May 2012
9 posts
“Every time you see a naked woman’s body on screen, it’s either in a sexual...”
– Director Sarah Polley, on female nudity in Hollywood
(via this interesting piece in NYT)
Ever wondered how poop-cleanup works for guide... →
Wonder no more.
Rebranding Africa
Africa is in the news — but not just for the sad and familiar reasons of conflict and suffering. The continent is entering the fashion arena, with the quality of its handwork, artistic creativity and its potential for economic growth bringing Africa literally in vogue.
The key word for an overall résumé of changes in attitude and perception is “rebranding.”
“Africa does not need charity —...
Africa’s Child Health Miracle: The Biggest, Best... →
(via Michael Clemens @ CGD)
FYI, RE: IUD 4 EC →
In a review of previous studies, researchers have concluded that the insertion of an intrauterine device after unprotected sex is the most effective and safest method of emergency contraception…
One [study] reviewed found that despite the IUD’s efficacy and safety, 85 percent of clinicians never recommended it for emergency contraception.
“There are a lot of barriers to the use of IUDs,”...
On the other hand...
shitmystudentswrite:
Throughout the course of our history racism has been the cause of many pains and many losses. However, racism has also been the cause of many great successes.
April 2012
17 posts
Are you a student? Do you have problems?
In case Academic Coach Taylor can’t solve them all, there’s a new website out there for you.
Spill is a nationwide peer support network made BY and FOR college students. You can vent on the site, confidentially, about whatever is bothering you. Within 24-48 hours, you’ll get feedback from a handful of trained peers who can relate to your problem.
FYI— the Madison,...
“The challenge is to make improved health for poor people a central goal and a...”
– Newly-named World Bank President and Partners In Health co-founder Jim Yong Kim
(This is going to be an interesting year for global development…)
C'est evident, all of France should be more like...
Hence the contrast one experiences in Marseille, France’s second largest city. Its 840,000 inhabitants include an estimated 240,000 Muslims (more than any other European city). Yet it is famously welcoming. Here, as we were told by Jean Roatta, a politician representing the port’s upscale central district, “you’re Marseillais before you are French.” In the fall of 2005, as ethnically charged...
Ezra Klein tells it like it is re: antibiotics in... →
March 2012
44 posts
Rare bird paints, auctions paintings for charity.
I was barely tolerant of a child prodigy allegedly producing high-priced modern art, so it should come as no surprise that I’m totally rolling my eyes at this “Blue-Throated Macaw and Avian Artist” auctioning her paintings of “parrot species commonly kept as companion animals.”
Yeah, sorry, this is absurd.
Nailing it: Implications of the White Savior...
Beyond the immediate attention that [Kristof] rightly pays hungry mouths, child soldiers, or raped civilians, there are more complex and more widespread problems [in Africa]. There are serious problems of governance, of infrastructure, of democracy, and of law and order. These problems are neither simple in themselves nor are they reducible to slogans. Such problems are both intricate and...
“Not understanding about this not being a white-on-Black crime is related to...”
– DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti, responding to a question about why the murder of Trayvon Martin is being perceived as a “white on Black” crime
(via “Ask the White Guy”)
You probably don’t think much about the border...
But if perchance you DO, then you might like to nerd out with this op-edon the weird history behind continental cartography:
Geopolitics provides Oceania with the ultimate paradox for a continent of islands: a land border. Papua New Guinea is in Oceania. Western New Guinea, being Indonesian, is part of Asia. That means that the mouth of the Bensbach [River] separates two continents — and that...
“My research on married couples found that the trait of narcissism predicted...”
– David M. Buss, a psychologist at the University of Texas, who analyzed mating strategies around the world in “The Evolution of Desire” and “Why Women Have Sex” (as quoted in NYT)
“It’s tabloid fame that dooms you. Sure, Katie Holmes had about 160 Enquirer...”
– Garth Sundem, author of Geek Logic, on his recent retooling of an equation that allegedly predicts the longevity of celebrity marriages (as reported in the NYT, natch)
A good news day for health disparities →
Delaware, now a leader in screening for the second-most deadly cancer in the state, has become the first state to eliminate the disparity between African-Americans and whites in the incidence rate of colorectal cancer.
Never thought you'd have reason to go to...
This is the mix that pervades Bakersfield today — the glossy music hall that civic boosters plaster on their brochures and the dives where country purists take shelter. Over lunch at the Arizona Cafe, I asked Robert Price, the editorial page editor of The Bakersfield Californian, about his sense of the city. He said the distinct flavor came from a few things: the “stew” that includes Dust Bowl...
