smadin's blurbloghttps://smadin.newsblur.com/2017-08-07T14:17:39.430000ZsmadinGetting Started with Pedal Effect Circuit Design | #MusicMonday2017-08-07T14:17:39.430000Znicknormalhttps://blog.adafruit.com/2017/08/07/getting-started-with-pedal-effect-circuit-design-musicmonday/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/getting-started-with/4611:672a75">shared this story</a>
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now I want to dip my toe back into fiddling with electronics…
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<p>Cool <a href="http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4458682/Pedal-effect-circuit-design--getting-started-" target="_blank">article from EDN on pedal effects</a> – be sure to check out the references on page 3 for additional reading as well.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="https://cdn-blog.adafruit.com/uploads/2017/07/PedalEffectF1x600.png" /><br /><em>A common source drain amplifier, based on the LSK489 JFET, is one basis for a distortion pedal circuit.</em></p>
<blockquote><p>If you want to replicate the music of your favorite musicians, you will need to know the pedal effect devices they use and the circuitry within them. Furthermore, if you want to design new pedal effects that please your audience, you will need the right tools, the right design flows, the right components, some circuit know-how, and a little creativity.</p>
<p>The design of pedal effect circuits, i.e. circuits that modify the waveforms of musical instruments, is an art and science that has been practiced since the 1920s. Fundamental to the reproduction of era-specific and musician-specific music is the technology contained in these pedal effect gadgets. Different artists prefer different component technology: tubes, germanium transistors, silicon bipolar transistors, MOSFETs, diodes, JFETS, op amps or any mix thereof.</p>
<p>The passive components used in pedal effect circuits, like inductors, capacitors and resistors, complicate the process of analog sound reproduction. Of specific mystical interest to many professional musicians is the “magical inductor.” Thought to be enchanted music’s key, the magical inductor, once placed inside a circuit generates harmonics that separate it apart from all other inductors. The idea of a magical inductor keeps musicians wondering. Is music’s holy grail locked inside the pedal device of a long-ago musician? Is the magical inductor made of a special material? Is the magical inductor lost in time and do the music giants of our times have access to it? One thing most of them agree on is that the magical inductor is one of the analog Muses and not one of the digital Sirens.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4458682/Pedal-effect-circuit-design--getting-started-" target="_blank">Read more.</a></p>
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<span class="ctx-article-root"></span>theactioneer:Ethan Lurie, Hologram Man (1995)
I think that we...2017-07-11T03:30:54.710000Zhttp://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/162847437131<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/theactioneerethan-lu/1639199:2f0838">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/1639199.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> William Caxton Fan Club:</b>
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I _have_ seen it (thanks, @trashnightvideo!) and I concur with @mountain_goats on this.
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<img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/e93b5be3f19f4a10c4482b27d51974a5/tumblr_osp3z1miL31snghrzo1_500.jpg" /><br /><br /><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://theactioneer.tumblr.com/post/162846218101/ethan-lurie-hologram-man-1995">theactioneer</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Ethan Lurie, <b><i>Hologram Man</i></b> (1995)</p></blockquote>
<p>I think that we can all agree whether we’ve seen it or not – I haven’t – that <i>Hologram Man</i> is the greatest film of all time</p>Here Is a List of 10 Extremely Good Goat Beards2017-06-14T11:59:04.306000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/06/here-is-a-list-of-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/here-is-a-list-of-10/452556:f59e53">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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Today in Goats
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<div align="CENTER"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/">Modern Farmer:</a></div><p><div style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto;"><div style="display: inline-block; width: 69.69%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeardtop.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div><div style="display: inline-block; width: 30.31%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeard2-668x1024.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div><br /><div style="display: inline-block; width: 50%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeard3.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div><div style="display: inline-block; width: 50%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeard5.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div><br /><div style="display: inline-block; width: 45.49%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeard6.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div><div style="display: inline-block; width: 54.51%; padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/list-10-extremely-good-goat-beards/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/goatbeard9.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid;" /></a> </div></div><p>Also: <a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2017/06/goat-husbandry-101/">Goat Husbandry 101:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Personality: Friendly and gentle, but can be spirited<br /> Personality: Calm and affectionate<br /> Personality: Curious, friendly, and independent<br /> Personality: Easygoing and quiet<br /> Personality: Generally gentle but can be pushy with each other<br /> Personality: Social but somewhat stubborn</blockquote><p><div align="CENTER"><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/10/florida-senate-candidate-admits-to-sacrificing-goat-drinking-its-blood/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2010/08/lorax-on-the-runway/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/12/pagan-allowed-to-wear-horns-in-license-photo/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/07/baphomet-unveils-his-fearsome-troll-aspect/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/06/the-illuminati-ball/">previously</a>.</div>hey john not to be that guy but im wondering when you guys are gonna cover all star by smash mouth. im not even joking this is a serious concern. you may think im pulling your leg. memeing you for shits and giggles. sir i am not. i just think when i finally hear it i can be at peace i think. please respond2017-06-08T20:09:29.639000Zhttp://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/161591986446<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/hey-john-not-to-be-t/1639199:8cfe80">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/1639199.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> William Caxton Fan Club:</b>
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this response is beautiful
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<p>We are never going to do this. I learned my lesson with “funny” covers in the 90s. Bands generally speaking have to be really careful about doing anything funny, because people then want you to make the same joke for the rest of your life. There are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 worse problems to have, so I am not complaining, but I <i>am</i> explaining why, while it would be funny to do this, I would regret it: the next night. And the night after. And forever. People would absolutely see to it that I regretted it but good. One of the discreet joys of growing older is learning to stop yourself from doing stuff you might later regret. Other people take this weird “I regret nothing!” attitude toward everything they’ve done but I have never really understood that whole stance, if a person regrets nothing then I wonder what their whole deal is honestly. Anyway. Covers that would be totally hilarious are generally, with very occasional exceptions, off the menu, because they become millstones almost immediately. Neolithic and Upper Paleolithic citizens used millstones for grinding nuts, rhizomes, grains, and probably a lot of other stuff we don’t even know about. Did they sometimes get curious, what if I ground my finger in this millstone, fuckin’ ouch, that was stupid? I bet they did, and that’s how I’d feel if I covered “All-Star.” I have, after a long apprenticeship, finally left the Neolithic Era behind and entered, with much ceremony, my own personal Bronze Age. </p>Romney Voters2017-06-05T16:48:59.757000Znoreply@blogger.com (Atrios)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/gSBq_Cf5Y7k/romney-voters.html<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/romney-voters/33022:524a7f">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/33022.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Eschaton:</b>
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What Atrios Said. "Nice, polite Republicans" are neither nice nor polite, and Dems are wasting their time if they pursue those votes.
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Pursuing Romney voters (who?) isn't a winning electoral strategy, it's a decision about who you want <a href="https://www.blogger.com/In%20Texas,%20Abstinence-Only%20Programs%20May%20Contribute%20To%20Teen%20Pregnancies">your coalition to be</a>.<br /><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: minion-pro; font-size: 20px;">Thus, former Hillary Clinton adviser </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/01/democrats-new-crossover-voters-romney-clinton-215211" style="background-color: white; color: #5788aa; font-family: minion-pro; font-size: 20px;">Jesse Ferguson writes</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: minion-pro; font-size: 20px;"> at </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: minion-pro; font-size: 20px;">Politico,</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: minion-pro; font-size: 20px;"> Democrats should pursue Romney voters — that is, comfortable suburban professionals, mostly white, who are supposedly appalled by President Trump's antics — to win elections in the future.</span><br /></blockquote><br />The dirty little secret about "nice, polite republicans" is that they are neither nice, nor polite. Discuss. White suburbanites went for Trump. Bigly. You can argue that Hillary Clinton was, in their eyes, so horrible that they couldn't vote for her, or you have to accept that they just weren't appalled by Trump. Maybe some mix of the two. I'm not making that case, I'm just saying that Democrats have been chasing affluent suburban voters for a long time, basically because of class affinity. They're educated! They're professional! They're people like "us!" (affluent DC election professionals). They can't possibly vote for those evil racist assholes!<br /><br />Yes. Yes they can. And they do. Why the fuck do you think they live in the suburbs? (#notallpeoplewholiveinthesuburbs)<br /><br /><br />When a city decides your business is toxic to their community, buy off the state legislature to overrule them.2017-05-27T14:38:56.251000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/05/when-a-city-decides-your-business-is-toxic-to-their-community-buy-off-the-state-legislature-to-overrule-them/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/when-a-city-decides-/452556:0427d5">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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today in #fuckuber (#fucklyft too)
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<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/25/uber-lyft-returning-austin-monday/"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/deleteuberphonescreenshot-488.jpg" style="width: 50%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" />Uber, Lyft returning to Austin</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Uber and Lyft will relaunch services in Austin on Monday, now that Texas lawmakers have passed a bill overriding local regulations on ride-hailing companies. [...]<p>Uber and Lyft left Austin after the Austin City Council passed an ordinance in December 2015 requiring ride-hailing companies to perform fingerprint background checks on drivers, a stipulation that already applies to Austin taxi companies.<p>Uber and Lyft fiercely opposed the rules, gathering petition signatures to force a public vote and spending nearly $9 million on an unsuccessful campaign asking voters to overturn the regulations. Following the vote, both companies halted services in Austin, and the resulting ride-hailing vacuum attracted several start-up ride-hailing apps that agreed to comply with the city's rules. [...]<p>Following the passage of the bill in both chambers, Austin Mayor Steve Adler issued a statement saying he was "disappointed" the Legislature voted to nullify regulations the city had implemented.<p>"Our city should be proud of how we filled the gap created when Uber and Lyft left, and we now must hope that they return ready to compete in a way that reflects Austin's values," Adler wrote.</blockquote><p><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/03/a-round-up-on-why-uber-is-awful/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/03/uber-still-literally-trying-to-murder-you/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/03/double-parking-uber-and-lyft-drivers-scramble-to-beat-bus-cameras/">previously</a>."There's way worse videos"2017-05-11T15:01:42.142000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/05/theres-way-worse-videos/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/theres-way-worse-vid/452556:0d343b">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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…hooboy.
