July 31, 2010

They call him the "Rabbah Rouser"

“There’s a tremendous amount of anxiety among religious traditionalists that when you take one step toward egalitarianism, the floodgates are open and everything that seemed self-evident will no longer be. Men go to work, and women raise children. If you undermine that, you have lost your whole universe.”

The Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements of Judaism have been ordaining women as rabbis for decades, but the religion's most traditional sect, the Orthodox, remains a lone, minority holdout against egalitarianism. Last year, Orthodox Rabbi Avraham "Avi" Weiss (political activist and founder of the controversial, liberal, "Open Orthodox" Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yeshiva in New York) tried to shake things up by ordaining the first female American Orthodox rabbi. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:09 PM PST - 35 comments

"This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it."

This year, for the first time ever, the U.S. included itself in the State Department's annual report on human trafficking. Most Americans associate human trafficking with sexually exploited women and children, but the definition includes guest laborers who have been trapped into indentured servitude as well. "More investigations and prosecutions have taken place for sex trafficking offenses than for labor trafficking offenses, but law enforcement identified a comparatively higher number of labor trafficking victims as such cases often involve more victims.” The full report--with victim stories, "TIP Heroes," methodology, definitions, etc.--is here.
posted by availablelight at 8:54 PM PST - 10 comments

Paul Madonna draws San Francisco.

"I never know what to call myself really. I call myself a cartoonist because it's what I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember, it's what I always return to, and it's how I think. But I don't really work in that field. I think I'm an artist and a writer, or more appropriately, an artist who writes." [more inside]
posted by oulipian at 8:52 PM PST - 5 comments

It's still Saturday, don't look at me.

Cat, cat, cats on a treadmill. Cats vs. a treadmill. Dog, dog, dog on a treadmill. Ferret on a treadmill. Horse on a treadmill. More about horses on treadmills. Horsing around on a treadmill. Kiwi on a treadmill. Turtle, turtle, sea turtle on a treadmill. Vampire bat on a treadmill. Shrimp on a treadmill.
posted by Evilspork at 8:42 PM PST - 39 comments

MOMS for the 21st Century

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard introduced the Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services (MOMS) for the 21st Century Act on July 21st. This legislation proposed by Congresswoman Roybal-Allard of California is aimed at improving maternal and infant outcomes in the US. [more inside]
posted by zizzle at 6:04 PM PST - 60 comments

[State Name] Gurls

What's the easiest way to learn about a state? Watch the California Gurls parody made in that state's honor! [41LYT] [more inside]
posted by 47triple2 at 5:37 PM PST - 42 comments

Timing is everything?

With "support for the death penalty in excess of 85% [of the population]", there is normally little fuss in Japan each time the announcement is made that convicted murderers from death row have been hanged (such announcements are only made after each execution.) But last Wednesday, the disclosure that two executions had taken place early that morning did raise eyebrows - for two reasons. Justice Minister Keiko Chiba held a press conference to make the announcement, and added that - in a 'first' for a Japanese Justice Minister - she herself had attended the execution as a witness, after signing the authorization for it to proceed. But what has really caused a firestorm of protest is the fact that although she lost her Parliamentary seat in last month's election, she "has remained in her ministerial post at the request of Prime Minister Naoto Kan". She is a private citizen.
posted by woodblock100 at 5:16 PM PST - 29 comments

SMYT: Saturday Morning You Tube

Pop music in the '60s ran the gamut from Bobby Russell's "Saturday Morning Confusion" to "Come Saturday Morning" (from the soundtrack of "The Sterile Cuckoo"* and performed by the same guys who sang of "Guantanamo -mera"). And they still write songs today about "Saturday Morning" (with pancakes! and vampires!).

The first thing Disney did when it took over ABC was "One Saturday Morning"**. But then there are the "REAL Saturday Morning Watchmen" (remixed from previously on MeFi). (other Saturday Morning video posts)

*yes, that is a very young Liza Minnelli
**I'll never forgive them for canceling "Reboot" and "Bump in the Night", the only Saturday toons I still enjoyed, because they weren't produced by Disney

posted by oneswellfoop at 5:08 PM PST - 10 comments

The wife of a once-popular singer (Gary Busey) is found dead.

A lawyer is secretly a stripper. Detectives look for a racist. Radiation kills a tormented scientist. Briscoe and Green search for lost customer. Homeless men are murdered. A complicated murder case. These Are Their Stories: Art based on one-line summaries of Law & Order episodes. [more inside]
posted by Captain Cardanthian! at 2:36 PM PST - 38 comments

The Flower

The Flower contrasts a utopian society that freely farms and consumes a pleasure giving flower with a society where the same flower is illegal and its consumption is prohibited. The animation is a meditation on the social and economic costs of marijuana prohibition.
posted by Surfin' Bird at 1:34 PM PST - 56 comments

Puberty Blues

Puberty Blues - Hayley Smith started developing breasts when she was five. A year later, she had her first period. “It was awful,” her mother says. “There was so much ignorance. People treated her differently—Hayley didn’t really have a childhood. You just don’t expect to have to talk to your six-year-old daughter about having periods.” The evidence from Denmark suggests that Hayley’s experience could soon be commonplace. Most paediatric endocrinologists now agree that the age of puberty is falling fast in developed nations. But there is no consensus on why.
posted by heatherann at 1:21 PM PST - 93 comments

Anchorage, 1970s

Remembering Anchorage in the Seventies.
posted by Pants! at 12:51 PM PST - 44 comments

The Internet Animal Orchestra (It's Caturday)

The Internet Animal Orchestra [SLYT Saturday]
posted by xod at 12:28 PM PST - 11 comments

95

Romania's Tirgsor Prison (for women), as photographed by six inmates. (mild nsfw content)
posted by edgeways at 11:51 AM PST - 35 comments

NOM NOM *MEEEEEW* NOM

Man, Some Kittens Just Love Broccoli. But is it good for them? [MLYTP] [more inside]
posted by The Whelk at 11:30 AM PST - 50 comments

F is for Cookie

There's something about this box of Fortune Cookies... [SLYT]
posted by Fizz at 11:28 AM PST - 25 comments

I Am The Judge

The Sample Story of Rush by BAD II (with Pig Meat Markhum) [more inside]
posted by StopMakingSense at 10:52 AM PST - 17 comments

Sisyphean box

Sisyphean box [SLYT]
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 9:25 AM PST - 59 comments

One of the more persistent economic fallacies of our day.

The Broken Window Fallacy. [SLYT] [more inside]
posted by tybeet at 9:16 AM PST - 44 comments

The last 23 seconds of this video of a brick in a washing machine are worth the first 56

Washing machine self destructs [SLYT]
posted by alby at 7:55 AM PST - 80 comments

American railways

High-speed railroading
America's system of rail freight is the world's best. High-speed passenger trains could ruin it [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 7:49 AM PST - 81 comments

Normally I'd make fun of them, but it's actually pretty awesome

Flushing 32 glowsticks down the toilet. (via)
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:16 AM PST - 70 comments

Stress

Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine.
posted by homunculus at 1:40 AM PST - 47 comments

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