Clipmarks | missmartini's 'opinion' clips

Call to Action from Amnesty Internation

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:59:52 GMT

clipped by: missmartini

Clip Source: librarianinblack.typepad.com

Chinese censorship and journalist prisoner

Today is an Amnesty International rallying day for human rights. I found out about it through a Facebook promotion: Bloggers Unite for Human Rights. The topic that I, as a blogger, would like to highlight is the continued censorship in China, particularly internet censorship. The filtering, blocking, and state monitoring of ideas is offensive to me as a librarian, and if you feel the same way then you may want to read about the imprisonment of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist.

Amnesty International provides an online action center where you can express your opinion on human rights issues to government officials and other people in positions of power.

Tags: amnesty international, links, bloggers unite, human rights

Damn he's got a fabulous smile.

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:43:57 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I'm not even going to start talking politics and I'm not in the mood to read anyone else's opinion but you know, comment away.
But Barack Obama has one of the best smiles ever.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Upside of Being Knocked Around

Tags: smile, barack obama

JSmooth Says It right here...

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:35:37 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: too much talking. Let's pick a candidate and please please get on with it. It is about unifying the party or nation or what have you. It's not about you. Sometimes, it is not about you, HRC. Seriously.

Clip Source: www.illdoctrine.com

Less Talking, More Plumbing

May 5, 2008

[Video]

(Expanding on my comments in the last NPR roundtable)

Tags: election. opinion. illdoctrine, jsmooth

Fall Out Boy & The Roots

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:50:26 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Ok, this article cracked me up. Just that one paragraph had me giggling behind the circulation desk.

However, I will admit, I kind of like how Patrick Stump from the Fall Out Boy sings. I blame it on my nephews.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Falling for Fall Out BoyDid the Roots just trick me into liking a lame emo band?

Now, I don't really know anything about Fall Out Boy, but I understand that I'm expected not to like them. They wear hair gel, and one of the guys in the band dates Ashlee Simpson, so it's fair to assume that they suck and that their fans are vapid teeny-boppers whose heads would explode if they heard what real rock 'n' roll sounds like. What kind of lame middlebrow loser do the Roots take me for?

Tags: music, the_roots, fall_out_boy, slate, opinion, funny

Reading Is Dead

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:42:36 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Not really but that's going to be my new shirt so I can be ironic.

But here is a great op-ed piece by Tim Egan from the NYT about Steve Jobs and his ridiculous comment about how people do not read. Has he looked at "People Reading" blog or all the various book review blogs that people post, has he stepped into a library (school or public or university)? Well, from where I sit behind the reference desk, or on the metro or in a park...tons of people still read.

Clip Source: egan.blogs.nytimes.com

Book Lust

The Mac, Pixar, the iPhone, the iPod, iTunes. This stuff is cool. Lighter than air. iGetit. But it’s just product, dude.

Paper or plastic, it doesn’t matter what form the book takes. What is timeless, Steve, is story, and that’s why people will never stop reading. I loved Sara Rimer’s piece in The Times about how immigrant children were taking to “The Great Gatsby,” the perfect novel about the tragic side of the American Dream.

Tags: reading, books, op-ed, nyt, timothy egan, opinion, steve jobs

Kate Michelman vs. Chris Matthews

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:46:06 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Aside from having way too much surge, Chris Matthews annoys me. But here's Michelman's more response to Matthew's "Hardball" questions. I think it is pretty interesting and she makes a lot of valid points that probably is difficult to express during a "Hardball" interview - what with all the comments and interruptions and such.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

What I really wanted to say to Chris Matthews

By Kate Michelman

The "Hardball" host wanted to know how a feminist like me could support someone other than Hillary Clinton. Well, here's how.

Laying this guilt trip, this hypocrisy, on women -- saying that those women who don't vote for other women are turncoats -- is tantamount to saying that women who exercise independent thought haven't the right to do that either. Could there be a more anti-feminist contention?

Chris' gotcha-type question to me and the semi-criticism implicit in it -- that as a woman I have some biological obligation to unreservedly support whatever woman is running -- are exactly the sentiments I faced when I first started working for a woman's right to choose. If women who vote for men are traitors, then are men who vote for women also traitors? What about African-Americans who vote for whites? Or whites who vote for African-Americans?

Tags: chris matthews, kate michelman, salon, opinion

Op Ed. - WSJ - Splits within parties more apparent...

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:11:53 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: with Super Tuesday come and gone, I have been a bit nervous about how ugly this election with get...especially amongst the Democrats. I thought this was an interesting piece from the Wall Street Journal.

Today everyone has been extremely passionate about this election. 8 years of crap and now "we" have to decide who should be our next leader. People have said "I hope those people who wanted to vote for Clinton/Obama don't decide to stay at home in November because Clinton/Obama did not win the nomination." That is one fear.