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<a href="https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2017/05/08/theres-way-worse-videos-todays-students-on-the-la-riots-and-rodney-king/">Today's students on Rodney King:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">I mentioned Rodney King in an Intro to American Government class. I got the blank "Is that a thing we are supposed to know?" look that I have come to recognize when students hear about something that happened more than six months ago. "Rodney King?" More blinking. "Can someone tell why the name Rodney King is important?"<p>One student, god bless her, raised her hand. I paraphrase: "He was killed by the police and it caused the LA Riots." I noted that, no, he did not die, but the second part of the statement was indirectly true. God bless technology in the classroom -- I pulled up the grainy VHS-camcorder version of the video, as well as a transcript of the audio analysis presented at trial. We watched, and then talked a bit about the rioting following the acquittal of the LAPD officers at trial. They kept doing the blinking thing. I struggled to figure out what part of this relatively straightforward explanation had managed to confuse them.<p>"Are there questions? You guys look confused."<p>Hand. "So he was OK?"<p>"He was beaten up pretty badly, but, ultimately he was. He died a few years ago from unrelated causes (note: in 2012)."<p>Hand. "It's kind of weird that everybody rioted over that. I mean, there's way worse videos." General murmurs of agreement. [...]<p>This is a generation of kids so numb to seeing videos of police beating, tasering, shooting, and otherwise applying the power of the state to unarmed and almost inevitably black or Hispanic men that they legitimately could not understand why a video of cops beating up a black guy (who <i>didn't even die</i> for pete's sake!) was shocking enough to cause a widespread breakdown of public order. [...]<p>These kids have grown up in a world where this is background noise. It is part of the static of life in the United States. Whether these incidents outrage them or are met with the usual excuses (Comply faster, dress differently, be less Scary) the fact is that they happen so regularly that retaining even one of them in long term memory is unlikely. To think about Rodney King is to imagine a reality in which it was actually kind of shocking to see a video of four cops kicking and night-sticking an unarmed black man over the head repeatedly. Now videos of police violence are about as surprising and rare as weather reports, and forgotten almost as quickly once passed.</blockquote>This Is the Most Unusual Maillot You Will Ever See #WearableWednesday #wearabletech #art2017-05-03T14:03:50.136000ZLeslie Birchhttps://blog.adafruit.com/2017/05/03/this-is-the-most-unusual-maillot-you-will-ever-see-wearablewednesday/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/this-is-the-most-unu/4611:12bc0d">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/4611.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers!:</b>
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Hey look, it's that getup from that Robyn video
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<p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" height="478" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/213142174" width="850"></iframe></p>
<p>As a fan of the French language, I am not only enchanted by the title of this wearable, but also its art. <a href="http://www.genevievefavre.com/maille-eau-2017.html"><em>Maille Eau</em></a> by artist Geneviève Favre Petroff is a twist on maillot, translating to “water mesh” which is a wonderful description of this piece. The woven aquarium style tubing allows water to circulate around the outside of a body, much like the cooling liners for NASA spacesuits. Here’s the artist’s description of the work:</p>
<blockquote><p>This swimsuit is made of transparent woven and assembled pipes. Water circulates through it at different rhythms. It is like a living organism, particles inhabit its nets. This animated sculpture puts us face to our own tingling, our gurgling and variable body flows. It deals with innovations in the field of textiles, in connection with water and biology. Its shape refers both to science fiction and to the seaside fashion of the 1930s.</p></blockquote>
<p><img alt="Maille Eau" class="img-responsive" src="https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MailleEau.jpg" /></p>
<p>Although this piece is an installation, Geneviève is often known for combining performance with tech. Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.genevievefavre.com/index.html">her other work</a> including LED and El Wire pieces. Are you interested in bringing electronics into wearable art? Kate Hartman’s book <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/2170"><em>Make: Wearable Electronics</em></a> will get you pumped with ideas for interactive projects. Make electronics part of your palette.</p>
<p><img alt="Make Wearable Electronics" class="img-responsive" src="https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KateHartmanBook-e1493783569944.jpg" /></p>
<hr /><p><a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/category/wearables/"><img alt="Flora breadboard is" border="0" class="img-responsive" height="100" hspace="4" src="https://www.adafruit.com/adablog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/flora_breadboard_is4.png" style="float: left;" title="flora_breadboard_is.png" vspace="4" width="100" /></a> Every Wednesday is <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/category/wearables/">Wearable Wednesday</a> here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/products/659">wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA</a>. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the <a href="http://forums.adafruit.com/">forums</a> or <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/contact">send us a link</a> and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!</p>
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<span class="ctx-article-root"></span>Does less policing lead to more crime? A natural experiment says no2017-04-12T14:55:57.154000ZJay Livingston, PhDhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SociologicalImagesSeeingIsBelieving/~3/oBNXwu0PZaA/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
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surprising no one, fewer cops doesn't lead to more crime.
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<p><em>Originally posted at <a href="http://montclairsoci.blogspot.com/2016/07/less-policing-more-crime.html">Montclair Socioblog</a>.</em></p>
<p>Does crime go up when cops, turtle-like, withdraw into their patrol cars, when they abandon “proactive policing” and respond only when called?</p>
<p>In New York we had the opportunity to test this with a natural experiment. Angry at the mayor, the NYPD drastically cut back on proactive policing starting in early December of 2014. The slowdown lasted through early January. This change in policing – less proactive, more reactive – gave researchers Christopher Sullivan and Zachary O’Keeffe an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/25/does-more-policing-lead-to-less-crime-or-just-more-racial-resentment/">opportunity to look for an effect</a>. (Fair warning: I do not know if their work has been published yet in any peer-reviewed journal.)</p>
<p>First, they confirmed that cops had indeed cut back on enforcing minor offenses. In the graphs below, the yellow shows the rate of enforcement in the previous year (July 2013 to July 2014) when New York cops were not quite so angry at the mayor. The orange line shows the next year. The cutback in enforcement is clear. The orange line dips drastically; the police really did stop making arrests for quality-of-life offenses.</p>
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<p>Note also that even after the big dip, enforcement levels for the rest of the year remained below those of the previous year, especially in non-White neighborhoods.Sullivan and O’Keeffe also looked at reported crime to see if the decreased enforcement had emboldened the bad guys. The dark blue line shows rates for the year that included the police cutback; the light blue line shows the previous year.</p>
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<p>No effect. The crime rates in those winter weeks of reduced policing and after look very much like the crime rates of the year before.</p>
<p>It may be that a few weeks is not enough time for a change in policing to effect serious crime. Certainly, proponents of proactive policing would argue that what attracts predatory criminals to an area is not a low number of arrests but rather the overall sense that this is a place were bad behavior goes unrestrained. Changing the overall character of a neighborhood – for better or worse – takes more than a few weeks.</p>
<p>I have the impression that many people, when they think about crime, use a sort of cops-and-robbers model: cops prevent crime and catch criminals; the more active the cops, the less active the criminals. There may be some truth in that model but, if nothing else, the New York data shows that the connection between policing and crime is not so immediate or direct.</p>
<p><em>Jay Livingston is the chair of the Sociology Department at <a href="http://www.montclair.edu/profilepages/view_profile.php?username=livingstonj">Montclair State University</a>. You can follow him at <a href="http://montclairsoci.blogspot.com/">Montclair SocioBlog</a> or on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/JayLivingston">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p>(<a href="https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2017/04/12/does-less-policing-lead-to-more-crime-a-natural-experiment-says-no/">View original at https://thesocietypages.org/socimages</a>)</p><div class="feedflare">
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</div><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SociologicalImagesSeeingIsBelieving/~4/oBNXwu0PZaA" width="1" />yesterdaysprint:
Boston Post, Massachusetts, March 7, 1921...2017-03-23T00:41:16.707000Zhttp://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/158720731181<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
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Listen, I keep trying to tell people Boston is the best place.
