Radreffies' blogs

author:  Romero, Sophia G.

"Do you still love him?" I asked.
"With all the bile in my body."

That exchange between a Filipino daughter and mother was basically the high point of the novel for me.

reviewdate:  Jan 29 2013 isn:  0-688-15632-0

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Steve Schultze, Princeton University, Associate Director at the Center for Information Technology Policy, gave this talk as part of a series of 3-minute lightning talks on transparency hosted on Capitol Hill by the Advisory Committee on Transparency, a project of the Sunlight Foundation.

• My Bill to #OpenPACER in memory of #aaronsw -- Open for Comment and Available on Github, by Steve Schultze. Freedom to Tinker (February 1, 2013). (video and transcript with links and downloadable slides).

  ...the courts offer electronic records through the PACER web site, which charges for search results, docket lists, and documents.

  ...PACER is making a killing, with $120 million dollars in revenue for 2012. Even with a highly inefficient system architecture, they only manage to spend about $20 million dollars on PACER expenses per year. Where does the rest of the money go? They spend it on other stuff.

  This is illegal. In 1992, Congress passed a law saying that the courts could charge only to recoup costs. Ten years later, Congress strengthened that law and said that it expected the courts to move to a free system. PACER fees have increased 42% since then.

  ...Open PACER is a bill that, once and for all, mandates that the courts provide free access to our public record. The bill is open for comment at openpacer.org. It is written in GPO-compliant Legislative XML, which anyone can edit and submit for incorporation via a tool called github.

The "workaround" is to clear your browser's cache, cookies, and history. The Census Bureau also suggests viewing the site in either Internet Explorer 9 or 8. The Bureau and its contractor should be really, really embarrassed about this and fix it quickly.

• Workaround Solution for Redesigned American Factfinder Browser Issues. FDLP Desktop (31 January 2013).

  The U.S. Census Bureau has brought to our attention that the newly redesigned American FactFinder does not render properly in some Web browsers. Users have reported issues with various versions of Mozilla Firefox (FF) and Internet Explorer (IE).

  The Census Bureau is investigating the matter. In the meantime, their recommendation is to clear the browser's cache, cookies, and history as a temporary solution. In addition, they recommend viewing the site in either IE 9 or 8. If issues are encountered, the following instructions are specific to IE 8 and up.

  1. Click on the "Tools" icon.
  2. Select "Internet Options".
  3. Under the "General" tab, click on the "Delete" button under "Browsing history".
  4. Select the following:
     • Temporary Internet files
     • Cookies
     • History
  5. Deselect:
     • "Preserve Favorites website data"
  6. Click on the "Delete" button.

  To clear the browser cache, cookies, and history for other browsers, visit the American FactFinder FAQ or check the browser's Web site for browser-specific instructions.

  Be advised that clearing your browser's cache, cookies, and history may impact saved sessions for other Web services.

   

I just noticed this post over at Wired Magazine's Threat Level blog, Activists Flood Government Agencies With FOIA Requests in Tribute to Aaron Swartz. Last week, Muckrock, the site that helps journalists, lawyers, and the public submit FOIA requests for a small fee ($20 for 5 requests), waived their fees in tribute to the transparency fights of computer programmer and internet activist Aaron Swartz who committed suicide a few weeks ago. I hope Muckrock will post all of the documents received via these requests. According to Muckrock:

MuckRock has begun processing 153 free FOIA requests submitted in honor of Internet pioneer and transparency activist Aaron Swartz, who died earlier this month at age 26.

Swartz, among MuckRock's first users and supporters, used public records laws to attempt to find out more about why the federal government was pursuing Internet piracy charges against him. He also filed requests related to alleged WikiLeaks collaborator Bradley Manning and the U.S. Mint, among many other topics.

In a Jan. 18 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking about Swartz’s prosecution, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) asked, “was the prosecution of Mr. Swartz in any way retaliation for his exercise of his rights as a citizen under the Freedom of Information Act?”

As a way to honor Swartz’s legacy and to further his transparency work, MuckRock encouraged users to file requests in his honor free of charge. The requests cover all corners of government, ranging from the Department of Homeland Security’s documents relating to the high profile Tar Sands Blockade to the city payroll for Everett, Mass.

Updates on the requests will be available at the File for Aaron profile page. Swartz’s own requests can be found here.

I'm really glad Muckrock is doing this, and also happy to see that they post all requests and FOIA'd documents on their site. I've added Muckrock to our Archive-it FOIA collection.

I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but in trying to retrieve a report from the Education Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC), I received this "error" message:

Dear ERIC Community,

We have currently disabled access to many ERIC full-text PDFs due to the discovery of personally identifiable information in some documents. A team is in place to check each PDF to see if it contains personally identifiable information. Due to the quality of many of the documents, a large portion of the search has to be done by hand. This will take several weeks, but our primary concern is to protect the privacy of individuals.