Now, it will get ugly and people will be turned off. That is my second.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

When Will the Wounds Heal?
February 6, 2008; Page A4

A basic law of primary seasons is that the longer they go on, the nastier they get.

With Super Tuesday past, that law seems to be in full effect, especially for Democrats. Whatever else yesterday's voting may have done, it did a good job of laying bare the divides within each party. More than that, it may have exacerbated the splits.

Tags: wsj, opinion, primaries, partisanship, democrats, republicans, divide

Print vs. Online Sources - editorial piece

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:13:36 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: This is an interesting editorial on online sources (e.g. Wikipedia) versus print sources. As a librarian, I am slowly changing my mind about the validity of the information in Wikipedia. I do not agree with Magnus Linklater's idea that Wikipedia is the first and possibly only place to find information. I still feel that print sources are valid and that they should be a part of research. I do not know any thing about the UK's education system so I cannot comment on that. But I do know that education curriculum needs to change. Research, writing, peer-reviewing -- all of these things are changing with the "read/write" web and as an educator/instructor we need to prepare students for these changes.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Reference books? Give me Wikipedia

The sniffy critics of the internet think we should be traipsing down to the library to do our research

Today it is the University of Google that stands accused of purveying the new socialism by offering equality of information to everyone. Modern students, say the critics, are being handed unlimited supplies of dubious facts from online sources such as Wikipedia, without the means of distinguishing between the good and the bad. Because they no longer have to sift through books and carry out their own research, the students' sense of curiosity has been blunted. The internet provides “white bread for the mind” and it is breeding a generation of dullards.

Tags: education, wikipedia, print sources, libraries, research, opinion, timesuk

Video on hotel drinking glasses

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:27:37 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: How disgusting is this? and probably true. I kind of feel sick now.

Clip Source: www.divinecaroline.com

The Hidden Truth Behind Hotel Drinking Glasses

By: Dahlia Rideout (View Profile)

I've always wondered where that wonderful flavor comes from. Now I know.

Reader Poll: Hotel Drinking Glasses, has your opinion changed?

Related Video: Hotel Hazards: What you don't see in your hotel room.

Related Story: 10 Tips for Wandering Women.

Good Questions : the Golden Compass "debate"

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:04:13 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: There is an ongoing discussion about the movement to protest the Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. This is a good blog entry about questions that parents and kids can engage in once they read the book or watch the movie. My opinion is that the series is great. I do not understand why anyone would want to protest the movie because it challenges your faith. But that's just me. Anyway, if you are skeptical about it or just want a good book discussion going, check this out.

Clip Source: journals.aol.com

Golden Compass Media Literacy Guide for the Faith Community

Media Mindfulness Strategy

for The Golden Compass

Everyone can use the strategy as a point of departure for further exploring what they believe and articulating this well.

Here is the four part-strategy:

What’s going on? What’s the story? How is the film’s reality created and why

2. What’s really going on? Who is telling the story and why? (The film business; the author; the screenwriter).

3. What difference does the film make? Is it really atheistic? Or does it evoke thoughtful conversation about things that matter?

4. What difference can I make? What did the characters in the film learn? How did they grow and change? Did they? What, if any, light did the film shed on how I can live the Christian life is ways that respect human dignity? (See Media Mindfulness: Educating Teens about Faith and Media, Hailer/Pacatte, St. Mary’s Press, 2007, www.smp.org )

Tags: "the golden compass", media, literacy, guide, questions, discussion, teens, parents, teachers

"People who tend to protest books don't read"

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:15:15 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I am a big fan of Rick Riordan's books and I started reading his blog. But with the upcoming release of the Golden Compass movie and reading a lot of list-serv and articles on how people should boycott the movie and also because of banned books week that passed a few months ago and because I'm a librarian, I thought Riordan summed it up nicely.

Ten years after the fact & now people are boycotting it?

Clip Source: rickriordan.blogspot.com

The book has been out for a decade. Now, suddenly, it’s news. Why? There’s a movie. The only conclusion I can reach: The people who tend to protest books don’t read. At the very least, they don’t read the books they are protesting. They rely on television, Hollywood advertisements, and hearsay to form their opinions. Maybe I should not be surprised by this, but still I find it sad. Censorship is always ugly, but it’s especially ugly when it has no rational basis and is not the product of an informed decision. I can totally understand and support any parent who reads a book for himself and decides that the book is not appropriate for his child. But to protest something one has never read – whether it’s the Satanic Verses or Harry Potter or Golden Compass – is the definition of prejudice.

The Golden Compass

Last week I got a question I’d been expecting for ten years: “What do you think about the Golden Compass controversy?”

Tags: rick_riordan, blog, editorial, opinion, golden_compass