Yes, this

A heartfelt parental response to recent tragedies, and a reminder to everybody to make change happen where you can, in your community, in your home.

(via Medley)

The power of the 40-hour week

It's not just good for lazy people; it actually makes workplaces more productive, in every category, from manual labor to "information fields."

But the bottom line is: For the good of our bodies, our families, our communities, the profitability of American companies, and the future of the country, this insanity has to stop. Working long days and weeks has been incontrovertibly proven to be the stupidest, most expensive way there is to get work done.

Hopefully the culture can be saved from itself, at least for bottom-line reasons, if humanitarian arguments aren't enough.

Quote of the day (absurd misogynist ideas edition)

If we could harness the power of the crappy ideas coming out of the state of Arizona, we could probably power a rocket ship to the moon, where there are no Mexicans or fertile wombs and everyone can be free to be as mean a cranky asshole as they want at all times!

- Jezebel

Kickstarter backing for science?

I can't decide whether I think this is brilliant or the beginning of the end -- a Kickstarter-like method for crowd-funding small scientific projects. What appeals to the public and what needs doing are often miles apart, although, conversly, there are almost certainly a host of worthy small projects that are beneath the notice (or outside the main focuses of) larger funding institutions. This could help offset the starving of less sexy low-tech fields, and/or enable student projects and other limited endeavors. But it's hard not to picture a sort of flash-over-substance ethic too. Will be interesting to see.

The joys of Serendipity

I don't know why iTunes arranges albums by artist first name, but sometimes the results can be fun. I'm in a period of systematically listening through my library (to make some playlists, clear out some chaff, and figure out what that thing over there is) and my last session involved the series: Marilyn Manson, Mason Jennings, matt pond PA, and Miles Davis. Total hoot from beginning to end! Thanks, arbitrary ordering!