seriousness of the continuing crisis and the absence of meaningful discussion of the problem in Washington. Bernanke’s memo reviewed federal actions to date and effectively concluded that they were unlikely to solve this national tragedy.

tags: real_estate_crisis

10 Stubborn Body Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science

Stone Age temple found on Orkney which predates Stonehenge | A Blog About History – History News

The discovery of a Stone Age temple complex on Orkney may rewrite the archaeological records of ancient Britain.

librarian.net » Blog Archive » Getting serious about SOPA – what librarians need to do

…understand how this bill is supposed to work, be clear in our opposition to it as a profession, work with other people to inform and educate others so that people can make their own informed choices. Here is a short list of links to get you started.

New High-Quality Free Fonts (2012 Edition) – Smashing Magazine

squee!Book (beta)

[Make an eBook]

You can upload a file, copy your story from URL(s) or paste the text directly into the wysiwyg below.

tags: utility

Lawsuit Against Frito-Lay: “All-Natural” Means You Shouldn’t Be Using Genetically Modified Ingredients – The Consumerist

Santorum: Climate Change is a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy | Mother Jones

The emergence of talent: genius and precocity : The New Yorker

Prodigies like Picasso, Galenson argues, rarely engage in that kind of open-ended exploration. They tend to be “conceptual,” Galenson says, in the sense that they start with a clear idea of where they want to go, and then they execute it. “I can hardly understand the importance given to the word ‘research,’ ” Picasso once said …

But late bloomers, Galenson says, tend to work the other way around. Their approach is experimental. “Their goals are imprecise, so their procedure is tentative and incremental,” …

When Cézanne was painting a portrait of the critic Gustave Geffroy, he made him endure eighty sittings, over three months, before announcing the project a failure. (The result is one of that string of masterpieces in the Musée d’Orsay.) …

Galenson’s idea that creativity can be divided into these types—conceptual and experimental—has a number of important implications.

…the late bloomer will resemble a failure: while the late bloomer is revising and despairing and changing course and slashing canvases to ribbons after months or years, what he or she produces will look like the kind of thing produced by the artist who will never bloom at all. …

If you read “Everything Is Illuminated,” you end up with the same feeling you get when you read “Brief Encounters with Che Guevara” — the sense of transport you experience when a work of literature draws you into its own world. Both are works of art. It’s just that, as [writers], Fountain and Foer could not be less alike. Fountain went to Haiti thirty times. Foer went to Trachimbrod just once. …

Sharie was [Ben Fountain’s] wife. But she was also — to borrow a term from long ago — his patron. That word has a condescending edge to it today, because we think it far more appropriate for artists (and everyone else for that matter) to be supported by the marketplace. But the marketplace works only for people like Jonathan Safran Foer, whose art emerges, fully realized, at the beginning of their career…

Cézanne didn’t just have help. He had a dream team [of patrons]…

Social media in the 16th Century: How Luther went viral | The Economist

New post from Martin Luther

The start of the Reformation is usually dated to Luther’s nailing of his “95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31st 1517. The “95 Theses” were propositions written in Latin that he wished to discuss, in the academic custom of the day, in an open debate at the university. …

By stamping out isolated outbreaks of opposition swiftly, autocratic regimes discourage their opponents from speaking out and linking up. A collective-action problem thus arises when people are dissatisfied, but are unsure how widely their dissatisfaction is shared, as Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, has observed in connection with the Arab spring.

A Navajo Response to Racism Against Mexicans YouTube Video – ICTMN.com

Earlier this week, a YouTube video showcasing two Caucasian females using racist terminology and vulgar language in reference to Mexicans began to go viral. …

The first [video response] here was uploaded by kaylajoytom1, titled “Native American Response to Racist White Girls in Arizona.” The young intelligent female addresses many of the issues that came out of the initial video, but the biggest one was the idea that whites were here first.

tags: video racism

ImmigrationProf Blog: Some Positive Changes, But the Deportation Beat Goes On

One would think that the U.S. government might conclude that immigration enforcement efforts might be reduced (and money saved) given that migration patterns, due to the lagging U.S. economy, are changing dramatically. Mexican migration patterns reportedly are changing, with the estimated net migration to the United States at or near zero. …

Photoshop for beginners #7 – Layer Masks

tags: video

Florida Proposed Abortion Ban Would Put Doctors In Prison for Life | RH Reality Check

BBC News – Jamaica ‘to drop the Queen as head of state’

Jamaica’s new prime minister says she wants to remove Queen Elizabeth as head of state.

