SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: New study shows that graphic novels really do help people learn

If there’s one trend we’ve noticed growing over the years its the use of graphic novels as teaching tools—on the must basic level, comics are now recognized as a way to get reluctant readers to get started reading. On a larger level, comics are being used as a general teaching tool. Josh Elder’s Reading with Pictures organization has been promoting this idea and cataloging the use of comics in the classroom. It’s not just the visceral appeal of colorful pictures that puts comics over—some think that the verbal-visual blend is the future of literacy, and comics could potentially be on the forefront of that.

This is an idea that Scott McCloud has talked about forever, but now there’s a study that shows that comics may actually help people retain information BETTER than traditional text books.

http://comicsbeat.com/new-study-shows-that-graphic-novels-really-do-help-people-learn/

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: DNA stores poems, a photo and a speech

Big data could soon be stored in a very small package: DNA. A team of scientists has demonstrated that storing information in synthetic DNA could represent a feasible approach to managing data in the long term, bumping aside the magnetic tape favored by archivists today.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347702/description/DNA_stores_poems_a_photo_and_a_speech

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: WILL SMART MACHINES CREATE A WORLD WITHOUT WORK?

An Associated Press analysis of employment data from 20 countries found that millions of midskill, midpay jobs already have disappeared over the past five years, and they are the jobs that form the backbone of the middle class in developed countries.

That experience has left a growing number of technologists and economists wondering what lies ahead. Will middle-class jobs return when the global economy recovers, or are they lost forever because of the advance of technology? The answer may not be known for years, perhaps decades. Experts argue among themselves whether the job market will recover, muddle along or get much worse.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/will-smart-machines-create-world-without-work

POLITICS: Why Advancing Gay Rights is All About Good Timing

But that’s the thing about timing and the Supreme Court—Hardwick’s challenge came too early and Justice Powell’s change of heart came too late. Bowers was a major blow to the gay rights movement—“a sign that the Court, and, by extension, society, did not accept homosexuals.” How could it be otherwise if their expression of love and sexuality was against the law? Criticism rained down on the court from legal scholars including Richard Posner and Michael Sandel. As Yale law professor and Slate contributor William Eskridge writes, “a decision that was premature in 1986 swiftly became an embarrassment.” Yet it took the court 17* years to correct its error, in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 ruling that overturned Bowers and finally struck down state sodomy prohibitions.

slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2012/10/the_supreme_court_s_terrible_decision_in_bowers_v_hardwick_was_a_product.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY: The best big sister ever!

FOR HALLOWEEN MY 3 YEAR OLD HANDICAP BROTHER INSISTED TO BE BATMAN, AND I ROBIN. BECAUSE HE CAN'T WALK, AS HIS FAITHFUL SIDEKICK I RAN HIM AROUND SINGING "NANANANANANA, BATMAN" ALL NIGHT. HAPPIEST I'VE EVER SEEN HIM.

http://funny-sh-t-or-not.lolspots.com/51985-for-halloween-my-3-year-old-handicap-brother-insisted-to

ENTERTAINMENT: 'Why?': Remembering Nina Simone's Tribute To The Reverend Martin Luther King

Three days after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, performer Nina Simone and her band played at the Westbury Music Festival on Long Island, N.Y. They performed "Why? (The King of Love is Dead)," a song they had just learned, written by their bass player Gene Taylor in reaction to King's death.

http://www.npr.org/2008/04/06/89418339/why-remembering-nina-simones-tribute-to-the-rev-martin-luther-king-jr

ENTERTAINMENT: Alabama Mahatma: Martin Luther King blues

These are indeed rare songs. And we should all be very grateful to Guido for his fantastic digging and research to put this collection together. From raging gospel shouts, to classic Chicago blues and everything in between, this music is a reminder of just why Martin Luther King Jr. will always be a part of African American identity. Like the tales that grew up around the figures of Jesus and Buddha and Muhammad, these songs not only preserve and re-tell history but are an act of the creation of a community’s history.

Happy Birthday, Martin!

http://washermansdog-ajnabi.blogspot.com/2013/01/alabama-mahatma-martin-luther-king-blues.html

ENTERTAINMENT: Which Shakespeare character are you?

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered/blog/which-shakespeare-character-are-you/

POLITICS: Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated by US govt: King Family civil trial verdict

Dr. Martin Luther King’s family and his personal friend and attorney, William F. Pepper, won a civil trial that found US government agencies guilty in the wrongful death of Martin Luther King. The 1999 trial, King Family versus Jowers and Other Unknown Co-Conspirators, [70] is the only trial ever conducted on the assassination of Dr. King.


http://www.examiner.com/article/dr-martin-luther-king-assassinated-by-us-govt-king-family-civil-trial-verdict

ENTERTAINMENT: This Is Just Your Typical Boy-Meets-Autistic-Girl Love Story

People on the autism spectrum have a hard time with social interactions and communication. But as this beautiful story shows, that’s not a dead end — it’s just a challenge that can require a little creativity and compassion.

