Posts Tagged ‘Nicaragua’
Sunday Links!
* The science fictional sublime: the art of Penguin science fiction.
* From the syllabus of my wonderful Cultural Preservation class: “Can Auschwitz Be Saved?” and “The Myth of the Vanquished: The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.”
* Great moments in the law school scam. Wow.
* Fraternity expels 3 linked to statue noose, suspends Ole Miss chapter.
* Where the money goes: what $60,000 tuition at Duke buys you.
* The Definitive Guide to Never Watching Woody Allen Again.
* Pedophiles Are Still Tearing Reddit Apart.
* The Vampire Squid Strikes Again: The Mega Banks’ Most Devious Scam Yet.
* The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy will launch in 2015.
* Always worth relinking: StrikeDebt’s Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual.
* On most policy questions of any importance, there are enough academics doing work to generate far more policy ideas than can seriously considered by our political system. When it comes to systemic risk, we have all the ideas we need–size caps or higher capital requirements–and we have academics behind both of those. The rest is politics. What we really need is for the people with the big megaphones to be smarter about the ideas that they cover.
* Milwaukee’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program running out of money. Income inequality grew rapidly in Milwaukee, study finds.
* Actually, climate trolls, January ended up being the fourth-warmest on record.
* EPA moves to toughen pesticide safety standards for the first time in 20 years.
* Scientists are appalled at Nicaragua’s plan to build a massive canal.
* South Carolina Legislators To Punish College For Assigning Gay-Themed Fun Home Comic To Freshmen.
* A sequel film for Farscape is in the early phases of development.
* NBC officially giving up, bringing back Heroes.
* How wrong is your time zone?
* Presenting the lowest possible score in Super Mario Brothers.
* The Amtrak Writers Fellowship.
* And now they’re saying the Voynich Manuscript might not be a hoax after all. Oh, I hope so.
Wednesday Links: Cold War Modern Art, The Cutest Kitties, and More
* Modern art as weapon in the Cold War. And they say the humanities are worthless!
Why did the CIA support them? Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.
* We can’t buy this kind of motivation from the market. No tool or program can spark it. And the elites at the top of the current educational heap—who advanced their careers while the educational culture declined—have no clue.
* Judge rules that Fox Searchlight should have paid its interns. Fox today, literally every other media and publishing outfit in the country tomorrow…
* A judge responded to an assault victim by demanding sex in exchange for ‘legal favors’ in her divorce. She filed a complaint, and he sent cops to plant meth in her car. It’s the most atrocious abuse of power since this other story that was also published today.
* Former White House Chief of Staff mulling run for Illinois governor on bleed-the-teachers platform. You know, for the children.
* Meanwhile, from our governor: Scott Walker Endorses Mandating Transvaginal Ultrasounds And Shutting Down Abortion Clinics.
* Chinese century watch: Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal.
* Massive ‘derecho’ storm poised to strike southern Wisconsin.
* Pipe break at Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant kills 8,000 small fish.
* Man of Steel sounds pretty middling, alas. And no after-credits sequence? Outrageous.
* And Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal simplifies the Voight-Kampff test.
Good Causes
My good friend Tim is running his annual fundraising drive to raise funds towards education expenses in a Nicaraguan family.
For the last couple of years, I have been raising money to help send my former host sister in rural Nicaragua to high school. This year, Iveth is set to graduate — an AMAZING feat considering the odds a woman of her means faces — and I am determined not only to assist her in her final year of secondary school, but also to begin raising funds for her younger sister, Joselin. Last year the department came together and raised around $450; this year I’m hoping to raise $880.
If you are interested in helping or learning more about this project, please visit my website to read about Iveth and Joselin’s story:
http://ivethbetancour.blogspot.com/
Please consider donating. Schooling in Nicaragua is free; we are merely trying to raising the funds they need to cover transportation costs — about $1.75 a day per student. A donation of $10 sends Iveth or Joselin to school for more than a week.
All the details are here…
Gerry Canavan 