Kim Flournoy

Wow. I would make a joke, but all the good ones are already in the comments on that page… :(

I couldn’t agree more:

From The Chron:

“…toward the end of Prohibition, The Chronicle estimated that 6,000 speakeasies sold beer and liquor illegally in San Francisco. Enforcement of the liquor laws was so lax in the city that Shanty Malone’s bistro on Turk Street occasionally staged phony police raids to keep the customers amused.”

I remember mix tapes, how fun it was making them and what a delight it was getting them. It was torture waiting to get home and listen - one time I cajoled a tape player from the AV club and hid in the back corner of the school library to listen to a tape a boy had given me.

Here’s a terrific update on the concept: the USB Mix Tape, which purposely has space for only about an hour of music (unless you’re one of those freaks who rips albums at insanely high bit rates).

My jaw dropped while reading these excerpts from the Ayn Rand fan dating site user profiles. Although I must admit that I love the description “short, stark, and mansome”…

[from Salon.com]

Dalek Halloween Pumpkin:

Animator vs. Animated (thanks to Alaina)

In Somalia, fixing a water pump is no simple task.

And yet the Avenging Narwhal Playset from the fine folks at Archie McPhee never fails to crack me up.

While my grade-school education was co-ed, I had to make a choice when selecting a college: would I attend an all-girls’ school or not? I thought about it, and even toured a few heavily (but not exclusively) female campuses, but finally decided that I was more comfortable in a mixed setting - not for educational purposes, but for social reasons. (This of course worked out well for me, as I met Jamie during my freshman orientation.)

However, I’ve always held the suspicion that my earlier education would have been much more academically productive and fulfilling if I’d attended a single-sex school, and perhaps more socially supportive as well. I know there is sexism and gender bias everywhere, but grade-school girls aren’t usually prepared to recognize it, to fight back against it. I know I wish I had done so.

Now we have some proof: a recent paper concluded that “boys benefit from being in a classroom with girls, but girls do not benefit from being in a classroom with boys.” Read the full article in Slate.

Somewhat related article: For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is That They’re Good at It (free registration required)