We Speak For Earth

newmodelminority: heirofmedusa: radicalrebellion: zaynmalphur...

ikenbot — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:33:19 -0400

heirofmedusa:

radicalrebellion:

zaynmalphurs:

queennubian:

1uppitynegress:

#Prayers #Repost from @gcode2222 “If you see her please call the number 404-503-5848 or hit @robinhoodmills” via @InstaReposts

SIGNAL BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!!! Help Bring her home!

Boost!!!

Boost. This is my home.

This should have 5K notes.

"Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education has been hijacked by an..."

ikenbot — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:16:02 -0400

“Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school board, acting at the behest of a mayor who has no vision for improving the education of our children. Closing schools is not an education plan. It is a scorched earth policy. Evidence shows that the underutilization crisis has been manufactured. Their own evidence also shows the school district will not garner any significant savings from closing these schools.

This is bad governance. CPS has consistently undermined school communities and sabotaged teachers and parents. Their actions have had a horrible domino effect. More than 40,000 students will lose at least three to six months of learning because of the Board’s actions. Because many of them will now have to travel into new neighborhoods to continue their schooling, some will be victims of bullying, physical assault and other forms of violence. Board members are wishing for a world that does not exist and have ignored the reality of the world we live in today. Who on the Board will be held responsible? Who at City Hall will be held responsible?”

- Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis commenting on today’s news that the Board of Education has voted to close 50 Chicago public schools.

While only around 40 percent of children in Chicago are black are Latino, 90 percent of children whose schools will be shuttered are black or Latino.

(via thepeoplesrecord)

fuck this country. fuck this country. FUCK THIS COUNTRY

(via searchingforknowledge)

Outrageous. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

(via disciplesofmalcolm)

Just as Bloomberg did with N.Y. schools. These guys are dipshits why do we continue letting them run this? Vote these fuckers outta here.

(via ikenbot)

ikenbot: american government’s ‘sound’ plan: close up the public schools, jail up the colored ones...

ikenbot — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:15:52 -0400

ikenbot:

american government’s ‘sound’ plan: close up the public schools, jail up the colored ones and reap profits out of making everyone who disagrees with these crapolicies a prisoner.

perscientiamlibertas: Bifacial points recovered from Blombos...

perscientiamlibertas — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:34:32 -0400

perscientiamlibertas:

Bifacial points recovered from Blombos Cave, South Africa. The tools were manufactured in the Middle Stone Age and are made of silcrete and finished by pressure flaking. scale bar = 5 cm. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Middle Stone Age Innovation Linked to Rapid Climate Change

A newly published study presents the most convincing evidence so far that abrupt climate change was instrumental in the development human evolution.

Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, was conducted by a team of scientists from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Barcelona.

The scientists studied a marine sediment core off the coast of South Africa and reconstructed terrestrial climate variability over the last 100,000 years.

Dr Martin Ziegler, Cardiff University School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: “We found that South Africa experienced rapid climate transitions toward wetter conditions at times when the Northern Hemisphere experienced extremely cold conditions.”

These large Northern Hemisphere cooling events have previously been linked to a change in the Atlantic Ocean circulation that led to a reduced transport of warm water to the high latitudes in the North. In response to this Northern Hemisphere cooling, large parts of the sub-Saharan Africa experienced very dry conditions.

“Our new data however, contrasts with sub-Saharan Africa and demonstrates that the South African climate responded in the opposite direction, with increasing rainfall, that can be associated with a globally occurring southward shift of the tropical monsoon belt.”

Continue reading

Further reading:

Humans were already recycling 13,000 years ago

sulitati: I know I made a post about this a while ago, but I’m...

ikenbot — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:02:02 -0400

sulitati:

I know I made a post about this a while ago, but I’m going to make it again since we’re getting into the hottest time of the year.

If you’re out in the Sonoran Desert in AZ and you see any of these [bottles with insults], please pick them up and throw them away. Vigilante groups are leaving intentionally empty gallon jugs in popular crossing points and that is the last thing that somebody needs to see as they’re trying to cross.

If you can, carry clean and full jugs with you and leave them where you see these. Gatorade or Electrolit are also really good for re-hydration.

Contact Humane Borders if you meet anyone in need of medical attention.

I just found out that because of Cathy Brennan posting the personal info of a 16yo queer kid online the house which they live in with their SINGLE MOTHER had rocks thrown through some of the windows...

ikenbot — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:27:08 -0400

xxqueerxedgexx:

Way to be a radical, Cathy. You got your mob of bigots to cause hardship for a SINGLE MOTHER. Good job looking out for all the women.

