BBQCornuts and I got together for a fireside chat about the crazy and strange habits of the dearly departed old people in our lives. Here are a few of the stories. Feel free to share yours in the comments! Continue reading
Commentary
491 posts
Unschooling is a movement that gathered steam from dissatisfaction with the public school system. It is not to be confused with homeschooling, which is another movement entirely. Homeschooling is popular with both very conservative Christians who want to shield their children from the demonic influence of secular humanism and some more liberal people who want to take a more active role in their children’s education. It’s also filled a gap for children who struggle socially and don’t have alternative schooling options that are available in some areas. Continue reading
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But not all pictures are created equal. Most you will look at, giggle or say “ew” or “pretty” or “look at the chest on that stud/broad” and move on. But some have power and meaning which explain an entire concept or change your view of the world; a book or a series of books blasting straight through your retina and into your brain in a flash. We here at Crasstalk love our kitty pictures and meme .gifs, but here’s your chance to show us the images that most matter to you. We look forward to seeing them in the comments.
After the jump, a short tale about the powerful image above and why it especially matters to me.
This is absolutely shocking. No. This is just what you expected when the trailer for Jack & Jill first murdered your eyeballs. You anticipated that Adam Sandler’s new movie in which he plays a dual role — the other noxious character — Sandler with lady-boobs and a wig stolen from Benny Hill’s closet circa 1978 — would suck butt.
But someone actually has to track these things, so let’s find out just how bad it actually is.
The First World War ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June of 1919. The fighting, however, ended several months earlier — with hostilities ending between the Allies and Germany on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. The picture above was taken at 10:58 AM on November Eleventh, 1918, two minutes before the cease-fire that effectively ended World War I went into effect.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 declared November 11th to be a day to remember the Armistice, saying: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.” Continue reading
All is quiet. Every eye in the house is on you. You’re on the spot. You start talking, and talking, and then….it all stops. You’ve totally lost your train of thought. You can’t for the life of you remember what the hell it was you were going to say. You grasp onto any slight vestige of that thing you were supposed to remember. Just got to remember! What is it? Holy Inert Brain Function…JUST WHAT THE HELL IS IT?! It’s over. You never remembered. Instead you just stammered and stumbled like an idiot, as if your brain just leapt out of your head, hit the wall, sunk to the floor and then drooled on itself while screaming MARIGOLDS AND MUSTACHES! BOY THESE TWINKIES TASTE LIKE PAELLA!
This is what happened to Rick Perry.
Working in Social Science/Public Opinion research has made me very sympathetic to anyone who makes their living talking on the telephone. Something about the anonymity of the phone seems to make people feel very safe in expressing their deepest (racist/sexist/classist) thoughts to the interviewer. Conversely, many people are certain that you are trying to steal their money, their opinions, nay, their very souls through your insidious questioning about their attitudes toward any number of innocuous things. I want to discuss some basics of survey research and explain some of the qualities of any kind of opinion or attitudinal research. These are often the surveys that form the basis of the “97% of Americans HATE BREATHING AIR” kinds of stories that we see on a daily basis. Continue reading
A very special thanks to Sir Digby who put together this story for us.
On his October 26 broadcast, Jon Stewart ran footage of peaceful, sanguine scenes from various Occupy Wall Street protests across the country before cutting to teargas, blood, and chaos on the streets of Oakland, California. “What the fuck happened in Oakland?” he asked. Stewart was speaking for many people when he puzzled over the raw anger and violence on display as cops attacked Occupy Oakland protesters with flash bang grenades, teargas, and less-lethal projectiles in Oakland. What made this city so different? What’s the matter with Oakland? Continue reading
The image at the top of this article is a Nike product, the “swoosh” clearly visible. I’m sure most of our readers would remember the savaging dealt to Nike in the 90s in the media, in the classroom, in the university cafeteria, and anywhere where people regarded themselves as socially aware. These days, the popular target is Apple, partly as a result of the well-publicised suicides at the Hon Hai factories in China which churn out Apple’s bestselling and stylish industrial designs. Regardless, “sweatshops” have been getting a bad name for a very long time: the name was coined in the 19th century, and then as now the clothing industry has been a major culprit in their use.
The recession has gone on long enough that it’s likely to have a long-term effect on people’s buying and spending behaviors. We may find that when we are old and gray (if we’re not already), that we are just as frugal as our grandparents used to be. I used to have lots of fun laughing at my crazy Depression-era grandparents who had 13 toasters in the garage because they saved everything for parts. However, considering the budgeting I’m doing these days, my grandchildren are probably going to have some good laughs at Grandma BBQ’s expense. By then, they’ll probably make disposable computers and they’ll all make fun of me for hoarding laptops. Continue reading