So there we were in the Haunted Guest Quarters of the Old Infirmary, and I had already heard the ghost once. In the morning, my colleague and BFF Lynne who was staying with us for a couple of days noted that she had heard the mysterious footsteps as well….
Continue reading A True Ghost Story Part 2: The Ghost In the Hall →

Shulinab Nursery School is located in a small village of 500 people. The school can’t get enough water from rainwater, so they need to set up a system that will let them get water pumped from a nearby windmill. The community will build and maintain the system, but it needs $500 to purchase materials.

Go here to help.

This is Melisa Riviere. White People sometimes do hip hop. I have a reading suggestion for you. First a little background.

I’ve gotten into a few arguments on race and racism in my time, some on this blog. Racist thinking is all around us. Why just a few hours ago, a neighbor complained that his car had been robbed by the black kids that pass down our street now and then. How did he know it was the black kids? Because the people who robbed his car like hip-hop. How did he know that? Because they didn’t take his rock cds. Oh, did they take his hip hop cd’s? Well no, he doesn’t have hip hop cds. He’s not black. Why would he have hip hop cd’s?

WTF?
Continue reading The Nature of the Racist Conversation →

For Halloween, I’m reprinting the only Ghost Story on my blog (so far). It is in several parts, and here’s part one:

Everything I’m about to tell you in this story is true.¹ This is a long story, so it may span more than one blog post. You might not want to read this story while you are alone or while sitting in the dark.²

Continue reading A true ghost story. Part I: A City of Death and Misery →

Hat Tip: Digital Rabbit

Hat Tip: Bora

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of federally regulated sources for dogs and cats used in medical research, training, an testing, in the US. They are labeled, unambiguously, A and B. A-class sources are breeders that produce animals for use in research. B-class sources, also called “Random source,” provide animals, usually adults, that are not bred, but just acquired somehow (more or less randomly?) and kept for a while, and sold to research facilities. Random source dogs and cats are not bred by these dealers. (These are USDA regulatory categories.)

According to a report produced by the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council. Scientific and Humane Issues in the Use of Random Source Dogs and Cats in Research, National Academies Press, 2009), there are not enough random-source dogs and cats to go around when it comes to medical research. In addition, some of the dealers of these cats and dogs were found to be wanting in the degree to which they follow the law in properly treating the animals.
Continue reading Dogs and Cats in Medical Research →

Hat tip: Digital Rabbit

Have a look at this veto memorandum written by Arnold Schwarzenegger to kill a bill authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco. Ammiano is famous for shouting “Kiss my ass” to Arnold at some public event or another.

Tell me, is there a hidden message here?
Continue reading Sometimes it is all in the …. subtext. →

Lest we forget:

The strange part is the applause.

Hat tip aratina

Last night, during Teh Game, we were told that Viking Orlando Thomas had died, succumbing to his battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is not true.

Continue reading Orlando Thomas is NOT Dead →

The DSCC wants to give you a free bumper sticker thingie that makes fun of republicans. Click here.

I know you all love these: