Utne Reader

South Dakota Officials Miss Historic Meeting With Tribes : NPR

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:28:53 -0500

South Dakota Officials Miss Historic Meeting With Tribes : NPR:

Federal officials met with South Dakota’s nine Sioux tribes on Wednesday for a historic summit in Rapid City. A year in the making, it was an effort to address long standing concerns over the high number of Native American children the state places in white foster homes. State officials, however, didn’t show up for the meeting.

The time's not right for Tesla

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:11:29 -0500

The time's not right for Tesla:

theweekmagazine:

But soon it will be. Marc Ambinder writes:

There really isn’t anything wrong with the car itself. In some ways, it’s perfect. Incredibly roomy. Styled but not stylized. Powerful. Quiet. Hugs the road. Very safe. The dashboard is like a modern glass airline cockpit. The interior is… well, you get the picture. And the Tesla is flying out of the 40 or so showrooms across America. (There are no real dealerships per se.)

So: charging the thing. That’s the big question I had, and I wasn’t satisfied.

atomstargazer: Science Summary Of The Week ▶ Reversing...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:09:01 -0500

atomstargazer:

Science Summary Of The Week

▶ Reversing Obesity: http://is.gd/SpQwKM
▶ Stem Cell Cloning: http://is.gd/c9dVfC
▶ 3D-Printed Solar Panels: http://is.gd/PbD97i
▶ Brain Shocks: http://is.gd/6JnDAz
▶ Lunar Crash: http://is.gd/XoRoeS
▶ Bacterial Circuits: http://is.gd/hyEeSF

Science Days
▶ May 17, World Information Society Day
▶ May 18, World AIDS Vaccine Day

Scientists’ Birthdays
▶ May 13, 1857 - English pathologist, Ronald Ross
▶ May 14, 1686 - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
▶ May 14, 1946 - Surgeon & inventor, Robert Jarvik
▶ May 15, 1859 - French Physicist, Pierre Curie
▶ May 16, 1950 - German Physicist, Johannes Bednorz
▶ May 17, 1940 - American Scientist, Alan Kay
▶ May 18, 1901 - Biochemist, Vincent du Vigneaud

Enlarge This Graphic : http://is.gd/RA5uDo

More Science Graphics On My Flickr Page : http://is.gd/kO94br

This week in science via IFLS

Stem cells: http://bit.ly/12vsvqh
Climate change: http://bit.ly/17RcMX9
Fungi: http://bit.ly/115CdeJ
Butterflies: http://bit.ly/12chvw6
Fossils: http://bit.ly/10OCG68
Depression: http://bit.ly/10dgnHh

Tight Spot by David Byrne

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:09:28 -0500

Tight Spot by David Byrne

lakotapeopleslawproject: More pictures to come on our Facebook...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:13:40 -0500

lakotapeopleslawproject:

More pictures to come on our Facebook page: Facebook.com/lakotapeopleslawproject. Or our website: lakotalaw.org. We must fight to keep families together and the children safe! #biasummit #southdakota #icwa #nativeamerican #icwalaw #lakota #lakotasioux #sioux #indian #lakotapeopleslawproject #lastrealindians #nativeamericanindian #instagood #picoftheday #photooftheday #beautiful (at Best Western Ramkota Hotel)

For news about this week’s summit on Native foster care (for instance, how South Dakota state officials can’t be bothered to attend), check out Lakota People’s Law Project on Tumblr and Facebook.

"I remember being struck by his lightness of spirit, believing as I do that happiness is already..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:13:18 -0500

“I remember being struck by his lightness of spirit, believing as I do that happiness is already victory. I don’t recall everything he was wearing, but the effect was of someone blessedly returned to the clothing and hairstyle that suited him. Jeans, a fawn-colored ribbon shirt, a robe perhaps made from a Pendleton blanket. Wrapped around the coils of hair that made up his long, dark braid, the reddest of red thread signaled to the world that, yes indeed, here is an Indian and he is incredibly hip and alive.”

- Alice Walker, on seeing (and eventually meeting) Dennis Banks, a founder of the American Indian Movement. Read more.

Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:03:33 -0500

Microfinance loans are getting plenty of hype, but there’s little evidence that they’re actually reducing poverty.

itscolossal: Green Box by Act Romegialli Architects was...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:11:57 -0500

itscolossal:

Green Box by Act Romegialli Architects was designed to be consumed by plants.

cartermagazine: Today In History ‘The Student Nonviolent...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:10:17 -0500

cartermagazine:

Today In History

‘The Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee named Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure’) as its Chairman on this date in 1966.’

