“Like the smell of a brand-new car” were the words of International Space Station astronaut Don Pettit on Saturday after he carefully opened the hatch and entered the Dragon capsule for his first glimpse inside.
Original post:
Space crew enters Dragon capsule
Tilda. Stop. On second thought, don’t. Ever. She’s too much, and never enough, and she made our week by blazing off the cover of the summer 2012 issue of Candy — “the first fashion magazine completely dedicated to celebrating transvestism, transexuality, crossdressing and androgyny in all their glory” — dressed as what appears to be a gold Rolls Royce hood ornament, subtitled by the words “extra extravagance.” Yes. Read full article > >
Read the rest here:
Tilda Swinton on the cover of Candy magazine
Team Obama “strongly” disagrees with Rep. Clyburn’s choice of words.
See more here:
Rep. Clyburn: Romney Was ‘Raping Companies’
Film director Ken Loach criticises British film censors for asking him to remove swear words from his new film in order to qualify for a 15 certificate.
Excerpt from:
Ken Loach bemoans censors’ cuts
Matthew Wright’s Channel 5 show is being investigated by the media regulator over a survey of offensive words.
Continued here:
Ofcom investigates Wright Stuff
Ethan Rosenthal had a Q. The clock was ticking, and the high-ceilinged gym was hushed. The round-faced, shaggy-haired 11-year-old stared at the words arranged on the Scrabble board, then laid out six letters. Read full article > >
Original post:
Kids scramble through D.C. schools’ first Scrabble tournament
If you have plans next week to pick up lunch on K Street, thrift your way through Eastern Market or meet friends for happy hour, a couple of words of advice: Look out. You just might find yourself starring in the Kennedy Center festival “ Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America .” Read full article > >
Read more here:
‘Look Both Ways: Kennedy Center Street Arts Festival’
Julian Zelizer says Obama, Romney run the risk that their words may make it impossible for them to be effective if elected
Read more:
Zelizer: Next president’s hands tied?
Will “improper” meanings of words take over?
Read this article:
Are language cops losing war against ‘wrongly’ used words?
Primates can distinguish real words from gibberish.
See the article here:
Researchers: Baboons Are Literate
Baboons can recognise actual four-letter words – as opposed to scrambled letters – on a computer screen, researchers in France find.
Read this article:
Monkeys recognise words on screen
Baboons can recognise actual four-letter words – as opposed to scrambled letters – on a computer screen, researchers in France find.
Read more here:
Monkeys recognise words on screen
“Iraqi Immigrants in California Town Fear a Hate Crime in a Woman’s Killing,” read a recent New York Times headline. The article reported that the murdered woman’s family had previously found a note with the words “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” taped to the door of their Orange County house. Although an ongoing police investigation has unearthed family tensions which may have led to the murder of Shaima Alawadi, the shame and the fear of violence directed at Arab and Muslim Americans is nevertheless very real. I know because I, too, am an Iraqi-American, born in Baghdad and raised here. First, some background. After graduating high school in Baghdad, my father received his medical degree from La Sorbonne in Paris. Returning to Baghdad, he founded a private hospital with an Iraqi partner also educated in Paris. My father was Jewish; his partner Shiite; their nurses Catholic nuns in the then multi-cultural, multi-ethnic Iraqi capital. Following Israel’s creation, anti-Semitism surged throughout the Arab world. My mother fled with me to Europe. Unable to get permission to legally emigrate, my father smuggled himself to Iran in a fishing boat. From there, he flew to Europe, rejoining us, and bringing us all to America. He got recertified here, and would treat thousands of patients in an office off Fifth Avenue.
Read the original post:
Reclaiming My Iraqi Identity
In 1973, a small but powerful group of right-wing state legislators and activists met in Chicago. They gathered to form an organization for those who believe that government, in their words, ought to be limited and “closest to the people.” And since, thanks to Chief Justice John Roberts and Mitt Romney, we know that corporations are, in fact, people, it makes sense that Exxon Mobil, Wal-Mart and Koch Industries are among the funders of this secretive and influential group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, known by its sweet-sounding acronym ALEC. Read full article > >
View original post here:
Deepening the progressive bench
Kids scramble through D.C. schools’ first Scrabble tournament
Sunday, May 6th, 2012
