You should read this for 10/14/2017:
Art
Living with gods: highlight objects A British Museum blog post highlighting some of the objects in the upcoming exhibit; Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond . These objects representing various religions and philosophies about life and death and existence highlight the ways humans are similar. See also this post about the Lion Man figure 40,000-year-old walrus ivory figurine found in Stadel Cave, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the oldest known evidence of religious belief in the world.
Books, Writing, and Language
Florida Superintendent Orders Ban on All Books Judged ‘Inappropriate’
The order from Superintendent Mike Thomas targets for removal any library materials, textbooks, or supplemental texts that contain “profanity, cursing, or inappropriate subject matter.”
It is unclear exactly what prompted Thomas’ action at this time, but if followed to the letter it would undoubtedly decimate both curricula and library collections. For just a small taste of the impact, consider the four books on the district’s summer reading list for 8th graders:
* Lord of the Flies by William Golding
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
* Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
* Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick
Food and Drink
Slow Cooker Carnitas Breakfast Tacos Start the pork roast cooking in the slow-cooker the night before; then add eggs and the usual taco trimmings for a hearty autumn breakfast. I’m already ready for breakfast (or lunch or dinner). The recipe calls for a pre-packaged marinated roast, but really, you can do that yourself before crocking the roast.
History and Archaeology
Facebook know-it-all mansplains ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ costume — to woman who designed it
Law and Order
Homage to Catalonia: What just happened in Spain’s would-be breakaway region?“
Outside observers are amazed to see such chaos and violence in a stable, modern democracy. But Spain isn’t one. For people in Catalonia, and Catalan people around the world, it’s impossible to shake the image of a police officer grabbing a woman by the hair and throwing her downstairs, then using his baton to strike an elderly lady who is raising her hands in the air in a sign of peaceful protest. Or the image of riot police stomping on people of all ages who are sitting on the floor, hitting them and shoving them aside, breaking their bones even after they’ve moved out of their way. It is hard to reconcile those images of the nearly 900 Catalan citizens injured in recent protests, with the idea that Spain is a modern, robust democracy, as people in other Western nations apparently consider it.
John Kelly’s personal cellphone was compromised, White House believes
“A September White House memo follows news that Chief of Staff and former director of Homeland Security John Kelly’s personal cell phone had been compromised potentially as early as December 2016.’
California challenges Trump’s rollback of birth control mandate “California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of an Obama-era policy that required employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. Xavier Becerra said:
Donald Trump wants businesses and corporations to control family planning decisions rather than a woman in consultation with her doctor. These anti-women’s health regulations prove once again that the Trump administration is willing to trample on people’s rights
The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the story and the New Yorker took it farther: From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories “In the course of a ten-month investigation, thirteen women interviewed said that, between the nineteen-nineties and 2015, Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them.”
And in that context: Harvey Weinstein may have been fired illegally by The Weinstein Company. The company “wrote a contract that said Weinstein could get sued over and over for sexual harassment and as long as he shelled out money, that was good enough for the Company”
Rebecca Solnit On Harvey Weinstein, Hillary Clinton, And Blaming Women For The Acts Of Men “Harvey Weinstein is Hillary Clinton’s fault, we have learned from many sources. So is eczema and the Civil War and the fact that your child refuses to learn to tie shoelaces and sticks to Velcro shoes.”
Pay It Forward
Veteran Who Stole Truck to Save 30 Vegas Shooting Victims Surprised With New Car
Science and Technology
A horrendously bad “vaxed/unvaxed” study rises from the dead yet again
It’s not the cost of Pence’s trip that was galling. It was the preparation for it.
These Are the Oldest Known Flowers in the World Found in the fossil record, these plants are more than 100 million years old
How Israel Caught Russian Hackers Scouring the World for U.S. Secrets “The Israeli officials who had hacked into Kaspersky’s own network alerted the United States to the broad Russian intrusion, which has not been previously reported, leading to a decision just last month to order Kaspersky software removed from government computers.”
Starving Killer Whales Are Losing Most of Their Babies
A nearly 70 percent miscarriage rate is threatening the future of the southern resident killer whales. “Despite having special protections from both the Canadian and American governments, there are only 78 of these salmon-eating whales left. And as recent research shows, the southern resident population is set to slowly atrophy and ultimately disappear. On top of habitat degradation, climate change, and other challenges, the whales have another problem: they’re not having enough babies.
Penguin disaster as only two chicks survive from colony of 40,000
In the colony of about 18,000 breeding penguin pairs on Petrels Island, French scientists discovered just two surviving chicks at the start of the year. Thousands of starved chicks and unhatched eggs were found across the island in the region called Adélie Land (“Terre Adélie”).
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
“I Hate Everyone In The White House!”: Trump Seethes As Advisers Fear The President Is “Unraveling” “In recent days, I’ve spoken with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president that seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods.”
Trump escalates threats against press, calls news coverage ‘frankly disgusting’
Trump follows up NBC threat: ‘It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write’
