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Lovely Links

I’ve stumbled upon some bizarre and awesome links recently. I might turn this into a daily (or weekly) sort of thing, so keep your eyes peeled.

1) Colorado Politics: Democratic candidate for governor John Hickenlooper is enjoying a large lead ahead of this year’s contest. It’s so large that he was able to put up this odd commercial.

2) Vermont Senate: When you’re facing an established US Senator who’s predicted to coast to victory this year, you have to work hard to distinguish yourself, especially in the primaries. Daniel Freilich tried really hard, but lost. He did, however, leave us this gem of a commercial. It reminds us of this other gem. [Hat tip: Midd Blog]

3) Apparently, poets from the old days used texting lingo.

4) Want to find discount airline fares? This site has the cutest mascot around.

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Categories News, You Outta Know

Stunning Color Pics from 80s NYC Subway

24 Aug

Hat tip to Boing Boing for this post:

“As a Midwesterner who didn’t get a chance to fall in love with New York City subways until 2002, it’s fascinating to take a trip back to the system’s not-so-glory days, courtesy a collection of 1980s-era photos on Sean Kernick’s 2 4 Flinching blog.

I’ve seen historical photos of the NYC subways before, but, somehow, the other picture collections seem to skip over this period in the subway’s past. What I love best about these images—taken by photographers Bruce Davidson, John F. Conn, Jamel Shabazz and Martha Cooper—is the fact that they are documenting a full world. Sure, on these graffiti-covered and trash-strewn subways, guns got pointed at heads and white yuppies looked terrified. But this was also a system that took little girls to the beach, and suit-wearing men and women to the office.

The photos give you an unflinching sense of what these systems were like at a time when the city had basically left them to rot, but without creating a caricature that distracts from the humanity of the people involved (even the ones who contributed to the rotting). Good stuff.”

I agree. Click here for the pictures:

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Categories Pictures, You Outta Know

Trip Pictures

21 Aug

I’ve uploaded to Picasa five albums with photos from the trip. They should be in high resolution and downloadable. Click here to check them out.

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Categories Italy, Pictures, You Outta Know

Homeless in D.C.

19 Aug

One of the starkest contrasts I’ve ever noticed is between the have and have nots in downtown Washington DC, right by our hallowed halls of government. Today I saw two sides of the homeless crisis that is currently affecting our nation’s capital.

Over 6,000 people find themselves homeless in Washington DC in 2010, an increase of over 13% from 2007. Their plight has been covered very sparingly by media, but two reports, one by CBS and another by Al Jazeera (of all places), covered the plight of DC’s homeless. Thankfully, there are many devoted organizations that are working to end homelessness and provide food to the hungry. These links are just a few of them.

As I was walking today through McPherson park, I stumbled on a mobile truck that was distributing food to the hungry. The park is currently closed for some form of construction, but the hungry continue to arrive. There were probably 50 people around the area.

McPherson Park without construction

The other side to the issue of homelessness came while I was walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on my way to get something to eat. A young businessman walked by a homeless lady with a sandwich. She asked him for change, and he apologized but declined. Her response (eerily similar to something that I heard recently) was, “I hope you choke and die on your damn sandwich.” Unfortuntely, reactions like that give us a sense of justification in not doing more to help end this crisis.

I’m just as guilty, but I’m going to take a second look. Every time I see pictures like those below, I feel horrible. How is it that we’re civilizing the rest of the world, but people live without shelter two blocks from the White House?

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Categories You Outta Know

Love Today

16 Aug

Sorry for so many posts today, but I just saw this video and wanted to make sure everyone else saw it. Times are tough. The economy stinks. But…. we have each other, and love is something that keeps us together and strong. This video shows military families being surprised as their loved ones come back from combat overseas. I cried a lot.