The filmmakers were inspired by a Taylor Swift music video, and they’re trying to get her to tweet “Fireflies” to her 21 million followers. Help them out by sharing this video!

http://www.upworthy.com/this-is-just-your-typical-boy-meets-autistic-girl-love-story

HUMOR: The most ridiculously misguided observances of Martin Luther King Day.

Guess we all have our own way of revering a fallen civil rights pioneer. As the party invites and sale ads below would indicate, one man's solemn observance is another man's extra night to hit the strip club. But a 3-day weekend is a 3-day weekend after all, so if you aren't spending the holiday shopping the sales or sleeping off a hangover, spend some time perusing these wonderfully failed attempts at observing Martin Luther King Day.

http://www.happyplace.com/13372/10-ridiculously-misguided-observances-of-martin-luther-king-day

HISTORY: 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes You Never Hear

While best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, King's legacy included much more than that.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/17-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-you-never-hear

SOCIETY/CULTURE: Martin Luther King on nonconformists...

ENTERTAINMENT: 10 Songs Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

This long weekend, millions across America celebrate a man whose contributions to the political sphere of our country are innumerable. And over the years, the musical sphere of America has become filled with songs inspired by or dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, the Billboard.com staff counts down our favorites among those songs, from the sobriety of U2**'s "MLK" to the unfettered optimism of Springsteen**'s "We Shall Overcome." Happy MLK Day!

http://m.billboard.com/features/10-songs-honoring-dr-martin-luther-king-1004139201.story

HISTORY: 8 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Although King is one of U.S. history's most widely chronicled individuals, there are aspects of his life that are less well-known than the pivotal speeches, the campaigns against Jim Crow city halls from Montgomery in 1955 to Memphis in 1968, and the dalliances that for some, tainted his personal life. King was as complex a figure as exists in our social narrative. He was a man conflicted by his commitment to a movement into which he was drafted against his better judgement and by the overwhelming demands to fulfill the role of human rights spokesperson. He was a husband and father who belonged to a people and a revolution, and the nation's most prominent advocate of nonviolence at a time when violence burned on urban streets, college campuses and in Southeast Asia.

http://www.alternet.org/activism/8-surprising-things-you-didnt-know-about-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

ENTERTAINMENT: Adding Monsters to Thrift Store Paintings

http://imgur.com/a/v49Ui

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: Why the moon landings could NOT have been faked!

Oh my god! All I can say is "Slam dunk!" Why the moon landings could NOT have been faked!

http://gizmodo.com/5977205/why-the-moon-landings-could-have-never-ever-been-faked-the-definitive-proof

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: Man outsources own job and surfs web at work

What began as a company's suspicion that its infrastructure was being hacked turned into a case of a worker outsourcing his own job to a Chinese consulting firm, according to reports that cite an investigation by Verizon's security team. The man was earning a six-figure salary.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/16/169528579/outsourced-employee-sends-own-job-to-china-surfs-web

HUMOR: Hand sanitizer

This is so my daughter and my wife!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hand_sanitizer.png

ENTERTAINMENT: Music Sales Are Just 6% of Average Musician’s Income

For the major music labels the sales of recorded music represent the majority of their revenue, but a different picture emerges when looking at the income of individual musicians. A new survey among 5,000 U.S. musicians of different genres shows that on average only six percent of all revenue comes from recorded music. The research concludes that copyright law mostly affects the revenue of the highest-income musicians in a direct fashion.

http://torrentfreak.com/music-sales-are-just-6-of-average-musicians-income-130114/

ENTERTAINMENT: THE ABANDONED AN’ FORSAKED ARCHIVE (COMICS)

This is for comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically “overturned” by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent).

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/01/the-abandoned-an-forsaked-archive/

ENTERTAINMENT: Why the government refuses to build a Death Star! Gah!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petition-response-youre-looking

HUMOR: Man Returns To Work After Vacation With Fresh, Reenergized Hatred For Job

Arriving back at work after a two-week winter vacation, local marketing assistant Matthew Bueso told reporters Monday he was happy to return to the office with a fresh and rejuvenated loathing for his job.

http://t.co/l26lFX9s

ENTERTAINMENT: The 15 Best Songs That Are Totally About Masturbation

Prostitution may be the oldest profession, but masturbation is the oldest pastime. And while there are many memorable cinematic masturbation scenes-a quick polling of CRACKED deskies produced titles like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's and American Beauty-only CRACKED intern Ryan Grim could come up with a single song on the topic, and he was masturbating when we asked him. In other words, the Internet could use a definitive list of songs that are totally about masturbating.

http://www.cracked.com/article_15114_the-15-best-songs-that-are-totally-about-masturbation.html

HUMOR: Scientists tell us why the chicken crossed the road...

Issac Newton: Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest, chickens in motion tend to cross roads.

http://oldermusicgeekon.tumblr.com/post/39436958451/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road

HUMOR: New Year pics and jokes