http://www.voxpublica.org/ en Copyright 2010 Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:00:22 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Food Blog BUT I figured I'd included here for anyone who is searching for ideas of what to serve at an Ancient Egyptian party. While we know in general what the Ancient Egyptians ate (a lot of bread and beer, complemented with the vegetables they could grow in their gardens - onions were very popular - as well as the fish they could get from the Nile and the birds they could hunt), we don't really have much in the way of recipes, and it's not necessarily easy (or practical) to get their staples here. For example, where would I find a tiger nut? The following menu for my kids slumber party is as authentic as I could get it to be. I'm basing some of the ingredients on what has been available in Egypt from Coptic times on. Snack: Baby carrots, cucumber slices, celery and pita bread with hummus and babaganoush. Grapes and watermelon, if I find it. Dinner: Chicken kebabs, with cucumber-yogurt salad Breakfast: Egyptian pancakes* with honey & walnuts and eggs a la carte Lunch: Pizza (I know, I know, but that's what Mika wanted) and same things as snacks Cake: Homemade, with light brown frosting (to look like sand), decorated with these Ancient Egyptian figurines I had wanted to make a pyramid cake, but my trial efforts at it were pathetic. I hope this cake will turn out (I'm planning on using mix and store-bought frosting) and won't look too bad. -- * I don't know if the Ancient Egyptians ate pancakes or feteer, but when I lived in Egypt there were several shops (specially one in Khan el Khalili) serving them - they were delicious. Given the simplicity of the recipes, I would imagine they are very old. I'll give them a trial run tomorrow, to see if they come out. If not I'm not sure what I'll do. I have a recipe for ataif, arab pancakes which date to medieval times, but it looks even harder. ]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/menu_for_ancient_egyptian_part.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/menu_for_ancient_egyptian_part.html Ancient Egyptian Party Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:00:22 +0000 experience ordering stuff from Oriental Trading (in summary, they sell stuff which causes cancer and other diseases without disclosing it). I haven't ordered from them since, but I have been receiving their catalogs. All their catalogs. Seemingly every week. Multiple times. I don't get it, why would a company publish so many catalogs and feel compelled to send them to all its customers? It's not as if each catalog presented unique merchandise. Clearly it must work for them, or they'd stop the practice - but it'd still be nice if they were a little bit more conscious of the environment. They could at least use recycled paper. Anyway, end of rant.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/oriental_trading_company_catal.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/oriental_trading_company_catal.html Products & Services Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:54:42 +0000 I wrote about my kids circus taking classes at Trapeze Arts in Oakland. They've just completed the first 8-week cycle, and they had a blast. We've signed them up for the next cycle and I'm hoping they'll stick with it. Today they had their "show" and I went to see them for the first time. I loved it! I don't think we could have chosen a better activity for them to do. What my kids themselves did was not particularly complex, some head rolls mostly, some simple pyramid building and that was about that. Some other kids did very complex routines on the curtains, trapeze and ropes - but I'm sure they've been doing it for much longer. But what I really enjoyed was the sense of fun that accompanied the whole show - in particular the parts for the younger kids. The teachers use their shyness and inexperience for unadulterated comic relief, and the kids love it. Indeed, because it's a circus class, rather than gymnastics, you can celebrate and laugh at mistakes - and really, not necessarily know if they are mistakes or part of the show. Anyway, if you are looking for an activity for your kids, and you don't want them to get into competitive, life-consuming crap, you should definitely consider this.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/circus_class_redux.