June 2012
45 posts
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Jimmy Carter: America's Shameful Human Rights... →
kateoplis:
“Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or “associated forces,” a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress (the law is currently being blocked by a federal judge). This law violates the right to freedom of expression and to be...
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List of 2012 Student Protests Regarding Education... →
truth-has-a-liberal-bias:
“When students awaken, the national conversation will change.”
- Diane Ravitch, “When Students Awaken“
After a week of googling, and searching around Facebook, I think I’ve finally got most them. I have found that over 150 student protests have been held in the United States thus far in 2012. For some reason, I thought this would take me only a couple hours. I...
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Running Chicken: Death Penalty Repeal and Human... →
kohenari:
When the Connecticut legislature voted to repeal the death penalty back in April and when the governor signed the bill shortly thereafter, there was much to celebrate. Seventeen states are now abolitionist, with five states doing away with the ultimate punishment in the last five years….
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KKK Praised in Text used in State-Funded Christian... →
absurdcreation:
This textbook is insane, clinically so, and the fact that state governments may provide some funding for it is criminal.
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A Close Look at Some Evangelical Textbooks →
edheldim:
Highlights:
Humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
God designed “checks and balances” to prevent environmental crises, so chill! After all, “Roses are red, violets are blue; they both grow better with more CO2.”
“Rumors” of foreclosures, high unemployment, homelessness, and general misery during the Great Depression are just socialist propaganda.
Unions just want to destroy the...
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Maxhovah: Accountability: The Limpopo Textbook... →
maxhovah:
The inability or unwillingness of most African governments to formulate or implement programs that will force political office holders to embrace accountability as a way to stem endemic corruption have been seen by experts as a glaring example of the governments culpability in the processes…
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We're All (historic) Prostitutes: How To Be A Good... →
fyeahhistoricmistresses:
HOW TO BE A GOOD WIFE
The following is excerpted from a 1950’s high school home-economics textbook.
Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal — on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about…
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The American Revolution (Storyteller's History)
tateycnc7412:
The American Revolution (Storyteller’s History) Packed with true stories and real quotes you’ll never find in textbooks, this is the amazing, surprising, funny, and never-boring adventure of the American Revolution. This exciting new book includes dozens of original cartoons in which famous and not-so-famous characters deliver their quotes right to the reader.
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In Uncertain Times, a Publisher Pushes Digital... →
gjmueller:
About one-third of Pearson’s business is now from digital products and services, though overall sales have slowed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is restructuring as part of a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy process prompted in part by decreasing school budgets. Revenues for the K-12 group of McGraw-Hill’s education division, which it plans on spinning off into a separate company, dropped...
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The Political Notebook: Excuse me for a brief... →
thepoliticalnotebook:
So you’ve all at least seen the baby-in-the-briefcase cover to accompany Anne-Marie Slaughter’s piece in this Atlantic provocatively titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” I’d like to preface my criticisms (which you all knew were coming), by saying that I don’t find Slaughter’s…
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Krulwich Wonders: How Do Plants Know Which Way Is...
laurieabkemeier:
Robert Krulwich takes another look at WHAT A PLANT KNOWS in his blog, Krulwich Wonders.
Think of a seed buried in a pot. Like this one:
It’s dark down there in the potting soil. There’s no light, no sunshine. So how does it know which way is up and which way is down? It does know. Seeds routinely send shoots up toward the sky, and roots the other way. Darkness doesn’t...
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Amanda Reviews: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah...
blogisphereofamanda:
ISBN-10: 0670022411
ISBN-13: 978-0670022410
So I read this book after a recommendation by my cousin Charlene, and I have to say she knows me so well (which I already knew) but this book was such a good recommendation for me!
A Discovery of Witches is the first book her in All Souls trilogy (the second book being released in July) and my review with spoilers is below…
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Principal of Boston elementary school dresses as... →
larm-ipsum:
I love this man! What a dedicated guy, what a great project! THIS IS AWESOME.
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Hybrid Mind Thoughts: What Goes Around Comes... →
hybridmindthoughts:
Politicians follow laws or make their own but often don’t think that one of the oldest moral admonitions applies to them: the law of karma. That’s the one, seeped in Buddhist philosophy, but accepted by other religious traditions, that says ‘what goes around comes around.’
