Our thoughts and prayers go out to those in Boston.
Here are some resources we’ve gathered so far.
- Looking for a runner? Use this form.
- If you’re trying to call someone in Boston, phone lines are jammed. SMS, Twitter, and Facebook might work better. [Lifehacker]
- Live news updates on The Verge
- Reconnect with loved ones in Boston on Red Cross Safe and Well
- Donate blood at the Boston American Red Cross
Explosions Reported at Boston Marathon
Gentle Nag: The OTFB 2013 Blogathon Is Almost Here
Perhaps you haven’t yet heard, or perhaps you’re not one of the many people who have begun to ignore these reminder posts, but the Second Annual Old Time Family Baseball Blogathon is set to take place this weekend. That means that Mike will risk life and limb to bring you fresh (read: not pre-drafted) posts every half hour for a full day. Unfortunately, we have been told that it is both a federal and state crime to sell virtual seats to the live stream of his gradual descent into madness.
That being said, we’ve already hit $180 and are on our way to this year’s $3,000 goal. Feel free to donate by visiting the FirstGiving page. Reminder that any donation enters you in the raffle for some sweet prizes. I also want to note that we have added two $25 gift certificates to the MLB.com Shop to the previously announced prize pool. You can also easily help by Tweeting, Facebooking, Tumblring, and, of course, Live Journaling this out to all of your contacts, quite possibly raising your Klout Score in the process.
For those of you who intend to be more aggressive with your support, I’ve compiled some tips and conversation starters below for engaging with the public at large.
- Remember - people are loneliest during the early mornings and the evenings right around dinner time. They’ll be more open to talking about donating money during one of those times.
- “Hello, my name is X, and I want to know if you’ve accepted the Old Time Family Charity Blogathon into your heart.”
- “Several of the MLB’s most popular star players have endorsed the Blogathon, including…” At this point, drop your voice to a mumble. If pressed for examples, stall for a moment and then flee.
- “Please donate! PLEASE!”
- Ensure that you immediately open with some kind of statement noting that this is not a scam. Repeat that several times throughout your conversation in order to reassure the individual.
In all seriousness, though, all of your continued support goes a long way and is much appreciated. We are extremely excited to get this year’s event underway and to showcase the slew of guest posts that have been so generously donated as well. As always, give us a shout if you have any questions.
oldtimefamilybaseball is a high-quality blog delivering high-quality information, by which I mean, extremely entertaining jokes about baseball news stories. I recognize that to most of my dash this is like asking them to support a blogathon about intestinal disease, but take heart! You can also support attempts to fight intestinal disease. Please consider donating. :)
You know how when you reblog a long text post and tumblr FUCKS IT ALL UP?
Solution! Right here! So awesome!
In case any of my current followers do not know.
HALP: Telugu speaker needed
I need somebody who can translate 3-4 lines of fairly simple dialogue from English to romanized Telugu and 1-2 lines from English to written Telugu. (This is flexible; I can do romanized in a pinch but would really prefer Telugu alphabet.)
Upon completion I will pay $10 per line, so this will be about $50. A small job, but should be quick and easy for a fluent/native speaker.
Please message me here or e-mail stuff@tjandamal.com if you can help!
EDIT: Urdu or even Hindi can work if necessary. It’s less accurate to the characters’ family background, since those languages weren’t spoken at home nearly as much, but I am kind of getting down to the wire here.
Know your rights before you vote.
Please reblog this!
Transportation Nation: What you need to know for NYC transit, an easy guide
If you’re in NYC or will be traveling in or around, please keep an eye on this for updates about public transportation. Please reblog for NYCers.
How to cook in the event of power outages
The Times-Picayune, of course, has good advice for East Coasters who are experiencing the first wave of Sandy’s wrath.
This is a really great list of tips.
*When freezing water containers in your freezer, don’t forget to leave some space in the container. Water expands as it freezes.
On September 24, NPR show Radiolab aired a 25-minute segment on Yellow Rain. In the 1960s, most Hmong had sided with America in a secret war against the Pathet Lao and its allies. More than 100,000 Hmong died in this conflict, and when American troops pulled out, the rest were left to face brutal repercussions. Those who survived the perilous journey to Thailand carried horrific stories of an ongoing genocide, among them accounts of chemical warfare. Their stories provoked a scientific controversy that still hasn’t been resolved. In its podcast, Radiolab set out to find the “fact of the matter”. Yet its relentless badgering of Hmong refugee Eng Yang and his niece, award-winning author and activist Kao Kalia Yang, provoked an outcry among its listeners, and its ongoing callous, racist handling of the issue has since been criticized in several places, including Hyphen. When Hyphen’s R.J. Lozada reached out to Kao Kalia Yang, she graciously agreed to share her side of the story for the first time. What follows are her words, and those of her uncle.