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<img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/82b1622c55d8cbbab3e29e58a3eb86a0/tumblr_on8pv053f41tcqhjho1_500.png" /><br /><br /><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="https://yesterdaysprint.tumblr.com/post/158720422919/boston-post-massachusetts-march-7-1921">yesterdaysprint</a>:</p><blockquote><p>
Boston Post, Massachusetts, March 7, 1921
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<p>it appears that advertising, as a craft, peaked a long time ago, specifically on 7 March 1921</p>KetchupSteak2017-03-22T17:02:52.852000Znoreply@blogger.com (Atrios)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/qY86OqRsJxU/ketchupsteak.html<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
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What Atrios Said (as usual)
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Mostly it isn't that he likes well <a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/03/ketchup-steaks-classism-barro">done steak with ketchup</a>. Eat steak cooked any way you want! Also I think there's generally a US bias against putting any kind of sauce on a steak, which is stupid. A nice perfectly cooked steak without much on it is great, but there's nothing wrong with adding something to that, even ketchup if you like.<br /><br />It's that if you're going to eat a hockey puck with Heinz, you don't need to pay $50 to do it. If you're paying $50 for a hockey puck with Heinz, you just think that if something costs more it must be better. That $8.99 steak and eggs at the local diner is probably going to be better. And, ok, fine, the Donald is super rich so who cares, but he actually isn't super rich, he's a grifter who lives an ostentatious life by floating from one line of credit to the next.<br /><br />A $500 bottle of wine might be awesome, but if you can't tell the difference between that and two buck chuck, drink the two buck chuck. There's no shame in that.<br /><br />I wrote "mostly," and there is one other issue, which is that for all of his supposed "riches," the Donald is a man who seems to have not gone beyond fancy steak houses and golf courses (and gold plated homes) in his appreciation for "the finer things." You can be an obscenely rich guy and love hockey pucks with Heinz, but if the breadth if your experience hasn't gotten beyond that more generally... that's sad!<br /><br />The well done steak is a symbol.A round-up on why Uber is awful2017-03-01T23:47:09.753000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/03/a-round-up-on-why-uber-is-awful/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
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Today in #fuckuber
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<img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/deleteuberphonescreenshot-488.jpg" style="width: 50%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" />Maybe you deleted the Uber app when they <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/01/deleteuber-is-introducing-a-new-generation-to-the-horror-of-scabbing/">scabbed the deportation protest</a> in New York, then re-installed it the next day because convenience outweighed your momentary dalliance with having principles. So here's a brief round-up of reasons why you should have stopped giving them your money years ago.<p>I had hoped that I could just find someone else's round-up of all the reasons, but now I understand why I couldn't: there are <i>so many</i> and it's <i>such a moving target</i>.<p>Let's dive right in:<p><ul> <li> 2017: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-28/in-video-uber-ceo-argues-with-driver-over-falling-fares">Uber CEO Argues With Driver Over Falling Fares. Travis Kalanick tells a driver to take responsibility for his problems and boasts about a tough culture:</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> "Bullshit. You know what? Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck!" </blockquote><p></li><li> Oh, but <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-suffers-scandal-after-scandal-in-very-bad-stretch-171933284.html">he fauxpologized:</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> After the video quickly made the media rounds, Uber publicly posted a short email Kalanick sent to all employees. Kalanick apologized to the driver, and added, "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up." He also appeared to congratulate himself for his apology: "This is the first time I've been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it." </blockquote><p></li><li> 2017: <a href="http://www.recode.net/2017/2/20/14666572/uber-sexism-susan-fowler-delete-uber">Susan Fowler published an essay alleging that Uber's human resources representatives ignored multiple reports of sexual harassment and sexism during her year-long stint at the company:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> Fowler <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/2/19/14665076/ubers-travis-kalanick-susan-fowler-sexual-harassment-investigation">also wrote</a> that her manager threatened to fire her if she ever reported his boss to HR again -- which is called retaliation and is illegal according to equal employment laws. Fowler also wrote that she made the company's chief technology officer, Thuan Pham, aware that her manager was threatening retaliation -- which he acknowledged was illegal. However, nothing was done about it, Fowler wrote. </blockquote><p></li><li> 2017: <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/24/uber-says-its-absolutely-not-behind-a-smear-campaign-against-ex-employee-susan-fowler-rigetti/">Uber says it's 'absolutely not' behind a smear campaign against ex-employee Susan Fowler Rigetti:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Rigetti took to Twitter this morning to post that people were being contacted for "personal and intimate info" about her, causing many to conclude Uber was behind these actions.<p>It's an easy assumption to make, given the company has said it would be holding an independent investigation into the claims and has used similar tactics before. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/nyregion/investigation-of-conservationist-conducted-on-ubers-behalf-crossed-the-line-judge-rules.html">2015</a>, Uber hired a CIA-linked intelligence firm Ergo to look into the background of a conservationist suing the company. It used the same firm in <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/10/12127638/uber-ergo-investigation-lawsuit-fraud-travis-kalanick">2016</a> to look into the backgrounds of the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the company.</blockquote><p></li><li> 2017: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/technology/uber-workplace-culture.html">Inside Uber's Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> When new employees join Uber, they are asked to subscribe to 14 core company values, including making bold bets, being "obsessed" with the customer, and "always be hustlin'." The ride-hailing service particularly emphasizes "meritocracy," the idea that the best and brightest will rise to the top based on their efforts, even if it means stepping on toes to get there. [...]<p>As chief executive, Mr. Kalanick has long set the tone for Uber. [...] Mr. Kalanick, 40, has made pointed displays of ego: In a GQ article in 2014, he referred to Uber as "Boob-er" because of how the company helped him attract women.<p>That tone has been echoed in Uber's workplace. At least two former Uber workers said they had notified Thuan Pham, the company's chief technical officer, of workplace harassment at the hands of managers and colleagues in 2016. One also emailed Mr. Kalanick.<p>Uber also faces at least three lawsuits in at least two countries from former employees alleging sexual harassment or verbal abuse at the hands of managers, according to legal documents reviewed by The Times. Other current and former employees said they were considering legal action against the company. </blockquote><p></li><li> Oh yeah, that: <a href="http://www.gq.com/story/uber-cab-confessions">Uber Cab Confessions:</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> But the way he talks now -- which is large -- he's surely making up for lost time. When I tease him about his skyrocketing desirability, he deflects with a wisecrack about women on demand: Yeah, we call that Boob-er. </blockquote><p></li><li> 2016: Uber's process of background checks and accountability remains top notch: <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/uber-drivers-accused-of-32-rapes-and-sex-attacks-on-london-passengers-a7037926.html">Uber drivers accused of 32 rapes and sex attacks on London passengers over the past year:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> Freedom of Information data obtained by The Sun newspaper revealed 32 assault claims were made against employees of the taxi-hailing app in London over the past twelve months, equal to one every eleven days. The figure represents more than a fifth of all claims against taxi and car-hire drivers filed to 14 UK police forces last year, which totalled at 154 allegations including attacks in minicabs and chauffeur vehicles. </blockquote><p></li><li> <a href="http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents">A very long roundup of articles about Uber and Lyft assaults</a>.<p></li><li>2016: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/technology/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-trump-advisory-council.html">Uber collaborated with Trump, but only until they suffered financially from that decision:</a><p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/20/trump-protesters-blockade-uber-hq.html"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/104231608-img_0430.1910x1000.jpg" style="width: 65%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" /></a><p>"We'll partner with anyone in the world as long they're about making transportation in cities better, creating job opportunities, making it easier to get around, getting pollution out of the air and traffic off the streets," Kalanick told employees. [...]