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[14 Nov 2009|12:58pm] |
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What are your feelings and opinions on organizations like Autism Speaks that seek to "cure" autism? I went to the Autism Speaks website and it said:
We are dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder.
(Bolding and underlining mine.)
This makes me uncomfortable. I don't think I would be able to support an organization like Autism Speaks. I realize that its intentions are good, but this doesn't sound to me a true understanding of ASDs. How can you cure autism in somebody when autism can be such a strong component of their personality? I know that autism can cause many problems, but what causes those problems can also cause good things too. My friend with AS has very sensitive hearing, which means he can sound out complicated pieces of music on the piano without ever reading sheet music; however, he also gets very upset and stressed in a noisy place. Organizations like Autism Speaks tend to look at the public freakouts without looking at the musical ability (just one example.)
I don't know who people with AS or autism would be without their autism. It's such an intense part of their personalities. Would you, people with Asperger's, want to be "cured"? Or would you rather be able to treat and solve the issues you have while still retaining your Asperger's, since it makes you unique and probably gives you some special abilities?
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| TSA bans snowglobes. TSA, meet Archimedes. |
[14 Nov 2009|03:18am] |
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/-o_-CQ6_nXE/tsa-bans-snowglobes.html The TSA says you can't carry a snow-globe onto a plane, even if it fits in your freedom baggie, because they can't measure how much liquid it contains, and therefore it must contain more than three oz of potential explosive, um, water.
TSA, meet Archimedes. He lived over 2,000 years ago and figured out how to calculate the volume of a object by measuring its displacement. If you actually believe that 3 oz is a magical high-danger threshold, please consider adding a delightful, hallucinatory element of science to your pseudoscience by putting an Archimedes tank at the checkpoint. It would be a lovely counterpoint to your other scientific tests, such as the ducking stool and the spirit-rattles.
"Snow globes are not permitted to be carried through security checkpoints," said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Dwayne Baird.
The reason is that the globes contain liquids, and TSA rules say that only liquids, gels or aerosols in containers of three ounces or less are allowed through security in carry-on bags...
"I would think they would just say 'no,' because they can't really determine how many ounces are in there," Baird said.
Snow globes? TSA will likely just say 'no'
(via MeFi)
 
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| Links for 2009-11-13 [del.icio.us] |
[14 Nov 2009|12:00am] |
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http://feeds.we-make-money-not-art.com/~r/wmmna/~3/vY-ixQi3XvI/regine http://del.icio.us/regine#2009-11-13
- McDonald's advertises for staff to work at Guantánamo Bay - Telegraph
McDonald's is advertising for staff to work at Guantánamo Bay, in what might be the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to see out the recession in warmer climes.
- Jerusalem Dispossessed | Activestills
If Jerusalem is to remain the symbol of peace and tole-rance it cannot be a ghetto for anyone or owned by any particular group. In the same year that Israel celebrates 40 years of the so-called “unity” of Jerusalem, the city has been divided by force, discrimination and injustice. In the “holy city” of 2007, it seems that the only god is “security” and real estate. Israeli policy is drawing a twisting path of a wall that more than anything ensures more conflict, suffering and despair.
The future of Israel cannot be built by blocking the potential of the other. Any negotiation taking place while facts and borders are aggressively being determined according to one side’s interests, is just an illusion. Without real freedom and respect of the other’s right to live in dignity, there is no basis for political negotiation. October 2007
- Resisting the Capitalist Production of Space.
“Ten Days for Oppositional Architecture” takes up the task of exploring possibilities and conditions of a socially committed architectural practice. Therefore the narrow boundaries of the profession have to be left behind. We hence invite activists, geographers, architects, planners, and economists representing different critical approaches to discuss and develop concepts and practices that not only try to oppose and challenge the capitalist mode of production of space, but also try to go beyond it – strategies of de-commodification, re-appropriation and alternative production of space.
- FCForum
We, a broad coalition from over 20 countries, of hundreds of thousands of citizens, users, consumers, organizations, artists, hackers, members of the free culture movement, economists, lawyers, teachers, students, researchers, scientists, activists, workers, unemployed, entrepreneurs, creators…
We invite all citizens to make this Charter theirs, share it and put it into practice.
We invite all governments, multinationals and institutions urgently to listen to it, understand it and enforce it.
