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Why the Most Literate Cities in America Aren’t the Wealthiest
Apparently, money can’t buy literacy. Dr. John Miller says he “learned that wealthier cites are no more likely to rank highly in literacy than poorer cities.” Although “poverty has a strong impact on educational attainment,” Miller says, cities that are “truly committed to literacy” can find a way to “create and sustain rich resources for reading.”
(via teachingliteracy)
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A Gorgeous Time-Lapse of Lighting Storms Over Africa From Space
The world is beautiful, especially from a view like this.
This time-lapse shot from the International Space Station reveals the Milky Way as storms illuminate Africa below. The video is courtesy of the Crew Earth Observations group at NASA Johnson Space Center.
After journalist arrests at Occupy Wall Street, US drops 27 spots on global press freedom index. Now ranked 47th in the world.
List of countries ahead of US on the Reporters Without Borders global press freedom index:
Finland, Norway, Estonia, Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cape Verde, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Ireland, Cyprus, Jamaica, Germany, Costa Rica, Belgium, Namibia, Japan, Surinam, Poland, Mali, OECS, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Niger, Australia, Lithuania, Uruguay, Portugal, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Slovenia, El Salvador, France, Spain, Hungary, Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, South Korea, Comoros, Taiwan…
Then the United States of America at #47.
Source: Reporters Without Borders global press freedom index, released today.
The U.S. falls on the Global Press Freedom Index thanks in part to Occupy. Fascinating.
A man who assisted in autopsies in a big urban hospital, starting in the mid-1950s, describes the many deaths from botched abortions that he saw. ‘The deaths stopped overnight in 1973.’ He never saw another in the 18 years before he retired. ‘That,’ he says, ‘ought to tell people something about keeping abortion legal.’
The scientists analyzed billions of words from Twitter, a half-century of music lyrics, 20 years of The New York Times, and millions of books going back to 1520. After finding the 10,222 most frequently used English words from these four sources, they asked a group of volunteers to rate the emotional temperature of these words… There was an overwhelming preponderance of happier words among the top 5,000 words in each of the sources.
(via curiositycounts)
Winter has arrived.
Hopefully it’ll be a short one.
Beautiful voice.
RIP, Etta James.
Shit People in DC Say
Funny… if you’ve been around D.C. for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve heard some (or all) of these things.
Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand on SOPA and PIPA?
ProPublica has a great database on where members of Congress stand on SOPA and PIPA. Their findings are based on two factors: whether a member is a sponsor of the proposed bills, and each member’s voting record on the current bills’ precursors and alternatives.
Websites black out in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Follow the latest developments and reaction to the great internet blackout. Wondering what SOPA is? Here’s an explainer.
(Source: , via onaissues)
The Top 1 Percent: What Jobs Do They Have?
Explore the occupations and industries of the nation’s wealthiest households.
The news is a major blow for Sopa’s backers in Hollywood, who had enjoyed broad support in Congress. But the Motion Pictures Association of America, one of the bill’s biggest sponsors, said it would continue to press for new laws.
(Source: , via guardian)
Warming up with ramen. (Taken with instagram)
While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.
(via shortformblog)
Popped the Prosecco
