The Next Hurrah

A few words for students researching Black History Month

by emptypockets

I noticed over the past week that we've had an unusual amount of traffic from people searching for information about Rosa Parks (and, to their good fortune, they were finding this excellent piece by DHinMI, from TNH's glory years months). For those still googling, the answer is, no, Rosa Parks didn't have children.

But, I began to wonder why the sudden interest in Rosa Parks. Then I realized it's February and, naturally, the shortest month is also Black History Month. Although only fleetingly observed by the general public, there seem to be enough (students?) interested in the topic that it has a measurable impact on search engine traffic. In fact, if civilization came to an end and all that survived were google's search records, you could still figure out when Black History Month had been:

Search results for "black history" from Google Trends

Thanksgiving Football Trashtalk Thread

by emptywheel

Say, did you know that the last time the Detroit Lions won on Thanksgiving Day, they beat the Packers?

And if you want to answer the absurd quiz, click through to NFL.com, which apparently needs to have four entries for all of its quizzes. How else to explain the presence of Kitna who, though he has moments of inspiration, is not in the same league as the other guys, particularly not Manning or Favre--the latter of which will face one of the worst pass defenses in the league today, ranked #30.

Oh! And may you all have a safe, happy holiday. Go Lions!

Gone Bear Hunting--Light Posting

by emptywheel

Okay, not bear-hunting. But mr. emptywheel and McCaffrey the MilleniaLab and I are going on a road trip--I'm calling it mr. emptywheel's NFC North driving tour. Where I'm going, the WiFi gods really are jealous gods, so I can't even guarantee I can check in. Though I think I'll find WiFi in time to check in for the Pats-Colts game on Sunday.

And I'll be driving all day Tuesday, which practically guarantees fireworks at the Mukasey vote on Tuesday. Or maybe someone else will quit, though with Karen Hughes gone, I don't think there's anyone left.

I'll be back posting regularly on Wednesday.

Go Learn Something, pt. 3

by emptypockets

Each Tuesday or Wednesday, I try to post a link to one of the many amazing resources for learning that I've found online. Our collection so far includes the free cell biology lectures by top researchers at iBioSeminars and the 25,000 free e-Books from Munseys.com. Commenters have suggested the medical resources The Doctor's Guide (via Margot) and Patient Care (via chch16), the archeology site The Archeology Channel (via Elliott), and the philosophy videos compiled at a brood comb blog (via creepydude).

Having touched on biology and literature, this week I want to look into a little history through one of my favorite sites, The American Memory collection at the Library of Congress. It's an enormous trove of scanned documents, photos, maps, old advertising, and audio and video recordings from the mid-1800s to the present.

In fact, it's so big that it's difficult to know where to begin. (It's also organized in an unfortunate way that can be difficult to browse. But that's more than made up for by the sheer volume of material available.) Here's one place to begin: the Sound Recording directory. Click into an individual collection (Folk Music, Dust Bowl, for example) and then browse the photos and mp3s of the people and their music. Since I think Woody Guthrie said just about everything that ever needs to be said, that's where I began. But for purposes here, why don't I start a little closer to home: New York City.

Go learn something

by emptypockets

You can learn a lot just by surfing. The American Society for Cell Biology (which I seem to be plugging a lot lately) has published a terrific set of lectures by some of the leading lights in the field. The full collection is at iBioSeminars, and they're all free. Most are at a level suitable for advanced undergrads, but (as with any field) some speakers are clear enough that even someone with almost no background could follow easily. Martin Raff is one of my favorite communicators: here he is talking about how an organ -- or organism -- knows how big to grow: Quicktime moved below the fold so it doesn't keep loading with the home page...

Going Fishing!

by emptywheel

Mr. emptywheel and I are headed to DC so McCaffrey the MilleniaLab can attend a very important Furrin' Policy Summit with Kobe, Katy, and Lucy (oh, and so we can go to a wedding or some such rot). The emptywheel pack is going to play around in the mud together for a couple of days on the way back. And mr. emptywheel has requested (well, demanded, and who can blame him!?!?!?) that I leave my Toobz behind. So aside from the possibility of some puppy porn while we're in DC, don't expect to hear from me (and I mean it, this time) until next Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!!

My Annual Post: The PTA vs. P&G

by Trapper John

Hi, it's Trapper.  I figure I need to get a post in here once a year or so to justify my name on the masthead.  And this isn't much of a post -- in fact, it's a bleg, of sorts. But it's a bleg for a worthy cause that I have absolutely no personal interest in, and it won't cost anyone other than American Express a dime.