…
On the date of the interview, Wednesday May 16th, 2012 at 10 in the morning, Marisa Helms (a Minnesota-based sound producer sent by Radiolab), my husband, and I met with Uncle Eng’s family at their house in Brooklyn Center. In customary Hmong tradition, my uncle had laid out a feast of fruits and fruit drinks from the local Asian grocery store. He had risen early, went through old notebooks where he’d documented in Lao, Thai, Hmong, and a smattering of French and English, recollections of Hmong history, gathered thoughts, and written down facts of the time. The phone lines were connected to WNYC studios.
Pat and Robert introduced themselves and asked us for our introductions. The questions began. They wanted to know where my uncle was during the war, what happened after the Americans left, why the Hmong ran into the jungles, what happened in the jungles, what was his experience of Yellow Rain. Uncle Eng responded to each question. The questions took a turn. The interview became an interrogation. A Harvard scientist said the Yellow Rain Hmong people experienced was nothing more than bee defecation.
My uncle explained Hmong knowledge of the bees in the mountains of Laos, said we had harvested honey for centuries, and explained that the chemical attacks were strategic; they happened far away from established bee colonies, they happened where there were heavy concentrations of Hmong. Robert grew increasingly harsh, “Did you, with your own eyes, see the yellow powder fall from the airplanes?” My uncle said that there were planes flying all the time and bombs being dropped, day and night. Hmong people did not wait around to look up as bombs fell. We came out in the aftermath to survey the damage. He said what he saw, “Animals dying, yellow that could eat through leaves, grass, yellow that could kill people — the likes of which bee poop has never done.”
My uncle explained that he was serving as documenter of the Hmong experience for the Thai government, a country that helped us during the genocide. With his radio and notebooks, he journeyed to the sites where the attacks had happened, watched with his eyes what had happened to the Hmong, knew that what was happening to the Hmong were not the result of dysentery, lack of food, the environment we had been living in or its natural conditions. Robert crossed the line. He said that what my uncle was saying was “hearsay.”
I had been trying valiantly to interpret everything my uncle was saying, carry meaning across the chasm of English and Hmong, but I could no longer listen to Robert’s harsh dismissal of my uncle’s experience. After two hours, I cried,
“My uncle says for the last twenty years he didn’t know that anyone was interested in the deaths of the Hmong people. He agreed to do this interview because you were interested. What happened to the Hmong happened, and the world has been uninterested for the last twenty years. He agreed because you were interested. That the story would be heard and the Hmong deaths would be documented and recognized. That’s why he agreed to the interview, that the Hmong heart is broken and our leaders have been silenced, and what we know has been questioned again and again is not a surprise to him, or to me. I agreed to the interview for the same reason, that Radiolab was interested in the Hmong story, that they were interested in documenting the deaths that happened. There was so much that was not told. Everybody knows that chemical warfare was being used. How do you create bombs if not with chemicals? We can play the semantics game, we can, but I’m not interested, my uncle is not interested. We have lost too much heart, and too many people in the process. I, I think the interview is done.”
Before we hung up the phone, I asked for copies of the full interview. Robert told me that I would need a court order. I offered resources I have on Yellow Rain, news articles and medical texts that a doctor from Columbia University had sent my way, resources that would offer Radiolab a fuller perspective of the situation in Laos and the conditions of the Hmong exposed to the chemicals. My uncle gave Marisa a copy of a DVD he had recorded of a Hmong woman named Pa Ma, speaking of her experiences in the jungles of Laos after the Americans left, so that the Radiolab team would understand the fullness of what happened to the Hmong. After we hung up the phone, there was silence from the Radiolab team.
— MUST READ: Kao Kalia Yang, “The Science of Racism: Radiolab’s Treatment Of Hmong Experience,” Hyphen Magazine 10/22/12
(via racialicious)
(via racialicious)
click for kickstarter book update:
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PRETEND TO DO OR SAY ANYTHING AND MY COMICS HAVE NEVER BEEN ABOUT DEPRESSION
This is something I think people on my dash might want to read, especially in combination with his more flippant (?? that’s the wrong word. Sincere, but still in full-on John Campbell style. Also… potentially angrier.) apology of yesterday.
