When we finished the shot, I glanced down at the photo and said: “I could hug you right now.”

“No you couldn’t,” she said, “I’m a fierce ass bitch.” 

(San Francisco, CA)

Professors in the philosophy department at San Jose State University wrote the following letter to make a direct appeal to Michael Sandel, a Harvard professor whose MOOC on "Justice" they were being encouraged to use as part of the San Jose State curriculum.

An alarming amount of registered American voters believe an armed rebellion might be necessary in the next few years, according to the results of a staggering poll released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind.

Gary Carr will play the first black character on the fourth season of ITV's highly acclaimed costume drama, "Downton Abbey."

Carr will play Jack Ross, "a charming and charismatic young man" in the eight-episode season whose role “will bring interesting twists to the drama," said executive producer Gareth Neame in a statement.

The addition of a black character was announced in February responding to criticism over the show's lack of diversity.

Carr's previous experience includes roles in BBC series "Bluestone 42" and "Death In Paradise."

Continue Reading...

(it has to be asked) Bless this man.

First time accepted submitter ruhri writes "A 16 year-old girl in Florida not only has been expelled from her high school but also is being charged as an adult with a felony after replicating the classic toilet-bowl cleaner and aluminum foil experiment. This has quite a number of scientists and science educators up in arms. The fact that she's African American and that the same assistant state attorney has decided not to charge a white teenager who accidentally killed his brother with a BB gun has some thinking whether this is a case of doing science while black."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

“An Oregon family who unknowingly bought a house that was used as a meth lab has settled with Freddie Mac, the seller of the previously foreclosed home, and is working with lawmakers to require disclosure about whether a home has been tested for contamination.”

-

Oregon Meth House Owners Settle With Freddie Mac

follow-up

“If you’re a Muslim, you’re a [expletive] jihadist,” the passenger says. “You are just as bad as the rest of them.” The video ends with a blur of motion and audio of Salim asking, “Why are you punching me? Sir, why are you punching me?” The passenger replies: “You’re a [expletive] Muslim.” The insult is followed by the sound of a car door slamming. In an interview, Salim said Dahlberg left briefly but returned, struck him and ran into the woods. Dahlberg’s attorney, Demetry Pikrallidas, said Dahlberg did not assault Salim. Even so, he said, Dahlberg wanted to apologize to anyone offended by his remarks. Dahlberg was profoundly affected by the Sept. 11 attacks, Pikrallidas said, and misunderstood Salim’s response to his questions.

This is totally what Sam and I should look like all the time.

The Pennsylvania R.R. and Connecting Lines (1871)

G.W. & C.B. Colton's map of the Pennsylvania Railroad and its connecting lines from 1871. Map of the Pennsylvania R.R. and Connecting Lines Date: 1871 Author: G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co. Dwnld: Full Size (18.9mb) Print Availability: See our Prints Page for more details pff This map isn't part of any series, but we have other railroad maps that you might want to check out. Everything I know about...

the BIG Map Blog - Interesting maps, historical maps, BIG maps.

With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time - when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948.

The explosion of e-commerce sites has created a dilemma of how to address fit in a virtual environment. The focus of next week's convention of the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives will be on this subject and I am sure I will have lots to report when I get back. One thing I will bring to readers now is that the methods of measuring garments used by sites like e-bay are driven by sportswear so the terminology used and the actual methods are different than those commonly used in the tailored clothing industry, so if you are only familiar with e-bay or Styleforum conventions, you may end up confused when talking to a tailor or a manufacturer.

Below is a guide to the terms and methods typically used by tailored clothing manufacturers- some may vary slightly, like the exact level of the knee, but these are pretty much standards.