BBC News – Syria ‘will strike back’ after suicide blast – BBC

Syria has warned it will “strike back with an iron fist” after a suicide attack killed at least 26 people in Damascus.

Mathematicians Answer Minimum Clue Sudoku Question | Geekosystem

It’s official. There are no Sudoku puzzles with 16 clues or fewer, and it took about a year to figure that out. Gary McGuire and his crew at University College Dublin were the ones who spearheaded the campaign to find an answer to this eternal question and wound up solving it with brute force. Well, brute force, a little ingenuity, and 7.1 million core-hours of processing time on a machine with 640 Intel Xeon hex-core processors.

…this may seem sort of like a fool’s errand, or just random mathematical wankery, but the things the team learned about reducing the sample pool through symmetrical comparison could have applications in things like gene expression analysis or network and software testing.

Elsevier-funded NY Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney Wants to Deny Americans Access to Taxpayer Funded Research | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine

Short Sharp Science: Look into the eyes of a rare ancient African sculpture

If they exist at all, most unglazed clay objects from ancient times are now rubble, mere fragments of their former glory.

This terracotta head, at around 2000 years old, is a rare exception. Excavated from a village in Nigeria, this is one of the best-preserved examples of its kind ever discovered. It is a product of the Nok culture that flourished from about 1000 BC to AD 500, when it mysteriously died out, and provides examples of the earliest figurative art in sub-Saharan Africa.

Archaeologists Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp of the Goethe-University Frankfurt in Germany uncovered the head during the 2010 field season. It was found in Kushe, a small village about 150 kilometres north of the capital Abuja. Amazingly, this specimen was very close to the surface – only 60 centimetres down.

The Nok terracottas are a mystery. …

Why we shouldn’t let Google (or anyone else) claim their private services are public spaces – Boing Boing

Conduct rules are, by and large, a good thing for any private venue that wants to avoid turning into a cesspool. They’re desirable in all sorts of other private contexts, too; a good example is a newspaper that doesn’t want to publish every deranged Letter to the Editor that comes in, or a quiet restaurant that needs to turf out an abusive patron. Guests in your home can’t demand the right to say anything they like in your lounge.

Likewise, deleting offensive content would be just fine if Google stopped marketing Plus as a public venue where you (rather than Google) can express your “real life” personal identity. …

By doing this, Google’s encouraging a kind of double-think. It’s private in all the respects that serve Google’s business interests and protect it from liability and risk, but public in all the respects that make us want to use it. But in trying to have its cake and eat it, Google ends up staking an implicit claim to quality-control over what people think is public speech.

It’s telling that Tom offers shoppings malls as an example of a “public” place similar to Google+. In fact, almost all malls are entirely private settings…

Google might not be evil, but there are plenty of evil people who stand to benefit from the blurring of public and private life; and who’d love to take advantage of the systems it’s building to maintain a close eye on all of it.

Santorum: No One Has Ever Died Because They Didn’t Have Health Care | The New Civil Rights Movement

[Usually I feel icky about linking this site because its name  appropriates a chunk of the anti-racist cause while the site itself has (afaict) nothing to do with ending racism. But I'm linking this because it sources its claims. -L]

Inri137 comments on I’m not as smart as I thought I was. – reddit

It’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking that “being smart” is what determines our performance. In so many ways, it’s the easiest possible explanation because it demands so little of us and immediately explains away our failings. …

You got A’s because you studied or because the classes were easy. You got a B probably because you were so used to understanding things that you didn’t know how to deal with something that didn’t come so easily. I’m guessing that early on you built the cognitive and intellectual tools to rapidly acquire and process new information, but that you’ve relied on those tools so much you never really developed a good set of tools for what to do when those failed. This is what happened to me, but I didn’t figure it out until after I got crushed by my first semester of college. I need to ask you, has anyone ever taken the time to teach you how to study? And separately, have you learned how to study on your own in the absence of a teacher or curriculum? These are the most valuable tools you can acquire because they are the tools you will use to develop more powerful and more insightful tools. …

You’re so young, way too young to be worried about not being smart enough. Until you’re so old you start going senile, you have the opportunity to make yourself “smarter.” And I put that in quotes because “smart” is really just a way of saying “has invested so much time and sweat that you make it look effortless.”