<p>Outside of the internal pressure, Uber faced other fallout from Mr. Kalanick's stance. More than 200,000 customers had deleted their accounts.<p></li><li> 2015: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/nyregion/investigation-of-conservationist-conducted-on-ubers-behalf-crossed-the-line-judge-rules.html">Thinking About Suing Uber? Let This Be a Warning:</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> After learning of Mr. Meyer's background as a conservationist, Ergo's investigator, Miguel Santos-Neves, misrepresented himself as he conducted interviews [...] All the "sources believe that I am profiling Meyer for a report on leading figures in conservation," Mr. Santos-Neves said in a message to a superior. [...]<p>"The court cannot help but be troubled by this whole dismal incident," the judge added, later noting that the secret investigation had also delved into the background of Mr. Meyer's lawyer, Andrew Schmidt.<p>A spokesman for Uber and Mr. Kalanick declined to comment. </blockquote> </li><li> 2016: <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/12/uber-is-now-literally-trying-to-murder-me/">Uber <i>illegally</i> launched self-driving cars on the streets of SF, immediately running red lights and literally trying to murder me.</a><p></li><li> 2017: They claimed that the red-light-running was "human error", and that the cars were not in self-driving mode when that happened. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/technology/anthony-levandowski-waymo-uber-google-lawsuit.html">They lied.</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> But even though Uber said it had suspended an employee riding in the Volvo, the self-driving car was, in fact, driving itself when it barreled through the red light, according to two Uber employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they signed nondisclosure agreements with the company, and internal Uber documents viewed by The New York Times. </blockquote><p></li><li> 2017: Oh gosh, that's too bad: <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/02/googles-robocar-lawsuit-kill-ubers-future-send-execs-prison/">Google's Robocar Lawsuit Could Kill Uber's Future and Send Execs to Prison:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> The lawsuit, which Waymo filed Thursday, alleges former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski secretly downloaded 14,000 proprietary technical files before leaving [...] "From a criminal perspective, I would be surprised if the FBI weren't looking into this."</blockquote><p></li><li> 2014: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists">A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media -- and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> Over dinner, he outlined the notion of spending "a million dollars" to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. That team could, he said, help Uber fight back against the press -- they'd look into "your personal lives, your families," and give the media a taste of its own medicine.<p><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/enhanced-15222-1413917765-8.png" style="width: 60%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" /> Michael was particularly focused on one journalist, Sarah Lacy, the editor of the Silicon Valley website PandoDaily, a sometimes combative voice inside the industry. Lacy recently accused Uber of "sexism and misogyny." <a href="http://pando.com/2014/10/22/the-horrific-trickle-down-of-asshole-culture-at-a-company-like-uber/">She wrote</a> that she was deleting her Uber app after <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/french-uber-bird-hunting-promotion-pairs-lyon-riders-with-a">BuzzFeed News reported</a> that Uber appeared to be working with a French escort service. "I don't know how many more signals we need that the company simply doesn't respect us or prioritize our safety," she wrote. </blockquote><p></li><li> Oh yeah, that: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/french-uber-bird-hunting-promotion-pairs-lyon-riders-with-a">Sexist French Uber Promotion Pairs Riders With "Hot Chick" Drivers. "Who said women don't know how to drive?" the Uber blog post asks.</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> Thanks to a media backlash, the creepy promo never actually rolled out. "They didn't anticipate the reaction of Uber US," said Pierre Garonnaire, co-founder of Avions de Chasse, the escort service that co-sponsored the idea."In the US, you are more Puritan. For me and most of the people of France, it was a good [idea]. It was fun." </blockquote><p></li><li> 2014: <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2014/08/you-stay-klassy-uber/">Lyft: "Uber scheduled, canceled 5,000 rides to hassle us":</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> CNN reports that people associated with car-on-demand service Uber have been attempting to sabotage an Uber competitor, Lyft, by ordering and canceling as many as 5,000 rides since October 2013. Lyft drivers have also complained that Uber employees will call them to take "short, low-profit rides largely devoted to luring them to work for Uber."<p>Lyft claims to have sussed out the fake requests using phone numbers used by "known Uber recruiters." Lyft claims that one Uber recruiter requested and canceled 300 rides from May 26 to June 10, and it said that recruiter's phone number was associated with 21 more accounts with 1,524 canceled rides between them. </blockquote><p>My understanding is that using burner phones to DDoS your competition is completely in line with Libertarian ideals.<p></li><li> <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a52689/how-to-really-delete-your-uber-account/">How To (Really) Delete Your Uber Account.</a> </li></ul><p>And, by the way...<p><a href="https://thebolditalic.com/if-youre-deleting-uber-you-might-as-well-delete-lyft-too-522115a5ed52">Lyft = Uber Lite:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Uber gets a lot of negative press (and rightfully so) for the actions it takes to reduce the pay of its drivers and to deny them basic workers' rights. Yet Lyft often evades similar scrutiny. That doesn't mean it isn't doing many of the exact same things. [...]<p>The idea that Lyft is a more compassionate or morally sound ride-hailing company is false. It continues to place profitability and ridership growth before fair wages and working conditions for its drivers, using the same methods as Uber. Lyft simply escapes the same level of scrutiny because its market share is so much smaller. [...]<p>Finally, those who really want to challenge the morally bankrupt model of Uber and Lyft, which denies drivers good benefits, reasonable working conditions and fair pay in the name of profitability, should instead be using public transit wherever possible and fighting to improve it. In November 2016, nearly 70 percent of all public-transit ballot measures were passed by voters, totalling more than $170 billion in additional transit funding. And from a worker standpoint, public-transit workers are generally salaried with benefits, and being a public-transit worker is still a solid path to the middle class.</blockquote><p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/21/11275940/lyft-drivers-classify-employee-independent-contractor-uber">Lyft saved $126 million by refusing to classify drivers as employees:</a> <blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;"> According to newly published court documents, Lyft would owe its drivers $126 million in reimbursement expenses for the last four years if the ride-hail service classified them as employees rather than independent contractors. The court documents provide a rare glimpse into the huge amount of cash that companies like Lyft and Uber save by refusing to classify its drivers as employees. [...]<p>Both Lyft and its much larger rival Uber face class action lawsuits from drivers challenging their classification as independent contractors. Lyft recently settled its lawsuit, agreeing to shell out $12.25 million in compensation to its drivers, while maintaining the right to classify them as non-employees. </blockquote><p>Also, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/09/lyft-spam-i-hate-you-milkman-facebook/">Lyft are unrepentant spammers</a>, just in case you needed one more reason to hate them.<p><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/03/confessions-of-a-virtual-waitress/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/12/uber-is-now-literally-trying-to-murder-me/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/09/lyft-spam-i-hate-you-milkman-facebook/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/07/bike-lanes-the-parking-we-give-uber-for-free/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/11/next-economy-conference/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/06/ubers-arent-taxis-except-when-they-want-to-be/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/04/uber-might-have-safety-training-but-if-they-do-its-secret/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/03/ubers-security-is-as-top-notch-as-weve-come-to-expect/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2014/08/you-stay-klassy-uber/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/10/travis-shrugged/">previously</a>.Germany tells parents to destroy microphone in ‘illegal’ doll2017-02-27T19:15:33.769000ZJessicahttps://blog.adafruit.com/2017/02/27/germany-tells-parents-to-destroy-microphone-in-illegal-doll/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/germany-tells-parent/4611:e0951d">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/4611.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers!:</b>
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Hard to imagine US regulators taking privacy this seriously, huh.