- Provisions Library » Blog Archive » Activist Listening
Raqs Media Collective reaches well beyond the confines of the art world to appeal to communities both on and off line. “Raqs” translates into “dance” in Farsi, Arabic, and Urdu. But founding members Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta once jokingly stated, however, that raqs stands for “rarely asked questions.”
- 'Vomit on the table' and speak like a 1950s hipster | Culture | The Guardian
The Guidelines: Random notes from pop culture
- Israel 'personally attacking human rights group' after Gaza war criticism | World news | guardian.co.uk
Human Rights Watch denies having political agenda or seeking funds from Saudi Arabia
- L'arte formato reportage Milano celebra McCurry - Recensioni - Arte - Repubblica.it
Grande mostra sul maestro, pluripremiato dal World Press Photo Award. Oltre 200 scatti da Beirut alla Cambogia, dall'11 settembre alla ragazza di Peshawar
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| Matilda the Ladybug |
[14 Nov 2009|01:28am] |
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Vanilla Twilight by Owl City |
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<3
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| A question for those knowledgable folks out there! |
[13 Nov 2009|09:19pm] |
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So, I have a pretty large, ambitious project that I've been working on for some time now, and it involves a mask made from some sort of skull, adorned with pheasant feathers all around.
I know what kind of feathers, decorations and all that will go on it, but what I'm having issues with is what kind of skull to use.
I'm picturing something like a deer skull as far as shape is concerned and I don't want anything with big snarly teeth, so no predators, and I am looking for something preferably without antlers.
The problem is size. I need something that is big enough that I can fit my head into the brain cavity and wear it as a mask. I'm not terribly concerned about eyeholes as it will hopefully be worn so that it kind of sticks straight out.
Do any of you know of obtainable skulls that would be suitable for this?
Also, if and when I do find a skull, how should I arrange it so that it sits comfortably on my head? I'm imagining some kind of ties would have to be involved, but I know it can't be fun to have your face inside a pokey old skull. Is there a way for me to maybe line the inside with leather to make it more comfortable and maybe durable?
OR should I just look at making the skull out of paper mache or something? And if so, any tips?
Sorry if any of this is unclear. Hopefully soon I can post sketches!
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| Question on tan freshness.... |
[13 Nov 2009|07:48pm] |
Alright so I have a big (real big) ol beautiful red coyote skin that I picked up in Denver 2 months ago and I would love to uncrumple his ears and face a bit for a project. I was told that this is done by soaking in water but I was also told that I have to make sure the tan is fresh or else it will fall apart...hhhow exactly do you tell that? the pelt cirtainly isnt old but how fresh is fresh for the purpose of successful soaking?
Help appreciate, thanks!
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[13 Nov 2009|06:21pm] |
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I know someone asked about this way back when--but is there any way to clean tanned flesh off of mammal claws that's less tedious than using a sharp exacto blade? Thanks!
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| Predictions for 2012 |
[13 Nov 2009|07:22pm] |
Note: this is about the election, not the Mayan calender. (Get a life!)
In my fine tradition of accurately predicting everything (i.e. Obama's election way back in 2006 before he announced that he was running, and at Bush's reelection that the republican party wold turn their backs on him before he left office, and that the democrats would retake Congress in 2006--while Bush and the republicans were still enjoying high approval rating. Oh and I also predicted the 1997 Detroit Red Wings' sweep of the Philadephia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals before the playoffs even started.)
Without further ado, here's what's going to happen over the next three years. People are talking about Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee being strong contenders in 2012--hogwash, I say, hogwash. I believe Huckabee is a genuinely good man who has a genuinely messed up worldview. The evangelical right no longer runs the republican party--it is and will further be in the hands of pro-military, pro-business anti-environmentalists that run on the anti-"terrorism" platform and moderate Mega McChurch religion (see: John McCain). The republican party has learned that evangelicals will vote for anyone the republicans dig up if Glenn Beck calls their democratic rival a socialist bible-burner "with a deep seated hatred for white people" (I'm not making this up).
And for Sarah Palin--come onnn, you can't really be serious about Sarah Palin? 0% chance of winning.
HOWEVER, there will be a new man (tiny, miniscule chance of it being a woman) in the republican party. He will sound a lot like Ron Paul, minus dismantling the CIA and withdrawing troops from overseas. All you have to do to get support for this is say "terrorism" and/or "9/11" at every conceivable chance when you're in front of a microphone (see: Rudy Giuliani). He will blame the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan on Obama, and he'll really capitalize on the fact that people seem to be forgetting that the recession is the result of too little government regulation, not too much. Oh and all that talk about dismantling the fed and centralized banking will go out the window as well.
