Grey Chronicles

i-am-momo-senpai: This is the most meta thing I’ve ever seen on...

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:34:28 -0500

This is the most meta thing I’ve ever seen on Cartoon Network.

A 25-Year History of the Animated GIF, Told by GIFs

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:22:22 -0500

A 25-Year History of the Animated GIF, Told by GIFs:

WHEN THE GIF WAS INVENTED IT WAS ALL LIKE

AND

AND OF COURSE

THEN BROWSERS CAME ALONG THAT COULD AUTOMATICALLY ANIMATE, SO THINGS START TO LOOK LIKE

THEN WE REACHED PEAK GIF, WITH A PROTO-INTERNET MEME THAT LOOKED LIKE

THEN INTERNET 2.0 CAME ALONG AND GIFS STOPPED BEING COOL AND THE TREND WAS ALL LIKE

THEN THE INTERNET DISCOVERED IRONY AND GIFS GOT ALL POST-MODERN LIKE

Read more at The Atlantic Wire.

This is the Mona Lisa of GIF histories.

inothernews: The five Star Trek captains, making a joint...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:36:40 -0500

inothernews:

The five Star Trek captains, making a joint appearance at a Philadelphia convention last week.

Chris Pine was busy shooting the new movie, we assume. :-)

(via TreksInSciFi.com)

I’m disconnecting from this crazy world with this…

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:29:15 -0500

I’m disconnecting from this crazy world with this…

Audio

Wed, 30 May 2012 13:39:05 -0500

Photo

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:58:12 -0500

False Attribution

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:17:59 -0500

Mitt Romney declared something recently that I actually agree with: education as the civil rights issue of our time. He says he is especially concerned with educating low-income and special needs kids. This is something I can get behind, as education is my number one policy priority. How does he plan on solving the problem of mass-educating the kids who need it most? His campaign came out with a white paper on Wednesday highlighting his plans. He focuses on school choice as the golden path, noting that Massachusetts leads the country in international math and reading scores.

That’s nice and all, but wait…school choice? The idea of parents being able to take their funding with them to any school has never jibed with me. It creates all kinds of logistical nightmares. It destroys neighborhoods as parents flee local schools. It turns charter schools into regular schools, diminishing what makes them special. And it allows for private schools to receive public funding without the required accountability. So summarize, I don’t like school choice. My question became, did his plans really cause the improvements in Mass., or is Romney leading us down a false path?

Turns out, while Romney was still leading Bain Capital, the state was already in the middle of Education Reform. In 1993, the state passed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA.) The law served primarily to reform school financing, creating a means to equalize spending across all districts in the state. State aid to school districts doubled under the law. It also put in place rigorous standard to meet in the classroom.

The results of MERA were studied in 2009 by MassINC, a state public policy organization. Their report, Incomplete Grade, shows that 15 years after the bill was passed, significant gains were made in student performance. Districts that were previous low spenders enjoyed statistically significant gains in student test scores. The white-black achievement gap, although still wide, would have increased further but for the policies enacted. It’s a long read, but the summary is at least worth looking at.

In all, it shows that Massachusetts enacted significant reforms 10 years before Romney took office there. More importantly, the report shows many reasons for success, none of them involving school choice. Indeed, many of the results and recommendations show the need for a prominent urban education policy. Economic integration, consolidating districts (but not schools,) increased charter schools, and a more rigorous learning environment for low-income schools are all great ideas. Many are already being implemented in cities across the country.

The fact that Romney’s main idea for improving education (urban in particular) involves methods not used in his own state shows that he is not the one who will solve this problem. He doesn’t get that the culture of learning and the value of community drive education success. I strongly commend him for bringing up education this early, but his policies don’t convince me to look his way.

Song of the Day

Mon, 07 May 2012 14:01:40 -0500

Song of the Day

Knight News Challenge: ThinkUp

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:51:11 -0500

Knight News Challenge: ThinkUp:

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Build an information network that connects to today’s social networks, but isn’t centralized and dependent on a company or investors.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

Others from Diaspora to…

crookedindifference: Rest in Peace

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:27:08 -0500

crookedindifference:

Rest in Peace

jspong: Yup. therichgirlsareweeping: 857 Miles to El Paso by...

