I'm looking forward to having a snowball fight in April. I'm sure the bigger snowpiles will be there, you know the ones that tower over school busses?

Notes from the Surf

Frog Fail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohcDPgd1V5Y
"Dragonfly escapes frog attack"

Looking Into the Past
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrabbit/galleries/72157623103181304
...superimposed onto the present.

Third-person effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect
"The third-person effect hypothesis states that a person exposed to a persuasive communication in the mass media sees it as having a greater effect on others than on himself or herself... Censors seldom admit to having been adversely affected by the information they prohibit... it is the general public that needs to be protected"

A Story About Motivation
http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/02/a-story-about-motivation.html
When the lawyers were offered $30 an hour their question was "Am I the kind of person who works for $30 an hour?" The answer was clearly no. But when they were asked to do it as a favor? Their new question was "Am I the kind of person who helps people in need?" And then their answer was yes.

Even the Most Sophisticated News Readers Can Be Manipulated
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/143831
"Over time, Bruter found, and without exception, the readers subconsciously adopted the bias to varying degrees and changed their view of the EU and of themselves as Europeans... It shows that even the most 'unbelievable' propaganda may have an effect over time and that the most fallacious and baseless rumors, for instance, may shape opinion to an extent"

San Francisco’s Answer to Westboro Baptist Church
http://laughingsquid.com/san-franciscos-answer-to-westboro-baptist-church/
"press and people passing by ignored the WBC signs and took pictures and videos of the more entertaining signs... While many of those attending Fiddler were bemused and confused, the staff and crew apparently loved this counter-protest and the director, stage manager, and choreographer all came out to thank these ridiculous protesters."

Is class mobility a realistic expectation for Americans?
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3256833
"If the United States stands out in comparison with other countries, it is in having a more static distribution of income across generations with fewer opportunities for advancement."

Muscling Latin America
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100208/grandin/single
In recent years 195 teachers have been assassinated, and not one arrest has been made for the killings... "Obama," said a top-level Argentine diplomat despairingly, "has decided that Latin America isn't worth it. He gave it to the right."

Hondurans Protest Inauguration
http://quixote.org/more-hondurans-protest-inauguration-attend
"over 200,000 Honduran teachers, small business owners, lawyers, youth, farmers, and many other employed and unemployed people march 5 kilometers across the city.  They are protesting what they see as corruption and an illegitimate government... Since the coup... thirty-two activists have been reported assassinated"

Natural Minerals and Foreign Investments in India: The Parallel War on Rights Activists
http://www.icawpi.org/en/analysis/opinion/280-the-parallel-war-on-rights-activists
"anyone exposing the illegal actions of the police-the rapes and killings of adivasis over the last five years-has been targeted. Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian, has been evicted from the area; Dr Binayak Sen was jailed." "The government has officially stated that all people from the villages) who refuse to come to the SJ camps or who do not cooperate, and those who speak against this policy will be banished, imprisoned or killed."

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