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/circus_class_redux.html Cool Stuff Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:09:59 +0000 I got the Fun with Hieroglyphs Stamp Kit many years ago, at the same time I got the Fun with Egyptian Amulets kit, both at the British Museum store at Heathrow. I gave it to my sister, who apparently had no interest in it as she didn't even open it. This Christmas she gave it to Mika as a present. The kit is pretty cool, I was surprised that the ink was not dried after so many years. The images are not perfectly clear (specially using their ink), but they are understandable enough. Pretty much the whole basic alphabet is included, though I would have liked other common stamps as well (the ones of a man and a woman and the ankh one, for example). Still, it's quite nice. My biggest complain is with the sounds they assign to some hieroglyphs, in particular to the bowels. I did not like arguing with Mika about how the vulture hieroglyph, equivalent to a glottal stop, is transliterated as an "a" and not an "e" or "o" - and that we should probably use the chick hieroglyph (a "w") to render "o". For some reason they assign the sound "th" (as in thin) to the animal belly and "th" (as in "the") to the placenta, but those have been usually understood to be hard "h" sounds (as in the German "ich"). Now their assigment may be because, as far as I know, there are not "th" sounds in ancient Egyptian - but really, why not just convert them into "s" and "d" - as those of us who are native Spanish speakers do before we learn the correct pronunciation of these sounds? Of course, perhaps my knowledge of Middle Egyptian sounds is out of date, but I don't think that's the case. The booklet that comes with the kit has some interesting information and activities, but I think they are beyond my 8 year old, at least she hasn't seem interested in them. This kit is out of print right now, but you still can find them through Amazon.com sellers, starting at $7 including shipping - a bargain, as I'm sure I paid much more than that. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has issued a new Fun with Hieroglyphs kit which seems very similar to the one we have. If you order either used, make sure it comes with the stamps and it's not just the booklet, though. As a final note I should say that while the booklet provides information about basic information about hieroglyphs, it does not teach how to read more than a few Egyptian words. So don't buy the kit hoping to learn ancient Egyptian. If you buy it, just buy it for fun. As for us, Mika used the stamp kit to stamp paper bags (which we'll use as goody bags) with the names of her friends. We will also use them for the kids to make bookmarks (with the papyrus paper I bought) - though I would like to get more colorful ink, as the black ink is quite boring. All in all, I think it's a fun kit and I'm glad we have it. Mika & Camila's name written in hieroglyphs. The color in the picture is somewhat off - the top row should be black.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/fun_with_hieroglyphs_stamp_kit.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/fun_with_hieroglyphs_stamp_kit.html Ancient Egyptian Party Products & Services Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:04:45 +0000 Amazing! -- PAKISTAN: A Hindu teenager is told to marry her alleged rapist; police and courts fail to act The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that four men who allegedly assisted in the rape of a young Hindu girl have been granted pre-arrest bail by a session court. Rape is a non-bailable offense in Pakistan and this is against criminal procedure and the law. Attempts by the family to file an FIR and obtain a medical report have been obstructed by local police, who later arrested the victim's father on a false offense. Meanwhile members of an illegal tribal court have reportedly proposed that the victim marry her rapist and convert to Islam. She has threatened public self immolation if the perpetrators are not arrested and brought to justice by the authorities. CASE DETAILS: According to information received from local NGOs, the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network and All Kohli, Ms. Kastoori, seen in the video clip below (also here), is 17 years old and was abducted on 24 January 2010. After being taken in the evening by Ramzan Khoso, Habib Ullah Khoso and Ghulam Nabi Khoso, with the help of their armed guard Verio Gur-Ro, Kastoori was allegedly raped by Ramzan, the eldest of the brothers. She was recovered the next day from the mens' residence by a group from her community, where she was found tied up. On 26 January Kastoori's parents tried to register a First Information Report at Nagar Parker police station but were turned away. Because of this they could not obtain an official medical checkup for her at the civil hospital or the Nagar Parker hospital, which they attempted to arrange on 27 January. The family rejected an out of court sum offered to them by the father of the three perpetrators, Muhammad Bachaal Khoso, who is an office bearer for the local ruling political party and reportedly wields political influence. He arranged a jirga – an illegal tribal court – on 9 February, allegedly within the knowledge of Nagar Parker police officers. The jirga members allegedly pressured the victim's family to accept the marriage of the victim to her rapist and her conversion Islam. The family rejected this proposal and continued to try to use legal channels. With the help of NGOs Kastoori's father was able to file a petition with the Sindh High Court on February 