The American Anthropological Association recommends this article on what anthropologists have determined about marriage around the world.
Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Anyone who creates Panties with a Purpose is all right by me.
Perhaps they should coordinate with Barlow's DanceMob and really shake things up. So to speak.
As cynical as I am about the post-PATRIOT government, I was still shocked to hear that the Justice Department redacted this line from an ACLU court filing:
"The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.' Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent."
So, they abused "domestic security" privileges to remove a Supreme Court statement condemning the very same abuse of privilege.
I have no response to that...
I just came across the BBC's "Learning Site", featuring fun, educational games and even online classes. For some reason, I think this may especially be kk's cup o' tea (har har).
(I'm off to try the Italian course!) (Or maybe English, since I split an infinitive.)
...the price. It's a real Apples-to-apples comparison between comparable Dell (sorry, Jaime) and Apple offerings, based solely on price. (Can you spot the one flawed point?)
Some feedback on the article pointed out one flaw in his reasoning, something I spotted but couldn't articulate to myself. He says that Dell offers "just a monitor" but that Apple offers some kind of wonder-display. The Apple displays are great, but the Dell 20" really is both cheaper and more versatile, feature-wise. The flaw in the flaw? Dell doesn't offer 23" or 30" models at all, and someone looking to do HD cinema work would need that 30" to display a full frame.
Oh, and there's the other argument, that one could buy a complete computer from Dell for $500, while the cheapest eMac would cost $800. I could also buy a C64 for $10, but that doesn't mean it's useful for anything.
Ever wonder what evaporated cane juice really is? (If you've never seen the term before, it's generally listed in the ingredients of natural foods instead of sugar.) I originally thought, "Wait a minute... that's just sugar!" Kind of, but most sugar isn't vegan because of the way it's processed. So it's not as different as stevia, but it's still something to watch for.
(Sorry, these things cross my mind when I'm drinking tea.)
If you like the way Google has been modifying its logo to celebrate the Olympics (I have been enjoying it), you can see them all at the archives page.
I just (re)discovered that a flight to Barcelona from San Diego would take 14 hours. The flight back from Milan would take 16, and neither is counting the extra time due to security, check-in, and delays. Even the 7-hour flight to Hawaii was a challenge for Ben. Luckily, the Berkeley Parents Network has a really informative page on surviving long flights with small children.
Look! It's an online version of Twenty Questions. You come up with the object and the computer guesses. It's fun!
I LOVE this kind of stuff. It fascinates me. No, we don't all share the same number system, nor even the ability to draw a straight line.
Rant: Why has no one done anything with this Nov. 20, 2002 George W. Bush quotation? Bob Woodward used it in his book and the Washington Post, and I heard Bush saying it on 60 Minutes (It was what turned my lifelong Republican mom against Bush!). I think someone like MoveOn needs to just run an ad with a photo of Bush and his following statement: "I'm the commander, I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation...." Any idea how to get this idea to the right organization?
Phil Agre has written an excellent article on Conservatism, both defining what it is and illustrating its opposition to democracy and equality.
Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple...
OK, a question for the jewelry enthusiasts among you. Does it matter if a diamond was mined in Africa or manufactured in Florida ? If diamonds stop being expensive and rare, are they still beautiful? Are they still desirable?
...against blog spam, at least. Thanks to MT-Blacklist and diligent spam-swatting by our authors, this site has sucessfully repelled thousands of attempts to hijack comments pages. Good job!
Now if I could just get something that effective for my e-mail...
Space Daily has an engaging overview of X Prize progress, including both the trials and the triumphs of the frontrunners. Even the mistakes are exciting, as fun to follow as the series of progressively-more-impressive rocket tests in "October Sky". Go teams!
While roaming a mall-based Waldenbooks yesterday, I happened upon a display of books promoted as "paranormal romance." The great majority of them in the store were vampire romances, which really caught my attention since I'm teaching "Death, Burial and Culture" this fall and want my students to do projects on folklore surrounding the dead (or undead, as the case may be). So I, uh, bought one... For research purposes only, of course (Oh, like I'm supposed to pass up something titled, "A Girl's Guide to Vampires").