The Ultimate History of Cute Robots – io9

Debbie Cook, Former Scientology Executive, Blasts Church Leadership In Email (VIDEO) – Huffington Post

Criminal serving his sentence with monks pleads to be sent back to prison… because monastery life is too hard | DailyMail.co.uk

Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls – YouTube

7 Reasons America’s Mental Health Industry Is a Threat to Our Sanity | | AlterNet

[The] status quo that includes drug company corruption, pseudoscientific research and a “standard of care” that is routinely damaging and occasionally kills young children. If that sounds hyperbolic, then you probably have not heard of Rebecca Riley, and how the highest levels of psychiatry described her treatment as “appropriate and within responsible professional standards.” …

A generation ago, psychiatrists admitted that their diagnoses were unreliable and agreed that this was a major scientific problem. So in 1980, in an attempt to eliminate this embarrassment, they created the DSM-III with concrete behavioral checklists and formal decision-making rules, but they failed to correct the problem. Psychiatric diagnoses remain unreliable, but now psychiatry no longer talks about the unreliability problem.

If a measurement is a reliable one, then clinicians trained with it should be in high agreement on the diagnosis.

National Geographic Photography Contest Winners: 2011 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

tags: photography

BBC News – Australian ‘stolen car’ parks itself in closed garage

Adelaide police say they think the car rolled down an incline in the car park, across a street and into a garage forcing itself under the roller doors.

The door closed behind it and the car remained undetected for 17 days until the home-owners returned from holiday.

Free Technology for Teachers: Mix Your Own NPR Podcast

Yesterday, Vicki Davis published a great post titled How to Improve Your Thinking With a Podcatcher. Her post reminded me of a neat service that fans of NPR might like. NPR’s mix your own podcast service allows anyone to create their own unique collection of podcasts from NPR’s library of thousands of podcasts. To use NPR’s mix your own podcast service simply visit the page, name your podcast, select keywords and content, and then subscribe to your new custom podcast.

Information Diet | Why Horses Are Not in the Constitution

Neither the word “gun” nor “rifle” appear in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or Federalist Papers nor does the word “newspaper” or “web site.” But guns, rifles, newspapers and yes, websites are vital for the health of our nation. Of course, it does mention the words “press” in the first amendment to the constitution, and the word “arms” in the second, and those are the things that give us the right to have our guns, rifles, newspapers and websites.

That, to me, seems to be the conclusion of Vint Cerf’s op-ed in the New York Times yesterday — that we shouldn’t tie a particular technology with fundamental rights.

…the United States Postal Service is one of the few government agencies required by the United States Constitution. …

This country was founded upon the principles of universal access to a network. It’s been vital to the underpinnings of commerce and democracy, and while “access to the Internet” may not specifically be a human right, connection to the network of citizens has been a civil right that’s been vital to our democracy since the very beginning.

The Richard Feynman Trilogy: The Physicist Captured in Three Films | Open Culture

Between 1981 and 1993, documentary producer Christopher Sykes shot three films and one TV series dedicated to the charismatic, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988). …

…The Pleasure of Finding Things Out…features Feynman talking in a very personal way about the joys of scientific discovery, and about how he developed his enthusiasm for science. About the program, Harry Kroto (winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry) apparently once said: “The 1981 Feynman [production] is the best science program I have ever seen. This is not just my opinion – it is also the opinion of many of the best scientists that I know who have seen the program. It should be mandatory viewing for all students whether they be science or arts students.”

[Also, click through to the MetaFilter discussion and links. -L]

Information Diet | Why Hungry Academy Matters

Living Social’s Hungry Academy is really important and you should pay close attention to it, as it’s success might be a great example of Tim O’Reilly’s idea that successful companies create more value than they capture.