This is a notice of pure desperation. Imagine working on your thesis for five years and suddenly it's gone. University librarians and computer techs say it happens more than you might think. You can store it online, in the cloud, on external drives, or with a professional service. When data is this precious, more than one backup method would be a good idea. Link

Sterling, Virginia-based pixel artist, t-shirt designer and 2D animator Drew Wise created a geekerrific collection of video game pixel art sweatshirts. They are available to purchase online at Beloved Shirts.

via On The Level Gaming, Obvious Winner

Daily Beast

Obama Threatens To Get Any Tattoo Daughters Get Daily Beast Sasha and Malia better think carefully about getting a tattoo. President Obama told the Today show that he and Michelle have told their daughters, “If you guys ever decided you're going to get a tattoo, then Mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo in the ... Sasha and Malia Obama and tattoos.LifeGoesStrong Obama Says No Tattoos for His DaughtersHispanicBusiness.com Obama: Michelle has often been like a single motherGreenville News GlobalPost -The Hollywood Gossip -Thegardenisland.com all 81 news articles »

If you need a specific type of paper for your notebook, organizer, or even your Hipster PDA, don't settle for drawing lines on paper yourself. Generated Paper has over 40 printable PDF templates for ruled paper, graph paper, business cards, music sheets, and more, all completely free.

Read more...

Redditor doigoid revealed that their dog Jack has an extraordinarily talent for balancing things on its head, and asked the reddit community for suggestions on what Jack should balance. For more images, take a look at the original post from doigoid and this collection of images posted in the thread.

photos via doigoid

via reddit, Buzzfeed

Succulents. I love these guys.

1915

A boy between two mounted lobsters caught off the New Jersey coast.

(via natgeofound)

fuckyeahtattoos:

Massive knitter and crocheter over here..

Rohan at Jackson Street Tattoo in Petone, New Zealand
 

“Although the FBI was in charge of the Watertown scene, the police presence included Massachusetts State Police, local departments and the transit agency. One law enforcement official described the final chaotic 30 minutes as the “fog of war,” saying that an accidental shot may have caused other officers to begin firing.”

- Report: Boston bombing suspect had no gun when captured

sciencehabit writes "Citing an increasingly bleak outlook for federal research funding, Harvard Medical School is shutting down its major primate center, which has recently experienced the departure of several key scientists and an investigation into its handling of animals. In the announcement, which surprised many primate researchers, the school said it will not seek to renew the New England Primate Research Center's (NEPRC's) 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and will 'wind down operations' at the center in Southborough, Massachusetts, over the next 2 years. The center, which has a nearly 50-year history, had done groundbreaking work on an AIDS vaccine and developed animal models for diseases such as Parkinson's, among other accomplishments."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

concealment writes "Sparkler Filters up north in Conroe [Texas] still uses an IBM 402 in conjunction with a Model 129 key punch – with the punch cards and all – to do company accounting work and inventory. The company makes industrial filters for chemical plants and grease traps. Lutricia Wood is the head accountant at Sparkler and the data processing manager. She went to business school over 40 years ago in Houston, and started at Sparkler in 1973. Back then punch cards were still somewhat state of the art." See kottke.org for an eye-popping view of one of the "programs" — imagine debugging that.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

“

Many survivors live in Massachusetts, a state that requires residents to have health insurance, “which should cover most of their required treatment,” said Amie Breton, spokeswoman for Massachusetts’ consumer affairs office. “The total cost of that treatment is impossible to calculate at this early stage.”

Massachusetts is among about 20 states that require health insurers to pay for prosthetic limbs, but many plans don’t cover 100 percent of those costs, said Dr. Terrence Sheehan, chief medical officer for Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville, Md., and medical director of the Amputee Coalition, a national advocacy group.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, another big insurer, is changing its policy and will pay for some of the more expensive bionic limbs when there is a demonstrated need, said Dr. Michael Sherman, chief medical officer. He said that 15 blast survivors admitted to hospitals are Harvard Pilgrim customers and that the insurance company is discussing “whether we might absorb some of the copays and deductibles.”

The 26 hospitals that have treated bombing victims have charity funds that will cover some of the costs, said Tim Gens, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Some injured residents may be eligible for Massachusetts’ public health funds for the uninsured or underinsured. People with huge medical bills they can’t afford are eligible, regardless of income.

