Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Time	Event
10:37a	'Speak English' signs allowed at Philly shop Commission on Human Rights rules Geno's postings do not discriminate PHILADELPHIA - The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday. In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno's Steaks telling customers, "This is America: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,'" do not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance. Shop owner Joe Vento has said he posted the signs in October 2005 because of concerns over immigration reform and an increasing number of people in the area who could not order in English. (5 Comments | Comment on this)
10:51a	Saudi clerics back death fatwa for liberal writers RIYADH - A group of Saudi clerics has come out in support of a colleague who issued a fatwa saying two writers deserve to die if they did not retract views that he said made them apostates. Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, one of the kingdom’s most revered clerics, said in a rare fatwa last week the columnists should be tried for apostasy for “heretical articles” published in al-Riyadh newspaper and put to death if they do not repent. They questioned the Sunni Muslim view in Saudi Arabia that adherents of other faiths should be considered unbelievers, which Barrak said implied Muslims were free to follow other religions and their faith was on a par with other religions. A group of 20 clerics, all associated with Barrak, issued a statement on Tuesday asking God to support him in the face of a ”wicked attack” by liberals with “polluted beliefs”. ”We know the Sheikh’s knowledge in religion and status in the Islamic nation and trust Muslims place in his opinions ... The fatwa is based on the book of God (Koran) and the path of the Prophet,” they said in the statement posted on Web sites. If your faith is so weak that you can't stand to see people follow a different way...then you have no faith at all. (Comment on this)
11:06a	snagged from engelina_c You Should Be a Film Writer You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen! What Type of Writer Should You Be? (1 Comment | Comment on this)
1:15p	...I was planning on leaving early today 'cause Spring Break starts tomorrow for us (and oh wow, do we all need the break). But a coworker is gonna have a long day today 'cause she's got an extracurricular to monitor, and she asked if I could watch her class the last half hour. Oh well early dash to freedom. But she's got a lot on her plate and I'm available, so it's all cool. Heh, my classes are watching "Big Trouble in Little China." It's amazing how they stop talking and start watching when the first fight starts. We'll get back to the curriculum hard when we hit Rime of the Ancient Mariner after Spring Break. Poor brats...that poem has broken lesser men than I. But I think this time I'll use extensive graphic organizers along with the double journals. Should help ease the read. Update: Figures. She had two little jerks in her class that just had to get in their last disrespects before the bell. Now believe me, there are differences between smart-asses and jerks. A smart ass can be just as surly, down and pissed off as a jerk, but often this is because they have been burned before or because of poor social skills. (Usually smart asses are not a problem and are even fun to have in class.) Jerks, on the other hand, are easily recognizable and are sold on their own infallibility. And one of them in her class just had to play the little "am I running off early or just outside the door" game. Each time I told him (asked the first couple of times) to stay inside, he'd tell me "he saw a dog," and then "I saw another dog." At this point I realize he's gonna dash off no matter what I do in a couple minutes, so I figure okay, fine. And tell him "no, it's just your reflection in the window. Stay inside." It took him a few seconds to even get it. I kinda wish I could see him bitching about me after the break. Everyone who's taken my class knows how freakin' permissive I am and that I would've let the class go the moment I saw a few other students let out early, too. Ah well. I left his name for his regular teacher. I'm sure she'll have words with him. She's nowhere near as nice as I am. (2 Comments | Comment on this)
6:33p	In remote China, Tibetans break silence TONGREN, China - A Tibetan monk crouched in the quiet courtyard of a nearly deserted monastery and bitterly recalled the words he and his fellow monks have been forced to recite every year at government-organized classes: "I love this country." The "patriotic education classes" have been imposed on the monks for the past decade, but the young monk in the centuries-old Rongwo monastery still can speak his own mind to a journalist. "We want freedom," he said. "We want the Dalai Lama to come back to his land." The Chinese government has scrambled to shut down China's Tibetan areas since the unrest in Lhasa. Authorities have shipped in truckloads of armed police, set up blockades to keep out foreigners and turned Tibetan communities across remote western China into armed camps, with the monasteries at their center. (Comment on this)
7:17p	International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War Will all you time traveling n00bs please stop killing Hitler?! This is awesome right here. (2 Comments | Comment on this)
8:35p	More of those short manga stories. Second one's kinda depressing. Kid ain't no Ligeia. And the third one...I've found myself drawn to the idea that suicide isn't a cessation of pain, but rather a point of such extreme emotion and pain that you loop. Especially since the idea that ghosts can't evolve but are rather stagnant in time also makes sense to me. ( three stories ) (Comment on this)
8:56p	"For a girl, there is only suffering in life." India plans to stem abortions offer little hope for girls "Everyone in the family wants a son. If it's a boy, he will earn, but if it's a girl, she will only suffer in a poor family like ours," she said as she waited to see her gynaecologist at a New Delhi hospital. The Indian government says it hopes to change this mindset by awarding cash incentives to the parents of baby girls in a bid to dissuade them from aborting female foetuses. Under the plan, unveiled this week ahead of International Women's Day on Saturday, families would receive staggered payments worth 5,000 dollars until the girls reach age 18 -- provided they go to school and don't marry young. Social activists say abortions of female foetuses are more common among the affluent because they have better access to medical facilities, but experts say such deep-seated prejudices against girls exist among the rich and the poor. "The prejudice is so strong that it's too late to change it now after millions have been killed," said anti-foeticide activist Sabu George. ( full article ) (3 Comments | Comment on this)
9:15p	I have no problems. God, I have no problems. Inside the slave trade They are promised a better life. But every year, countless boys and girls in Bangladesh are spirited away to brothels where they have to prostitute themselves with no hope of freedom Rehana knew for years her brother was a trafficker in children. “I was ashamed,” she says. “He trafficked children because he was so poor, but it’s no excuse.” There was no point going to the police, she says: they were bribed. But then, over Eid in 2005, her husband had a huge row with him. Two days later, her brother picked up her six-year old son, Shamsul, from mosque – and sold him. He taunted his brother-in-law, saying his son was now in a brothel in India. “I went mad, I just went mad,” she says. “I went looking for him everywhere, I spent all day on the streets calling his name. I couldn’t believe it was happening.” After two years of despair, she spotted an advert in a newspaper. It had been placed by Aparajeyo, and it asked: do you know this child? “It was Shamsul,” she says. The police found him wandering the streets and handed him over to the charity. He didn’t know his name, or address. “When we got him back, he was lean and thin, and he cried all the time,” his mother says. “If he couldn’t see me he would scream. He did some very strange things: he would stare at the sun until he passed out. But to have him back was amazing.” ( full article under cut ) To save children like Sufia, Mohammed, Shelaka and Shamsul, donate to Sport Relief at www.sportrelief.com or call 08457 910910 (calls cost no more than 4p per minute from BT landlines. Other operator and mobile rates may vary). (4 Comments | Comment on this)
10:34p	TMNT fic/art: Nara Black Curse: Mirror's Shadow In My Skin TMNT fic/art: Nara Black - The Home Guard Title: Nara Black Curse: Mirror's Shadow In My Skin - The Home Guard Author: kc_anathema Artist: crabapplered Pairing: Mikey/Raph Warnings: It's gay turtle incest. But nothin' explicit. Maybe . . . PG-13? Disclaimer: Don't own. No money being made. Writer's note: Michelangelo and Raphael make the most of being left behind by Leonardo and Donatello. Part 1 -- Mercy in the Darkness ( pic/fic within ) (4 Comments | Comment on this)

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