To minimize the burden on our users, we will prioritize searching the PDFs that users request. If you would like to request a PDF to be returned online, please fill out this form, which requires only the document’s ERIC record number and your email address. Full-text PDFs will be returned on a rolling basis. We will be posting the list of newly released documents here.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and want to thank you for bearing with us through this unexpected delay.

The ERIC Team

It seems like a responsible enough message and they are trying to assist researchers who need documents. It would have been nice if the message had a date stamp so we could see how long it will take ERIC to rectify this situation.

I'm also wondering about the status of ERIC fiche collections. Wonder if we'll see withdrawal requests from ERIC and whether that would wind up highlighting the personal information they're trying to withdraw.

My friend John Budge has taken to making some brilliant movies...with a running focus. Here are a few - warning, you will laugh at the first one.



I want to freak out that stupid girl too and take that dopey guy's visor.

An Ultrarunner's NYC Christmas....yep, this is how I get my tree too!



And the latest - the Senegal Sensation Meets the Itching Guy!

My friend John Budge has taken to making some brilliant movies...with a running focus. Here are a few - warning, you will laugh at the first one.



I want to freak out that stupid girl too and take that dopey guy's visor.

An Ultrarunner's NYC Christmas....yep, this is how I get my tree too!



And the latest - the Senegal Sensation Meets the Itching Guy!

I met my friend Emily (friend from NYC Radical Cheerleaders) for lunch today at Crepes du Nord on South William Street in the Financial District. It was really nice to catch up and we had a lovely time – until she went to the bathroom. She saw the following sign on the bathroom door:

After we paid our bill, Emily asked our server what it was supposed to mean.
"That means it's a unisex bathroom."
"A man peering over the wall means it's a unisex bathroom?" Emily asked.
"It's funny. Everyone who comes in thinks it's funny."
"Well, we don't. We think it's offensive."
As he walked away, Emily muttered, "Sexual harassment is supposed to be funny?"
I was really angry when I left; the lunch had been lovely and the food good (though the metal teapots and metal teacups were a bit strange but I digress), but why is it funny when a man peeks in on a woman going to the bathroom - which is essentially what that sign means.
I went onto my work computer and found a Feministe article about a coffeebar in DC with a similar obnoxious sign.
Let me say it straight: a man who is a peeping tom - who spies on a woman, looking at her as she goes to the bathroom, is not funny. Men like that - I don't want to know. That disgusts me.
When I was in 8th or 9th grade, a guy pulled up my skirt and showed my underwear to an entire crowded hallway. I was mortified. I felt terrible. A teacher had seen, reported the student, and he ended up getting suspended. It's rare that these sorts of things get caught and punished. There was the guy who exposed himself to the high school girls as they ran the cross-country races. (Never the boys' races and as far as I know, they never caught him.) I have had men stare obsessively at me at my old job at a public library, frightening me. I have had men try to follow me home. Stare at my building. Sit across the subway from me and stare, stare, stare.
This is not funny. This is scary. Why is our society encouraging this? Maybe you think I'm blowing this up, but I have been a victim of some really horrible things way too many times - and it has never been funny. 
It has been sad. It has been scary. It has been mortifying. It has been soul-destroying. But it has never been funny.

I met my friend Emily (friend from NYC Radical Cheerleaders) for lunch today at Crepes du Nord on South William Street in the Financial District. It was really nice to catch up and we had a lovely time – until she went to the bathroom. She saw the following sign on the bathroom door:

After we paid our bill, Emily asked our server what it was supposed to mean.
"That means it's a unisex bathroom."
"A man peering over the wall means it's a unisex bathroom?" Emily asked.
"It's funny. Everyone who comes in thinks it's funny."
"Well, we don't. We think it's offensive."
As he walked away, Emily muttered, "Sexual harassment is supposed to be funny?"
I was really angry when I left; the lunch had been lovely and the food good (though the metal teapots and metal teacups were a bit strange but I digress), but why is it funny when a man peeks in on a woman going to the bathroom - which is essentially what that sign means.
I went onto my work computer and found a Feministe article about a coffeebar in DC with a similar obnoxious sign.
Let me say it straight: a man who is a peeping tom - who spies on a woman, looking at her as she goes to the bathroom, is not funny. Men like that - I don't want to know. That disgusts me.
When I was in 8th or 9th grade, a guy pulled up my skirt and showed my underwear to an entire crowded hallway. I was mortified. I felt terrible. A teacher had seen, reported the student, and he ended up getting suspended. It's rare that these sorts of things get caught and punished. There was the guy who exposed himself to the high school girls as they ran the cross-country races. (Never the boys' races and as far as I know, they never caught him.) I have had men stare obsessively at me at my old job at a public library, frightening me. I have had men try to follow me home. Stare at my building. Sit across the subway from me and stare, stare, stare.
This is not funny. This is scary. Why is our society encouraging this? Maybe you think I'm blowing this up, but I have been a victim of some really horrible things way too many times - and it has never been funny. 
It has been sad. It has been scary. It has been mortifying. It has been soul-destroying. But it has never been funny.

