US Labor Department Demands Refund in Maine Mural Dispute
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/04-11
WASHINGTON — If Maine Gov. Paul LePage doesn’t wish to display a mural depicting the state’s labor history, then the federal money used to create it should be returned, the U.S. Department of Labor says.

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6 herbs and spices that could improve your health
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/04/9-healing-...

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HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)
http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-...

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and for today's photo

Ruling Spurs Effort to Form Digital Public Library
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/technology/04library.html

The perspective from this article is really off. They talk of the Google book project as the only effort to create a public repository of digitized books, to the point of starting off by suggesting that now that a federal judge in New York has derailed Google’s plan that the dream of of a universal library dead.

Really? have you never heard of project Gutenberg, the Internet Public Library or the Open Library Project? Chalk up another one for clueless journalism.

and speaking of clueless...
Transocean Ltd. gave its top executives bonuses for achieving the "best year in safety performance in our company's history" — despite the explosion of its oil rig that killed 11 people, including nine of its own employees, and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42393722/ns/business/

sigh, our world is doomed.

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today's photo

Scooby, drunk again, is just begging for some meddling kids to do an intervention

Sometime this week I'll be getting back to longer posts, but as I start to recover from being sick I don't want to push things too far too soon.

Today's tabs:

The 10 most segregated urban areas in America
The new census numbers provide a sobering reminder of how separate white and black America still are
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/most_segregated_c...

The No-Baby Boom
A growing number of couples are choosing to live child-free. And you might be joining their ranks.
http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201104/no-baby-boom-n...

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a few stale links from my open tabs

Post no Bills
http://i.imgur.com/SVaVo.jpg

9 Bills That Would Put Creationism in the Classroom
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/03/9-bills-creationism-classroom

Nobel Committee asked to strip Obama of Peace Prize
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304909

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110322/wl_nm/us_venezuela_chavez_mars
Capitalism may be to blame for the lack of life on the planet Mars, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.

"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.

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Manning Marable was one of the most creative, politically radical voices in the African American community. Typesetting his articles in the late 80s always took a long time, I would get lost in the story he was weaving and forget I had dozens of other things to get done to get The Guardian to press on time.

Manning had taken over the Guardian's race politics column, The Color Line, years before I started working as production manager. The column was originated by W.E.B DuBois and Marable held his own in those early years against the shadow of one of the most impactful African American writers.

Years later I had the chance to be a fly on the wall at a meeting/discussion between Marable, Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West. Someday I'll write more about that fascinating and amazingly educational moment.

His death is sad, his death happening at age 60 seems so unfair. The fact that his death comes only days before public release of his sure-to-be-groundbreaking biography of Malcolm X is just tragic.

One of his columns that I still remember typesetting was his rant about the popularity Malcolm X found in the mainstream in the wake of Spike Lee's biography of Malcolm X.

While giving a nod to how exciting it was to see young folks wearing X caps everywhere; while accepting that it was a nice change of pace to see a broader politics become acceptable in discussing the Civil Rights Movement, Marable also held some concerns. This is after all America, where nothing goes un-compromised or un-commodified. Therefor Manning asked his readers to remember that Macolm was a great man but America "has a way of taking great things, like cheese, and turning them into Velveta"

Comrade Marable, I hope your legacy is more cheese and less velveta. Rest in Peace.
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today's photo