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As a sophomore at Upper Arlington High School, few things held more terror for Maddie Spielman than her public speaking/debate class.
“It was really a burden for me,” Maddie says with a laugh. “I’d get these sweaty palms every time I had to speak in front of my class.”
These days Maddie doesn’t have time for such anxiety attacks. During October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Maddie often is in front of groups two to three times a week as she carries on the message of her mother, cancer crusader Stefanie Spielman.
The Ohio State sophomore, who is majoring in communications, says she discovered a new-found courage to become a spokesperson for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research after her mother passed away on Nov. 19, 2009. Maddie is becoming the face of the organization that has raised over $13 million dollars for cancer research, appearing in Kroger ads with her father Chris and Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and in Donato’s ads with chairman Jane Grote Abell.
“If someone would’ve told me I’d be doing this four years ago, I would’ve laughed but something seemed to click,” Maddie says.
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Women have been a part of geek culture since Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace and the fandom that sprung up around the original Star Trek. Women drive many fan communities, especially in fan fiction and on social sites such asTumblr. But on the internet and at conventions, outside of their own female-run communities, women are subjected to men accusing them of being “fake geek girls” who they imagine are driven to clad themselves in superhero spandex for male attention. The population of women involved in geek culture is only growing, but attending public events opens them up to criticism and ridicule from men who feel the ladies are muscling in on “their” turf. What's a geek girl to do?
In 2011 a group of women determined to give others a safe place to geek out founded GeekGirlCon. Every October in Seattle, WA the convention brings together people from the entire spectrum to celebrate the things we love – be it Star Trek, Doctor Who, superheroes or anything else that inspires what others might see as just a bit too much enthusiasm – in a safe place where all experiences are embraced and celebrated.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Dalai Lama said he supports the use of
medical marijuana, but if a person smokes the plant to get "a crazy
mind, that's not good."
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.
Remarks at New York University forum with NYACT.net
The primary problem with weaponized drones is that the weapons murder people. And they murder people in a way that looks more like murder to a lot of observers than other forms of military murder do -- such as murder by indiscriminate bombing or artillery or infantry or dropping white phosphorous on people. When President Obama looks through a list of men, women, and children at a Tuesday terror meeting, and picks which ones to murder, and has them murdered, you can call it a war or not call it a war, but it begins to look to a lot of people like murder.
The primary problem with weaponized drones is that the weapons murder people. And they murder people in a way that looks more like murder to a lot of observers than other forms of military murder do -- such as murder by indiscriminate bombing or artillery or infantry or dropping white phosphorous on people. When President Obama looks through a list of men, women, and children at a Tuesday terror meeting, and picks which ones to murder, and has them murdered, you can call it a war or not call it a war, but it begins to look to a lot of people like murder.
After the nebulous, ill-planned government crisis that occupied the airwaves over the past few weeks, business has assumed its normal course inside the beltway. Some legislators are hopeful about the future, others remain skeptical, but one thing is for certain; Democrats on the Hill will continue to miss the ball.
The public was so relieved that Republicans decided to release their hostages after painstaking stubbornness that many failed to realize one question had gone unasked. How much will government be spending when it opens? The answer is as simple as it is startling. Today the government is operating at sequester spending levels, despite a chance to change that lugubrious narrative. Of course, this news won’t cause Republicans to blink. The larger question is why Democrats refused to even raise the issue when it stared at them from across the aisle. To add to an already grim track record, the negotiating position was one demarked by immediate concession.
The public was so relieved that Republicans decided to release their hostages after painstaking stubbornness that many failed to realize one question had gone unasked. How much will government be spending when it opens? The answer is as simple as it is startling. Today the government is operating at sequester spending levels, despite a chance to change that lugubrious narrative. Of course, this news won’t cause Republicans to blink. The larger question is why Democrats refused to even raise the issue when it stared at them from across the aisle. To add to an already grim track record, the negotiating position was one demarked by immediate concession.
When the State Department revoked Edward Snowden’s passport four months ago, the move was a reprisal from a surveillance-and-warfare state that operates largely in the shadows. Top officials in Washington were furious. Snowden had suddenly exposed what couldn’t stand the light of day, blowing the cover of the world’s Biggest Brother.
Cancelation of the passport wasn’t just an effort to prevent the whistleblower from getting to a country that might grant political asylum. It was also a declaration that the U.S. government can nullify the right to travel just as surely as it can nullify the right to privacy.
“Although I am convicted of nothing,” Snowden said in a July 1 statement after a week at a Moscow airport terminal, the U.S. government “has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.”
Cancelation of the passport wasn’t just an effort to prevent the whistleblower from getting to a country that might grant political asylum. It was also a declaration that the U.S. government can nullify the right to travel just as surely as it can nullify the right to privacy.
