What do Folks think of these?



http://www.ababy.com/data/round-cribs-1.html

I think they're gorgeous; my husband hates them and says that's how Oscar got started...would you have one for your baby?

Hi there folks,


I'm not able to go home for Thanksgiving this year, but my mom is coming to Chicago to visit me. I'm looking for recommendations of restaurants where we could eat Thanksgiving dinner. I suppose some places will be closed on T-Day. I'm most interested in places in the Hyde Park or downtown area. I'd like to keep costs down, but I guess I could afford between 60-80 dollars for the two of us to eat.

Thanks!

x-posted

In "honor" of me winning National Novel Writing Month, the QOTD is: "What was a task you thought was insurmountable that you managed to complete?"

but my friend just sent it to me and i *peed* myself.

MEEP!!

Original link


Google Embarrassed By Nasty Michelle Obama Image

By Chris Thompson
Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - 5:02pm

How many Americans harbor unpleasant thoughts about Michelle Obama? Google (GOOG) just gave us a pretty good idea.

On Nov. 13, someone at the Search Engine Roundtable noticed that when you search for images of the first lady on Google, the No. 1-ranked image that appears is that of lovely Michelle with a monkey's face. (Click here if you really must see it, but it's quite nasty.) Since Google's algorithms assess in part how popular or linked-to an image is, the popularity of Obama's simian visage means one of two things: Someone or some group is manipulating the links to advance the image in the rankings (a process known as Google bombing or search engine optimization), or the image really is that popular, which we don't like to think about.

Apparently, neither does Google, which removed all links to the image almost as soon as the rest of the world noticed. But as Search Engine Land writer Matt McGee noticed, the image didn't violated any of Google's guidelines, so removing the image appeared to be a violation of the company's policies. Fortunately, the page that promoted the Obama-as-ape meme turns out to have been a malware platform, infecting the computers of people who visit it. So there's that.

Except, as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, the Obama image has gotten back into the Internet and is rising in the image ranks once again. Google's engineers are so upset about this that they've bought expensive ad space on their own site, offering a link to an explanation and apology. Sometimes people are just plain shitty, the "Google Team" declared, and Google is a reflection of the online universe those folks collectively create. "Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. ... We apologize if you've had an upsetting experience using Google. We hope you understand our position."

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I'm confused why Google felt the need to do all this in the first place. Did they apologize for all the photoshopped porn pics of Sarah Palin that were among the top image search results last October? "OMG RACISM MAKES US SOOOOO NERVOUS WE'LL JUST APOLOGIZE FOR NOTHING TO HELP OURSELVES SLEEP BETTER!!" Sigh...race never fails to embarrass folks into showing their dumber side.

ILU mary, but fail.

that's it.

What are your views on vigilante justice?

I was best man at a wedding this weekend. The crowd was mosttly mixed and mostly over 40. The DJ busted out with this song and the crowd lost their minds, gotta love the ole school stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhnfyz37SVo

Full frontal hugs. It seems the good Christian thing to do now is the the side hug. Between the Vanilla Ice-esque rap posturing and need for the crazy ass right-wing Christians need to sexualize every form of human contact I fell out laughing at this video.


However I do like it because if I see someone coming at me with a side hug I know to stay the hell away from them. I have issues with City Paper but Amanda Hess's take down of this pretty funny.
www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2009/11/23/the-christian-side-hug-front-hugs-be-too-sinful/

ETA: I love how they keep on using the word rough rider. You keep using those words but I don't you know what they mean.

Ran into a few things and decided that rather than post repeatedly, I'll try putting a few things into one post and let folks react to 'em.

First is this video on racism at a bus stop. This one just made my night.

Then there's this review of New Moon which seemed like something people here would enjoy reading. Has anyone seen the film itself? I sat through the first and pretty much hated the main characters too much to endure more. Even if the "vampires" didn't act like such, I'd have wanted to see these two die on general principle.

Finally, turning serious for a bit, there's this article about The Frog Princess. Yeah.... think I'll just step out of the way and let that piece speak for itself.

This guy basically sums up how I feel about Taylor Swift winning entertainer of the year over Michael Jackson.

What is your favorite holiday dish?

Another football weekend has passed, so let's talk about it.

Delaware State? 30-20 win over Howard to finish the season at 4-7 overall, 4-5 in MEAC play.

Howard High School? 35-28 loss to Delmar in the first round of the Delaware Division II playoffs, a game I witnessed in person *grumble*

NFL? Well, let's just say I'm looking for a new team to root for.

What say you, blackfolk?

Life in prison for scaring woman to death

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.

Multiple media outlets reported a federal jury found 21-year-old Larry Whitfield not guilty of murder Friday in the death of Mary Parnell last year. But they did find him guilty of causing her death by kidnapping her, and that carries an automatic life sentence.

Prosecutors say Whitfield was looking for somewhere to hide after a failed bank robbery attempt in Gastonia in September 2008 when he broke into Parnell's home.

Authorities say Whitfield never touched the grandmother, but she suffered a heart attack when she saw him, and he didn't call for help.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34082080/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?GT1=43001
Wow. I don't even know what to say to that. Life for scaring someone to death. I guess that answers the question as to whether or not you can scare someone to death.

good morning blackfolk!

