Category: Meaningful Labor

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It's What Time??!!

Mayo's St. Mary's Hospital admitting area is like an airport at 5:30 in the morning. Now boarding: Passengers carrying small, screaming adrenal glands in need of chastisement, gate 2. Board! Posted by Steve Pollock on Tuesday, February 2, 2016

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Snow's A-Comin'!

The sun is gone, swallowed by white fog. Flag is limp on the mast. Blizzard warning begins at 6. The sun is not hidden;… Posted by Steve Pollock on Monday, February 1, 2016

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Ignorant and Doomed

Among savages incapable of retaining collectively learned experience, a perpetual infancy results. I can no longer figure out these days whether I’m reading history or current events. [Note to self: If it’s on the Kindle, it’s a history book. If it’s on the web browser on my laptop, it’s currently happening.] Berlin, 4-May-27: “Goebbels spoke...

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70 Years On

[Fair warning: Not a happy or basset-y post. (Didn’t help my, shall we say, outlook on life, that our water heater failed and flooded the den and we’re down to weak cold water in the bathroom and heating water in pots on the stove like we did in 1975.) And it contains opinion at the...

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I Am The Roux!

I Am The Roux. I am a loud basset. A proud basset. A messy basset. A hungry basset. A loving basset. A force of nature. As a puppy, I got lost and couldn’t find my way home. I was very, very hungry. And scared. I ended up in a sad place. The concrete was very...

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Bad Beginnings

I’m sitting in a chair in an airport. Waiting on yet another flight. Taking a drag on a cigarette, trying to read the States-Item. Hard to concentrate since it’s been such a long day. The best routing at the best price the travel agency could give me home to Minneapolis is a Braniff hop via...

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Space is Tedious, But Fascinating

Love this and have needed to blog it for awhile. «If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel: A Tediously Accurate Scale Model of the Solar System» is a brilliantly creative work that represents graphically the massive amount of space in space. On the page, 1 screen pixel corresponds to 3,474.8 km, “which is the diameter...

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Sassoon and Gaza: A Hundred Years, An Unchanged Mankind

In Palestine “On the rock-strewn hills I heard The anger of guns that shook Echoes along the glen. In my heart was the song of a bird, And the sorrowless tale of the brook, And scorn for the deeds of men.” —Siegfried Sassoon, 30-Mar-1918 An interesting story of the month Siegfried Sassoon spent in Palestine...

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The Old Lie

On Remembrance Day … remember. War and the military should never be “celebrated.” Remembered with solemnity and an understanding of the brutality and savagery and destruction. But never “honored” or “celebrated” or as an opportunity for “sales.” Died of Wounds His wet, white face & miserable eyes Brought nurses to him more than groans &...

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The Old Lie (2018 Memorial Day)

On Remembrance Day … remember. War and the military should never be “celebrated.” Remembered with solemnity and an understanding of the brutality and savagery and destruction. But never “honored” or “celebrated” or as an opportunity for “sales.” Died of Wounds His wet, white face & miserable eyes Brought nurses to him more than groans &...

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At Least One American Gets It

“America currently has no functioning democracy. ” James Earl Carter, 39th President of the U.S. “Amerika hat derzeit keine funktionierende Demokratie … Ich glaube, die Invasion der Privatsphäre ist zu weit gegangen. Und ich glaube, dass die Geheimnistuerei darum exzessiv gewesen ist. [Snowden’s revelations] wahrscheinlich nützlich, da sie die Öffentlichkeit informieren … nie zuvor dagewesene...

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I Believe …

“Individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity.” Edward Snowden “I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945 … Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace...

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Civil War Hospitals, the Vagaries of History and Us

A «sad story on the evening news» which prompted the following stream-of-consciousness (and shows how exciting my Sunday nights are): A fire destroyed a home north of Murfreesboro which was used as a hospital for Civil War troops. The family who lived there was refurbishing it and lost everything. But the story caught my attention...

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Julie Ward Howe's 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation

“The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.” Julia Ward Howe “Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears! “Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with...

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School Closures Hit Disproportionately

The Color of School Closures Spread the [rather obvious] word: “Mass school closings have become a hallmark of today’s dominant education policy agenda. But rather than helping students, these closures disrupt whole communities. And as U.S. Department of Education data suggests, the most recent rounds of mass closings in Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia...

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Pope Been-a-Nazi

Germany 1980 “Hehehehe. We sure did beat the crap outta you Poles.” “Hehehehe. Yeah, ya sure did. … Hey, wanna be Pope?” As Seen On

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Woo-Hoo! Occupy the Corporations!

Susan Ohanian’s piece in « Daily Censored » needs wider distribution. Here are two highlights: “In response to a poverty rate that tops 90% in many urban and rural schools –and 1.6 million homeless children—many in schools with no libraries–education reformers at the White House, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Governors...