“Although I am convicted of nothing,” Snowden said in a July 1 statement after a week at a Moscow airport terminal, the U.S. government “has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.”
What if we had politicians who believed in the abolition of war with as
much passion as the Republican right believes in the abolition of taxes?
For me, the question that immediately follows is: What kind of politics draws power from resources other than the deep pockets of billionaires? Just because the world is sick of war, how will that ever translate into serious political action to defund standing armies and ongoing weapons research? How will it ever cohere into a consensus that has political traction? Does Washington, D.C. only have room for one consensus?
For the Democrats to stand moderately tough against GOP right-wing zealots in defense of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Social Security, there’s no way they could also — even if they wanted to — stand tough on, let us say, nuclear disarmament or a movement toward demilitarization. Such concepts aren’t on or anywhere near the fabled “table” of national debate; they’re as marginalized as segregated restrooms. This is a deep problem from the point of view of anyone looking clear-eyed into the future.
For me, the question that immediately follows is: What kind of politics draws power from resources other than the deep pockets of billionaires? Just because the world is sick of war, how will that ever translate into serious political action to defund standing armies and ongoing weapons research? How will it ever cohere into a consensus that has political traction? Does Washington, D.C. only have room for one consensus?
For the Democrats to stand moderately tough against GOP right-wing zealots in defense of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Social Security, there’s no way they could also — even if they wanted to — stand tough on, let us say, nuclear disarmament or a movement toward demilitarization. Such concepts aren’t on or anywhere near the fabled “table” of national debate; they’re as marginalized as segregated restrooms. This is a deep problem from the point of view of anyone looking clear-eyed into the future.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Muslims in prosperous Singapore are spending more
money when they travel on a religious haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi
Arabia, compared with previous years when they scrimped and saved, and
they are also now going when they are younger.
"Decades back, the pilgrims went in their 50s and 60s. Now, we even have people in their 20s willing to perform the haj," said geopolitics professor Cedomir Nestorovic at the Singapore campus of the ESSEC Business School Paris-Singapore.
"This was unimaginable 50 years ago. They have the money, and when they go, they want the best," Nestorovic told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.
"The first thing we have to stress, the haj is a spiritual journey. So for those lucky enough to go, this is the journey of their lives," said the French professor, who also teaches marketing in Islamic communities.
The average Singaporean pilgrim pays US $10,400 for a 30-day package tour to Mecca, Nestorovic said.
Many Singaporeans pay extra because they can afford upmarket hotels and luxury package tours.
"Decades back, the pilgrims went in their 50s and 60s. Now, we even have people in their 20s willing to perform the haj," said geopolitics professor Cedomir Nestorovic at the Singapore campus of the ESSEC Business School Paris-Singapore.
"This was unimaginable 50 years ago. They have the money, and when they go, they want the best," Nestorovic told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.
"The first thing we have to stress, the haj is a spiritual journey. So for those lucky enough to go, this is the journey of their lives," said the French professor, who also teaches marketing in Islamic communities.
The average Singaporean pilgrim pays US $10,400 for a 30-day package tour to Mecca, Nestorovic said.
Many Singaporeans pay extra because they can afford upmarket hotels and luxury package tours.
When video of the October 14th edition of Thom Hartmann's TV show appears online (here) it will include him asking me to justify not attacking Hitler. Thom has asked me this repeatedly during multiple appearances on his show, each time a little differently, and each time provocatively. He's right to ask it, and he's been right in some of the answers he's helped provide in the asking.
Without Hitler, the U.S. military would collapse.
For 68 years, wars on poor countries have been justified by the pretended discovery of Hitler's reincarnation. Each time it has turned out to be a false alarm. Every post-WWII war looks disastrous or at least dubious in retrospect to most people. And yet, the justification of the next war is always ready to hand, because the real, original Hitler remains alive in our memories, and he just might come back -- who's to say?
Actually, I think anyone vaguely aware of basic facts about the current world ought to be able to say that Hitler is gone for good.
How do I justify not going to war with Hitler, beyond explaining that Assad isn't Hitler, Gadaffi isn't Hitler, Hussein isn't Hitler, and so on?
Without Hitler, the U.S. military would collapse.
For 68 years, wars on poor countries have been justified by the pretended discovery of Hitler's reincarnation. Each time it has turned out to be a false alarm. Every post-WWII war looks disastrous or at least dubious in retrospect to most people. And yet, the justification of the next war is always ready to hand, because the real, original Hitler remains alive in our memories, and he just might come back -- who's to say?
Actually, I think anyone vaguely aware of basic facts about the current world ought to be able to say that Hitler is gone for good.
How do I justify not going to war with Hitler, beyond explaining that Assad isn't Hitler, Gadaffi isn't Hitler, Hussein isn't Hitler, and so on?