12, which ordered the filing of an FIR and a medical examination on 17 February. The report noted that due to the length of time since the alleged rape it could not find the necessary evidence. Although an FIR was finally lodged on February 17 under Section 365-B, the perpetrators were not arrested because they had successfully applied for pre-arrest bail from the Sessions Court in Mithi, even though the court is not authorized to do so at that level. We are told that the police then arrested the father of the victim (along with 12 others) on February 18 for stealing valuable sap from a Guggal plant, although Guggal is not cultivated in the area. At the Hyderabad press club Kastoori (featured in the You Tube video, embedded) has threatened to publically kill herself if the perpetrators are not arrested. Mr. Hameed Chand, Assistant Sub Inspector in Naga Parker, and the investigation officer have told human rights activists that they are being prevented from pursuing the case by ruling party members and local landlords. The victim and her family are in hiding, and civil society protests have reportedly not resulted in further action from the authorities. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The AHRC received frequent reports of forced marriages of minority girls with Muslim men in areas along the Indian borders that have large Dalit Hindu populations, such as Thar Parker, Nagar Parker, Umer Kot, Mithi and Karoonjhar. The term Dalits are members of a scheduled caste, and due to the position of many as bonded labourers, female Dalits are particularly vulnerable to abuse. It is not unknown for Muslim seminaries to urge the forced conversion of Dalit women. The AHRC has documented several such cases, including UA-008-2006 and UG-020-2006 and is aware of many more, in which Hindu scheduled caste and Christian women and girls have been abducted by Muslim men and raped. When confronted by the authorities perpetrators are often able to produce a marriage certificate from a seminary confirming the marriage and conversion of the victim. The girls are often taken out of contact with their families entirely, and various cases have been documented in which the courts have condoned such marriages with girls below the age of consent. SUGGESTED ACTION: Please write to the authorities listed below asking them to intervene to ensure that the perpetrators of this crime are arrested, and any police officers proven to be involved in their protection also face legal action. Please also urge for protection of the victim and her family. The AHRC has written a separate letter to UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences and the Independent Expert on Minority Issues calling for their intervention into this case. ------------------------------------------------------ SAMPLE LETTER: Dear __________, Re: PAKISTAN: A Hindu teenager is told to marry her alleged rapist; police and courts fail to act Name of victim: Miss Kastoori, daughter of Nawo Kalhi, resident of Mokrio village, Nagar Parker town, Thar Parker district, Sindh province Name of alleged perpetrators: 1. Mr. Ramzan Khoso 2. Mr. Habib Ullah Khoso, 3. Mr. Ghulam Nabi Khoso All sons of Muhammad Bachaal Khoso and residents of Mokrio village, Nagar Parker town, Thar Parker district, Sindh province. 4. Mr. Verio Gur-Ro, resident of Mokrio village, Nagar Parker town, Thar Parker district, Sindh province. 5. Mr. Hameed Chand, assistant sub inspector, investigation officer at Nagar Parker police station, Nagar Parker, district Thar Parker, Sindh province 6. Inspector Mohammad Khan Rind, Station Head Officer at the time of incident of Nagar Parker police station, Nagar Parker, district Thar Parker, Sindh province Date of incident: January 24, 2010 Place of incident: Mokrio village, Nagar Parker, Thar Parker district, Sindh province I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the actions taken by Mithi Sessions Court and Nagar Parker police in response to the alleged rape of a teenage girl. I am told that the victim, Ms. Kastoori is 17 years old and was raped by Mr. Ramzan Khoso with the help of three other perpetrators named above. On 26 January Ms. Kastoori's parents tried to register a First Information Report at Nagar Parker police station but were turned away. Because of this they could not obtain an official medical checkup for her at the civil hospital or the Nagar Parker hospital, which they attempted to arrange on 27 January. I am told that police officers were aware that the family rejected an out of court sum offered to them by the father of the three perpetrators, Mr. Muhammad Bachaal Khoso – an office bearer for the local ruling political party – and of the jirga that he then organized. In this jirga on 9 February I am told that the victim's family was pressured, unsuccessfully, to accept the marriage of the victim to her rapist and her conversion Islam. With the help of NGOs, Kastoori's father Mr. Nawo Kalhi was able to file a petition with the Sindh High Court on February 12, leading to