December 2010
46 posts
Stories From Pakistan: Poking fun →
the-expat-life:
In Pakistan, especially the Punjab area, it isn’t uncommon for people to poke fun at Afghani people, or “pathans” as they are called, for no apparent reason at all. In my entire school of approximately 300 students, there is only one Afghani student in my class. I had been…
It always amazes me how this sort of thing exists everywhere. In varying degrees, but still—whether...
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a...”
– Banksy (via hannabis, zaschell) (via kitleeen) (via sharksgochomp)
A Plan to Make Homelessness History →
This is a story about a plan to end chronic homelessness in the United States. It’s not an indeterminate “war on homelessness,” but a methodical approach to do away with a major social problem. Each day, roughly 700,000 people in the country are homeless. About 120,000 are chronically homeless. They often live on the streets for years and have mental disabilities, addiction problems and...
“If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that...”
– Shane Clairborne (via herefordianyouth)
“What are the differences between Mark Zuckerberg and me? I give private...”
– Julian Assange on SNL (via kateoplis)
Racists Totally Freak Out Over Idris Elba Playing... →
fuckyeahlongbox:
Incidentally, anyone following LB who has a problem with POC playing characters usually drawn as white can go fuck themselves!
I'm just saying, No offense, and other such fun
Friend: But I mean, no offense, but it's not like we have enough black people here for it to really matter--
Me: ???
Me: No, it shouldn't matter, is my point.
Me: If you keep separating Black history it's like saying the white version of history is the normal one. Which is not true, there should only be one, in an ideal setting. We just don't have an ideal setting, so there's a separate history.
Friend: But no offense. I'm just saying, that's why she [the teacher] wouldn't have much to say about black history...
Me: Well, no offense, but I could find a more all-inclusive article on Wikipedia. That's how white this so-called US-American history class is.
Me: But 'no offense'. And 'I'm just saying'.
Watcharchann:
Shanghai 5 - A fantastic documentary about skateboarding in Shanghai.
The Tyee – The New Class Warfare over Bicycles →
lukesimcoe:
This is a must-read.
The poor purchase cars because there is no other option in a society built to serve the needs of the automobile. If you want to work, you need a car. If you want to visit your friends, you need a car.
The Seven Myths of “Slums” →
Myth 1: There are too many people
It is easy to believe that urban slums are a consequence of too many people living in cities, or too many poor people migrating from rural to urban areas for governments to contend with the strain on housing. But the real problem is rooted in outdated institutional structures, inappropriate legal systems, incompetent national and local governance, and...
“Alaska has over 600 miles of land. If you were to explore 1,000 acres every day,...”
– Sarah Palin
-almost fell off my treadmill when I heard her say this.
(via peanut-butt)
What? How did she get 900?
Ok so let’s break this down… There are 640 acres in a mile. There are 600 miles of land. 600 * 640 = 384,000… 384,000 total acres / 1,000 acres a day = 384 days.
365 days in a...
the patriarchy phrasebook →
humorlessfeminist:
Patriarchy: ‘He loved women’ Translation: ‘He fucked a lot of women’
Patriarchy: ‘You’re a feminazi/ bitch/ dyke/ delusional woman/ whore/ desperate for a fuck’ Translation: ‘I am threatened by your argument and am scared of you and it’
Patriarchy: ‘Smile, love!’ Translation: ‘Why are you not deferential to my masculinity?’
Patriarchy: ‘I’m not being racist/ sexist/...
Who is family? | Resist racism →
the-noise-institute:
restruct:
resistance:
A couple of years back I went to meet some family members at a restaurant for dinner. I told the host I was meeting my family and he was scanning the list* when I spotted them. So I told him and started walking over to the table.
As I did so, he tried to stop me. He was some distance in back of me, but called out several times in a voice...
muzings: On WikiLeaks →
uzairm:
1. Its funny to me that the revelation of a set of diplomatic documents is causing a larger stir than a previously leaked video which showed US forces committing cold murder in Iraq.
2. WikiLeaks has revolutionized the political space. No matter how and whom world govts. hunt down now, things…
just checking
Friend [via text message]: Hey I'm watching Mulan now. I have to tell you I think she really looks like you lol
Me: Really? Hahaha
Me: Wait, as in she actually looks like me, or we're just both persuasively Chinese?
Friend: No, she actually looks like you
Me: Okay. Just checking.
Anyone who continues to believe in race as a...
the-noise-institute:
Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America, Barbara Jeanne Fields
OK guys
I need help, as I’ve been commissioned (but not really) to do a slideshow on Christmas traditions around the world. It’s for my org.
So
If you know of any traditions from other countries, please let me know what it is
It can be as broad or as specific as you like. It can be focused on one particular object, ex: in the Philippines we have a star-shaped lantern called a parol, which...
“It bears mentioning that nations with high-performing school systems—whether...”
– The Myth of Charter Schools by Diane Ravitch (via silas216, robot-heart-politics)
the-noise-institute:
The temptation to see Asia as one unit reveals, in fact, a dis-
tinctly Eurocentric perspective. Indeed, the term “the Orient, ”
which was widely used for a long time to mean essentially what
Asia means today, referred to the direction of the rising sun. It
requires a heroic ...
Like the beat beat beat of the tom-tom: The... →
the-noise-institute:
The generalization about the contrast between the West and Asia often
concentrates on the land to the east of Thailand, even though
there is an even more ambitious claim that the rest of Asia is also
rather “similar.” For example, Lee Kuan Yew outlines “the funda-
mental difference between…