1: do any of y'all have experience with lasik? would you recommend/advise against it? what percentage of it did your insurance cover?

2: how many of you grew up in an all, or predominately black environment? this includes family, schools, neighborhoods, churches/masjids/temples

3: for any christians, what is your view of the role of the bible in your faith?

4: when is the last time you got tested for HIV/STIs?

5: do you listen to the radio? if so, what format?

6: do you have a shout-out for any new, forgotten, or underrated artists, movies, or books?

7: were you "popular" during any part of your school years, at work, or in any other context?
7b: do you feel that you are definitely more introverted or extroverted, rather than basically in the middle?

8: where did you meet your significant other? how do you generally meet the people you end up dating/screwing/having months of ambiguous, sexually frustrating friendship with?

9: what about your life now? what proportion of the people in it are Black?

bonus: have you seen "diary of a tired black man?" i hated it.

I really really really love this crazy-ass bitch. Tell me I'm not the only one.

Do better Janet.

The dudes in the back are trying... but can't no mo' lol

According to last week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson was the highest paid president of a private U.S. college or university during the 2007-2008 school year (the most recent year for which statistics are available). During that year, Jackson’s total compensation for her duties as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) amounted to $1,598,247.

Jackson’s compensation is a reflection of her unprecendented success as a fundraiser and visionary for the institution. Next month, RPI will hold a weekend-long celebration to mark Dr. Jackson’s first 10 years as president, a period that the Institute refers to as the “Decade of Transformation.” A recent report in the Albany Times Union describes the success that has mark this decade as well as the planned festivities:

Aretha Franklin will perform at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in December as part of a weekend celebration called a “Decade of Transformation” that celebrates President Jackson’s 10 years on the job and the culmination of the $1.4 billion capital campaign she led.
And Franklin, who performed at Obama’s inauguration in January, is just the Friday- night entertainment. On Saturday, Joshua Bell, one of the world’s most acclaimed violinists, will wow the revelers with his 1713 Stradivarius. Both shows will be held at the $200 million Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center and will only be open to members of the RPI community, including students, staff and alumni, RPI spokeswoman Theresa Bourgeois said Monday.
“One of the premier voices of the world is going to sing at one of the premier venues in the world,” said Bourgeois, who is Jackson’s personal spokeswoman. “It will be spectacular, as is the transformation at Rensselaer, so it’s very appropriate they’re coming.”

Biographical Notes: Shirley Ann Jackson holds a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics, also from M.I.T. Her research interest is in “theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials” (source: RPI.com).
Prior to her appointment as RPI president, Dr. Jackson was, “Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; a theoretical physicist conducting basic research at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University” (source: RPI.com).

She and her husband, physicist Morris A. Washington (B.A. Fisk University, M.S. NYU, Ph.D. NYU), have a son, Alan (B.A. Dartmouth, 2003).

x-posted to Blackoncampus.com

There are some tests out there for 4 and 5 years olds to see if they are ready for school, have any special needs etc. There is nothing wrong with such a test, but some schools are using these tests as entrance exams. This is wrong. I guess that some kids are already lost causes not worthy of educational attention by age 5. Of course, in reality, this has little to do with "fitting kids with the right program" or whatever BS they use to justify this kind of discrimination and far more to do with keeping both public and private school segregated by income and social background. That this is true is even more transparent when you consider the fact that some parents pay for tutoring to help their kids excel at these entrance exams.

I'm tired of the pretense of equality. Why not just be honest about it and require that your parents have a certain income to get in to some of these schools? We will have one kindergarten for the children of the wealthy and they will learn to love learning to be creative and to lead. And we will have one kindergarten for the poor where they will learn that education is pointless and how to follow directions. We can have a kindergarten for the middle class too where they will learn to blame the poor for failing to be rich, since "through hard work anything is possible."

Sounds like a good plan! No need for the tests!

Senator: USPS to resume North Pole Santa letters
By RACHEL D'ORO

The Associated Press
9:15 p.m. Friday, November 20, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — North Pole elves have good reason to celebrate again, thanks to a decision by the U.S. Postal Service to resume a Santa Claus letter program that's thrilled children from around the world for decades.
( Read more... )

Source

I'm a little bothered by this for several reasons. First there are no men in the class. It seems as though King James is trying to wrap his misogyny in a nice neat package to say that he's "saving" the women. How is name calling, beating women with a plastic bat and completely changing their names supposed to help with their identities?

How is this supposed to help the "Black African-American Community"?

Whatcha doing this weekend?

Twilight fan VS Harry Potter fan

"Magic doesn't work on the internet."

Not really work safe towards the end.

I'm tired of hearing about her too, but this is too funny.


However, the reality of this pic might be more hilarious than any caption.

i think i love this

my heart hurts just watching.

Now kids can't write letters to Santa anymore?

I didn't believe in Santa when I was a kid, but there is something very sad about this; it's like first the cup cakes, now this shit. Seems like everything is being taken from kids. But I guess this had to happen, it's a scary world out there...well it's always been a scary world, the thing is now we know it.