links for 2010-04-14

  • sounds a lot like the Indianapolis teen who "shot himself" while handcuffed in the back of a police car.
  • The goals of the Girl Scout Research Institute are to originate new projects and initiatives that bolster knowledge about girls, as well as to synthesize the research that exists on the healthy development of girls. These efforts not only support the development of the Girl Scout program but also supply accurate information to educational, not-for-profit, and public policy organizations, parents seeking the best ways to help their daughters, and girls themselves.
  • Interesting article on a culture clash in New York over bike lanes. Choice quote: "But at some point, you don’t get to pull the seniority card when it comes to your religiously-based objections to female use of public space and transportation. And here, the hipsters weren’t making rules for the entire community. They were using a public street, paid for with everyone’s tax dollars, to ride their bikes. I run out of patience for objections to people using public streets because your religion objects to the female form. This isn’t about, “Damn, all these outsiders are coming in and driving up the rental market and now I can’t afford my place” or “I moved here to live in a neighborhood, not to have a bunch of loud bars built on my block.” This is, “I think that my religious belief regarding the appropriateness of women in public should trump the rights of women to move through public space.”
  • Handy list of alternatives to Futura.
  • You'd think that Disney would be the one place where you could take photographs, but not so much. Disney has started harassing photographers with DSLR cameras and accusing them of being terrorists – not because they really think that, but because DSLR photogs are competition for their pricey photography. Congratulations, Disney – I'll never visit one of your resorts.
Continue Readinglinks for 2010-04-14

Bizarre Police Behavior at a Canadian Protest

UPDATE: Quebec police admit the three men in the video were indeed “undercover” officers; although the claim they were not there to instigate any violence. Wonder what that rock was for, then.
Police attend a very large Canadian protest against George Bush dressed as “protesters” to attempt to rile up the crowd so they can make mass arrests – dressed in black, with bandanas over their faces and carrying rocks. The actual protesters are labor union leaders (the guy talking to them is Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada) who all look like your grandpa though, and they object to these young men attempting to “infiltrate” their line (they stick out like a sore thumb), asking them to take off their masks and put down their rocks. Soon they catch on that the troublemakers are police and confront them, so the police quickly run into the uniformed police line and get “arrested.” But these guys weren’t among the four people arrested at the event, who were accounted for later. Security theater gets weirder all the time.

More about the protest – it’s surrounding the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” a partnership between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and many people in Canada believe that it’s designed to allow big business in America to abuse Canadian and Mexican natural and human resources at the expense of both of those countries.

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Indianapolis Police are big drama queens about uniform design

According to today’s IndyStar, the newly merged IPD has arrived at a badge design, but is still deciding on what color their new uniforms will be.

Members of a merger subcommittee endorsed a proposed patch design Friday and indicated they are close to agreeing on a new badge for the combined Indianapolis Police and Marion County Sheriff’s departments. Whether the new uniforms will be blue or black, however, is still undecided. The color issue remains a hot topic.
“Officers look at this uniform as a symbol of what they once dreamed of wearing one day,” said Sheriff’s Department Col. John Layton, the subcommittee’s chairman. “They tested and trained for that right all while knowing that they could, if necessary, pay for that right with their lives.”

More drama than even gay men engage in while picking out their wardrobes. I’m sure no matter what color they pick, they’ll look just fabulous.

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