For those unfamiliar, Living Social is likely the fastest growing technology business in Washington, DC that’s run into a problem: they cannot find engineers in the DC area quickly enough. So instead of uprooting and moving to Silicon Valley or some other more tech-dense city, Living Social is taking a different approach. They’re trying to create more developers. Hungry Academy’s goal is to take 24 driven people without development skill, and turn them into developers. And they’ll employ them, full-time, while they’re undergoing training. …

Through their work with JumpStart Lab, they’re actually publishing a lot of their course materials and other byproducts of the classes. …

If you know somebody that might like a career change, and, well, wants to get paid to have a technical education. Encourage them to apply. The deadline is Monday.

Censored Books

This site deals with book censorship attempts which actually resulted in some action, even if it was later reversed.

Freedom of speech is for everyone, and includes the freedom to say “I don’t think this belongs in the library,” just as it also includes the freedom to say “sorry, but the library is for everyone in the community, including people who find this book useful” or “I can understand that you wouldn’t want your child reading books on that subject, and I can respect your opinion, but some parents do want their children reading books on that subject.”

I put this site together because I didn’t like the sites I found about banned books–most of the information I found included challenges which didn’t result in any change in access to the books, and none of the sites were hyperlinked in ways I wanted (e.g. stories by author, by challenge reason, or by action taken).

Hypatia – Biography – About.com Women’s History

philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician

From the little historical information about Hypatia that survives, it appears that she invented the plane astrolabe, the graduated brass hydrometer and the hydroscope, with Synesius of Greece, who was her student and later colleague.

Top Women’s History Articles 2011 – About.com Women’s History

If Libraries Didn’t Exist, Would Publishers Be Trying To Kill Book Lending? | Techdirt

A familiar pattern emerges. Small, innovative publishers who are ready to adapt, reap the benefits by meeting the growing demand for ebooks at local libraries – and doubtless picking up knock-on sales as a result. Meanwhile, big, sclerotic publishers resist trying out new business models, preferring to make the use of digital formats for lending as “inconvenient” as possible – in the forlorn hope that readers will just give up and buy something. We all know how that story ends.

Audrey Hepburn’s Screen Test for Roman Holiday (1953) | Open Culture

Hepburn’s adolescence was hardly suited for a princess. Living in the Dutch town of Arnhem during World War II, she experienced the harsh German occupation firsthand and suffered from malnutrition, acute anemia, respiratory problems, and edema by the war’s end. It was a formative experience that later made her a devoted activist for children’s rights.

tags: video

Inheritance Systems (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Organisms inherit various kinds of developmental information and cues from their parents. The study of inheritance systems is aimed at identifying and classifying the various mechanisms and processes of heredity, the types of hereditary information that is passed on by each, the functional interaction between the different systems, and the evolutionary consequences of these properties.

It is now common to identify heredity with the transmission of genes, or even more concretely with the transmission of DNA sequence, from parents to offspring. It is, however, clear on reflection that there are other ways in which offspring may receive from parents resources or cues that affect their development. This is particularly apparent in humans…

Question #166: My mom is being a jerk about what I name my baby. « CaptainAwkward.com

“Mom, you had the chance to choose any baby names you wanted….when you had kids. “

We’ll be rolling out Fan Mail | Tumblr Staff

We’ll be rolling out Fan Mail — a new interblog messaging service — over the next few days for everyone.

You can send unlimited Fan Mail to the blogs you follow and customize each message.

10 Ways to Trade Your Old Electronics for Cash – Mashable

How Can I Organize My RSS Feeds So They’re More Manageable? – LifeHacker

How 4 Business Students Took on the Eyewear Industry [VIDEO] – Mashable

When four friends met in business school and discovered they shared a common problem — an aversion to paying hundreds of dollars for eyeglasses — they realized there was a business opportunity in it. The group founded Warby Parker, an innovative startup that aims to revolutionize how people buy eyeglasses. Warby sells directly to the public, via their website, allowing them to bypass retailers and sell their frames and lenses for $95. …

This Online Coding Contest Could Get You a Job Interview With Facebook, Apple and Amazon

Programmer database startup Interviewstreet is hosting an online coding challenge called CodeSprint beginning Friday, and 75 technology companies will be looking for employment candidates on its leaderboard.