Fucking asshole.

Oh, and they’re still receiving threats over the phone and on social media. All for leaving a voicemail saying “you suck”

"women are oppressed? let me see every single fact on that ever conceived in the history of time or I..."

ikenbot — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:17:17 -0400

“women are oppressed? let me see every single fact on that ever conceived in the history of time or I call bullshit”

- (via straightmaleproverbs)

dynamicafrica: Photos of South African women protesting in the...

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:32:48 -0400

dynamicafrica:

Photos of South African women protesting in the streets against the Apartheid government.

1980s.

Read more about the critical roles women played during the anti-Apartheid struggle.

Three mass graves with 1,000 corpses found in Iraq

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:38:50 -0400

Three mass graves with 1,000 corpses found in Iraq:

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

Iraqi officials have found three mass graves containing the bodies of about 1,000 people thought to have been executed by US soldiers during their occupation of the country.

The graves were uncovered in Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar. The remains are believed to be from victims killed by US forces during 2004 and 2005 in the city of Fallujah, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of Baghdad.

jakigriot: catandkitty: durnesque-esque: thehippiejew: extra...

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:25:01 -0400

jakigriot:

catandkitty:

durnesque-esque:

thehippiejew:

extrafeisty:

jaycubs:

A Glasgow nightclub has installed a two-way mirror which allows male revellers in private booths to spy on unsuspecting women as they visit the toilet! With no notification or signage anywhere in the venue many female club goers have been left feeling embarrassed and used. Although they do briefly show the mirrors in a promo video, the club has been quickly deleting comments and posts on their social media from club goers trying to alert others to the situation. This is pretty much illegal and hugley violates privacy. Thank you The Shimmy Club for giving us a shiny, new, creative and cool take on objectification.
article here

i’m never leaving my house again, this world is just too fucked up.

WHAT!?

gross gross gross gross gross

Good morning disgusting.

Remember ladies:

“No space, leave the place” (fingernail test)

A two way mirror must be set INTO the wall, not placed on top of it.

If you rap/knock against the mirror, one installed onto a wall (a normal mirror) will make a dull sound, because there’s something behind it. A two-way will have more reverberation.

Use the flashlight on your phone to shine on the mirror, if it’s a two-way, you’ll be able to see into the other room.

You can also shield your eyes and see in if you lean up against the glass.

The room being viewed will have to be brightly lit (10x brighter than the room looking in), so if you’re in a typical dimly lit club bathroom, you’re ok.

Remember ladies, don’t expect to leave your house and be treated like an autonomous person who doesn’t have to search every bathroom, powder room, and elevator like you’re in a fucking neo noir spy film! So pass on these safety tips that reaffirm that deep knot of dread in your stomach telling you your humanity is up for debate!

Another reason to never leave my house? AWESOME.

ikenbot: and now the same is being done with Assata Shakur.

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:13:51 -0400

ikenbot:

and now the same is being done with Assata Shakur.

How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:04:41 -0400

How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic:

nefermaathotep:

The first lady went to Bowie State and addressed the graduating class. Her speech was a mix of black history and a salute to the graduates. There was also this:

But today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of “separate but equal,” when it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. Today, instead of walking miles every day to school, they’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.

And then this:

If the school in your neighborhood isn’t any good, don’t just accept it. Get in there, fix it. Talk to the parents. Talk to the teachers. Get business and community leaders involved as well, because we all have a stake in building schools worthy of our children’s promise. …

And as my husband has said often, please stand up and reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. Reject that.

There’s a lot wrong here.

At the most basic level, there’s nothing any more wrong with aspiring to be a rapper than there is with aspiring to be a painter, or an actor, or a sculptor. Hip-hop has produced some of the most penetrating art of our time, and inspired much more. My path to this space began with me aspiring to be rapper. Hip-hop taught me to love literature. I am not alone. Perhaps you should not aspire to be a rapper because it generally does not provide a stable income. By that standard you should not aspire to be a writer, either.

At a higher level, there is the time-honored pattern of looking at the rather normal behaviors of black children and pathologizing them. My son wants to play for Bayern Munich. Failing that, he has assured me he will be Kendrick Lamar. When I was kid I wanted to be Tony Dorsett — or Rakim, whichever came first. Perhaps there is some corner of the world where white kids desire to be Timothy Geithner instead of Tom Brady. But I doubt it. What is specific to black kids is that their dreams often don’t extend past entertainment and athletics That is a direct result of the kind of limited cultural exposure you find in impoverished, segregated neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are the direst result of American policy.