For a filling and delicious breakfast, try this protein-packed delicious breakfast. I adapted it from a recipe from one of those health food mags V sends me (Taste for Life). I made a big batch and will eat this all week.

Ingredients:1 cup quinoa, rinsed2 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats4 cups water
½ cup shredded coconut½ cup sliced almonds½ cup raisins1 t chia seeds1 teaspoon cinnamonDash or so of cardamomDash of salt(add whatever dried fruits or nuts or seeds you want – it’s all about your favourite taste)

1. 1.       Boil 2 cups of water. Add 1 cup of quinoa. When water is soaked up, put quinoa into a bowl to the side.
2. 2.       Boil 4 cups of water. Add steel cut oats. When it comes back to a boil, lower the heat. Once all the water is absorbed, turn off heat.
3. 3.       You can toast the coconut and the almonds if you want, but you don’t have to. Just keep an eye on toasting them if you do.
4. 4.       Add all of the ingredients together. Stir.
5. 5.       Eat. I prefer with lots of milk or some good Brown Cow vanilla yogurt.

For a filling and delicious breakfast, try this protein-packed delicious breakfast. I adapted it from a recipe from one of those health food mags V sends me (Taste for Life). I made a big batch and will eat this all week.

Ingredients:1 cup quinoa, rinsed2 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats4 cups water
½ cup shredded coconut½ cup sliced almonds½ cup raisins1 t chia seeds1 teaspoon cinnamonDash or so of cardamomDash of salt(add whatever dried fruits or nuts or seeds you want – it’s all about your favourite taste)

1. 1.       Boil 2 cups of water. Add 1 cup of quinoa. When water is soaked up, put quinoa into a bowl to the side.
2. 2.       Boil 4 cups of water. Add steel cut oats. When it comes back to a boil, lower the heat. Once all the water is absorbed, turn off heat.
3. 3.       You can toast the coconut and the almonds if you want, but you don’t have to. Just keep an eye on toasting them if you do.
4. 4.       Add all of the ingredients together. Stir.
5. 5.       Eat. I prefer with lots of milk or some good Brown Cow vanilla yogurt.

This event will be both a zine reading and zine sale to benefit The Ali Forney Center, a Manhattan-based organization which provides housing to homeless LGBT youth. Part of the Center’s facility is located near the Hudson River and was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The event will include readings by zinesters as well as the sale of zines generously donated by many zinesters. 100% of proceeds will go to this important community resource.

We are aware of recent critiques of the Ali Forney Center*, and we concur with TransRadical blog** that it is crucial to rebuild AFC in order to continue creating safe and welcoming communities for LGBTQ youth everywhere.

DATE: Wednesday, January 9th, 7pm

LOCATION: Bluestockings

READERS:

Kate Angell (My Feminist Friends, A Thousand Times Yes)
Jamie Varriale Vélez (Sinvergüenza)
Jenna Freedman (Lower East Side Librarian, Barnard Zine Library)
+ more!

ZINE DONORS:

Stranger Danger Zine Distro, Kathleen McIntyre (The Worst), Lauren Denitzio (Get it Together), Kate Wadkins (International Girl Gang Underground), For the Birds Collective, Kate Angell, Amber Dearest (Fight Boredom Distro, The Triumph of our Tired Eyes), Maranda Elizabeth (Telegram), PonyBoy Press, Aimee Lusty (Booklyn, Pen15 Press), Amanda Stefanski, Jami Sailor (Your Secretary), Jordan Alam (The Cowation), Alycia Sellie (Brooklyn College Zine Library), Cindy Crabb (Doris), Natty Koper & Sivan Sabach (Bangarang This), Chella Quint (Adventures in Menstruating), Shawn Smith (Black Lesbians in the 70s Zine), Elvis Bakaitis (Homos in Herstory), Sarah Rose (Tazewell’s Favorite Eccentric, Once Upon a Distro), Maud Pryor (Marmalade Umlaut)

Zinesters are welcome to contact us with zines to donate! 100% of event proceeds will be donated to hurricane relief.

