good:
Monday May 14 09:39pmAccording to a new Pew study, increasing your earning potential may require literally moving on up: If you aim to climb the income ladder in the United States, your best bet might be to move north and east—and definitely stay out of the south.
Bone Folder
This is a bone folder. When I forget the name I call it a bone machine. It is a paper folding tool, made usually from the leg bone of a cow or deer. It is one of those tools that seems very simple but reveals complexity as you use it. Helene has three of various origin. One is old and worn and too small for my hand. The other two are larger, whiter, newer.
When folding paper, you draw the flat belly of the tool from the folded edges of the page towards the spine, then flatten your newly-formed crease with the rounded edges of the tool’s point.
When hand-folding a book’s pages (even a short one, of limited edition) this action must be completed hundreds of times. For the rest of the day you feel the bone’s weight in your fingers even though you’re not holding it. Your mind folds paper as your hand types, rests, chops carrots.
my favorite tool that i use fairly regularly.
I always liked the feel of these too, so smooth and worn, and warms to the touch of your hand.
![theatlantic:
‘Lucy’ Obama and His ‘Charlie Brown’ Progressives
Lucy just had one Charlie Brown. Obama has a whole roster of would-be kickers, and a habit of teeing up the ball only to callously pull it away.Don’t progressives see this?
Obama tricked the cannabis community into thinking his Justice Department would go easy on medical marijuana in states where it is legal, broke his promise, then misled voters about his options.
Obama tricked anti-war voters into thinking that he wouldn’t order American troops into battle unless there was an imminent threat to America or a declaration of war from Congress, then went to war in Libya, violating the War Powers Resolution, even though neither condition was met.
Obama tricked transparency advocates into thinking he’d celebrate whistleblowers and set new standards in open government. He has prosecuted whistleblowers as aggressively as any president in history, and presided over a dramatic escalation in what the federal government does in secret.
Obama tricked executive-power critics into thinking he would roll back the excesses of the Bush Administration. He has transformed those excesses into matters of bipartisan consensus, and gone farther in some respects, as when an American citizen was killed extra-judicially on his order.
Obama tricked immigration-reform advocates into thinking he was a fellow traveler, then upset them with Secure Communities, record-breaking deportation levels, and a failure to improve immigration detention.
Obama tricked Iraq War opponents into thinking that he would exit the country by the withdrawal date that George W. Bush negotiated. The Iraqi government wouldn’t let him keep troops in the country beyond that date, although he tried to break his promise. Now the Obama Administration pays a small army of private-security contractors to protect America’s presence in that country.
Obama tricked critics of indefinite detention into thinking that he abhorred the practice, only to sign a bill that institutionalized it.
Obama tricked critics of signing statements into thinking he wouldn’t issue them. But he’s done so on many occasions.
Obama tricked critics of the state-secrets privilege into thinking he’d reverse Bush-era uses of the tactic. Instead he’s continued it.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these examples are sufficient to draw a conclusion: Progressives shouldn’t trust what Obama says, or what they think he believes. They should judge his actions. It’s the only way to distinguish between promises he aims to keep and things he’s said to mislead small constituencies into thinking he’ll do more for them than is justified by reality.
[Images: Charles Schultz/Reuters, edited by David A. Graham]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3rdmfy0FI1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Monday May 14 09:32pm‘Lucy’ Obama and His ‘Charlie Brown’ Progressives
Lucy just had one Charlie Brown. Obama has a whole roster of would-be kickers, and a habit of teeing up the ball only to callously pull it away.
Don’t progressives see this?
- Obama tricked the cannabis community into thinking his Justice Department would go easy on medical marijuana in states where it is legal, broke his promise, then misled voters about his options.
- Obama tricked anti-war voters into thinking that he wouldn’t order American troops into battle unless there was an imminent threat to America or a declaration of war from Congress, then went to war in Libya, violating the War Powers Resolution, even though neither condition was met.
- Obama tricked transparency advocates into thinking he’d celebrate whistleblowers and set new standards in open government. He has prosecuted whistleblowers as aggressively as any president in history, and presided over a dramatic escalation in what the federal government does in secret.