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:42:15 -0600

jspong:

Yup.

therichgirlsareweeping:

857 Miles to El Paso by blsturman on Flickr.

(This sign is on I-10 immediately after crossing the state line from Louisiana.)

Visible Children: Success?

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:28:32 -0600

Visible Children: Success?:

visiblechildren:

It’s been an adventure the last few days for me personally. This page has had over 2.2 million visitors, and today I’ve turned down media requests from Al Jazeera English, FOX, NBC’s Today show and BBC World Service. Why? Because my opinion isn’t what’s relevant. What’s relevant is that …

crooked indifference: KONY 2012: Causing more harm than good.

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:21:23 -0600

crooked indifference: KONY 2012: Causing more harm than good.:

crookedindifference:

This is an important read.

pomee:

Dear Jason Russell,

After being bombarded with your KONY 2012 crusade, I have no choice but to respond to your highly inaccurate, offensive, and harmful propaganda. I realized I had to respond in hopes of stopping you before you cause more violence…

See This? It’s a Fucking Wasp. - Imgur

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:03:18 -0600

See This? It’s a Fucking Wasp. - Imgur

captainjhwatson: Since Uganda is getting a lot of interest on...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:07:33 -0600

captainjhwatson:

Since Uganda is getting a lot of interest on the internet right now, I figured it was important to try to present an alternative source of information. Invisible Children is, as many already know, a highly problematic organization, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to help. Here are some other sources of information, statistics, and ways to donate/help.

American Progress’s 2007 report, “What to Do About Joseph Kony”

Amnesty International’s 2011 report on Uganda

Global Security’s page on the Lord’s Resistance Army

Washington Post, “A Child’s Hell in the Lord’s Resistance Army,” May 2006.

HRW: “Protect civilians from LRA abuses,” May 2011

AllAfrica.com, “Amnesty International wants Kony arrested,” May 2010

AI’s Uganda Portal

Human Rights Watch’s Uganda portal

Democracy Now!’s Uganda portal

Visible Children: We got trouble.

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:26:45 -0600

Visible Children: We got trouble.:

visiblechildren:

For those asking what you can do to help, please link to visiblechildren.tumblr.com wherever you see KONY 2012 posts. And tweet a link to this page to famous people on Twitter who are talking about KONY 2012!

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor…

Presidential Optimism and GOP Despair

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:24:15 -0600

The State of the Union and the GOP response perfectly encapsulates the difference between the two sides. The POTUS painted a picture of a country that has nowhere to go but up, as long as we are willing to work for it. Mitch Daniel’s response made it seem like the end of the world in neigh.

I’ve watched most of the GOP debates, and none of them actually made me feel good about where the country is headed. There’s lots of hyperbole, and few good ideas.

Take Rick Santorum’s new favorite line: a liberal think tank says that if teens work, finish high school, and marry before they have children, they most likely will not end up impoverished. Great for a sound bite, but it misses the point. That statment doesn’t address the actual issues in poor communities and those of color. It doesn’t deal with inadequate education, lack of access to good food or healthcare. It doesn’t deal with harassment by police. It doesn’t address the influence of gangs and drugs, of pop culture, and of their peers. Those are the things that need to be talked about.

The economy will recover. The debt will be paid down. The recession is just a part of a cycle that has been repeated since modern times. What I want to hear is how to make my life better in the long term. The President gets that. The GOP doesn’t.

cracked: newsweek: Tweets from kids trying to use Wikipedia...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:41:18 -0600

cracked:

newsweek:

Tweets from kids trying to use Wikipedia for their homework—and failing. SOPA!

[h/t gangster curator Katie Notopoulos]

Everyone look at this.

However will we write our poorly sourced papers?

hillarybuckholtz: I made this; credit for the pun goes to....

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:09:40 -0600

hillarybuckholtz:

I made this; credit for the pun goes to. Photo found via.

popculturebrain: Happy Slapsgiving everyone!

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:20:10 -0600

popculturebrain:

Happy Slapsgiving everyone!