1) Do not dip dirty paintbrush in your drink glass instead of your dirty paint water glass. Paint is not refreshing (we learned this last week)
2) Be careful that the balaclava you are painting looks like a balaclava and not black face. A balaclava is a ski mask. Black face is always racist.
3) If it looks like crap, stop fighting it and paint over. Even if it means you're losing the things you liked about it.
4)Wine really does help, as long as you're not going for super precise tiny painting. Drink up!
That is your lesson for the week.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
It's Friday and We Need Some Fun!
This is the Go!Team, who I learned about years ago from Ad Boy (the boy who literally broke my vagina. It's fixed now, but the story is funny as hell).
And this is a little interview with Ninja, the lead singer. It's just so cute and charming I had to include it.
I'll be shaking my ass this weekend at Honk!Fest to the tunes of radical marching bands. Weird, yes.
And this is a little interview with Ninja, the lead singer. It's just so cute and charming I had to include it.
I'll be shaking my ass this weekend at Honk!Fest to the tunes of radical marching bands. Weird, yes.
The Problem With Defunding Higher Ed
This story involves the Koch brothers, so you've been warned that by the end you will want to kick someone, hard.
In exchange for a 1.5 million dollar grant to Florida State's Economics department, Charles Koch gets to screen and sign off on any new hires.
You want to know why economists are such doouchenoodles (both in theory and in real life)? This is why. No one who has a different opinion from the standard "give rich people everything and suffer the small folks" can get hired. But because we've massively defunded education publicly, universities gotta make up the difference somehow. And people are catching on that maybe needing to take out 50k worth of loans to get an basic bachelor's degree and still not get a job is a bad idea, so schools can't wring any more cash out of their students. So corporate shitbags get to set the agenda from the very beginning by making sure that the only theories out there are theories that benefit them. They pay off the theory makers and educators. Students never see another side.
This story gets a h/t to Ruth, who didn't know until she went to college that people had died for the right to organize their labor. She didn't get that info in the very good public schools she attended as a kid, even though she was a geek like me and read all of the assigned history books. She got a different view of how the world could be from a community college prof. If the Koch brothers, or even Miscrosoft, was funding that school, she might never have learned about it.
In other higher ed news, the other day 50 University of Washington students stormed the president's office to protest the fact that the school contracts with Sodexo, known for their human rights abuses. 25 of them got arrested.
In exchange for a 1.5 million dollar grant to Florida State's Economics department, Charles Koch gets to screen and sign off on any new hires.
You want to know why economists are such doouchenoodles (both in theory and in real life)? This is why. No one who has a different opinion from the standard "give rich people everything and suffer the small folks" can get hired. But because we've massively defunded education publicly, universities gotta make up the difference somehow. And people are catching on that maybe needing to take out 50k worth of loans to get an basic bachelor's degree and still not get a job is a bad idea, so schools can't wring any more cash out of their students. So corporate shitbags get to set the agenda from the very beginning by making sure that the only theories out there are theories that benefit them. They pay off the theory makers and educators. Students never see another side.
This story gets a h/t to Ruth, who didn't know until she went to college that people had died for the right to organize their labor. She didn't get that info in the very good public schools she attended as a kid, even though she was a geek like me and read all of the assigned history books. She got a different view of how the world could be from a community college prof. If the Koch brothers, or even Miscrosoft, was funding that school, she might never have learned about it.
In other higher ed news, the other day 50 University of Washington students stormed the president's office to protest the fact that the school contracts with Sodexo, known for their human rights abuses. 25 of them got arrested.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
So it started out being a completely crap day and then.....
I had my long waited for furniture appointment today. It's out in the middle of nowhere, and they would have delivered big stuff, but if I wanted anything small (lamps for example) then I would have to carry it home with me. I was gonna get a ride but my ride has recently joined the ranks of the disemployed and overindulged last night. So I took the bus. I figured I'd skip the little stuff. What I really need and can't fit in a car is a bed for me and a sofa & loveseat.
But there wasn't a single bed available. Not a sofa either. I get to reschedule and come back (which means at least 2 more months sans furniture). I was a bit disheartened.
So I called my caseworker and since I tried to get a second hand bed and couldn't, I could go to a mattress store and buy one (as long as it's under $600). The only store she knew of is way far south, but I thought they had one downtown. And they do. And in a week or so I will have, for the first time in my entire life, a brand new mattress and boxspring. A brand new bed of my very own. A bed after 6 months of sleeping on a loveseat or an airmattress. A BED FUCK YEAH.
So for the 2 hours of bus time, 5 bucks in bus fair, and the $2.20 that my bed went over $600 I have a bed. I think that was a well spent morning.
But there wasn't a single bed available. Not a sofa either. I get to reschedule and come back (which means at least 2 more months sans furniture). I was a bit disheartened.
So I called my caseworker and since I tried to get a second hand bed and couldn't, I could go to a mattress store and buy one (as long as it's under $600). The only store she knew of is way far south, but I thought they had one downtown. And they do. And in a week or so I will have, for the first time in my entire life, a brand new mattress and boxspring. A brand new bed of my very own. A bed after 6 months of sleeping on a loveseat or an airmattress. A BED FUCK YEAH.
So for the 2 hours of bus time, 5 bucks in bus fair, and the $2.20 that my bed went over $600 I have a bed. I think that was a well spent morning.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Got a phone? Raise a teaspoon for workers rights!
Kid and I were downtown today when I spotted these nice peeps with their banner. It was very wet out, and yet there they were braving the rain to get fairness for workers. I asked if I could take a pic and write a post and here it is. These are members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters who are in the middle of a labor dispute with several subcontractors of a company called SD Beacon. The contractors are in trouble for not paying area standard wages, including skipping out on health and welfare benefits for workers and their families. SD Beacon is bidding on a Ross project.
The Pacific NW Regional Council of Carpenters is asking that we call Micheal O'Sullivan at (925) 965-4400 and tell him that he needs to do all he can to see that area labor standards are met for ALL Ross stores' construction projects.
So pick up your phone and give a holler. You can also get more info from PNWCoC by calling (877)235-3184
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)