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Casey died alone in the dirt in the dark
"...what is really needed is an anti-racist, anti-transphobic movement that draws from women of color feminism and its trenchant critique of racism and police power." - Broadly, with the help of Judith Butler, digs into the lives and deaths of the 23 trans women murdered in 2015.
"It was fantastic being myself."
"To live one's life openly as a transgender woman, let alone one as a black trans woman, simply wasn't done. The only option, really, was to 'pass' in straight society. But Norman wanted to do more than pass — she wanted to excel in the most scrutinized realm of femininity." The story of Tracey "Africa" Norman.
Project Management for newbies
I've been offered an awesome opportunity at work to help manage a large-scale statewide project. I need suggestions for resources to up my project management game.
"An Unbelievable Story of Rape"
An incredible story by ProPublica and The Marshall Project. What happens when police believe rape victims? What happens when they don't?
On grief and the pain it brings
"And then he utters the words. The words that are responsible for nothing less than emotional, spiritual and psychological violence:
Everything happens for a reason. That this was something that had to happen in order for her to grow.
That's the kind of bullshit that destroys lives. And it is categorically untrue. "
Drone Registration Rules Are Announced by F.A.A.
The FAA announced today that all drone units weighing between 0.55 and 50 lbs must be registered with the government by Feb. 19, 2016. The new rules on drones come before the holidays, when an estimated 700,000 new drones are expected to be bought.
What does Facebook think you're into?
Buzzfeed's Katie Notopoulos brings our attention to Facebook's list of things it thinks you'll enjoy seeing ads about.
It would seem that most people find some of Facebook's deductions eerily accurate and some of them hilariously inaccurate.
Passphrases That You Can Memorize — But That Even the NSA Can’t Guess
Passphrases That You Can Memorize — But That Even the NSA Can’t Guess.
It turns out, coming up with a good passphrase by just thinking of one is incredibly hard, and if your adversary really is capable of one trillion guesses per second, you’ll probably do a bad job of it. If you use an entirely random sequence of characters it might be very secure, but it’s also agonizing to memorize (and honestly, a waste of brain power). ... But luckily this usability/security trade-off doesn’t have to exist. ...
"The City of Flint has experienced a Manmade disaster"
The city of Flint, Michigan, disconnected its municipal water supply from the Detroit system in April 2014 while a new pipeline to Lake Huron was being installed. The interim supply came from the local Flint River, and almost immediately, people complained that the new water was cloudy and smelled bad. Over the next eighteen months, though, the news got worse, and the state came up with $12 million to switch the water supply back. This week, the newly elected Mayor of Flint declared an emergency due to skyrocketing lead levels in the blood of Flint's children, asking the Genesee County Board of Commissioners to address the situation.
The history of lesbian slang--or the absence thereof
Last week, the BBC radio programme Woman’s Hour ran an item on the American documentary film "Do I Sound Gay?" The film explores what’s popularly known as ‘the gay voice’, a way of speaking that identifies a man as gay (though not all gay men have it, and some men who do sound gay are actually straight). The Woman’s Hour feature ranged more widely over the subject of gay language, including a lengthy discussion of Polari (previously: 1, 2). But it was all about the boys–-until, towards the end of the item, the presenter broached the inevitable question: do lesbians also have a language of their own? Nothing comparable to Polari--but we do have some
historical evidence of in-group lesbian slang.
Neuroplasticity and IBS - What can you tell me?
I posted about radical approaches in healing for IBS previously. I've been researching Neuroplasticity training, specifically DNRS (Dynamic Neural Retraining System). There is scant research on Neuroplasticity and IBS. Does anyone have experience with this?
"Restart the refrigerator and check timezone"
I have a Samsung RF4289HARS refrigerator. The Google calendar app on it has been working perfectly since I purchased the refrigerator August 2012. However, with the latest changes in Google Calendar API, I can no longer sign in to my calendar.From the Google support forums.
Demographic Destiny
The year 2050 is right around the corner, and yet it is hard to imagine the sweeping changes the world will confront by then. In a multimedia series, The Wall Street Journal helps readers envision how we will work, how we will age and how we will live.
WaPo Drops the Mic on "He or She"
The Washington Post has updated its style guide: "e-mail" is now "email", "Web sites" are now "websites", and perhaps most significantly, "they/them/their" will now be used as gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronouns, instead of defaulting to "he/him/his" or recasting to make a sentence plural (e.g. "Readers will have their own opinions" will now be the more precise "Each reader will have their own opinion."). Post copy editor (and proprietor of The Slot) Bill Walsh notes "I suspect that the singular they will go largely unnoticed even by those who oppose it on principle. We’ve used it before, if inadvertently, and I’ve never heard a complaint."
