Good/interesting/provoking finds I’ve stumbled across this week: 2014-11-30.
- Last week I posted a find about Mattel’s illformed attempt to have Barbie demonstrate being a computer engineer in their book Barbie: I can be a Computer Engineer. Thankfully someone has remixed the book to make it truly fantastic.
- The grand jury ruled on Nov 24 that there was insufficient evidence to indict and send to trial the police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, in Ferguson, Mo. back in Aug 9, 2014. There is considerable outrage across America, and protests (and some rioting) have been renewed. David Butt in the Globe and Mail outlines “Ten key legal points of the Ferguson verdict” to keep in mind while coming to your own conclusion about the verdict. Whatever the legal rulings on this one particular case, it underscores that the deep underlying issues of prejudice and racial tensions remain stubbornly the same as in 30 years ago. Jon Stewart is spot on in this segment of the Daily Show from Aug 29.
- Author P.D. James passed away at the age of 94. While I am late to enjoy her writing, I have thoroughly enjoyed the books I have read.
- Much has been made about work-life balance in all sorts of think pieces in traditional and social media. I have even published a thought or two. But we collectively haven’t start talking about the situation where we need to care for family who are dying. Rebecca Greenfield starts the conversation here. My parents are baby boomers, and I have to acknowledge that they are getting older so this will be a concern of ours soon enough.
~Jen