To restore my now-tattered academic credentials, here's a fairly serious literary analysis of this subgenre by Lee McClain.
Twenty years ago, excited by the Summer Olympic Games being in Los Angeles (and by playing Summer Games on the Apple //c), some friends and I recreated the Olympics in our own neighborhood. Each of us picked a country to represent, and we competed in a series of (probably very lame) "events" to determine who would get the (probably plastic) "gold medal". Like the actual Olympics, we spent much more time and effort on the rules and ceremonies than on the actual sports, but that wasn't the point.
Which country did I choose? Greece. In truth, I didn't know much about Greece. I was impressed by the idea of a millenia-old Olympic tradition, and I was probably more than a little influenced by a miniseries on the 1896 Olympics that was on around the same time. Besides, they had a cool flag which worked well in blue marker on graph paper. I participated in all the "events" with that flag pinned to my shirt (you could still see the graph lines, seriously), and it made me feel like I was a part of something grand and pure.
A few years later, a classmate of mine wore an "Athens 1996" t-shirt, and it was an idea that resonated. I felt that returning the Games to their birthplace would fit both the games and the place, especially since tradition is so much of what makes the games A Big Deal and not just another track and field event. Athens didn't get picked for the '96 games, in part because of the major infrastructure issues they're still trying to resolve for the '04 games, but eventually tradition and that cool flag won out.
It's funny, I was originally going to write a rant about how the Olympics has become more known for scandals, draconian rules, and corporate sponsorship than cooperation and sportsmanship. After watching the 2004 opening ceremonies (gotta love Björk's dress), however, I couldn't help but see the real draw of the Olympics: togetherness, courage, and that ol' International Spirit.
Hey, kids. I came across the work of Andy Goldsworthy in a magazine and decided that you guys would love to see it. He interacts with nature to make beautiful, non-damaging art and the results are really lovely.
I know Colin Powell is part of the Evil Empire, but he's the one I think has the most chance at redemption. As an example of his potential for coolness, he's posing with a black cat for Friday the Thirteenth. I don't have a photo of the kitty yet, but it's a Bombay named Colin Powell.
Ben writes:
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"I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there. So, I certainly wouldn't imitate it." --Alan Keyes, on Fox News, 2000.
[quote via BAGnewsNotes]
It's fair trade, organic tea blended by a single mother in Ojai who gives workshops to women about starting their own businesses. And it's yummy.
To counter all this negative information I've been feeding on lately, I've just decided to alternate ranty entries with goofy/wacky/uplifting entries. The first one is an eccentric menu courtesy of Boing Boing. (I wonder if Ben counts as a fifth person?)
I don't know what makes me angrier about this Union-Tribune article, the topic or the amazingly transparent bias.
(Note: I just watched Outfoxed today, so I'm in that kind of mood.)
The thing starts with a headline of "Health providers make stand against birth control" and degenerates from there into coverage so slanted it makes me expect titles like "Brave Boy Scouts fight off Homosexual incursion" in future articles. Apparently the big bad birth control proponents are harassing brave pharmacists who are standing up to them by refusing to kill innocent unborn children with dangerous chemicals. Or, without the paranoia glasses on, some pharmacists are being reprimanded because they refused to a) fill birth control prescriptions or b) refer customers to pharmacists who would do so.
The half-truths, non-sequiturs and quotes out of context are thick on the ground. Gems like, "Some medical experts wrestle over whether, and which, measures of contraception are ethical," and, "I don't want to be willfully killing any human," make it sound like actual thought has been put into these acts, rather than the religious knee-jerk reactions they are. The absolute worst part is that the U-T thought this idiocy was worthy of today's front page, at the very top. Sigh. The only comfort I find is the idea that this is just biased reporting from an arch-conservative one-paper town, and not representative of the rest of the country. At least I can hope.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."