Mr. Scorpio
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
An example of local government NOT looking out for the needs of its citizens...
Tacoma to prosecute anyone making 'rogue crosswalks'
by ZAHID ARAB / KING 5 News
TACOMA, Wash. -- The City of Tacoma plans to prosecute anyone caught making a rogue crosswalk after five popped up recently.
The group behind them, “Citizens for a Safer Tacoma,” believes breaking the law is a risk it’s willing to take to save lives.
According to Tacoma police, traffic incidents have spiked in the area. At least 15 members of the group have been hit by cars. They went to the city to ask for help, but say they were turned away and are now taking matters into their own hands.
“If the city does nothing, we will,” said a spokesman, who wouldn’t go on camera because he didn’t want to be targeted.
The spokesman says their cause is important.
“None of us want to go to jail, but we’re more dedicated to the safety of citizens than we are to the law,” he said.
“It’s been a headache,” said Kurtis Kingsolver, Interim Public Works Director.
Each time a rogue crosswalk shows up, the city spends up to $1,000 to get rid of it. In addition to the costs, the city claims they create a safety issue.
http://www.king5.com/news/cities/tacoma/Tacoma-ready-to-prosecute-anyone-making-rogue-crosswalks-211313251.html
They can spend the $1,000 to REMOVE the citizen made crosswalks, but not the same amount of money to put them where they're needed.
Here's Why Your Fried Chicken and Watermelon Lunch Is Racist
By Arit John
February 6, 2014 5:31 PM
A private girls' school in Northern California wanted to incorporate Black History Month into lunch time, so it decided to serve fried chicken, watermelon, and cornbread. As the Associated Press reports, school officials are apologizing because that was a really, really horrible idea. The school's principal wrote a letter to parents, who were offended, and said the school doesn't "perpetrate racial stereotypes." Unfortunately, that's exactly what they did.
In honor of Black History Month, we'd like to explain exactly why your fried chicken and watermelon lunch is ill-advised, with the hope that people will find better ways to honor this month.
Via Authentic History.
Fried chicken isn't racist. Eating fried chicken isn't racist. A lot of people like fried chicken, and some happen to be black. In 2010, a black chef at NBC served fried chicken and collard greens in honor of Black History Month. QuestLove was not impressed, and stirred up a Twitter storm when he tweeted the picture. “I don’t understand at all. It’s not trying to offend anybody and it’s not trying to suggest that that’s all that African-Americans eat. It’s just a good meal,” the chef, Leslie Calhoun, told The Grio, adding, “I thought it would go over well.” It did not.
The problem stems from the way fried chicken is associated with black people, and the historical baggage that comes with it. The same way blackface recalls minstrel shows, the "black people love fried chicken" image recalls negative portrayals of black people. According to Claire Schmidt at the University of Missouri, it started with Birth of a Nation, the 1915 film on the founding of Ku Klux Klan. In one scene:
A group of actors portraying shiftless black elected officials acting rowdy and crudely in a legislative hall. (The message to the audience: These are the dangers of letting blacks vote.) Some of the legislators are shown drinking. Others had their feet kicked up on their desks. And one of them was very ostentatiously eating fried chicken.
"That image really solidified the way white people thought of black people and fried chicken," Schmidt said.
http://news.yahoo.com/39-why-fried-chicken-watermelon-lunch-racist-223129517.html?.tsrc=tmobustoday
Florida Ordinance Makes it Illegal for Homeless to Use Blankets to Protect Themselves from Weather
I think most of us can agree that life isn’t easy. So many Americans live in a perpetual state of fear about the future. Going paycheck to paycheck, one long string of bad luck away from total catastrophe. I remember when I was a server thinking sometimes that all it took was one wrong step, breaking my ankle, and I would have been absolutely screwed. What good is a server if you can’t walk?
Our lives can change in an instant. We’re brought up in different environments and have to overcome different obstacles. It’s why I try not to judge people (outside of their willful ignorance) because I really don’t know what they’ve had to overcome in life or what led them to their particular hardships.
This is especially true when I encounter a homeless person. Granted some homeless are in their situation in life due to their own decisions, but many aren’t. And like most things in life, once you dig yourself into that kind of a “poverty hole,” it’s really hard to get yourself out of it.
The last thing I’d ever support, or want to see happen, is for a city to pass laws that almost seem to be picking on homeless people. Laws or ordinances that make the lives of people who already live in extremely challenging situations even more difficult.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/florida-ordinance-makes-illegal-homeless-use-blankets-protect-weather/
Possible door of the future
Basic door technology has remained relatively the same for centuries—barring honorable mentions for stained glass doors, beaded curtain doors, and those door plungers that prevent slamming—but Austrian designer Klemens Torggler may be the missing link for the evolution of the entrance.
Torggler has designed a door that, according to his website, "opens up new applications for the door." It uses rotating squares to move the door sideways without tracks, completely eliminating the two to four square feet generally occupied by the swinging path of a conventional door. And it looks fabulous to boot:
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/the-future-of-the-door-is-unfolding-right-before-our-eyes
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