(photo: Stokley Carmichael)

- CARTER Magazine

How Grand Juries Are Used to Intimidate Activists

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:09:29 -0500

How Grand Juries Are Used to Intimidate Activists:

Originally intended to protect defendants from unnecessary indictments, grand juries have recently been used to investigate and intimidate innocent activists. New York City legal activist Jerry Koch is only the latest victim.

millionsmillions: “Would I have carried myself with the same...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:57:00 -0500

millionsmillions:

“Would I have carried myself with the same swagger, or faced adversity with such feminine resolve, without Albertine as my guide?…I was drawn to a striking, remote face—rendered violet on black—on a dust jacket proclaiming its author ‘a female Genet.’” Patti Smith’s favorite little-known book.

pizzzatime: randygrskovic:

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:44:27 -0500

pizzzatime:

randygrskovic:

Food Freedom vs. Food Safety Is local food really safer?

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:39:41 -0500

Food Freedom vs. Food Safety

Is local food really safer?

vicemag: South Korean Parents Are Making Their Kids Get Plastic...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:10:26 -0500

vicemag:

South Korean Parents Are Making Their Kids Get Plastic Surgery

As I’m sure you’ll know by now, plastic surgery is a pretty big deal in South Korea. Remember last week when those photos popped up of all the South Korean beauty-pageant contestants who looked exactly the same? Everyone was all, “Hey, those guys sure do love their surgery,” with a brief chuckle, before moving on to autotuned Charles Ramsey videos and forgetting about the whole thing. Then, of course, the internet lost its shit in a monsoon of moral outrage and started to scrutinize why Korean girls are trying to look more Western and how awful that all is.

I decided to call up my girl Sparkles (not her real name), who recently returned to live in her home city of Seoul, to find out what the reaction there was like to all this commotion. Turns out the plastic surgery trend has already become a running joke, with girls laughing about the fact they probably all have the same doctor and teasing each other about not having their eyelids torn apart enough.

She also told me something else slightly worrying. Parents are pressuring their daughters into having cosmetic procedures. It all starts to get a little dark when weapons-grade stage moms are guilt-tripping their daughters into splicing up their faces. Anyway, here’s that chat.

VICE: What’s the surgery scene like nowadays?
Sparkles: We have trends, like to tear the inner corner of the eye so it’s more almond shaped. Or, for a while, it was liposuction and putting that fat into your forehead. It’s hard to say if they’re conforming to a Western ideal of beauty, though—no one will take a photo of a caucasian celebrity to the surgeon and ask for that. That idea may have started off only because white people generally have taller noses and larger eyes, so it’s easy to describe it as a Western look, but no one in Korea will say they want to look Western. In Korea, we call doing your eyes and nose the “basics.” They’re the standard procedures.

That sounds like you’re ordering a burger; “I’ll just get the basics, thanks.”
Yeah. Like, “Oh, you haven’t even gotten plastic surgery yet? You should get the basics!” That’s nothing. So many people do it that it’s got to the point where people say things like, “But you only got your eyes and your nose done, it’s not a big deal.”

Continue

futurejournalismproject: Now The Internet Will Write My Essay...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:04:51 -0500

futurejournalismproject:

Now The Internet Will Write My Essay For Me

Via Reddit/quickmeme.

"There is a lot of resistance to this from the pharmaceutical industry. The last thing it wants to..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:03:00 -0500

“There is a lot of resistance to this from the pharmaceutical industry. The last thing it wants to see is a substance people only use once or twice. They want us to use something every day for the rest of our life. That’s how they make money.”

- David Presti, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, on the medicinal use of psychedelic drugs “The Return of Psychedelics.”

Cold, Hungry, and In the Dark Government officials say...

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:02:06 -0500

Cold, Hungry, and In the Dark

Government officials say there’s a century’s worth of natural gas underground, but are they looking at the facts? Read more.

Photo

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:12:22 -0500

Please Snort Me: An Oral History of Brooklyn's Most Notorious Bar

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:11:36 -0500

Please Snort Me: An Oral History of Brooklyn's Most Notorious Bar:

longform:

The story of Kokie’s, and its gentrifying Williamsburg neighborhood.

Vice Staff | Vice | May 2013

What would an anti-corporate social network look like?

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:10:19 -0500

The rise of corporate-owned social media raises many flags about online security. The solution, says theorist Michael Albert, is already up and running. Read more.