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<p><img alt="NewImage" border="0" class="img-responsive" height="439" src="https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/NewImage-130.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="NewImage.png" width="780" /></p>
<p>Via <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/17/technology/germany-doll-my-friend-cayla/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool">CNN Tech</a></p>
<blockquote><p>Germany’s telecommunications regulator has warned parents that a doll sold in the country could be used to snoop on families and compromise their personal information.</p>
<p>The regulator has recommended that parents immediately stop use of the “illegal” doll and destroy its internal microphone.</p>
<p>The doll — called My Friend Cayla — connects to the internet via Bluetooth. The setup allows it to listen and respond to questions like: “What’s the tallest animal in the world?” (Answer: Giraffe)</p>
<p>But the German regulator says the doll’s design violates privacy rules. They worry that it could be used to snoop on families.</p>
<p>“The ownership of this device is illegal,” said Olaf Peter Eul, a spokesman for the country’s telecoms regulator. “We expect people to act as lawful citizens and destroy the functionality of the doll.”</p>
<p>U.K.-based toy company Vivid, which distributes the dolls in Germany, said it was serious about “compliance with all applicable rules and regulations” and it was “working with our German partners to resolve this issue.”</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/17/technology/germany-doll-my-friend-cayla/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool">Read more.</a></p>
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<span class="ctx-article-root"></span>So A Nazi Walks Into An Iron Bar: the Meyer Lansky Story2017-02-26T03:12:31.462000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/so-a-nazi-walks-into-an-iron-bar-the-meyer-lansky-story/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/so-a-nazi-walks-into/452556:4f0fcd">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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punching nazis: it works
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<a href="http://www.anarchogeekreview.com/history/so-a-nazi-walks-into-an-iron-bar-the-meyer-lansky-story"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/meyer-lansky-1038x576.jpg" style="width: 50%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" />Great Moments in Nazi Punching:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">The German American Bund was formed in 1936 to promote the causes of Nazi Germany in the United States. It was open to Americans of German descent, provided they could prove they had no black or Jewish ancestry. These guys were openly Nazis, like, not even the kind who think they can hide behind fake irony and shitty frog memes. Their flag was a swastika shooting out of an iron cross. So: fuck these guys entirely. [...] They dissolved shortly after Pearl Harbor, when being openly a Nazi temporarily went out of style in the US, and everyone tried to pretend there hadn't been a 25,000 member organization of Americans dedicated to helping Hitler win.<p>The German-American Bund had a lot of meetings in areas with high immigrant (read: Jewish) populations. One of those places was New York City. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia affirmed that Nazis were allowed to meet, and were entitled to police protection, but he made sure the cops guarding their meetings were mostly black or Jewish. So that was... passive aggressive. But then there was another local political figure: Judge Nathan D. Perlman.<p>Judge Perlman, who was -- no shit -- Jewish, did not care for Nazis. This led him to reach out to one of the most powerful Jewish guys around: Meyer Lansky. Judge Perlman, as you might expect, hadn't done Meyer any favors in the past. He had for example helped to end Prohibition, the repeal of which, while generally extremely popular, wasn't great for the Meyer Lanskys of the world, who had been making bank off illegal booze. But when Perlman met with Meyer after the rise of the German American Bund, they ended up getting along pretty well. Perlman was like "I want you to disrupt meetings of Nazis" and Meyer was like "excellent, on it," and Perlman was like "hang on I'm not finished" and Meyer was like "sorry" and Perlman was like "I will pay you and give you legal assistance, should anyone get arrested. The only condition is, don't kill anyone." With what I can only imagine to be the world's greatest eye roll, Meyer said "Ugh fine, I won't kill anyone. Also, I don't want your money."<p>And then he went to work. [...]<p>These attacks went on for over a year. Journalist Walter Winchell would praise the attacks from the air, and pass on information to Meyer about where and when the Nazis would be meeting. Life got pretty dangerous for Nazis in New York City.<p>In the meantime, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel also TRAINED other people to fight Nazis, which, come on, can you just imagine Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel training young antifa in the early 30s? I love it. I'm picturing a lot of newsboy caps and comments like "no no not like that, my bubbe (ofblessedmemory) punches better than that, you grip the brass knuckles like this."<p>This also seems like a good time to mention that Lucky Luciano, Meyer's definitely-not-boyfriend-I-don't-know-why-you-would-think-that, offered to send some of his guys to help with this, but Meyer told him, "thanks, but no, this needs to be a Jewish fight."</blockquote><p><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/01/there-is-nothing-more-american-than-punching-nazis/">Previously</a>.I, for one, welcome the return of our Azhdarchid overlords2017-02-08T20:56:53.368000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/i-for-one-welcome-the-return-of-our-azhdarchid-overlords/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/i-for-one-welcome-th/452556:d8c4a5">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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"giraffe-sized, quadrupedal Panzer-storks roaming the prehistoric islands of Transylvania" yes good
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/08/giant-winged-transylvanian-predators-could-have-eaten-dinosaurs-azhdarchids?CMP=twt_a-science_b-gdnscience">Recent examination of their fossils suggests some of them grew to become nightmarish giant land predators, roaming the prehistoric islands of Transylvania.</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">"These azhdarchids were giraffe-sized, quadrupedal Panzer-storks," Witton vividly described to me the animals he specialises in. "We have to look at the smaller, two to five metre wingspan azhdarchids, for clues to the life appearance of the big ones, but multiplying their well-known anatomy across to our giant remains creates some pretty awesome animals."</blockquote><p><div style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/08/giant-winged-transylvanian-predators-could-have-eaten-dinosaurs-azhdarchids?CMP=twt_a-science_b-gdnscience"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/fig-9-2x.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 2px 0;" /></a><p><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/01/but-i-dont-want-to-cure-cancer-i-want-to-turn-people-into-dinosaurs/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/09/today-in-godzilla-bukkake-news/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/04/the-largest-mammal-on-land-truly-a-majestic-creature/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/06/reviewing-movies-i-havent-seen/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/02/dinonapping/">previously</a>.</div>rollerskaq:
reanimateobjects:
americanpipedream:
reanimateobj...2017-02-08T01:25:33.316000Zhttp://lbmisscharlie.tumblr.com/post/156911919646<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/rollerskaq-reanimate/6480176:93bea9">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6480176.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> This Caring Lark:</b>
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What a good dog.
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<img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/2f25692c0597ebfd370427d27e45d24f/tumblr_o5fub0fSiY1rcaggdo1_500.gif" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/df578d3ce9fd2e9f676cf6c2f0aa325f/tumblr_o5fub0fSiY1rcaggdo2_500.gif" /><br /> <br /><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://rollerskaq.tumblr.com/post/156534124535">rollerskaq</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://reanimateobjects.tumblr.com/post/142834391014/americanpipedream-reanimateobjects">reanimateobjects</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://americanpipedream.tumblr.com/post/142833169412">americanpipedream</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://reanimateobjects.tumblr.com/post/142805064539">reanimateobjects</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://reptonic-art.tumblr.com/post/142779075003">reptonic-art</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://reanimateobjects.tumblr.com/post/142594287064">reanimateobjects</a>:</p>
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<p>I picked up a worm, and it wrote something in my hand with a tiny pencil. Unfortunately it was too small to read. An autograph? A spell? An angry note?<br /></p>
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<p><figure class="tmblr-full"><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/d9919ce10bf5c7a2a785e46f4ecd890f/tumblr_inline_o5lz4ww1xW1tqk27x_540.gif" /></figure></p>
<p>@<a href="http://reanimateobjects.tumblr.com/post/142594287064">reanimateobjects</a><br /><br />I’ve decided to line up with their writing and whatever they wrote appear to be…. phallic. <br /><br />I don’t how to break the news with you, but, I think that worm drew a penis on your hand…. Congratulation? <br /></p>
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<p>Ooh! Thank you for this valuable contribution to the field of worm linguistics and/or art. It is still unclear to me if it’s meant as a rude message to me, if it’s just putting its tag there, or something else. Further research is needed!<br /></p>
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<p>I think the idea of it being a penis is anthropomorphism. I mean, the worm doesn’t have a penis itself, nor proper eyes with which to see one. No, I’m afraid this is something far more interesting: a self-portrait. You have been touched by an aesthetic annelid, and now your life will never be the same.</p>
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<p>Now I will forever try to communicate with all the worms I find, but I worry that I’ll never meet this one again.<br /></p>
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<p>My name is Werm<br />I liv in ground<br />And thru the darck<br />I skwirm around</p>
<p>The peepl tell me<br />All the tym<br />I’m farr too yuck<br />With too much slym</p>
<p>But I think Werm<br />Is gud to be.<br />I find a styck</p>
<p>I draw a me</p>
</blockquote>Ethnic Cleansing2017-02-03T18:58:15.034000Znoreply@blogger.com (Atrios)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/cEtWZlAMSZc/ethnic-cleansing.html<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/ethnic-cleansing/33022:902c86">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/33022.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Eschaton:</b>
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what @Atrios said.
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It's what they're trying to do, and I get livid when people respond with "wahh wah you're minimzing the real incidences of ethnic cleansing in history." No, I'm doing my best to put a stop to yet another incident. They want all the brown people out, especially but not just Muslims, and they'll use whatever authority they can to do it. They didn't just prevent new people from coming in, they tried to prevent legal long term residents (green card holders) from returning. They've revoked who knows how <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/government-reveals-over-100000-visas-revoked-due-to-travel-ban/2017/02/03/7d529eec-ea2c-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html">many existing </a> student and H1-B visas. Again, not just new arrivals or even people trying to re-enter, but revoking the legal status of people already here - people who have invested time and money in education and careers. Those people can be declared in violation, and even if they aren't being deported momentarily, they will be unable to return due for years or ever due to visa violation they weren't even aware they had made. Employers will have workers who have no right to work here - again, unknown to them. Families will continue to be ripped apart.<br /><br />They don't like any immigrants not married to Donald Trump, but they'll start with the Muslims - because they can pretend to justify that - and keep going unless they're stopped.<br /><br />They've basically said this stuff without even hiding it. We can continue to pretend to be confused, or not.<br />“Donald Trump is the literal opposite of Fred Rogers.”2017-01-30T15:01:51.222000Zhttp://leahj.tumblr.com/post/156199452354<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/donald-trump-is-the-/1629817:0044a5">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/1629817.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> I tumble for you:</b>
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I sure miss Fred Rogers.