the filing of an FIR and a medical examination on 17 February. However the medical report noted that due to the length of time since the alleged rape it could not find the necessary evidence. Although an FIR was finally lodged on February 17 under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, the perpetrators were not arrested because they had successfully applied for pre-arrest bail from the Sessions Court in Mithi. The court is not authorized to do so at that level. I understand that the police then arrested the father of the victim (along with 12 others) on February 18 for a fabricated crime relating to forestry. Mr. Hameed Chand, the Assistant Sub Inspector in Nagar Parker and the investigating officer of this case has reportedly told human rights activists that he is being prevented from pursuing the case by ruling party members and local landlords. I urge that these allegations be immediately investigated. I am told that the victim and her family are in hiding and need state protection. I understand that this is one of numerous cases coming from border areas with large Hindu Dalit populations, involving the rape of a Dalit girl and the attempt to forcibly convert her to Islam by marriage. This issue clearly needs addressing at the highest levels. Many Dalits in these areas are engaged in bonded labour, and women of the caste need strong institutional support and protection from abuse. Intervention is therefore urgently needed to ensure the arrest of the perpetrators, and of any police officers proven to have obstructed the course of justice. It is absolutely necessary that the authorities send a message of zero tolerance for impunity, particularly regarding violations against women and minorities. Yours sincerely, ----------------- PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: 1. Prime Minister Prime Minister House Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: +92 51 922 1596 Tel: +92 51 920 6111 +92 51 920 6111 E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk 2. Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Governor of Sindh province Karachi, Sindh Province PAKISTAN Fax: +92 21 920 5043 Tel: +92 21 920 1201 +92 21 920 1201 E-mail: governor@governorsindh.gov.pk 3. Syed Qaim Ali Shah Chief Minister Karachi, Sindh Province PAKISTAN Fax: +92 21 920 2000 Email: pressecy@cmsindh.gov.pk 4. Mr.Syed Mumtaz Alam Gillani Federal Minister for Human Rights Ministry of Human Rights Old US Aid building Ata Turk Avenue G-5, Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: +9251-9204108 Email: sarfaraz_yousuf@yahoo.com 5. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court High Court Building Saddar, Karachi Sindh Province PAKISTAN Fax: +92 21 9213220 E-mail: registrar@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk 6. Ms. Nadia Gabol Minister for Human Rights Government of Sindh, Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92, Karachi, Sindh Province PAKISTAN Fax: +92 21 9207044 Tel: +92 21 9207043 +92 21 9207043 E-mail: lukshmil@yahoo.com 7. Dr. Faqir Hussain Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan Constitution Avenue, Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: + 92 51 9213452 E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk -------------------------------- Thank you. Urgent Appeals Programme Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org) Thank you. AHRC New Weekly Digest - an easy way to receive all your Human Rights news in just one weekly email - subscribe here. ----------------------------- Asian Human Rights Commission 19/F, Go-Up Commercial Building, 998 Canton Road, Kowloon, Hongkong S.A.R. Tel: +(852) - 2698-6339 Fax: +(852) - 2698-6367 http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/pakistan_a_hindu_teenager_is_t.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/pakistan_a_hindu_teenager_is_t.html The Absurd Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:34:22 +0000 listia.com as a good place to get free craft material (or really, anything). I decided to give it a chance, but quickly realized that the maxim that, unlike with freecycle, you can't really get anything for free at listia. I'm not really surprised, but a bit disappointed. Listia works as e-bay, except that you bid with "credits", and you can earn credits by giving away stuff. They do give you a small amount of credits when you sign up and list something, but that's basically a one-time deal. Listia gives you the choice of having the winners of your bids pick up the stuff, you mail it for a price or you provide free shipping. The problem is that listia has a limited membership, specially in smaller cities, so it's not that likely that you'll find bidders that want to pick up your stuff (compare that with freecycle, which has much greater and only local memberships). If you charge for shipping, then chances are people will bid less on what you are offering (and remember, you are only getting credits) - and you have to go through the hassle of mailing it. If you provide free