It’s a…
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Squashed: Building a Healthy and Just Society →
squashed:
Barton Hinkle of Barticles (and the Richmond Times-Dispatch) has taken a stab at the question previously posed by Political Prof. How is opposition to a national health care system the right way to build a healthy and just society?
To avoid talking at cross-purposes, I would note that when…
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Ronald Hutton on The Childhood of Charles II →
thestuartkings:
Ronald Hutton, author and Professor of History at the University of Bristol, takes us through the early years of Charles II’s life as a member of England’s royal family.
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6 Rules for a Great Story from Barnaby Conrad and...
stevens1:
“And remember: Always aim for the heart!”
_Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest donation – it lets me know I’m doing something right._ http://sswi.me/Lie28a via @brainpickings
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NOM NOM Books: Kristin Cashore-Bitterblue →
grapesreadsbooks:
(I think this book cover is gorgeous; it has my favourite colours :D)
This is the latest of Cashore’s novels and I was really surprised. It managed to pull in the things I liked best out of her last two novels and make me more entrenched in the world she has created. Bitterblue is a…
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The Contemporary Religion of Fandom →
persephonemag:
The other day I came across this quote from Joss Whedon:
I guess the thing that I want to say about fandom is that it’s the closest thing to religion there is that isn’t actually religion.
I was thunderstruck because I had just been thinking this same thing! OK, probably lots of people have thought this, but just let me enjoy the feeling that Mr. Donovan and I are destined to...
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Casino Shuffle by J. Fields Jr. Review →
reflectionsofabookworm:
Casino Shuffle
By J. Fields Jr.
Native Sun Casino is the host to some rather interesting characters, all high profile and full of drama. Antonio Cruz is the resident baby sitter or Head Butler make sure that each of the guests is fully satisfied and taken care of, he takes pride in his job and he is the best at what he does making sure not a single flower is out of...
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The Death Penalty and Deterrence: Total... →
kohenari:
I’ve written some long posts deconstructing the argument that the death penalty deters murderers from committing homicides they would otherwise commit (here and here, for example).
Here are Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, summing up all the statistical problems facing those who want to claim … well … anything at all about the death penalty and deterrence:
The debate over the...
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10 Must-Read Books for Yogis →
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President Obama's kill list controversy is only... →
ericmortensen:
While some members of the president’s own party might be offended by Obama’s actions, the great majority of Americans seem blithely unconcerned. The stories will, in fact, neutralize Republican attack lines and bolster the president’s already strong public ratings on national security. In a country that still maintains ill will toward Iran for the hostage crisis 30-plus years ago...
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NY train engineer suspended after video shows him... →
msnbc:
NEW YORK — A Metro-North train engineer has been captured on video appearing distracted and engrossed in a newspaper while operating a rush-hour train.
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What's the Most Expensive Federal Government... →
So what IS the most expensive federal government social program? It’s the retirement benefits exemption. Surprised? So was I, but maybe we shouldn’t be.
In her interesting book “The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy,” Cornell Professor Suzanne Mettler highlights our government’s three most expensive social tax expenditures: the retirement benefits...
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Sahara Reporters: How The Vaswanis Loot Nigeria:... →
saharareporters:
The Vaswani brothers
By National Standard
NIGERIA might not agree with India on certain isms in religion, marriage, or politics. There is, however, a language they both speak and understand in business and politics. That is bakshish - the Indian word for bribery.
And the Vaswani…
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The challenges of the last week of school | The... →
positivelypersistentteach:
It’s the great irony of the last week of the school year: there’s way too much for the teacher to do and not nearly enough for the students. Every educator I know has a massive amount of paperwork to complete and multi-page checklists of miscellaneous time-consuming tasks that have to be done before summer. And yet students are left pretty much twiddling their thumbs,...
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: South Korea set to remove examples of evolution... →
jobpagoda:
Multi-bits/Getty Images
South Korea is set to remove examples of evolution from high-school textbooks.
South Korean publishers are poised to delete references to evolution from high-school textbooks, a victory for the growing creationist movement in the country.
The move came…
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