Enacting and enforcing policy is the job of the Obama White House. When asked about policy for African Americans, the president has said, “I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of all America.” An examination of the Obama administration’s policy record toward black people clearly bears this out. An examination of the Obama administration’s rhetoric, as directed at black people, tells us something different.

Yesterday, the president addressed Morehouse College’s graduating class, andsaid this:

We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. Growing up, I made a few myself. And I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. But one of the things you’ve learned over the last four years is that there’s no longer any room for excuses. I understand that there’s a common fraternity creed here at Morehouse: “excuses are tools of the incompetent, used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness.”

We’ve got no time for excuses — not because the bitter legacies of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they haven’t. Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; that’s still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyper-connected, hyper-competitive world, with a billion young people from China and India and Brazil entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything you haven’t earned. And whatever hardships you may experience because of your race, they pale in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and overcame.

This clearly is a message that only a particular president can offer. Perhaps not the “president of black America,” but certainly a president who sees holding African Americans to a standard of individual responsibility as part of his job. This is not a role Barack Obama undertakes with other communities.

Taking the full measure of the Obama presidency thus far, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this White House has one way of addressing the social ills that afflict black people — and particularly black youth — and another way of addressing everyone else. I would have a hard time imagining the president telling the women of Barnard that “there’s no longer room for any excuses” — as though they were in the business of making them. Barack Obama is, indeed, the president of “all America,” but he also is singularly the scold of “black America.”

It’s worth revisiting the president’s comments over the past year in reference to gun violence. Visting his grieving adopted hometown of Chicago, in the wake of the murder of Hadiya Pendleton, the president said this:

For a lot of young boys and young men in particular, they don’t see an example of fathers or grandfathers, uncles, who are in a position to support families and be held up in respect. And so that means that this is not just a gun issue; it’s also an issue of the kinds of communities that we’re building. When a child opens fire on another child, there is a hole in that child’s heart that government can’t fill. Only community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole.

Two months earlier Obama visited Newtown. The killer, Adam Lanza, was estranged from his father and reportedly devastated by his parents divorce. But Obama did not speak to Newtown about the kind of community they were building, or speculate on the hole in Adam Lanza’s heart.

When Barack Obama says that he is “the president of all America,” he is exactly right. When he visits black communities, he visits as the American president, bearing with him all our history, all our good works, and all our sins. Among recent sins, the creation of the ghettos of Chicago — accomplished by 20th-century American social policy — rank relatively high. Leaving aside the vague connection between fatherhood and the murder of Hadiya Pendleton. Certainly the South Side could use more responsible fathers. Why aren’t there more? Do those communities simply lack men of ambition or will? Are the men there genetically inferior?

No president has ever been better read on the intersection of racism and American history than our current one. I strongly suspect that he would point to policy. As the president of “all America,” Barack Obama inherited that policy. I would not suggest that it is in his power to singlehandedly repair history. But I would say that, in his role as American president, it is wrong for him to handwave at history, to speak as though the government he represents is somehow only partly to blame. Moreover, I would say that to tout your ties to your community when it is convenient, and downplay them when it isn’t, runs counter to any notion of individual responsibility.

I think the stature of the Obama family — the most visible black family in American history — is a great blow in the war against racism. I am filled with pride whenever I see them: there is simply no other way to say that. I think Barack Obama, specifically, is a remarkable human being — wise, self-aware, genuinely curious and patient. It takes a man of particular vision to know, as Obama did, that the country really was ready to send an African American to the White House.

But I also think that some day historians will pore over his many speeches to black audiences. They will see a president who sought to hold black people accountable for their communities, but was disdainful of those who looked at him and sought the same. They will match his rhetoric of individual responsibility, with the aggression the administration showed to bail out the banks, and the timidity they showed in addressing a foreclosure crisis which devastated black America (again.)They wil weigh the rhetoric against an administration whose efforts against housing segregation have been run of the mill. And they will match the talk of the importance of black fathers with the paradox of a president who smoked marijuana in his youth but continued a drug-war which daily wrecks the lives of black men and their families. In all of this, those historians will see a discomfiting pattern of convenient race-talk.

