February 2010
NOW Magazine: Heavy handout →
An insider at USAID who wishes to speak anonymously describes the situation as a Catch-22. The global portrayal of the U.S. Army as an invasion force has given way to reticence among U.S. authorities, he says. General Ken Keen, Joint Task Force Haiti commander, has told USAID the military will not show up “unless there is an incident,” meaning violence.
“If the military doesn’t help, the aid...
January 2010
Guardian: Haiti heads for debt crisis as emergency... →
But in a new study, Unctad urged the international community not to forget that emergency funds lent to poor states at the height of a crisis can become a heavy burden for years afterwards.
Unctad’s researchers analysed the impact of 21 natural disasters – between 1980 and 2008 – on poor countries that were heavily in debt. They found that meeting the costs of rebuilding leaves long-term...
On Language: Crash Blossoms →
One of my favorite crash blossoms is this gem from the Associated Press, first noted by the Yale linguistics professor Stephen R. Anderson last September: “McDonald’s Fries the Holy Grail for Potato Farmers.” If you take “fries” as a verb instead of a noun, you’re left wondering why a fast-food chain is cooking up sacred vessels. Or consider this headline, spotted earlier this month by Rick...
Westboro Baptist Church Protests, Gets Protested... →
Click through for delicious signy goodness. Like this:
Defending the height of frivolity: The Press... →
Fort Bragg also has its very own “train that doesn’t really go anywhere that tourists love to pay sickening amounts of money to ride” so I am finding the Wine Train controversy highly amusing.
this ain't livin': The Next Phase →
What people don’t seem to realize is that you can’t fix disasters by throwing money at them. Yes. Haiti needed aid immediately. And it’s good that people donated and mobilized and tried to help make that aid happen. But where was it before? Where was it when Haiti needed earthquake preparedness? Where was it when Haiti needed to overhaul its infrastructure?
And the other thing people don’t seem...
Anna Quindlen Has Met the Enemy, and it is Us
abbyjean:
newsweek:
Photo: Khue Bui for Newsweek
AQ writes on how the biggest task in politics is just getting everyone to pay attention:
At the moment the problem in Washington is us, not them, or at least how they try to figure us out. Good luck with that. One poll of former Obama supporters who abandoned the Democrats in Massachusetts showed that 41 percent of those who opposed the...
For some reason
Today I am thinking about the first time I threw someone out of my house for being disrespectful to me.
It was a strange and empowering moment; the first time I asserted that my house was my space and that I wouldn’t tolerate being mistreated there, no matter who was doing it. I was also in the strange space between life stages where I still felt very much obliged to be respectful to...
Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with "Hurt Locker" →
She is the first female director EVER to have won the Directors Guild.
Just for reference, they’ve been issuing awards since 1938.
NPR: Trafficking Fears Halt Adoptions From Haiti →
Unfortunately it’s audio-only right now, but NPR is pretty good about getting transcripts up reasonably fast. Overall, it was a pretty balanced story; the one thing NPR could have focused on more, I think, was the fact that many “orphans” aren’t orphans at all.
WatchThese dogs survived Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti!
(Here’s a link in case the video loading is squirrely.)
Joe. My. God.: Pickle Smokers & Creatures →
The TSA has launched an investigation of employees at their Orlando field office after learning of an office board game being played to mock gays, women and minorities.
Americans arrested taking children out of Haiti |... →
abbyjean:
Haitian police have arrested 10 U.S. citizens caught trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-stricken country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme, authorities said on Saturday. The five men and five women were in custody in the capital, Port-au-Prince after their arrests on Friday night.
Authorities said the Americans had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption...
The Girl on the Subway →
I point to this incident not to call out the Tumblr Staff; I already did that, repeatedly, all over Tumblr, and never received a response. I do this to point out how insidious this type of attitude is. People do make jokes about things like harassment, all the time, and when they are asked not to, they say it’s just a joke and that people should lighten up. They don’t realize that what they are...
I really wish that cats could speak human...
thecurvature:
Mink won’t eat. It’s not that she’s sick and has lost her appetite. No, quite to the contrary, she’s very hungry, and being very active about letting me know just how hungry she is, following me around, meowing an awful lot, and running over to her food bowl whenever I make any motion to even head in that general direction.
But there is food in her bowl. And she won’t eat.
We’ve...
The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures (more OK Cupid... →
There is some unfortunate and unnecessary ableist language in this article, fyi, but if you can overlook it, it’s really interesting!
thecurvature:
fuckyeahyokoono:
Question: Did John ever call you Kato and chase you around as a joke? As he was a fan of Peter Sellers? Yoko: No. But we laughed together watching Peter Sellers’ films. Oh, I see. You think he might have done that because I was another oriental? With that theory, I should have gone Heil Hitler to John, since he is white.