People will love him. He'll hijack a lot of the momentum from this libertarian, small-government movement with a small government, easy regulation agenda, which for some sick reason people can't get enough of. He will be the darling of corporate America, his face will be on McDonald's wrappers--hell, they might even name a "burger" or "sandwich" after him.
Should he win (I'm not making any predictions on this yet until I see who it is) he will usher in a new era of big business, the likes of which have never been dreamt of, which will make the 1920's and 30's look like Trotskyland. Ron Paul's dream of ending the inefficient practice of having small, local businesses will be realized. A handful of megacorporations will own EVERYTHING instead of just 90% of it, and every job save for government and academia will be for one of these corporations and there will be no way to escape it. Funding for every good and noble thing will get cut in the name of small government to make room for new corporate tax loopholes.
A few of the NPR-listening, arugala-eating, book-reading, rational-decision-making liberal elite will throw a stink about it, but they will be drown out by the cheers of everyone else, and the Orwellian/C. Wright Millsian fusion of corporate and political power will be complete.
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| Transborder Immigrant Tool helps Mexicans cross over safely |
[13 Nov 2009|05:38pm] |
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/pTv9l_HH0pQ/transborder-immigran.html 
Vice has an interview with b.a.n.g lab's Ricardo Dominguez about the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS device based on a cheap cell phone that will help Mexican immigrants safely cross the border."
For the past few years you've been working on the Transborder Immigrant Tool, which sounds like it's really going to chafe the asses of millions of people--civilians and government entities alike. What was the impetus for this project?
My research lab at Calit2 is called BANG Lab, which stands for Bits, Atoms, Neurons, and Genes. One of the areas I've focused on since I've been in San Diego is developing what we call border-disturbance technologies.
What is the device, exactly?
We looked at the Motorola i455 cell phone, which is under $30, available even cheaper on eBay, and includes a free GPS applet. We were able to crack it and create a simple compasslike navigation system. We were also able to add other information, like where to find water left by the Border Angels, where to find Quaker help centers that will wrap your feet, how far you are from the highway--things to make the application really benefit individuals who are crossing the border.
Are you worried that you're going to rile anti-immigration militias?
One of the first things we did at BANG Lab was to interfere with the Minuteman Project in 2005. They were quite angry because not only were we committing public actions against them, but Calit2 and the UCSD system were also supporting it. They're well aware of who we are and what we do. Once they get full knowledge of the Transborder Immigrant Tool--and we're very transparent about it--I'm sure they'll be quite critical.
The Transborder Immigrant Tool Helps Mexicans Cross Over Safely
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| URL shorteners suck less, thanks to the Internet Archive and 301Works |
[13 Nov 2009|04:51pm] |
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6wKRCbrIyAw/url-shorteners-suck.html URL shorteners like bit.ly present some profound problems for the health of the web: for one thing, they might vanish if they company that provides them goes bust (for some other things: it exposes your internet browsing to surveillance by random URL-shortening companies; it exposes you to malware and phishing attacks, and so on).
The first problem -- URLs can vanish -- looks like it may be solved soon. Many URL shortening companies are escrowing their databases of shortened URLs with the Internet Archive, an honorable, established nonprofit. If the companies go bust, their URLs will be redirected to the Archive and thus persist.
The non-profit Internet Archive, a digital library with extensive text, audio, video and web collections, will administer 301Works.org as a project of the Internet Archive. "Short URL providers have in the space of eighteen months become a corner stone of the real time web -- 301Works.org was conceived to provide redundancy so that users and services could resolve a URL mapping regardless of availability. The Internet Archive is a perfect host organization to run and manage this for all providers," says Bit.ly CEO John Borthwick. "The Internet Archive is honored to play this role to help make the Web more robust," added Brewster Kahle, founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive.
All participating companies are members of the 301Works.org Working Group, a technical and policy discussion group, but the Internet Archive will manage the over all initiative in a fashion consistent with its charter as a non-profit organization, and supporting the interests of the greater community ahead of those of the participating companies.
Participating companies will provide regular backups of their URL mappings to the 301Works.org service. In the event of the closure of a participating organization, technical control of the shortening service domain will be transferred to 301Works.org in order to continue redirecting existing shortened URLs to their intended destinations.
URL shorteners working with Internet Archive for long-term preservation
(via Kottke)
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