ravings of a semi-sane madwoman

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-Ala.) is sponsoring HR 205, The Geometric Simplification Act, declaring the Euclidean mathematical constant of pi to be precisely 3. The bill comes in response to data and rankings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, rating the United States' 15 year-olds 25th in the world in mathematics.
OECD is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011, and the Paris-based NGO released its international educational rankings, placing the US in a three-way tie for math, equaling Portugal and Ireland, just beneath No. 24 Luxembourg.
"That long-held empirical value of pi, I am not saying it should be necessarily viewed as wrong, but 3 is a lot better," said Roby, the 34-year old legislator representing Alabama's second congressional district, ushered into office in the historic 2010 Republican mid-term bonanza.
Pi has long been defined as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius, a mathematical constant represented by the Greek letter "π," with a value of approximately 3.14159. HR 205 does not change the root definition, per se. The bill simply, and legally, declares pi to be exactly 3..............

please don't read this standing up

from bob cesca:

Newt Gingrich is a Circus Clown
Check out this ridiculousness on the president's actions in Libya:

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has undergone a remarkable transformation in his views about intervening in Libya. On March 7, before President Obama acted, Gingrich said that if it were up to him, he would “exercise a no-fly zone this evening…the United States doesn’t need anybody’s permission.” Then, less than 24 hours after President Obama signed off on a no-fly zone, Gingrich accused him of “opportunism,” and this morning on the Today Show, said plainly that “I would not have intervened.”...........

uh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

NYT’s $50 million ‘paywall’ crumbles with simple code exploit

if you think people (mostly women and grrrls) aren't still dying

in sweatshops, you're outright WRONG

Young women continue to die locked in sweatshops, labor group warns

By Eric W. Dolan

As the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire approaches, the Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights urged the United States to pass legislation to prevent multi-national corporations from violating internationally recognized worker rights standards, such as no child or forced labor, decent working conditions, freedom of association and the right to organize a union.

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire resulted in the death of 146 female workers, who were locked inside the factory by their managers, on March 25, 1911. The women worked 6 days a week, often 14 hours shifts, and earned the meager wage of 14 cents an hour. (The equivalent of $3.18 an hour in 2011, adjusted for inflation.)....................

(pic from microrevolt. i knit #s 90 Max Lehrer (18 years old) and 115 Rosina Cirrito (18 years old). there was a craft action in support of the memory of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. the memorial will be held tomorrow the 25th. it was called 146+)

146+ is a craft action to commemorate the 146 victims of the 1911 Triangle Waist Factory fire in New York City and to connect that history to the contemporary crisis in the global garment industry. Participate by crafting a numbered armband and standing with Workers United as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tragedy that catalyzed an international labor movement.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

VERY disturbing (and yes, both from the same place)

twisted vintage

via

wicked cool!

Scott Campbell, Noblesse Oblige

wil wheaton tells us a pretty damn cool story

Though I hadn't seen him in over twenty years, I knew I'd miss him forever

the day i would consult an anti-abortion organization

before having an abortion is the day i would use a fucking coat hanger (like we're headed back to)

i am NOT PRO abortion by any ways or means. i AM pro birth control, pro comprehensive sex education and by all means PRO CHOICE.

our bodies, OUR choice

(like i say over and over and over and over................once a fetus is born, they.........by they you know who i mean.......they STOP CARING)

New South Dakota law mandates three-day wait before abortions
By Stephen C. Webster

The Republican Governor of South Dakota signed a bill into law Tuesday, formally mandating that women in the state wait three days and visit with anti-abortion activists before undergoing a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy..............

.............

To this effect, PPFA says that each year it plays a role in preventing over 600,000 unwanted pregnancies, and only three percent of their patients request abortion services. By contrast, figures show PPFA is ten times more likely to be helping prevent an abortion than carrying one out.

But in an exclusive interview with Raw Story, Republican state Sen. Al Novstrup, the South Dakota bill's primary sponsor, did not seem to know that. He even suggested that Planned Parenthood is akin to an abortion factory, ushering women in and putting them on a doctor's table without so much as a consultation...........

oh HELL yeah!

one more (tiny) step in the RIGHT direction

editorial from the nyt:
The Right to Sue Over Wiretapping

Federal authorities have always made it difficult to bring a legal challenge against the government’s warrantless wiretapping enterprise that was set up by the Bush administration in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Because the wiretaps were secret, no one could know for certain if they were being tapped, so the government urged judges to throw out lawsuits for lack of proof of real harm. .............

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

who knew jesus and charlie sheen were so much alike?

via

AUTOGRAPHED COPIES AVAILABLE!!!

from christian nightmares

well few is better than many but it shouldn't be A N Y

Tea Party At Its Dregs? Major Convention Attracts Few

By Alex Seitz-Wald

With Fox News host Glenn Beck’s ratings down and the biggest tea party rally eclipsed by a recent pro-labor rally in Wisconsin, could the tea party be losing steam? One new sign: a big tea party convention in Tampa, FL this weekend — headlined by such conservative favorites as Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Fox News Judge Andrew Napolitano, and former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo — attracted only about 300 people...............

me and my grrrls at work yesterday

via

Victorian seamstresses ambrotype

Monday, March 21, 2011

why did they bother to beak up ma bell in the first place

one has to wonder??????????????????????????

AT&T to Buy T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and JENNA WORTHAM

AT&T announced on Sunday that it had agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion, in a deal that would create the largest carrier in the nation and promised to reshape the industry.
The transaction — one of the largest since the onset of the financial crisis — is expected to start a fierce battle in Washington as regulators scrutinize the impact of the deal on competition and consumers. The deal would leave just three major cellular companies in the country: AT&T, Verizon and the much smaller Sprint Nextel...............