“ Ask someone who reads Vogue: “Imagine I have two different copies of Vogue magazines, they’re the same issue except one has ads and the other one doesn’t. Which one are you going to pay $5 for?” Everybody who reads Vogue wants the one with the ads. But if you asked them the same thing about the website they all say they don’t want the ads. So what that says to me is that this is a design problem. ”
from an interview with Flipboard CEO Mike McCue.
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Corporal Gardner, a helicopter mechanic who was working with the female Marines from Pendleton but had not trained with them, found herself as the lone woman dealing with five ailing Afghan women. There was no female interpreter or medical officer — there are chronic shortages of both — and the Afghans refused to leave their compound or let the male interpreter and medical officer come to them. Corporal Gardner devised a cumbersome solution. “Some of these women would rather die than be touched by a male,” she said. “So we’ll diagnose by proxy.”
She took the women’s vital signs herself. Then she had an older Afghan woman come outside with her to describe the women’s symptoms, chiefly headaches and stomachaches, to the male interpreter. He translated them for the American male medical officer. (The American men were partly obscured from the older woman by a mud wall to respect her modesty.) Eventually medication — the painkiller ibuprofen — was handed over to the older woman to distribute.
By the end of the day, an Afghan woman was trusting enough to hand her baby to Corporal Gardner to take to the medical officer, who diagnosed digestive problems from a diet of sheep and goat milk.
”from a NYT article, In Camouflage or Veil, a Fragile Bond, that describes the efforts and challenges of the Marines’ “female engagement teams.”
Pseudo Echo — “Funkytown”
from Geekologie’s writeup of the world’s largest (known) tetris game board. This was a design someone spent way too much time on.
“I think education is one of the most important missions we have. Spreading knowledge has always been important to me and openness is an integral part of that. And OpenCourseWare is this really smart—and increasingly established—way to be open about education and spread knowledge throughout the world.” — Kevin Donovan, Founder of Georgetown Students for Free Culture
“ If we come to an impasse, we’re going to move forward with our reforms anyway,” Ms. Rhee said. “Then it potentially gets uglier. ”
from a recent Kristof column in the NYT. I admire her grit and will hopefully be working with her this summer.
How did I miss this? It’s sorta oldish, but really, “like, awesome,” just like being a mom.
Group rope jumping. Involves trains, Russia, ice, and ropes. !
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“There was never any inappropriate (contact) between me and anyone else,” Burris said. “And I will answer any and all questions to get that point across and keep my faith with the people of Illinois.”
Burris declined to answer questions.
”Enough said. (via)