shipping, you have to pay for it. If you don't have enough credits, listia does allow you to buy them at the outrageous price of 10c each. It's outrageous because listia things do cost a lot of credits. For example, a set of 10 paper cut-outs, with free shipping, is listed at 100 credits - or $10!!!!!. As for me, I listed 6 items, including books and clothing. They are "pick up in San Leandro" only, and I think it's unlikely anyone will bid on them. After the auction is over (they are open for 7 days), I'll put them up on Freecycle or take them to the thrift store. I do have 165 credits that I got for signing up and listing stuff, and I'll see if I can get something I want with that. So far it seems unlikely. AFter that, I think I won't be using it anymore.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/listia.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/listia.html Products & Services Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:48:42 +0000 We got the Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun!: The Write-It, Draw-It, Sculpt-It, Act-It Game-in-a-Book-in-a-Game! at Thriftown (I think) quite a long time ago. I think we paid less than $5 and the book/game was unused and complete. Once again, a great deal. For one reason or another we hadn't opened it until yesterday, and I was surprised at how fun the book was. It has a bunch of activities for reading-age kids as well as a game than anyone can play. Mika had a great time with a pizza challenge: unscrambling words, putting them in a crossword matrix and then making the objects out of clay. Camila and I played the game, in which we had to act up words, make each other guess or make figures out of clay, and she loved it too. There are many more activities, and you write on the book with an erasable marker, so more than one child can use it. The only minus, for me, is that the book, game pieces and game board are all attached, which makes it quite a bit clumsy to use. Perhaps for that reason it didn't sell well (it's not available from Amazon.com itself, so I assume that it's out of print). On the plus side, you can get it new fromAmazon.com venderos for just $11 including shipping, and the book is quite worth it. ]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/cranium_big_book_of_outrageous.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/cranium_big_book_of_outrageous.html Products & Services Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:29:43 +0000 http://www.hrw.org ]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/saudi_arabia_blogging_about_qu.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/saudi_arabia_blogging_about_qu.html The Absurd Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:07:26 +0000 As I mentioned in my last post, today I bought a Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker at the flea market. It was missing the mixing bowl, spatula and measuring spoon - and it came with only 2 cake mixes and no frosting mixes - but it was only $4. The girls could not wait to use the cupcake maker and we did so tonight after dinner. The consensus was that it was fun. ()Here is the review by Mika, my 8 yo). The concept is pretty easy - you mix cupcake mix with a little bit of water, put it in a lined cupcake mold, put it in the steamer and microwave for 30 seconds - then let cool for one. Meanwhile you fill the frosting tube with frosting, put it in the stand, put the cupcake below it and push the arm: the frosting comes down while the cupcake spins around, making a twirl. The kids thought it was quite fun - though it's messy to fill. What the kids (in particular Mika) enjoyed the most is being able to 1) do it by themselves (though I was there helping) and 2) have cupcakes in a couple of minutes. We tried the two mixes we got with the kit. One did not come out but the other one did. They both tasted quite good. We then proceeded to make a few more cupcakes with angel food cake mix. To make them, we mixed well the mix with water. I started with 3 Tbsp. mix to 1 Tbsp. butter but it was too thick so I added more water until it had a thick but runny consistency. Then we microwaved for 35 seconds and, voila, the cupcakes were ready. They came out very well - though we found the angel food cake too sour for our taste. Tomorrow we'll use regular cake mix. The disadvantage of that is that regular cake mix requires eggs and oil, so rather than doing it by the spoon we'll probably have to make 1/3 of the package (given that it calls for 3 eggs). Not too big a deal, though. I'm pretty sure that any cupcake recipe would work, btw. Our kit didn't come with the frosting, but given the reviews of the frosting at Amazon I wasn't too heartbroken. Instead we got some whipped frosting at the supermarket (I know, the stuff is nasty). I think the consistency was just right, not too runny that it would leak out of the frosting tube, but soft enough that it easily came out, but the hole on the tip is too wide so too much frosting comes out - and you end up with half as