That’s just the closeup. Check out the rest of the 29,569 at the link.
hurray for excess… :(
Fascinating and severely depressing art. I’m sorry we’ve screwed things up so bad, Mr. Franklin.
Lack of Love
Nature | Apartment Living | Politiks | Music | Computer Machine | Videogames
"I lost myself once, and I see that I was weak of heart.
And if you will stay here with me, we face the hardest part.
We will find out, as we change about.
Is this the last bout? Here is when we shout."
- Cut Copy
May 03
Apr 28
Found on Politico 44 today. It’s okay to laugh, even if you aren’t five years old anymore.
Mar 14
Jon Stewart is the smartest man on television
Another brilliant episode of The Daily Show (Thursday, March 12th). Jon takes CNBC’s Jim Cramer to task for his network’s behavior in the lead up to our current financial crisis. This is mandatory viewing.
Mar 08
» Obama, Congress, and Stem Cells
A great New York Times article on Obama overturning Bush’s stem cell ban. It helps to explain the multiple pieces of this legal issue, and touches on Obama’s expected talk tomorrow on the use of science in his administration.
Mar 05
Too Much Dumping
I’m getting real sick of everyone on television dumping on President Obama. For God’s sake, he’s only been in office for six weeks. Take a breath, and give the man some time for his policies to take effect before claiming they don’t work and are ruining the stock market.
Pro-Tip: The stock market has been in the crapper for a year and a half. Stop blaming Obama for it’s dire status.
As if the man didn’t have enough to worry about, he’s now being criticized for his heavy use of teleprompters.
Stop. Just stop. The guy has enough actual problems to solve without needing to worry about wasting time memorizing speeches like he was prepping for a Public Speaking 101 class presentation.
Also, to everyone who criticizes Obama for being realistic and honest instead of overly hopeful in his recent talks, just remember where Bush’s attitude of “Everything is flowers and rainbows / Mission Accomplished” got us.
Mar 01
“ Dropping out of High School is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and this country needs and values the talents of every American.
— President Obama, during his 2009 speech to congress
“ Rhode Islanders are less educated than much of the country. The state has the lowest high school graduation rate in the Northeast and ranks 38th nationally.
Feb 23
“ On the one hand, the majority has to be inclusive. On the other hand, the minority has to be constructive.
— President Obama
Feb 07
» Damn
Pictures of freshman Obama taken by a fellow student in 1980. If these don’t become best-selling posters, someone’s getting fired.You will look at these now.
Feb 05
» Johnston gives up effort to upgrade science instruction
Now I understand a little bit about work to rule and I know that the unions are trying to protect the teachers. But when the National Science Foundation gives you money to improve the education that your school is providing, you accept it. The only ones that are losing out are the students. Cases such as these only fuel more hostility toward teachers.
This brings me unto another rant. One of my biggest irritations is when people lump good teachers and bad teachers into one category and say that we all have it so easy. The biggest argument that I have heard out there is that teachers receive so much money for only working 180 days, 7 hours a day. What I have to say to those people is that step into the shoes of a quality teacher just for a day. Your day doesn’t start when the kids arrive, nor does it end when they leave. Seven hour days… on what planet?? There is correcting, and lesson planning, parent teacher conferences. I have a few friends who are teachers and I can say with certainty that between all of there before school and after-school work, they putting in much more than 7 hour days. Now there may be other teachers who don’t put the time and effort into quality instruction. They are quite happy doing the status quo. What I have to say to you folks is… please leave the education system. You’re giving all of the good teachers a bad name! We need better methods to support quality teachers and help ineffective teachers become quality teachers or remove them from the school system. I am not getting into the education system to have an easy job. Nor am I doing it to get a high pay. I realize that it will be neither easy, nor financially rewarding. The reason I am becoming a teacher is because I feel like I have something to offer the students. The NSF was giving these Johnston teachers a chance to offer something new and exciting to their students. I can’t understand why they wouldn’t take it.
UPDATE: After talking with another teacher, I’ve learned more about this work to rule. I guess its really bad to go against the union, so perhaps these Johnston teachers really didn’t have much of a say.
I’d love to see the union leaders explain — directly to the students’ faces — exactly why they won’t be getting a better education this Fall. Despicable.
Jan 25
The Inauguration, Prop 8, 2009, and Public Shaming
So it goes without saying that watching President Obama’s inauguration was an inspiring, amazing moment in time that I’m going to remember for years to come.
I’ve been quite lax about updating this blog, hopefully something that will get better throughout 2009 (no promises!), and anything I say here (nearly a week late) about our new President will probably just come out super cliche, but I’d feel weird not posting something, just like a I feel weird having never posted after the election about California passing of the despicable Proposition 8. So here’s my post about Obama (yeah Obama!), and my public shaming for not venting about Prop 8 back when it happened, all in one near-pointless post.
Hopefully 2009’s posts will get better (no promises!).
Nov 15
President-elect Obama’s first Weekly Address. He’ll be doing one of these, to be broadcast on radio and YouTube, every week up to and through his presidency.
Nov 09
“ After the crazy week that I had this week, I had been left with frustration and irritation, at school, at myself, and our society. For once I am feeling somewhat inspired and somewhat uplifted, because something historic did happen this week, and I am fortunate enough to have been around to witness it. A lot of people put their faith in Obama, expecting him to change the world. He is one man however. His strength lies not in what he can do for us, but what he can inspire us to do for ourselves.
— Jen
Nov 06
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, And What It Means to Me
It wasn’t until 8:55pm last night, nearly an entire day after President-elect Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, that the emotional flood I had been expecting finally rushed over me. As my girlfriend lay on my bed studying for a grad school exam, I sat on the couch in the other room watching the final minutes of the night’s newscast as it replayed the climax of Barack’s speech. This was the second time I was listening to his speech, but the first time really hearing his words.
As I listened to him speak, the long-expected tears finally ran, silently, down my cheeks. I was happy, not because the good guys finally won, but because my generation finally had a President we can admire and trust to lead this country in the direction of the beliefs we hold intrinsically — that our modern society is constructed of men and women of all backgrounds and beliefs, and that we are as equal in the eyes of our government as we are in the eyes of our God; that we are a country working together as WE and not I, and that we all do what we can to the best of our abilities, and that we help out those in need who may at times struggle more than others; that the health of our society’s people is a right and not a privilege; that we are a citizen of this world, not the ruler of it; that we must lead the world in healing our environment and not wait for it to heal itself; and that we must always provide our children an education far better than our own, so that future generations will overcome the failings and prejudices of the current one.
My generation has such passion for Barack Obama because we see in him and hear in his words our own successes, our own mistakes, our own hopes and fears and dreams. During his campaign we spoke to others about him, cheered for him, and waited in line to vote for him because finally, finally we saw a light at the end of a seemingly-endless tunnel.
I anxiously await the changes the next four years will bring, the challenges we’ll have to overcome, and the sacrifices we’ll have to make. Along the way I’ll question President Obama’s decisions, but I’ll do so with a positive mindset and not one of fear and disbelief, as I watch this country regain the strength and status it has lost over the years.
But today? Today I’ll just smile.