I appreciate very much that he’s saying what he’s saying. I still don’t agree with everything he’s saying. But I don’t have depression. So.
Nine days left to reclaim Pe'Sla, the heart of Lakota territory.
Only 7 days left now. Please, please signal boost.
Manila is drowning: Important numbers to remember and other necessary information.
Hello everyone, if you didn’t know, Manila (Philippines) is drowning. Everything has closed down and the streets are flooded to the point that no type of land vehicle can pass through.
For everyone living in manila, or for those people who know people living in Manila, please spread this information.
Don’t forget to:
1. Charge all mobile phones.
2. Have enough batteries for flashlights
3. Stock up on candles and matches if power goes out.
4. Fuel/Charge electricity generators.
5. Stock up on food.
-
If you live in an open street and you see a homeless person or anyone in need of a temporary shelter, please do not hesitate to let them in. Give them clothing, provide them food, and help shelter them from the storm. A little help goes a long way. Help a brother or sister out.
-
Globe has set up a Libreng Tawag (Free call) station at Conception Integrated School, Conception, Marikina. Calls and text messages to all networks are free. For the stranded passengers, they also have set-up a Globe Libreng Tawag station at Victory Liner Cubao.
-
As early as now, we are calling for your help and donations. Please see links below.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/ria-atayde/a-call-for-help/10151059478497770
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.315384998557524.69495.100002580794733&type=3Please pass this information. Thank you everyone and keep safe!
Important: All Bay Area Followers
Stay out of Richmond and San Pablo and its surrounding areas. Chevron refinery set on fire & currently exploding. Hazmat alert. Anyone in that area, stay indoors, cover your doors with wet towels and seal your windows with tape. Winds can carry toxic chemicals to surrounding cities.
help save affirmative action
WHAT’S UP. I created this sideblog because I did not want to deal with notes in case this really takes off, which I hope it does.
Are you a high school or college student in the United States? Do you support the use of affirmative action, even if you only support it in extremely limited ways and for a limited time? Click here.
It’s not every day that you can be an official part of an historic Supreme Court case — but today you can. On August 13th, high school and college students from across the country will submit an official amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Fisher v. University of Texas case, which will decide whether colleges can continue to strive for diversity in their student bodies.
The brief will let the Supreme Court know that students value diversity on campus, and that we believe that this diversity is crucial to our educational experiences and to our lives after we leave college. The brief will also point to research that demonstrates how diversity on campus benefits students from all backgrounds.
A negative decision in this case could mean that colleges would be forced to ignore the value of having students of various backgrounds, including racial or ethnic backgrounds. This is a serious threat to generations of progress as well as to the future. But you can do something about it. You can help persuade the Court to make the right decision by signing on to be a part of this historic brief:
By signing up in support of the brief, you authorize us to use your name and school affiliation in the Fisher brief and also verify that the information you have provided is truthful and accurate.This isn’t a petition, this is a Supreme Court brief, so numerosity actually matters. If you can, please forward widely! You can easily share this on Facebook by clicking here.
Welcome to Books To Prisoners!
*******
Books To Prisoners (BTP) is a Seattle-based, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that sends books to prisoners in the United States. BTP believes that books are tools for learning and opening minds to new ideas and possibilities. By sending books to prisoners, we hope to foster a love of reading and encourage the pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement.
Want to donate your new or used books?
You can help a prisoner by donating new or used paperback books to BTP.
Hey, uh, if you’re not talking to me for some reason, or if you’re mad at me, or if you don’t like me, go ahead and let me know. I understand that it’s really difficult to tell someone that for a lot of reasons, including drama, and it used to be I’d make periodic posts on my LJ/DW saying “you can always air a grievance with me, you can always tell me if I’ve hurt you, I will try to make it better.” This remains true. But also if you don’t want me to make it better and you just want me to stop reblogging your shit, dropping you asks, and leave you alone: it’s probably easiest for us both if you just tell me? You don’t have to tell me why. Tumblr is even worse than other mediums for being able to tell if someone’s intentionally ignoring you, having technical difficulties, or just not in the mood to answer something, and without a clear declaration of “hey leave me the hell alone” I might never actually figure out that you want me to leave you the hell alone. Though I will try.
My email is nextian at gmail dot com if you’d rather use that. Anon asks are always on, though Tumblr being Tumblr, I don’t always get them.