CONTACT
Kate Angell at myfeministfriends@gmail.com
Kate Wadkins at mskatherinewadkins@gmail.com

I’m really glad that Simon & Schuster has agreed to make “an exception to their current national eBook sales policy for libraries” for my humble little state so we can have ebooks of the selection for this coming year’s statewide reading program.

I’m a lot less glad that there’s a policy Simon & Schuster needs to make an exception to at all. As American Library Association President Maureen Sullivan put it, “It’s a rare thing in a free market when a customer is refused the ability to buy a company’s product and is told its money is ‘no good here.’”

The Iowa librarians who persuaded Simon & Schuster to make this exception had, apparently, quite a bit of persuading to do:

Simpson and Martin provided answers to a series of questions asked by S&S such as the history of the AIR [All Iowa Reads] program (now in its 11th year), how many Iowans read the AIR selection, how many copies are sold, names of past AIR titles, circulation numbers. “We gave the data we have,” said Martin. “While we don’t know the exact number of circulations of our selections, we do know that Iowa libraries own a total of 300 to 400 copies of each of the previous AIR titles.

The rest of the press release from the Iowa Center for the Book has a similarly librarianly, conciliatory tone. I don’t feel conciliatory. My gratitude toward Simon & Schuster is real, but it is neither wide nor deep. It shouldn’t be necessary to supply data to a publishing company to demonstrate that libraries buy books and patrons read them. We’ve been buying books from publishers for centuries now. It shouldn’t be necessary to beg, as a publicly-funded institution, to buy something that is freely available on the open market. Publishers ought to care about readers all the time, not just when someone begs them to make an exception.

I’m a librarian, and, as one of my library school professors said, librarianship is not a refuge. I’m a fighter, not a begger. Who’s with me?

Once again I’ve allowed a few months to pass since my last post- I started a new job over the summer and also began to attend grad school in September, and thus have been busier than usual! I really do intend to keep posting here, though, so definitely continue to check in.

Today I’m excited to write about a new collaborative zine which I just published last month- it’s called “A Thousand Times Yes: Reflections on Yoko Ono,” and is a tribute to one of my favorite artists and musicians. The zine includes interviews I conducted with people who have been inspired by Ono’s work- including Kathleen Hanna, Barbara Hammer, and Gina Birch- and features original artwork by members of my talented social circle.

If you’d like to buy a copy I encourage you to check out my Etsy Store or send me an email at myfeministfriends@gmail.com!

Zine cover by Elvis Bakaitis

The Sikh Coalition has released the FlyRights app, a phone app that gives anyone traveling, “who believe they’ve been the victim of discrimination by the TSA the ability to submit formal complaints directly from their smart phones.” And just in case you haven’t been hearing about the idiotic, embarrassing and rights eroding things happening at [...]

Sorry it took so long, but I finally got around to uploading our photos from our trip. Check them out! Related posts:Graphics and Photos from U.S. Government Vietnam wrap-up Eating and wandering through Korea Related posts:

1. Graphics and Photos from U.S. Government
2. Vietnam wrap-up
3. Eating and wandering through Korea

It’s been a busy few days full of trains, buses, walking, eating (especially eating!), meeting relatives (brothers, cousins, aunts, nieces and nephews). After spending last week in Daegu with Shinjoung’s parents, we headed up to Seoul and its surroundings to visit myriad relatives — I know some names, but mostly I remember them as relations [...] Related posts:

1. Right at home in Taegu, Korea
2. South Korea – U.S. FTA Jan 15-19
3. Photos from our SE Asia trip to Singapore, Vietnam and Korea

Yes we’re still on our SE Asian tour. Shinjoung and I have been in Taegu, Korea for the last few days. No videos to post yet (and also no tour books to consult ). We’ve been staying pretty close to home, visiting with family, eating, visiting with more family. As some of you know, Shinjoung’s [...] Related posts:

1. Eating and wandering through Korea
2. Mountain Voice
3. Hotspots for democracy

Well we’re off tomorrow for Korea. It’s been a great (but IMMENSELY HOT & HUMID!) 4 days in Hanoi. We ate tons of street food — Bun Cha, Pho (pronounced like “fur”), Banh Mi, Banh Goi, Chao Ga, and a bunch of things we don’t know the names of but are listed on the wikipedia [...] Related posts:

1. Vietnam day 2 & 3
2. Shinjoung’s Yalta
3. Overnight sleeper to Hanoi

As our Vietnam trip comes to an end, I have to admit that we haven’t completely abolished the guide book but have come to a detente. It’s hard to kick old habits ☺. We’ve had fun, lots of laughs and continuous debates – did you expect anything less from me?! One of the most exciting [...] Related posts:

1. Experiment of un-lonely planet guide experience
2. Vietnam wrap-up
3. wanderer vs. planner