How sign language interpreters work on a talk show.
Revisiting the World's Greatest Drug Store Ad.
The monstrous arrogance of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision.
The team from Belgium needed a hurdler at the last minute, so shot putter Jolien Boumkwo stepped in at the last minute. The story behind this amazing performance is here. (via Neatorama)
The Cedar Bridge House in Connecticut is on the market for just under half a million. Perfect if you are wealthy, able-bodied, and have no young children. (via reddit)
Hey, billionaires! Buy some fun stuff! Tom the Dancing Bug illustrates real things billionaires have bought lately.
The World's Deepest Submarine Rescue. They were only 1,575 feet down, but that doesn't mean much when your oxygen runs out.
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Is Feminist, Actually. To see it, all you have to do is remove the princess.
8 comments:
Pink mushroom cloud!
A little girl is playing with Barbie and Thor. An older woman is watching and says "I thought Barbie came with Ken, not Thor?" The little girl replies "Nope, she comes with Thor. She just fakes it with Ken."
Seriously though, Barbie is like 64 years old and hasn't changed a bit. Gotta be some plastic surgery there.
Happy Friday Miss C!
Hardly an end to diversity. Higher education leaders and admissions offices might have to work harder, but they are payed well. California (and 8 other states) ended racial preferences and have a similar or more diverse university population than ever.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-ended-affirmative-action-90s-retains-diverse-student-body-rcna91846
Another view (where the article seems to conflict with the headline?)
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jun/30/affirmative-action-ban-state-colleges-racial-disparities-supreme-court
The article cites current enrolment in CA universities, but doe not provide info on enrollment prior to 1996.
Happy Friday, gwdMaine!
Bicycle Rider, that Guardian article doesn't conflict with its headline, nor with the NBC article, although that one tries to put an encouraging spin on it. Sure, campuses are diverse if you count all minorities in the same basket.
Here's one that does have data from before 1996. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185226895/heres-what-happened-when-affirmative-action-ended-at-california-public-colleges
I think it was WAPO that reported 65% of Americans approved of the courts position on affirmative action programs.
Despite our AI overlords taking over such duties in the future, at this point the decision whether Joe/Jill Highschool gets admitted is a decision made by a human. A human with opinions and prejudices of their own. No matter how they attribute that decision to points, scores, or a crystal ball, it’s still a human.
Maybe they see an applicant who’s acceptable but weak in an area they were at that age but they overcame.
It bothers me when someone making that decision thinks we need more Black/Asian/Mexican doctors and this kid would be perfect. Who the hell are they to decide “this kid” is going to be a doctor when he/she wants something else?
Maybe that’s why half of premed students switch majors and only 40% of the ones who don’t get accepted in med school. That’s just an example, there are other slots in society the school aims to fill with one of their own to have their alumni everywhere.
aside: My mother was a hospital floor nurse, and the only time in her 95 year life I ever heard her say F*ck was (after a couple glasses of wine) talking about the arrogance of the Doctors brushing aside nurses observations of the patients, as they were taught to do in nursing school.
There used to be a drug store on the east side of Milwaukee – it's been closed for almost thirty years, more is the pity – called "Oriental Drugs". One of their hottest selling (non-pharmaceutical) items were T-shirts reading "I'm Hooked on Oriental Drugs" – in Wonton font, of course.
-"BB"-
I will respectfully agree to disagree about the Guardian article. Thanks for the link.
I suppose I am a little sensitive about this issue. I have 2 Asian-American children, both of whom have experienced subtle and not so subtle bias and racism, even today in their working lives. I also have a Black daughter-in-law who is not a fan of AA. She sees it through the lens of an accomplished young woman (two Masters Degrees) who feels like some view her success as a product of AA rather her hard work and commitment to her field. People make these comments to her, couched as a joke. She does not find it funny.
My two kids are Asian-American as well. I knew the bar would be higher for them getting into college, but that's life. If they had aimed for the most elite universities, more slots would have been taken by up legacies and athletes than for affirmative action acceptances. But they didn't apply to the Ivy Leaguess, and were accepted to every school they applied to.
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