How to gracefully answer what I like to do for fun when I don't?
If I'm not at work, running an errand, or fulfilling a social commitment, I'm at home. And at home I'm not engaging in any interesting solitary hobbies. My spare time is spent mostly surfing the Web and watching Netflix. I feel very uncomfortable when asked what I do during my free time, such as when I'm asked on Monday what I did over the weekend and when I'm meeting someone new. What are some ways that I can answer this question without sounding defensive, evasive, or shameful?
How do places get their names?
I'm thinking both of naming conventions within the U.S. Department of the Interior as well as counties, cities, towns, and streets. Also, how are counties created (and named) as populations grow? Finally, what circumstances would dictate name changes? Thanks.
The Court takes its time on Fisher
Abigail Fisher, the white student who is challenging the use of race in admissions at the university which rejected her application in 2008, was back at the Supreme Court again, as she was for the first round of arguments in her case in October 2012.
What are your favorite 90's alt-rock music videos?
What music videos did you absolutely love from Smell's Like Teen Spirit up to the late-90's music scene? Feel free to throw in other genres, if you can't help yourself. I'm looking to build a playlist after watching videos from a recently deceased front man's band.
“I just need to be me now, because I’ve had enough.”
What is actually going on with men, right now?
What are they afraid of and unwilling to talk about? How do the inner lives of men affect women, other men, our culture? We see men struggling to define themselves at a time when gender definitions are expanding. We see men dealing, sometimes gracefully and sometimes not, with the weight of their power. And we learn that what it means to be a modern man is just like everything else: complex, messy, and always changing. Medium presents: The Men Issue
Continuous heart rate monitoring with custom alerts-- how?
Here's what I want: wearable tech that will continuously monitor my heart rate without needing to charge for 6+ hours at a time. Software connected to that monitor, either internally or through my Nexus 6, that will alert me, subtly, when my BPM exceeds a specific number that I choose. And I want it for $120 or less, preferably less. Can you help me find and/or make the hardware and software I'll need?
The Beginning of the End of Big Government IT
The state of California just announced that the new technology underpinning its Child Welfare System [pdf] won't be the usual "IT Solution" bought up in one big lump to follow a 4000-page specification. Instead, it's going to be built as a series of smaller modular projects driven by user needs, drawing on agile methodologies, a wider range of vendors, and, wherever possible, open standards and open source software. The decision, made in collaboration with Code for America and the federal government, sets an important precedent for how governments on all levels can get past the pitfalls of the standard procurement model.
I Was Internet Famous
Here, nine YouTube sensations whose lives were upended briefly in the past decade (plus one from the prehistoric web era, before YouTube made its debut in 2005) speak about this odd, relatively new kind of fame. Most embraced the experience, seeing where it would take them. Some ended up in dark places. A couple have made it their living and found themselves with new careers. Others stepped away, opting out of the flame wars. Pay attention: Someday, the accidental celebrity could be you.
Soloway describes herself as “seditious.
"That night, Soloway sat in the bathtub, while her husband, Bruce Gilbert, a music supervisor for film and television, brushed his teeth. She remembers telling him, “ ‘I don’t want to use the money to pay off our debt. I want to be a director, and I want to make a film with it and get into Sundance. I want to double down on me.’ And Bruce was, like, ‘O.K.’ ” Then, just as Soloway was making the leap to directing her own material, her father called one afternoon and came out as transgender." (SL New Yorker)
How do I save my weekend from my SLOTH?
Every Monday to Thursday, I imagine going home on Friday, getting a good nights' rest, and waking up on Saturday and Sunday to do fun new activities. After all, I'm 23, healthy, fit, love food, love trying new things and am an extrovert. Without a fail, every single weekend looks like this instead: me hanging out in my squalid apartment, eating eggs and pasta, watching the clock, not doing any chores, watching stupid shit on YouTube and hating myself profusely.
Emilio no longer looks me in the eye, but Molly has become vicious.
Jury Duty, by Anonymous. (SL Medium): There is one other person in the room who doesn’t quite fit in, the Latino man who is the only other male juror of color. He sits and stares out the window. He doesn’t join in on small talk. “I haven’t been sleeping,” he says, when asked why he is so silent. “A man’s life is at stake.” I think of him as Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men. We will share this role.
That 'etc...', it'll get you every time
Because of ongoing problems with racism, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has temporarily closed comments on all articles about indigenous peoples.
I want to see EVERYTHING in the USA west/southwest
I want to see all the neat things to see in a large chunk of the USA- Texas to Colorado to California and back, including New Mexico and Arizona. I'll consider the NW too, if something is exceptionally cool.
Enough
America's gun problem is completely unique:
Why is it that for all the outrage and mourning with every mass shooting, nothing seems to change? To understand that, it's important to grasp not just the stunning statistics about gun ownership and gun violence in the United States, but America's very unique relationship with guns — unlike that of any other developed country — and how it plays out in our politics to ensure, seemingly against all odds, that our culture and laws continue to drive the routine gun violence that marks American life.
It's that time of year again!
DJ Earworm's United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)
is now available!
Tell me about your favorite nonfiction "mysteries"!
My favorite way to unwind is with a good murder mystery, but after a few too many anticlimactic solutions and "it isn't really about the mystery, it's about the marvelous setting and characters" books, I'm ready to switch to nonfiction for a while.
The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset.
Want to get an idea whether it'll be worth hauling your kit out to your favourite spot to capture a magnificent sunset? Consult the sunset forecast at SunsetWX. Forecast valid in continental US and adjoining fringes only. And SunCalc will let you know exactly where the sun will cross the horizon from your vantage point.
The free Turkey men get is good
ClickHole asks: What does it mean to be a man?
A Black Body On Trial: The Conviction of HIV Positive "Tiger Mandingo"
"In his final arguments to the jurors, Groenweghe called Johnson’s accusers “promiscuous.” Hands in his pockets, eyes downcast, he told the members of the jury that these young gay men “have a lifestyle I don’t understand, that many of us don’t understand. But, he said that HIV criminalization laws weren’t put on the books by legislators just to protect them, but to protect the public health — including the health of the jurors."
Brother, can you spare an hour for a CEO down on her luck?
The Beggar CEO and Sucker Culture
castigates employers who think their employees should do extra work for free.
How I became afraid
So long as I was smoking, I would never reach the point where there would be nothing more to be done. Emmett Rensin on the peculiar self-management of anxiety.
How to best assist elderly mother to manage her life?
My 80-year-old mother has been declining mentally in recent months. Recently she's been making some very poor decisions for herself, both financially and medically. I am her only child, I live with her, and I need to find some way(s) to get her to make better decisions, or to make them for her.
Timed Travel
Ever wonder how quickly you could get from London to Winnipeg a hundred years ago? Turns out it's 5 to 10 days, according to an "isochronic" map from An Atlas of Economic Geography, compiled by John G. Bartholomew in 1914.
Stepping Out at The Cross-Dressers’ Ball
The Seahorse Society of New South Wales is a support organization for transvestites. While it has been around since 1971, this year marks the first time that press has been invited to the annual ball. William Verity reports for A(ustralian) Broadcasting Corporations’s Earshot:
"A mixture of beneficial and problematic experiences..."
"her challenges point to a need for tech companies to openly examine patterns of hostility toward underrepresented employees that stem from no apparent cause other than irrational bias."
This Is Not Real
This Is Not Porn (.net) (previously here) has been showing "rare, candid, funny, beautiful, strange and awesome celebrity photos" for five years. But now the site has added a category for debunking fake celebrity photos, whether through a frivolous use of photoshop, a malicious use of photoshop, or simply a misidentification. Also, don't miss the collection of gifs.
“I was – always will be – his mother.”
My son, the mass murderer: ‘What did I miss?’ [The Guardian]
In 2006, Charlie Roberts walked into an Amish school in Pennsylvania and killed five young girls. His mother talks about trying to comprehend his actions.
"You can’t sell something to people if they don’t want that thing."
Sending and receiving emails are important parts of his job. On average, he gets an email every 45 minutes. Sometimes, the interval between emails is only two minutes. Other times, it’s three hours. Although many of these emails are unimportant or stress-inducing, some of them are fun. Before long, whenever Michael S has an internet connection, he starts refreshing his email inbox every 30 minutes, and then every five minutes and then, occasionally, every two minutes. Before long, it’s a compulsive tic – the pecking pigeon of web usage.If the internet is addictive, why don’t we regulate it?
What sort of diet/exercise should I do to look better?
I'm interested in looking more attractive for myself and my partner. In particular, I'd like to improve definition and increase size of my arms, chest and abs. What specific exercises and dietary changes will best achieve this?
The New, Ugly Surge in Violence and Threats Against Abortion Providers
The deadly shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic is part of a disturbing trend.
Three people were shot dead and nine injured Friday at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, the first time since 2009 that anyone has been killed in an incident linked to activity at an abortion clinic. The attack comes amid an exponential increase in threats and violence against abortion providers since the release of a series of viral—and widely debunked—videos.