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Woo-Hoo! Occupy the Corporations! (2013)

Susan Ohanian’s piece in « Daily Censored » needs wider distribution. Here are two highlights: “In response to a poverty rate that tops 90% in many urban and rural schools –and 1.6 million homeless children—many in schools with no libraries–education reformers at the White House, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Governors...

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Hey! You Okay?

Fell back asleep this morning while reading. Must have been more tired than I thought. Started having dreams. Last one was about going to Dad’s funeral. For some reason, we took a train to get to the church. Also, I refused to go to the funeral on time and had to be dragged out by...

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The Bones are Richard’s

It’s Richard Researchers in England confirmed this morning that the skeleton found underneath a Leicester car park is indeed that of Richard III, last Plantagenet king and the last king of the country to fall in battle. “There were cheers when Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist on the hunt for the king’s body, finally announced that...

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Shazam!

Shazam! Gaaaaa-uhhhhh-lllleeeeeee!!!!! (But thanks for coming in out of the cold, finally!) As Seen On

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Incomplete

Barack Obama “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.” [Meanwhile, his gay brothers and sisters tap their feet, waiting impatiently. Well,...

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Academic Paywall Monetization Kills

The political consequences of academic paywalls “The suicide of Aaron Swartz, the activist committed to making scholarly research accessible to everyone, has renewed debate about the ethics of academic publishing. Under the current system, academic research is housed in scholarly databases, which charge as much as $50 per article to those without a university affiliation....

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WoW Monkey Business

Arcanthus Scolds His Darkmoon Monkey for Being a Very Bad Monkey on the Faire’s Boardwalk. That was one pissed-off gnome. As Seen On

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(quote)

Jim Horn (My aside: It’s a salient point, but my reply is, sadly, no. You are dealing with people who truly believe that collateral damage (be it in Vietnam/Iraq/etc., or Newtown) is an acceptable price that must be paid for, in the case of the former, America being #1 (whatever that means), and in the...

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Opt. Out.

Opt Out! Opt out of high stakes testing and resist all “market-based reforms” that seek to privatize and destroy public education. As Seen On

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Idolatry of the Ancient Mythologists

Thomas Paine I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. All … institutions of churches … appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. … The Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of...

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Sounds Like … Hmmm. (tumblr)

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them....

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Jayne Cortez, RiP

Jayne Cortez: 10-May-34 — 28-Dec-12 “The poet Jayne Cortez, who has died aged 78, was unambiguous about her craft: “Words are musical – there’s nothing more to say about it. That’s it! … There is the sound of the voice … and your attitude you put on top of it.” “And if we don’t fight...

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How Many Slaves Work for You?

How Many Slaves Work For You? My number was 43 … If anything, it shows that not much has changed in 150 years. Troubling that 150 years represents just … a slow beginning. Background: The history/journalist geek in me notes that today is the Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation – it’s Jubilee Day. Five days...

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3-Jun-12: Dana Air 9J-992

Dana Air flight 9J-992 collided with a power line during an emergency landing after a bird strike near Lagos-Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Nigeria, at 15:43L on Sunday 3-June. 147 passengers, six crew members and ten people on the ground died.

The flight originated at Abuja International Airport, Nigeria. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, 5N-RAM, was built in 1990 and previously served with Alaska Airlines prior to entering service with Bhoja Air in January of 2009.

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20-Apr-12: Bhoja Air B4-213

Bhoja Air flight B4-213 impacted a mountainside 5KM short of runway 30 at Islamabad-Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Pakistan, at 18:46L on Friday, 20-April. 121 passengers and six crew members died.

The flight originated at Karachi-Jinnah International Airport, Pakistan. The Boeing 737-200, AP-BKC was built in 1984 and previously served with British Airways and Comair prior to entering service with Bhoja Air in January of 2012.

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25-Dec-12: Air Bagan W9-011

Air Bagan flight W9-011 impacted a road and rice paddy short of runway 36 at Heho Airport, Myanmar, at 08:50L on Tuesday, 25-Dec. A passenger on the aircraft and a motorist on the road were killed. 11 others were injured during evacuation.

The flight originated at Mandalay-Annisaton Airport, Myanmar. The Fokker 100 was built in 1991 and previously served with Air Littoral and British Midland prior to entering service with Air Bagan in 2005.

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29-Dec-12: Red Wings WZ-9268

Red Wings flight WZ-9268 overran Moscow Vnukovo’s runway 19 and impacted the M3 highway at 16:35L on Saturday, 29-Dec. Five crew members were killed and three injured.

The aircraft was a ferry flight which originated in Pardubice, Czech Republic; no passengers were aboard. The Tupolev TU-204-100B has a seating capacity of 210 in a one-class configuration. The accident aircraft was approximately four years old. It was the first fatality accident for the Tupolev type, which first flew in 1989.