”

- Boston victims face huge bills; donations pour in

Destroy everything

Lisa DeJong for The Chronicle

It takes Allison Armentrout, an adjunct instructor of English composition at Stark State College, a long time to grade essays, but she has to keep her hours below 30 a week, after which her employer would have to pay health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

By Sydni Dunn

Allison G. Armentrout, an adjunct instructor at Stark State College, doesn't get paid by the hour. She earns $4,600 to teach two English composition courses. But now she carefully tracks how many hours she works on an electronic time sheet.

On a recent week, she spent three hours preparing for her lectures, close to six hours in the classroom, and 16 more grading assignments for a grand total of about 25 hours. So she can breathe a sigh of relief because she won't lose her job: She came in under the college's new 29-hour-a-week wire designed to keep her ineligible for health-care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Stark State, in North Canton, Ohio, is among a growing number of colleges that have limited the number of weekly hours part-time employees can work to keep them below the level at which employers are required to provide health insurance. Under the new law, which takes effect in January 2014, employees of large companies who work 30 hours or more a week must receive health benefits from their employers. Employers who violate the rule could be fined. Colleges in Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are among those that have acted in advance.

But adjuncts are rarely paid by the hour. Their salary is based on the number of courses they teach, making it difficult for colleges to determine how many work hours are put into each course.

Enlarge Image

Lisa DeJong for The Chronicle

Allison G. Armentrout, an adjunct at Stark State: "I've been put in a position twice this semester where I've just had to lie about the number of hours I actually worked. I don't want to have to make a choice between having a job or not."

Lisa DeJong for The Chronicle

Allison G. Armentrout, an adjunct at Stark State: "I've been put in a position twice this semester where I've just had to lie about the number of hours I actually worked. I don't want to have to make a choice between having a job or not."

The Internal Revenue Service didn't provide a formula to calculate the workload of adjuncts when the law's proposed rules were announced in January. It simply advised universities to "use a reasonable method for crediting hours of service," adding that it would not be "reasonable" to take into account "only classroom or instruction time and not other hours that are necessary to perform the employee's duties, such as class-preparation time."

The IRS document also stated that "further guidance may be provided," but gave no indication when that guidance might be coming. The agency has collected more than 500 comments in response to the proposed rules, and it will hold a public comment session on April 23 in Washington.

Kenneth H. Ryesky, an adjunct professor of taxation and business law at Queens College of the City University of New York and a former state tax lawyer, says he submitted a written comment and will attend the hearing. Although his university provides health benefits through the faculty and staff union, he says, he is fighting for clarity.

By limiting the number of hours adjuncts can work as a way to evade penalties, he says, universities are reversing the intent of the Affordable Care Act.

From an administrative perspective, he says he understands that the decision is the "path that makes the most financial sense," but it's abusive because universities are not giving adjuncts the support they need.

The American Council on Education, the American Association of University Professors, and the New Faculty Majority have also weighed in, all warning the IRS of the unintended consequences of the proposed rules.

"Colleges and universities should realize the importance of providing health insurance to employees," according to a recent statement by the AAUP. "We call on them to comply with the law and devise fair methods of calculating adjunct faculty hours, methods that fully take into account the many activities in which such faculty members engage."

Maria C. Maisto, president of the New Faculty Majority, an advocacy group for adjuncts, says her organization recommends that the IRS require every college to do a comprehensive examination of its teaching faculty and come up with a formula that is correct, "not one that is convenient or saves them money."

'Simply Unaffordable'

Most universities agree, however, that money is a big factor, as adjuncts make up a growing portion of the nation's teaching faculty.

The Community College of Allegheny County, for example, reduced the workload limit for its temporary, part-time adjuncts from 12 to 10 credits per semester. The Pittsburgh college employs about 2,200 adjunct instructors, but most of them only teach one course, so they are not at risk of running over 30 hours. The reduction directly affected about 200 of those adjuncts, plus another 200 temporary, part-time employees.

David Hoovler, executive assistant to the president, says the college's preference was to expand coverage, but it was "simply unaffordable." The institution has an annual operating budget of around $109-million, and administrators estimate it would cost at least $6-million to provide health benefits to the 400 part-time temporary employees who would have been eligible.