Coders who sign up for the challenge will receive an email on Friday evening when a set of programming problems becomes available. As they solve problems throughout the weekend, they will earn points and can see how they stack up against other participants. …

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Vows to Learn Code in 2012 – Mashable

More than 170,000 people have signed up for Codecademy’s challenge to learn how to code in 2012, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of them. …

Codecademy turns learning JavaScript into an interactive game. Anybody who signs up for Code Year will receive one of these programming lessons each week in their email inbox.

How to Access the Best New Features in Google Analytics – Mashable

Payment From Class Action Case Arrives Without Warning & Looks Like Junk Mail – The Consumerist

There are 10 million of you out there who might have checks coming to you as part of a class action lawsuit settlement, but unless you keep a very close eye on your mail, you might end up tossing it with your junk mail.

Hackers Steal 45,000 Facebook Passwords & Logins

A rampant worm by the name of Ramnit has stolen login and password information for 45,000 Facebook users, mostly in the UK and France. Prowling the 800-million-strong social network, the worm eats user names, passwords and browser cookies. It also acts as a backdoor, meaning a hacker can attack any computer that has already been infected. According to the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, Ramnit infects Windows executables, Microsoft Office and HTML files.

Geek Out for NASA – ReadWriteWeb

Today, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration released code.nasa.gov into “early alpha.” …

The four active projects, all with GitHub links, are “OpenMDAO,” “World Wind Java,” “Vision Workbench” and “StereoPipeline.” Some of the several dozen other projects yet to go live are “Lunar Mapper v1,” “ROBUS-2: A fault-tolerant broadcast communication system for modular avionics” and “The Core Flight Executive (cFE) Version 6.0.”

Things We Saw Today: Mutant Disney Princesses | The Mary Sue

Amy Mebberson never ceases to amaze us with her Disney/comic book combos! Here are her Mutant Princesses featuring Tiana as Storm, Belle as Rogue and Ariel as Scarlet Witch.

Letters of Note: King, like all frauds your end is approaching

In November of 1964, fearful of his connection to the Communist Party through Stanley Levison, the FBI anonymously sent Martin Luther King the following threatening letter…

The Fluffington Post – STUDY: Cats Now Leading Cause of Computer Failure

These predictions for the future from 1900 are eerily accurate – io9

…John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. decided to give clairvoyance a go by asking “the wisest and most careful” thinkers from “the greatest institutions of science and learning” what they thought might transpire over the course of the 20th century. And while Watkins doesn’t mention who these “wise and careful” minds are, it’s downright impressive how many of these predictions have actually come to pass in the 100 years (well, 112, now) since this column was written.

A zebra shark has produced babies by “virgin birth” four years in a row – io9

Warren Baverstock, the aquarium’s curator, says that it’s likely other captive shark species possessed this ability all along, but it was simply assumed that the eggs they laid were duds. This ability to reproduce even in the complete absence of males is likely another example of the remarkable evolutionary toolkit that the various shark species possess. It’s also another way in which sharks are completely unstoppable, invincible killing machines, but I suppose that’s a somewhat less scientific piece of analysis.

SF vs SF – Boing Boing

…what’s the difference between strategic foresight and science fiction?

I could be cynical here, and tell you that the difference is the paycheck. Strategic foresight pays more, because the clients often have budgets for research, innovation, and/or strategy. Publishers also have budgets, but they’re smaller and the competition for a piece of them is ferocious.

The real difference from the writer’s perspective is the degree of freedom afforded by each context.

Delightfully weird Banach-Tarski video will make you wish you were a bigger math geek

Still confused? Me too. But don’t let that stop you from appreciating the video…members of the University of Copenhagen mathematics department exploit the Banach-Tarski paradox, decomposing and reassembling a multitude of oranges to the (slightly modified) tune of Duck Sauce’s “Barbara Streisand.”

The Fluffington Post – Puerto Rican Kitten Finds Shelter Amid Harrowing Storm

Let’s Hope Hogwarts Doesn’t Have Facebook: Social Advice From Every House | The Mary Sue

Cumberbatch and Clarke Join Abrams’ Star Trek 2 | The Mary Sue

…Noel Clarke (who played Mickey Smith on Doctor Who) has just been cast in J.J. Abrams‘ sequel to Star Trek. That’s not all. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Hobbit) has also been cast…

We will just have to be patient. Insanely patient.