You may have seen American Express's ads for its Members Project, which will award $5 million to a worthy non-profit voted on by Amex cardholders. The two leading vote-getters right now are A) a "children's safe drinking water" project funded by Proctor and Gamble to the point where its budget is over $380 million/year, and B) DonorsChoose, a fantastic little non-profit that funds small proposals (generally less than $1000) made by public school teachers in big-city systems, including NYC and DC. Essentially, DonorsChoose works like a micro-NSF/NEH, dispensing tiny grants to educators who can turn a $300 investment into a world of discovery for their pupils. Here's a representative proposal, from a pre-K teacher at Butler Bilingual in DC. She's looking for $547 to buy paints and art supplies for her kids -- because arts funding has become "an afterthought in most school curricula." Imagine how important a basic art program is to the developing mind of a four year-old. Imagine what $5 million would mean to an organization that funds such modest, yet critical, projects.

So if you have an Amex card, I urge you to take 2 minutes and vote for DonorsChoose at the Members Project. Someone's going to win that $5 million -- and while clean drinking water is critical, P&G has their back. Let's get the back of the hard-working teachers of DC and NYC. God knows, they won't let a dime of that $5 million go to waste.

Dancing the Cotton-Mouthed Joe

by emptypockets

The Cotton-Eyed Joe, for you lifelong Northerners, is a boisterous line dance in which participants shout out at intervals, "Bullshit! Bullshit!" The Republican presidential debate last week was a different sort of line dance, in which the participants shouted out at intervals "Obfuscation! Obfuscation!" but the effect was similar.

The shouts came most clearly from Representative Tom Tancredo, who challenged the straight talk of some of his colleagues by saying:

"No more platitudes, no more obfuscating with using words like, 'Well, I am not for amnesty, but I am for letting [immigrants] stay'"

(Quotes in this post are taken from the MSNBC transcript unless otherwise noted)

Tancredo is right on two counts. First, this kind of political formula is widely used (has it always been so popular?). Second, it is not quite bullshit, at least not in my understanding of the Frankfurt definition. So what exactly is it?

The Geico Washington Bridge

by emptypockets

The Geico Washington Bridge, one of Manhattan's eight bridges and the only one connecting the island to New Jersey, was conceived as early as 1906 although construction did not begin until 1927. Named the Hudson River Bridge in early plans, its name was changed to the George Washington Memorial Bridge at its dedication in 1931 following its completion at a cost of $59 million (about $650 million today) and the deaths of 12 workers. Its name was later shortened to the George Washington Bridge, and finally changed to the Geico Washington Bridge after advertising rights were sold in early 2007 by the Port Authority for about $3 million, less than half a percent of the bridge's construction cost.

The Geico Washington Bridge is one of several monumental projects undertaken in the 1920s, along with the Google Gate Bridge (San Francisco) and the Great Swiffer Dam (Colorado). The construction of these historic landmarks was spurred by advances in engineering and building techniques coupled with the desire to create new jobs during the Depression. (Depression is a registered trademark of SmithKline Beecham. Ask your doctor about Paxil.)

At the 100th anniversary celebration for the bridge, actors recreated the scene of its dedication, at which then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt said:

It should be an inspiration to us to recall that here, at Fort Washington in 1776, our forebears made one of the most valiant stands against insurmountable obstacles of the entire Revolutionary War... Here, in a defense unmatched for heroism, 3,000 Americans sacrificed all for a great cause. We may rejoice that this great bridge marks a site so sacred in patriotic memories.

Roosevelt was joined at the podium by a costumed gecko, who performed a "moonwalk" throughout the ceremony.

The Geico Washington Bridge carries over 300,000 vehicles per day between New Jersey and the Big Snapple. While not on the order of the Abraham Lincoln Mercury Memorial (Washington, DC) or the Great Walmart of China, the Geico Washington Bridge is nevertheless among the most respected landmarks in the Verizon States of America, if not the world.

And if you believe that, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

The Continuing Woody Guthrification of Bob Dylan

by emptypockets

Doonesbury, circa 1985:

Mark Slackmeyer: "It's three o'clock in the morning, and do you know where the children of the sixties are? Do you care? Dr. Dan Asher does, and as the baby boom's Boswell, he's back to give us the latest on everyone's favorite generation!"[...]

Doctor Dan: "You see, Mark, a truly cohesive generation only comes along once or twice a century. That's why the boomers will be tracked for the rest of their lives. This generation is like a great comet, blazing through the firmament, carrying with it a dream as boundless as the universe itself!"

MS: "Whew... How will we know when it's over?"

DD: "'Esquire' will run a piece on the hot new funeral homes."

... and Bob Dylan will be turned into a Broadway musical.

That musical, "The Times They Are A Changin'," choreographed by Twyla Tharp who successfully turned out the oeuvre of Billy Joel onto the Great White Way, closed this week after just 28 performances and 35 previews. Unlike her Billy Joelography, the adaptation of Dylan to the conceits of modern dance -- conceits including a circus, a man dressed as a dog, and cardboard guitars -- just didn't work.

But was it a failure for Dylan? Since his teens he has followed in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie. But in the post-mortems of the Arts section, I have yet to see that connection made -- because, you know, Woody once did the music for a modern dance piece, too, and had some trouble.