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://nerdy-south.tumblr.com/post/156183205081/donald-trump-is-the-literal-opposite-of-fred" target="_blank">nerdy-south</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://foulmouthedliberty.tumblr.com/post/156182560086/donald-trump-is-the-literal-opposite-of-fred" target="_blank">foulmouthedliberty</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://mikalkhill.com/post/156103181510/donald-trump-is-the-literal-opposite-of-fred" target="_blank">khillmatic</a>:</p>
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<p><i>I posted that earlier to my facebook feed, and I’ll be honest… When I did it I was kind of hoping it would encourage my friend who studied the life of Fred Rogers extensively to chime in because I knew he would have something pertinent to say. I was not wrong. </i></p>
<figure class="tmblr-full"><img alt="image" src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/6722b88e35a3d8878678fd7aa21693e2/tumblr_inline_ok21l5hWGu1qd3pwq_540.jpg" /></figure><hr /><p>“Fred Rogers had such a huge problem with both Regan (who he programmed his show against) and Bush Jr. (The latter of which is much more complicated as they had a relationship that tested Fred’s boundaries.) that I can’t say “I can’t imagine how Fred would react” I know how Fred would react based on his interactions with the lesser evils of Reagan and Bush:<br /><br />1. Had he not been retired, he would have themed weeks specifically against what Trump was putting in the news cycle. When Trump mocked a disabled reporter he’d have a week on disability and inclusion, when Trump promoted sexual assault, he’d program a week on respect and physical boundaries, when he bad mouthed women he’d have strong women on for a week. Fred would have travelled to do a week on Mexico and he would have moved in an Islamic neighbor. <br /><br />I know this for a fact because these are the actions he took with Regan both with his “conflict weeks” and his traveling to Russia for remotes during the Cold War. <br /><br />2. Fred would have attended events Trump invited him to but he would do so on his terms. He would participate in these events as well as long as it was on his terms. Because Fred would rather speak truth into those spaces then avoid them. But Fred would not accuse, he would just bear truth, refuse to be seen as supporting an evil and exit. <br /><br />This is what he did to respond to the love the Bush family had for him and his work. He even offered prayer at one of their fundraisers: but it was a challenging prayer, one insisting that those in power and privilege use that for the least of these and especially children. After delivering that prayer Fred exited the building and sat outside like a kid after soccer practice waiting for his ride, spurning the thousands of dollars a plate dinner not even gladhanding with the bushes after. <br /><br />When asked why he said he had reached the limit of what he could do before becoming an accuser. He wanted to challenge but never accuse as accusation was what Fred associated with the devil. <br /><br />3. Fred would accept invitations to news programs when those programs allowed him to educate parents on countering the negative things coming from the president for their children. He knew those things affected children so he wanted to spread tools on helping them reject war, violence, hatred, oppression and racism. <br /><br />He did this during any presidents term if it didn’t prevent him from meeting an obligation to children (he once turned down a spot on Nightline to talk about violence and children, one of his main causes, because he had a visit to an elementary school that same morning and knew he wouldn’t be mentally present for it if he was planning for Nightline in the afternoon.)<br /><br />So we need to be like Fred. Getting in between children and any normalization of Trumps ways or words. Fred would have been diligently working on how to handle Trump in the land of make believe. Just like when King Friday started building nuclear bombs with money he promised to schools. Yeah Fred wasn’t subtle.” - Rev. Kevin Ireland</p>
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<p>So much love for the people who share my love for Mr. Rogers, an actual saint among us for as long as we were blessed to have him.</p></blockquote>
<p>I don’t believe in angels but I do believe in Fred Rogers.</p></blockquote>Solidarity2017-01-29T00:30:36.960000ZErik Loomishttp://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/01/solidarity<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/solidarity/7935347:335f9b">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/7935347.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Lawyers, Guns & Money:</b>
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where can I get that poster though
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<p><a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/15826912_10210152841872046_5336388401884819381_n.jpeg"><img alt="15826912_10210152841872046_5336388401884819381_n" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-89306" height="640" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/15826912_10210152841872046_5336388401884819381_n.jpeg" width="423" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://jalopnik.com/new-york-taxi-workers-alliance-halting-jfk-airport-pick-1791737697">We need a lot more of this. </a></p>
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The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has announced on Twitter that it is halting passenger pickups at JFK airport in protest of the dozens of people detained under President Trump’s Muslim immigration ban.</p>
<p>The Alliance announced that it would be halting pickups at JFK from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to protest reports of at least a dozen people who have been detained in the airport due to the immigration ban executive order signed by President Trump yesterday. One green card holder was released from detainment earlier today.</p></blockquote>
<p>Of course, I’m sure your local Uber driver isn’t participating…. </p>
<p>In any case, the huge protests at JFK are absolutely necessary and vital. And we are getting rapidly to the point where massive civil disobedience and arrests are necessary. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The crowd outside JFK is huge and more people are arriving by the trainload <a href="https://t.co/kvdWlue04q">pic.twitter.com/kvdWlue04q</a></p>
<p>— Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoahHurowitz/status/825482466706198529">January 28, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
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<p><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fsolidarity&linkname=Solidarity" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Facebook"><img alt="Facebook" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/facebook.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fsolidarity&linkname=Solidarity" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Twitter"><img alt="Twitter" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/twitter.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_button_google_plus" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fsolidarity&linkname=Solidarity" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Google+"><img alt="Google+" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/google_plus.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fsolidarity&title=Solidarity" id="wpa2a_4">Share</a></p><script id="twitter-wjs" type="text/javascript" async defer src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Facebook: Still Literally the Worst.2017-01-21T02:37:13.235000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/01/facebook-still-literally-the-worst-2/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/facebook-still-liter/452556:1089b2">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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If you work for Facebook, quit.
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<a href="http://sfist.com/2017/01/20/facebook_inauguration_party_bp_dail.php"><img src="https://www.jwz.org/images/c2as9awuqaa-jym-thumb-640xauto-98318.jpg" style="width: 50%; height: auto; border: 1px solid; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; float: right; clear: right;" />Facebook Hosts Trump Inauguration Party With Fake News-Pushing Website The Daily Caller:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Facebook may now profess to combat fake news, but that didn't keep the company from hosting a Trump inauguration soirée in DC along with the Daily Caller, a far-right news website whose frequent misinformation and lies keep fact-checking website Snopes rather busy.<p>I know! Who cares about being in cahoots with a publication that celebrated Obama commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning this week with the headline "Genetic Male Bradley Manning Pulls Off The Klinger Gambit," right? Not me!<p>Not to be left out of the action, oil company BP was also a host. It was, according to the publication, "A veritable who's who of beltway bigwigs" at the Hay-Adams Hotel in DC, all talking Trump.</blockquote><p><a href="http://boingboing.net/2017/01/19/mark-zuckerberg-sues-over-100.html">Mark Zuckerberg sues over 100 Hawaiians to force them to sell them their ancestral land:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg (who insists that privacy is dead) bought 100 acres of land around his vacation home in Hawaii to ensure that no one could get close enough to spy on him.<p>The Zuckerberg estate on Kauai North Shore engulfs several smaller pieces of land deeded in the 1800s -- kuleana lands that were granted to native Hawaiians. The owners of this land are entitled to easements through Zuckerberg's property, so they can reach their own.<p>Zuckerberg has filed "quiet title" lawsuits to force the owners of more than 100 of these parcels to sell to him. His lawyer says it's the easiest way to figure out who has title to these family lands so he can make them an offer. Hey, when I want to find out who someone is, I always sue 'em.</blockquote><p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-18/this-team-runs-mark-zuckerberg-s-facebook-page">Zuckerberg has a staff of twelve just to delete abusive comments on his Facebook page:</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Typically, a handful of Facebook employees manage communications just for him, helping write his posts and speeches, while an additional dozen or so delete harassing comments and spam on his page, say two people familiar with the matter. Facebook also has professional photographers snap Zuckerberg, say, taking a run in Beijing or reading to his daughter</blockquote><p><a href="http://boingboing.net/2016/10/19/mark-zuckerberg-defends-facebo.html">In an internal Facebook post, Zuckerberg defends his company's ongoing association with Peter Thiel -- Facebook investor/board member and major donor to white-supremacist / pro-rape candidate Donald Trump.</a><p>This is your irregularly-scheduled reminder:<p>If you work for Facebook, quit. It is morally indefensible for you to use your skills to make that company more powerful. By working there, you are making the world an objectively worse place. I'm sure you can find a job working for a company that you don't have to <i>apologize</i> for all the time.<p>You can <i>do it</i>. I <i>believe </i>in you.<p><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/12/mass-deportations-will-make-peter-thiel-even-richer/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/12/the-glass-room/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/11/facebook-bends-over-for-china/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/11/facebook-still-literally-the-worst/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/09/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-near-billionaire-secretly-funding-trumps-meme-machine/">previously</a>.Poppy2017-01-10T02:35:32.775000Zjwzhttps://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/01/poppy/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/poppy/452556:094889">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/452556.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> jwz:</b>