To compensate for the changes, Mr. Hoovler says, the college gave all of its part-time employees a "modest" increase—$20 per credit-hour for adjuncts, and a comparable percentage per hour for other part-time temporary employees. The money for those increases came from frozen or eliminated administrative positions, he says. The college is also trying to form a type of group health plan to offer its part-time employees discounted insurance rates, but nothing is definite.

"Our adjunct employees, and others who are affected, are an important part of the college community," he says. "It's the right thing to do to offset the cuts."

Ms. Maisto says she believes Allegheny is the only college making this type of effort, though many are downsizing adjunct work hours.

Some universities, she says, have cut the number of courses adjuncts are allowed to teach from three to two. Some have used a ratio, such as one-to-one or two-to-one, to determine how many hours are needed outside the classroom for every hour spent inside of it. The rest have adopted their own solutions, estimating the number of hours needed to teach each individual course or carefully tracking and logging work hours. All of those policies are subject to change.

Administrators at the College of William & Mary sent notice to its part-time faculty after Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia submitted an amendment limiting part-time employees and adjunct faculty to 29 hours per week, on average, in order to comply with the act's requirements, says Anna B. Martin, vice president for administration.

Michael R. Halleran, William & Mary's provost, says the college has told its adjunct faculty that they cannot go over 29 hours per week, or "meet or exceed, on average over a 12-month period, 75 percent of the course load for a full-time, non-tenure-track teaching faculty member at that institution."

Mr. Halleran says he asked the academic deans to submit a list of people in their respective departments who might exceed the new limit, and fewer than 10 names were submitted. Deans will monitor these people to ensure they do not violate the new rule. The university hasn't ruled out extending health benefits to its adjuncts, he says, but for now its plan is to reduce their hours and courses.

"There's been a lot of confusion and uncertainty," he says of higher education's response to the health-care laws. "I like what we've done because it's accurate, simple, fair."

New Metrics

In the case of Stark State, each course was evaluated by department chairs, deans, and faculty members to determine how many hours were needed to teach it, says Irene Lewis Motts, director of marketing.

"We've never had to determine how long it took to teach a class because our faculty were under contract, and they just taught the classes, whatever the time it took or whatever the time they wanted to put in," Ms. Lewis Motts says. "We had to put some metrics to it."

Part-time employees were notified in December by the college's provost that they were not allowed to exceed an average of 29 hours per week over a six-month period. The hours are being "monitored carefully" through a logging system called PeopleAdmin, she says. Individual instructors enter data every other week, which is then reviewed by the human-resources department. There are 857 part-time employees at Stark State, she says. Those employees make up more than 40 percent of all employees.

Ms. Armentrout, who migrates among three institutions for work, says many instructors have had to begin teaching at other colleges to make ends meet. Adjuncts are paid by the course, she says.

The scaled-back schedule at Stark State affects adjuncts financially, she says, but "it also creates ethical difficulties with reporting our hours."

"We're not allowed to go over 29 hours, and that includes time spent prepping, grading, e-mailing, meeting with students, attending required meetings," she says. "What is happening—and I'm finding this even with just two classes—because of the grading load, I've been put in a position twice this semester where I've just had to lie about the number of hours I actually worked. I don't want to have to make a choice between having a job or not."

Ms. Armentrout says she has considered reducing the number of pages she requires for her essay assignments, to cut back on the grading time. But, she says, she has to be careful not to violate page requirements set by the Ohio Board of Regents.

Most weeks, she works 22 or 23 hours, she says, so it's not an issue. "But everyone wants to know: What happens if we go over?"

Ms. Lewis Motts says there are no formal repercussions in place now. If someone consistently exceeds the 29-hour rule, affecting his or her six-month average, then human resources will meet with that employee.

But Ms. Armentrout says some faculty fear that if their average work weeks are ever over the limit, the university might not renew their contracts.

"There's potential for a lot of issues there," she says. "There will be a lot more professors working at McDonald's."

Original Source

letsbuildahome-fr:

American Kills by Sebastian Errazuriz