I think the president owes black people more than this. In the 2012 election, the black community voted at a higher rate than any other ethnic community in the country. Their vote went almost entirely to Barack Obama. They did this despite a concerted effort to keep them from voting, and they deserve more than a sermon. Perhaps they cannot practically receive targeted policy. But surely they have earned something more than targeted scorn.

"A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with..."

perscientiamlibertas — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:36:47 -0400

“A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with the will to do what needs doing and the capacity for joy in doing it. It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter, of the good cook, of the skillful maker, of anyone doing needed work and doing it well—this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection, and of sociality as a whole.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed (via perscientiamlibertas)

meghaninmotion: ikenbot: Aurora Borealis is an 1865 painting...

ikenbot — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:52:55 -0400

meghaninmotion:

ikenbot:

Aurora Borealis is an 1865 painting by Frederic Edwin Church of the Aurora Borealis and the arctic expedition of Dr. Isaac Hayes. The painting measures 56 x 83 1/2 in. (142.3 x 212.2 cm) and is now owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The artist (Frederic Edwin Church) had to convey the experience of watching the aurora without having witnessed it himself.

Returning to this article because I wanted to add how awesome it is to know whenever one of the very authors, photographers, artists, etc. who’s work you post and source on tumblr give you props for promoting their work rather than rage about it and cry about copyright and “theft” like others tend to do.

In this case I would like to return those props and respect to Meghan Ferriter who is an interdisciplinary researcher and anthropologist and the original author of the above Wikipedia article on a 1865 painting by Frederic Edwin Church which is called “Aurora Borealis” and as you can see, is quite stunning. I think I cheese just as much as they do when this happens, it’s a mutual cheesing based on celebrating the sharing of knowledge.

Meghan Ferriter writes:

This is a fascinating example of cultural heritage content held at a museum being linked (literally) in a central and open access knowledge repository, then accessed and shared in a social networking space: overlapping forms of digital communication.

This was a social share of Smithsonian content; by way of an outreach and engagement event that sought to share Smithsonian collections by explaining their context and content through (or on) Wikipedia. Then that content was taken up by a user on a social media network and shared with his followers. Then his followers responded to that content by liking and reblogging and replying to the content. This Smithsonian-housed content was, therefore, literally linked to broader scientific debates via @ikenbot’s page and the Tumblr/social media sharing loop.

Also, as a leader in the science Tumblr section, @ikenbot’s decision to reference the Wikipedia article adds authority or credit to the validity of Wikipedia within that particular community of practice on Tumblr (science-focused bloggers).

Is this a case of “If you build it, they will share…”? Perhaps not, yet this instance is a powerfully persuasive example, even as a one-off. It demonstrates the realities of sourcing and sharing content in digital spaces; furthermore, it is a testament to the ways Smithsonian Institution and Wikipedia content meshes and unfolds across digital space through social and cultural behaviors in digital spaces. Plus, it was quite cool to have my own words cited and sourced as a part of the summarization of the image.

Thank you again Meghan and all other Wikipedia authors who provide worthwhile information for the public to indulge in!

W00T!! Thanks, Ken! I’m just gonna plug Wikipedia and other online/digital knowledge repositories (check out dp.la too!) as places to which YOU — yes, you! and “you” is ANYONE — can contribute and make change online that affects the things we know and do IRL.

Check out Wikipedia’s #tooFEW categories, especially, and get stuck in to challenging what we know and how we know it by making POC and women contributions more visible on Wikipedia - which stories are we missing? What’s “notable” to you? What can you add to public discourse that broadens understanding?

Linked & open knowledge is the best - make your work open, let people use it… revel and delight in finding new ways to spark learning and discovery! There’s just too much cool art/science/math/socialandcultural/information/data to keep it locked up or just possess it - get out there, #unleashtheknowledge

Kelly Mizrahi (and Leiomy) speaking about violence against gay...

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:57:13 -0400

Kelly Mizrahi (and Leiomy) speaking about violence against gay and trans* People of Color. She highlights the disparity in the treatment and coverage for Black queer people facing the violence versus that of white people.

Under Mayor Bloomberg: inequality widened, rents rose, the homeless population exploded, every major public union contract expired and the rich got richer.

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:55:41 -0400

Under Mayor Bloomberg: inequality widened, rents rose, the homeless population exploded, every major public union contract expired and the rich got richer.:

thenationmagazine:

Bloomberg by the numbers.