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so, what movie is this a marketing campaign for
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<div style="text-align: right; width: 30%; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; white-space: nowrap; float: right;"><iframe allowfullscreen="ALLOWFULLSCREEN" class="video_embed" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fpCXxqiTjqE?version=3&theme=dark&modestbranding=1&fs=1&rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=3" title="I'm Poppy." width="400"></iframe><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="ALLOWFULLSCREEN" class="video_embed" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C8PyAGej0B4?version=3&theme=dark&modestbranding=1&fs=1&rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=3" title="Oh No!" width="400"></iframe></div><a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-is-not-an-interview-with-poppy">This Is Not an Interview with Poppy</a><p><blockquote style="margin-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid; padding-left: 1em;">Poppy's internet presence can be traced back to a YouTube video upload on November 4, 2014 which features her eating cotton candy. Today, this account is populated with hundreds of absurdist videos like the one above, the vast majority of which feature Poppy in a featureless space, posing existential questions over an ethereal soundtrack. The content of these short videos varies widely: there are two videos that are just 50 minutes of Poppy reading the Bible, a video of Poppy showing her viewers how to load a pistol (this video has since been removed), a video in which she shills for Tide detergent, and another where she talks about browsing /b/, an image board on 4chan.<p>But if you have the patience to work your way through all the videos on this channel, certain trends start to emerge. The most obvious is Poppy's fixation with the internet and social media culture, which she claims to love. But far more interesting is the general tone of the videos, which have gotten progressively darker over the last two years. Poppy's early videos feature a bright-eyed young girl clearly enamored with her glamorous pop lifestyle and her fans. Yet Poppy's character soon changes -- she begins posing increasingly dark questions ("Do you know what's happening? Have they told you? What rhymes with breath?"), talks about running away and wanting to disappear, references secrets that her "handlers" won't let her tell her viewers, and suggests that she is being controlled by a vague "they" from whom she cannot escape.</blockquote><p><div style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe allowfullscreen="ALLOWFULLSCREEN" class="video_embed" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AjJhXTUpfPQ?version=3&theme=dark&modestbranding=1&fs=1&rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=3" title="Transmission" width="400"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="ALLOWFULLSCREEN" class="video_embed" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RCkWxkJnH3A?version=3&theme=dark&modestbranding=1&fs=1&rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=3" title="They have taken control" width="400"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="ALLOWFULLSCREEN" class="video_embed" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nxVrhgIDn4c?version=3&theme=dark&modestbranding=1&fs=1&rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=3" title="What Rhymes with Breath" width="400"></iframe></div><p><div align="center"><a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2015/04/idoru/">Previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2013/07/numbers-stations-always-awesome/">previously</a>, <a href="https://www.jwz.org/blog/2010/12/in-praise-of-iamamiwhoami/">previously</a>.</div>Miniature Brain and Skull Found Growing Inside Teen’s Ovary2017-01-09T20:57:12.119000ZGeorge Dvorsky on Gizmodo, shared by Cheryl Eddy to io9http://gizmodo.com/miniature-brain-and-skull-found-growing-inside-teen-s-o-1790851617<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/miniature-brain-and-/6737545:d0432d">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6737545.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Gizmodo:</b>
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"go a bit squirrely" is the technical term. also, if this had happened in the US, right-wing politicians would already be on the news every night demanding "rights" for teratomas.
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<figure class="align--bleed "><img height="446" src="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--f2gcD8qW--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/yj3bhyvjvhfln08wxovz.png" width="800" /><figcaption>The teratoma contained bits of hair, skull, and surprisingly well-formed brain matter. (Image: Masayuki Shintaku et. al., 2017)</figcaption></figure><p>While performing a routine appendectomy on a 16-year-old girl, Japanese surgeons uncovered an ovarian tumor containing bits of hair, a thin plate of bone—and a miniature brain. </p><p>The unusual teratoma—a tumor containing tissue or organ components—measured four-inches (10 cm) across, so it was hard to miss. Analysis revealed clumps of greasy, matted hair, and a one-inch-wide (3 cm) brain-like structure covered by a thin, rudimentary skull.</p><p>Disturbingly, the miniature brain contained a brainstem-like structure, and a large amount of highly organized and differentiated cerebellum tissue. The cerebellum is a brain-part that sits below the two hemispheres, and is responsible for motor control, and some cognitive functions such as attention and language. But don’t worry—there’s no way this chunk of brain matter could feel or think. </p><figure class="align--bleed "><img height="538" src="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--ld0mAnMz--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/rps95z5h0uj1scxzmuyv.png" width="800" /><figcaption>Analysis of the mini-brain revealed highly differentiated and well-organized structures reminiscent of what’s found in the cerebellum. (Image: Masayuki Shintaku et. al., 2017)</figcaption></figure><p>Not to be confused with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitic_twin" rel="noopener" target="_blank">parasitic twins</a>, teratomas happen when the cells inside organs go a bit squirrely, expressing parts of other organs and tissues that belong elsewhere in the body. These congenital tumors have been found to contain bits of hair, teeth, bone, and in some rare cases, eyes, torsos, hands, and feet. The exact cause is not known, but in the case of ovarian teratomas, it may be caused by glitching immature egg cells. Teratomas are known to happen in organs such as the brain, thyroid, liver, lung, and ovaries. <br /></p><p>Brain cells have been observed in ovarian teratomas before, but as Japanese researcher Masayuki Shintaku <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117286-miniature-brain-and-skull-found-inside-16-year-old-girls-ovary/amp/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">told</a> <em>New Scientist</em>, it’s extremely unusual for them to organize themselves into proper brain-like structures. Incredibly, the mini-brain was capable of transmitting electric impulses between neurons, just like a normal brain. </p><p>The girl didn’t express any symptoms, but teratomas are known to trigger psychological problems, such as personality changes, paranoia, confusion, agitation, seizures, and memory loss. This likely happens as a result of the body trying to get rid of the alien brain matter—but in so doing, mounts a double-attack that also affects the brain. </p><p>Thankfully, teratomas are relatively benign, and relatively easy to remove with surgery. The 16-year-old girl had her teratoma removed, and she’s made a full recovery. </p><p>[<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/neup.12360/full" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Neuropathology</a> via <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117286-miniature-brain-and-skull-found-inside-16-year-old-girls-ovary/amp/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">New Scientist</a>]</p>Imagine a Law Protecting Us From Our Employers. Must Be Those Crazy French Again!2017-01-02T15:24:48.513000ZErik Loomishttp://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/01/imagine-a-law-protecting-us-from-our-employers-must-be-those-crazy-french-again<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/imagine-a-law-protec/7935347:a053b5">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/7935347.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Lawyers, Guns & Money:</b>
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First Not France
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<p><a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/index.jpeg"><img alt="index" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88677" height="168" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/index.jpeg" width="300" /></a></p>
<p>One of the major problems with many recent technological advances that supposedly save time or create convenience is that they allow employers to demand more time from us. That’s been a huge issue with cell phones. Driverless cars will do the same, as employers will find that time we aren’t driving perfect for doing even more work. This is a real issue that of course does not get taken seriously in the United States. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/01/french-employees-can-legally-ignore-work-emails-outside-of-office-hours/?utm_term=.5b656f3ef18f">But it does in France. </a></p>
<blockquote><p>
French workers rang in a new year at midnight — as well as a “right to disconnect” law that grants employees in the country the legal right to ignore work emails outside of typical working hours, according to the Guardian.</p>
<p>The new employment law requires French companies with more than 50 employees to begin drawing up policies with their workers about limiting work-related technology usage outside the office, the newspaper reported.</p>
<p>The motivation behind the legislation is to stem work-related stress that increasingly leaks into people’s personal time — and hopefully prevent employee burnout, French officials said.</p>
<p>“Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash, like a dog,” Benoit Hamon, Socialist member of Parliament and former French education minister, told the BBC in May. “The texts, the messages, the emails: They colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Such a law in the United States would be just common sense. So of course it will never happen. </p>