(Yoko QandA Day)
You guys, I love her....
Los Angeles times: Marijuana legalization backers... →
I will be interested to see how this shakes out. After we liberalized marijuana laws in Mendocino County, we saw a pretty major backlash, and a subsequent deliberalization several years later.
fuckyeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh →
kaninchenzero:
meloukhia:
Ok, fine.
Hee. ^__________^
Ok but now y’all need to FOLLOW IT!
fuckyeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh →
Ok, fine.
Suggestion
reachingtheshore:
meloukhia:
There should be a Tumblr called fuckyeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that is all skydiving pictures.
Please start this - I would totally follow you.
I am so tempted to do this, but taking on the obligation of managing yet another interwebbernetsite would be a Bad Idea. If someone was willing to coblog…
Father Dearest
So, I recently had an exchange with my father that basically went like this:
Father: I was really surprised to find out that [someone we know] is gay. He didn’t seem gay at all!
Me:…uhm, what do you mean, he didn’t “seem” gay?
Father: Well, you know, he doesn’t act gay.
I was reminded of a conversation from my young childhood in which I confidently...
On Jezebel, a fascinating series of Tweets from... →
hypotheticalthalamus asked: So, you enjoy taking photographs! I know this to be so. Do you have a favourite picture you've taken?
Suggestion
There should be a Tumblr called fuckyeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that is all skydiving pictures.
Press Democrat: Spray tanning toward a crown →
this ain't livin': Is There A Point At Which the... →
Something definitely needs to change here, because this model may become unsustainable, and content is already suffering as a result of it. The expectation of free and low-cost content has lowered standards, and the next generation of creative professionals is being reminded that their work isn’t valued anymore, at least, not in the same way. As in, the way which ends with food on the table.
The...
Hai Now You Can Ask Me Things. →
Also, how cool is it that Tumblr pops a little message up when you allow anonymous questions which basically says “hey, sometimes people are mean in the Internet! You are allowed to disable anonymous questions if you are being mean! Really, it’s ok!”
Guardian: Yes, we have no pyjamas →
This seems a pity. Supermarkets can be rather dull, I find. How refreshing to come across someone in nice stripy jimjams mulling over the bewildering choice of cereals or someone else in a lot of chiffon and ribbon weighing up an avocado or feeling some plums. I’m not quite so convinced by the bare feet, though: so many of them are unattractive, and I’m dangerous enough already with a...
The Unnecesarean: Yes, It's True: Med Students... →
via Kaninchenzero.
Metro Times: Cable TV vs America →
More than at any time in their history, the Republicans are merely the party of “No.” They stand for nothing and against nearly everything. They steadily inch closer to their neo-racist allies in the so-called “Tea Party Movement,” who lash out at liberal elites and illegal immigrants. The Tea Party crowd also hates Wall Street and the banks, which gives some Republicans a...
Los Angeles Times: RNC poised to reject candidate... →
Meeting behind closed doors in Honolulu this afternoon the resolutions committee of the Republican National Committee adopted a watered-down version of the so-called “purity” test advocated by insiders who wanted candidates to complete a check list—8 of 10 needed to pass—to receive financial or organizational help from the party’s national controlling body.
The precise wording remains to be...
Los Angeles Times: Haiti Adoptions: Keeping youths... →
The earthquake’s aftermath, though, has created a dangerous situation for children in a country that, even before the disaster, had some of the world’s weakest adoption regulations. As foreigners with generous hearts offer to adopt children orphaned by the Jan. 12 quake, relief agencies fear an increase in human trafficking in a country with a barely functioning government, a porous...
Pentagon To Announce Some "Don't Ask" Details Next... →
FAME WHORING
I know this is long, y’all, but it’s actually pretty f’in’ awesome.
amandapalmer:
i’ve had a hard time waking up lately. as soon as my brain activates, it floods with content. i’ve run out of RAM. i have too many subjects to cover. “as in life; in blog.” what’s the latin for that? i want a plaque. so, i simplify. i wanted to talk about the golden globes. later, i will...
Los Angeles Times: You're 70? Have the cheesecake. →
…a new study finds that older people may be exempt from those commands. It found that men and women ages 70 to 75 had a lower mortality rate if they were overweight than if they were normal weight.
Australian researchers looked at data from two population-based longitudinal studies and concentrated on a subgroup of 9,240 men and women who were ages 70 to 75 at the beginning of the study....