A Scottish nightclub has installed a two-way mirror which allows male revellers to spy on women as they visit the toilet

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:51:15 -0400

A Scottish nightclub has installed a two-way mirror which allows male revellers to spy on women as they visit the toilet:

boterocats:

The recently-opened Shimmy Club has installed the spyglass – normally associated with police interrogations – in two of its £800-a-time private function rooms.

A spokesman for the Glasgow venue, owned by millionaire entrepreneur Stefan King’s G1 Group, insists it does not allow male or mixed-sex groups to hire the rooms.

However, the Scottish Sunday Express has seen photos showing a group of young men with a clear view of women using the bathroom.

There is no sign in the toilets or anywhere else on the premises alerting female clubgoers to the fact they can be observed.

I have no words

israelfacts: A Health Ministry inspector poured bleach over...

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:39:27 -0400

israelfacts:

A Health Ministry inspector poured bleach over pots full of food in a Sudanese restaurant in Tel Aviv Sunday night.

The inspector, from the ministry’s district office for Tel Aviv, was participating in a raid by police and municipal inspectors on illegal businesses owned by African migrants. Altogether, the raid shut down 10 businesses in the city’s Neveh Sha’anan neighborhood, confiscating their equipment and welding the doors shut. The equipment was then loaded onto vans by other African migrants who had been hired as contract workers.

Many diners saw the inspector pouring bleach on the food, and one, asylum-seeker Aladin Abaker from Sudan’s Darfur region, posted photos of the incident on his Facebook page. He also described his feelings of humiliation.

“Everyone − except the destroyers − was in tears from the humiliation,” he wrote. “The waitress told us, ‘I’ve seen very harsh things in my life, like torture in Sinai, but this humiliated me more than what happened to me in Sinai.”

Abaker accused the inspector of “insensitivity to people and their culture, which sees food as a sacred thing that must be respected,” and said the raid was aimed at “embittering our lives so we’ll return to Africa ‘voluntarily.’”

Altogether, he said, more than 200 kilograms of meat, chicken and fish and over 500 prepared meals were destroyed.

The inspectors said they didn’t know where the meat came from and therefore feared for the diners’ health, Abaker wrote. “We told them: But this is the only place we’ve eaten all our meals for four years now, and none of us ever had stomach problems. Even whites eat here.”

The Health Ministry responded that inspectors had discovered “deplorable sanitary conditions, food stored under unsuitable conditions and temperatures, and food from unknown sources. In order to preserve the public’s health and that of the diners themselves, it was decided to destroy the food immediately. As part of the process of destroying the food, chemicals suitable to this purpose are used. It should be noted that this was a routine process of food destruction that is no different from other destructions of food/meat.”

Tel Aviv’s deputy city manager, Ruby Zelof, said the raids were carried out “to eradicate the undesirable phenomenon of businesses operating illegally, with sanitation and safety problems and illegal connections to electricity and water, and sales of alcoholic beverages without permits.”

Haaretz | Photo credit: Aladin Abaker

Israel is deporting Africans and also planning to put tens of thousands into detention camps.

Knesset Member Miri Regev — a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party — called the refugees “a cancer in our body” and Danny Danon — also a Likud Knesset Member — wrote on his Facebook page referring to the Africans as “infiltrators”. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the African asylum seekers threaten “the Zionist dream,” adding, “Jobs will root them here.”

See also:

Why is the birth rate in Israel’s Ethiopian community declining? Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel were coaxed into agreeing to injections of long-acting birth control drugs, or told they would not be allowed into the country

Israeli woman has her photo taken with Africans, titles the Facebook album: “Late night tour of the Tel Aviv Safari”, captions the photo: “There are no signs forbidding taking pictures with the animals. There were no signs that forbid feeding, but we passed on that.”

warmcozy: yokhakidfiasco: pumpumreligion: You share pics of...

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:25:26 -0400

warmcozy:

yokhakidfiasco:

pumpumreligion:

You share pics of angry cats share this too!

Signal boost to my south florida followers

please reblog, power of the internet saves people

bijunn: so-treu: sans-nuage: thefemaletyrant: nok-ind: Buil...

ikenbot — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:13:11 -0400

bijunn:

so-treu:

sans-nuage:

thefemaletyrant:

nok-ind:

Builders bulldoze one of largest Mayan pyramids in Belize

One of the oldest and most famous Mayan pyramids has been destroyed by a construction company in Belize, while digging for crushed rock for a road they were building.

They actually did.

I just read about this bullshit.

sickening.

The story of capitalism and imperialism right here.

Destroying. Fucking. Everything.