<p><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fimagine-a-law-protecting-us-from-our-employers-must-be-those-crazy-french-again&linkname=Imagine%20a%20Law%20Protecting%20Us%20From%20Our%20Employers.%20Must%20Be%20Those%20Crazy%20French%20Again%21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Facebook"><img alt="Facebook" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/facebook.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fimagine-a-law-protecting-us-from-our-employers-must-be-those-crazy-french-again&linkname=Imagine%20a%20Law%20Protecting%20Us%20From%20Our%20Employers.%20Must%20Be%20Those%20Crazy%20French%20Again%21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Twitter"><img alt="Twitter" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/twitter.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_button_google_plus" href="http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fimagine-a-law-protecting-us-from-our-employers-must-be-those-crazy-french-again&linkname=Imagine%20a%20Law%20Protecting%20Us%20From%20Our%20Employers.%20Must%20Be%20Those%20Crazy%20French%20Again%21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Google+"><img alt="Google+" height="16" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/google_plus.png" width="16" /></a><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2017%2F01%2Fimagine-a-law-protecting-us-from-our-employers-must-be-those-crazy-french-again&title=Imagine%20a%20Law%20Protecting%20Us%20From%20Our%20Employers.%20Must%20Be%20Those%20Crazy%20French%20Again%21" id="wpa2a_8">Share</a></p>Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 642017-01-01T18:42:01.947000ZErik Loomishttp://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/01/erik-visits-an-american-grave-part-64<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/erik-visits-an-ameri/7935347:ee418e">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/7935347.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Lawyers, Guns & Money:</b>
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"Hey Senator, I wanna say/All the things you fought for did not die here today"
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<p>This is the grave of Paul Wellstone. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_1734.jpg"><img alt="img_1734" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88654" height="526" src="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_1734.jpg" width="344" /></a></p>
<p>Born in Washington, DC in 1944 and educated with a BA and PhD in political science at the University of North Carolina, Wellstone moved to Minnesota in 1969 when he became a professor at Carleton College. He instantly became involved in left-wing politics there, working in the anti-war and poverty movements. The FBI began a file on him in 1970 after he was arrested during an anti-war protest. He founded Organization for a Better Rice County, a welfare-rights organization that mobilized the poor for social and economic justice. The trustees of Carleton found all of this unseemly and attempted to deny Wellstone tenure. But a student protest movement forced them to cave and grant him tenure. </p>
<p>In 1982, Wellstone sought public office for the first time, winning the Democratic primary for state auditor. He lost in the general election to future govenror Arne Carlson. He remained active in state politics, co-chairing the state’s Dukakis campaign in 1988 after he had chaired Jesse Jackson’s run in the primary. </p>
<p>In 1990, Wellstone decided to run for Senate. This was a serious long-shot. He was a leftist professor with no money and no record of winning public office. He faced Rudy Boschwitz, a generally well-respected two term senator. But Wellstone ran a brilliant underdog campaign and Boschwitz made a number of stupid errors, including calling Wellstone “a bad Jew” for marrying a Christian, a move that did not work well in this Lutheran and Catholic-heavy state. Despite being massively outspent, Wellstone won the race, the only successful challenge of a sitting senator that year. </p>
<p>As senator, Wellstone made a name for himself as a leftist voice in an increasingly centrist and pro-business Democratic Party. He took a leadership position on issues such as opposing Clinton’s welfare reform, as well as on environmentalism, health care, labor, and domestic violence. In 1996, Boschwitz ran for his old seat but Wellstone defeated him again, a sign of the grassroots passion Wellstone inspired in many of his voters. He was not perfect, as he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which he later regretted. There was a grassroots effort to get Wellstone to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2000. But facing a lot of back pain due to his college wrestling days that was later diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, Wellstone decided against it. </p>
<p>In 2002, Wellstone faced another tough race. This race was made tougher because the Green Party, that paragon of political brilliance, decided to run a candidate in that race, even after in 2000 Green Party VP candidate Winona LaDuke had openly lauded Wellstone for standing up for their issues. He also faced a well-funded Norm Coleman on the Republican side. None of this stopped Wellstone from taking strong stances. He authored the Wellstone Amendment in the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform bill, creating hard money limits on outside campaign advertising from nonprofits that ranged from the NRA to the Sierra Club. The Supreme Court upheld this in 2003 but of course it was destroyed in <em>Citizens United</em> in 2010. Wellstone also voted against Congressional authorization for the Iraq War in October 2002, a vote he believed would lead to his defeat the next month. </p>
<p>On October 25, 2002, Wellstone, his wife, his daughter, and some campaign staffers were flying to a funeral in northern Minnesota, a steelworker whose father was in the Minnesota House. That night, he had to debate Norm Coleman in Duluth. Alas, the plane crashed, probably from the flight crew not maintaining a proper speed, although we will never know for sure. No one survived. </p>
<p>In the aftermath, Minnesota Democrats asked Walter Mondale to step into Wellstone’s place in the Senate race. His funeral, rightfully, was a partisan rallying cry for Democrats. This is certainly what he would have wanted. However, conservatives went crazy over this, with very principled people such as Rush Limbaugh and Peggy Noonan leading the outcry. Unfortunately, Coleman won a narrow victory over Mondale in November. </p>
<p>The American left lost a great leader when Wellstone died. With the Iraq War about to begin and the horrors of the Bush administration just becoming clear, Wellstone would have provided critical leadership against him and probably a 2004 presidential run. We will never know if he would have won the nomination, but given the initial grassroots support of someone pretty lame like Howard Dean and the relatively indifferent choices Democrats had that year, there’s no question that Wellstone would have changed the dynamics of the race. </p>
<p>Were Paul Wellstone still alive today, he would still only be 72 years old. Meanwhile, Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney continue to live. </p>
<p>Paul Wellstone is buried in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p>
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strangeasanjles:
theafricatheynevershowyou:
The...2016-12-30T13:50:44.010000Zhttp://sarahmccarry.tumblr.com/post/155140862414<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<b>
smadin
<a href="https://smadin.newsblur.com/story/vaspider-strangeasan/5786953:88d35a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5786953.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> sarah mccarry:</b>
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This is awesome.
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<img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/bdf7dc90bca8cd603983cf10ffdfe4ba/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o1_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/782ee50ab83a5ca3b75d2acad6f2e31d/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o2_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/fbf35b77c754a6cf83f2c3375805c837/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o3_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/35e5d6e557ac626e7b2c46347367eb50/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o4_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/75c8b6a783f3d8ab09343362721a874e/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o5_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/7ad5c2ec70f32fa994171f5bec0203ec/tumblr_o0ye6dcLBz1qclof3o6_500.jpg" /><br /> <br /><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://vaspider.tumblr.com/post/154220255836/strangeasanjles-theafricatheynevershowyou-the">vaspider</a>:</p><blockquote>
<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://strangeasanjles.tumblr.com/post/153146790729">strangeasanjles</a>:</p>
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<p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://theafricatheynevershowyou.tumblr.com/post/137291308619">theafricatheynevershowyou</a>:</p>
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<h2>
<b><a href="http://hyperallergic.com/263058/the-queens-of-botswanas-metal-scene/">The Queens of Botswana’s Metal Scene</a></b> </h2>
<p><a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vm1Rgoujbrg/hqdefault.jpg">Beavis and Butt-head,</a> in their AC/DC and Metallica t-shirts, might best sum up the stereotypical metalhead in the popular Western imagination: a young white dude who likes headbanging and hates authority, found mostly in American cities or in Nordic countries with long, dark winters and plenty of old churches to burn. <b>But South African photographer Paul Shiakallis’s series <a href="http://www.paulshiakallis.com/2594099-leathered-skins-unchained-hearts">Leather Skins, Unchained Hearts</a> provides a visual alternative to this image. He documents the leather-clad women of Botswana’s metal subculture, called “Marok,” which translates to “rocker” in Setswana.</b></p>
<p>Last year, Shiakallis met a couple of <b>Queens</b>, as female Marok fans like to call themselves, at a gig in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital. As their Queen alter-egos, these women go by names like Onalenna Angelovdarkness, Amokian Lordess, and Phoenix Tonahs Slaughter.“<b>They had this confidence and freedom about them — they could just let go without feeling they were going to be reprimanded,</b>” Shiakallis tells Hyperallergic.</p>
<p>This type of self-expression is rare for women in Botwana’s conservative patriarchal society. Since mainstream culture often perceives metal as “satanic,” many women of the Marok movement wear more traditional clothing by day and only reveal their brutal alter-egos in their Facebook photos, posing in full metal regalia, often in front of trees outside at night. “I believe facebook allows u to be who u are. <b>only girls who believe in themselvs and aint afraid to express themselves can be rockers, [sic]</b>” one Queen, Phoenix Tonahs Slaughter,<a href="http://www.paulshiakallis.com/2594099-leathered-skins-unchained-hearts">told</a> Shiakallis.</p>
<p><a href="http://hyperallergic.com/263058/the-queens-of-botswanas-metal-scene/">Continue reading here…</a></p>
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<p>*screams*</p>
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<p><a class="tumblelog" href="https://tmblr.co/mC167O1_52VJJv4CAS2nNpQ">@scribbleowl</a></p>
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