- Obama tricked executive-power critics into thinking he would roll back the excesses of the Bush Administration. He has transformed those excesses into matters of bipartisan consensus, and gone farther in some respects, as when an American citizen was killed extra-judicially on his order.
- Obama tricked immigration-reform advocates into thinking he was a fellow traveler, then upset them with Secure Communities, record-breaking deportation levels, and a failure to improve immigration detention.
- Obama tricked Iraq War opponents into thinking that he would exit the country by the withdrawal date that George W. Bush negotiated. The Iraqi government wouldn’t let him keep troops in the country beyond that date, although he tried to break his promise. Now the Obama Administration pays a small army of private-security contractors to protect America’s presence in that country.
- Obama tricked critics of indefinite detention into thinking that he abhorred the practice, only to sign a bill that institutionalized it.
- Obama tricked critics of signing statements into thinking he wouldn’t issue them. But he’s done so on many occasions.
- Obama tricked critics of the state-secrets privilege into thinking he’d reverse Bush-era uses of the tactic. Instead he’s continued it.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these examples are sufficient to draw a conclusion: Progressives shouldn’t trust what Obama says, or what they think he believes. They should judge his actions. It’s the only way to distinguish between promises he aims to keep and things he’s said to mislead small constituencies into thinking he’ll do more for them than is justified by reality.
[Images: Charles Schultz/Reuters, edited by David A. Graham]
Wednesday May 2 11:57amThe Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library has created an online petition they intend to send to publishers once they reach their goal of at least 10,000 signatures. Feel free to go sign it if you want. If a patron has questions about why certain titles aren’t available for download and would like to do something, you can let them know about the petition.
David Lee King, the digital branch manager for TSCPL, blogged about the petition:
Sign the Petition at ebooksforlibraries.com!
via David Lee King by David Lee King on 5/1/12
Ebooks in libraries got you down? Feel like you can’t do anything about it, or that you don’t have a voice? My library wants to help!
We have created a petition website – ebooksforlibraries.com. Visit the website, watch the video (also embedded in this post), and more importantly –fill out the petition today!
What’s going on? Pretty simple:
- Libraries are having trouble getting ebooks from the largest publishing companies. These publishers are adding restrictions and price increases, or simply not selling ebooks to libraries at all.
- This means that library customers can get a print copy of a book from a library, but can’t get that same book in an ebook format. And that’s just weird.
- Goal – we need 10,000 e-signatures from readers.
- Once we hit that magic number, we plan to mail the completed petitions to each of the big six publishers. Why? We want to communicate directly with publishers through this petition process, with the intent of establishing formal and consistent communication between publishers and readers.
One other thing – you can help!
- Fill out the petition!
- Share the petition – on your website, in Facebook, in Twitter, etc.
- Point to the petition in your buildings – put up signs, mention it in your library’s newsletter, etc.
Why do this? Our ultimate goal is to get books, in all formats, to our readers. This helps authors, publishers, libraries … and most importantly, our readers.
Am I the only one who looks at this and thinks of the climactic scene of Delicatessen?
Bathroom with glass floor, overlooking a 15 story elevator shaft.
Um, no. Just no. Okay?
(I wonder if this will be as cool when all the upstairs and downstairs neighbors do the same thing.)
The Occupy movement has been a stern reminder to Democrats of who they purport to represent but repeatedly fail as they move further right. A good cartoon.
Really, I don’t see any other logical interpretation of this comic.
Monday Apr 23 12:20pmMonday Apr 23 11:27amA friendly reminder that “road tax” is NOT a tax paid by drivers to maintain the road network. “Road tax” is a colloquialism.
Vehicle registration tax is an excise duty payable to your government for the privilege of polluting your local environment.
Road maintenance is paid for out of income taxes. Everyone pays those, including cyclists.
Have a nice day.
This is just an amazing shot of Washington Street in Jamaica Plain 25 years ago when the elevated came down.
Sunday Apr 22 09:19pmOld Orange Line demolition. Fall, 1987
Photo by Chris Lovett