much frosting as cupcakes. I probably should make our own frosting instead. What I would never do is buy their refills. They cost $12 for enough mixes to make and frost 5 cupcakes! That's $2.40 a cupcake (if I can still do math). And these cupcakes are ridiculously small (though really, a good size for a child). By comparison I spent $4.50 for the cake mix, frosting w/ sprinkles and cupcake liners - and I can make tons of cupcakes with that. Now, would I buy the kit again? Definitely for $4 - even if the kids don't use it again (and Mika says she totally want to), it was worth the fun we had with it tonight. I would not pay $20 for it - but if you could get it for half that it wouldn't be a bad deal (if for no other reason than the price of the refills). Update: We tried it today with regular yellow cake mix (cake mix + eggs + butter + water), mixed in the mixer and then cooked for 35 - and the results are great! Much better than either the mixtures that came with the set or the angel food cake. The cake rises very nicely and it's fluffy, the kids love it. We did make the whole package of mix, I refrigerated the leftovers in a lidded bowl and they worked just as well the next day. We have given up on using the froster, however, as fun as it is. It's too much trouble to fill it up each time. Instead the kids are just frosting them with a knife.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/girl_gourmet_cupcake_maker_rev.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/girl_gourmet_cupcake_maker_rev.html Products & Services Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:25:08 +0000 Junior Scientist Kit. It retails for $24 + shipping at an Amazon store, and I paid $3. Most of the kit seems to be there, BUT, and this is key, it's missing the instructions (which I didn't notice when I bought it). I found them online but for $5 - but I bought them nonetheless. Still, I'm pissed. I also got a Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker (retails for $20, got it for $4). In this one I didn't realize it was missing quite a few things ( spoon, water dropper, mixer bowl, cupcake papers, 2 mixes, all four frosting mixes and 1 shortcut card). I would probably not have bought it, but it's my fault for not having looked at it more closely. It does get pretty bad reviews on Amazon, mostly for the taste/texture of the cupcakes and specially the frosting (which I don't have anyway). But I found a posting online about using store-bought cake mix. The idea is to make the batter as usual, pour it in the cupcake cup as per the instructions then microwave 30 seconds at the time until they seem ready. Someone else suggested to use 3 Tbsp cake mix to 1 Tbsp batter and microwave also for 30 seconds. I'll probably try the two mixes that came with the set and then an angel food mix that I have (which does not call for adding eggs). I'll also buy some store frosting (I hope it's not too thick). First I have to get some cupcake liners, though. I also got three very cheaply made jewelry boxes ($1 each). Two of them already broke - so that was a big waste :-( On a more positive note, Mike got an Eddie Bauer backpack for $4. It's sturdy, with a leather bottom and in very good condition, though used. We also got two DS games for Mika, but paid $10 each - not much less than what we can get them new online for. So really, the only good deal was the backpack. Well, I hope we learn the lesson and we're more careful in the future.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/another_morning_the_flea_marke.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/another_morning_the_flea_marke.html Products & Services Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:30:44 +0000 American Girl, the makers of those impossibly expensive dolls, has a publishing arm that offers books aimed at girls 7-8 years old and older. In general, they get great reviews at Amazon. I've just discovered them myself and my first purchase was Just Mom and Me: The Tear-out, Punch-out, Fill-out Book of Fun for Girls and Their Moms. I got for Mika (my soon-to-be 8 yo) for Xmas, and we've both loved it. The book is full of activities for moms and daughters. It has quizzes that help to get to know each other better and ideas for things to do together (review a restaurant, have a movie night complete with popcorn recipe, make a calendar with pictures of the you together). Nothing is terribly original, but they are not things that either of us would have necessarily thought out on our own. Plus somehow it's more interesting for Mika if she gets an idea for something to do together from the book. What I most like about the book is that it just encourages me to do things with her. The main plus and minus of the book is that these are activities for a mom to do alone with her daughter. This is great for one-on-one bonding time, but one-on-one bonding time is not necessarily easy to find when you have another kid around - specially one that is jealous of the book. But the book is really not geared to 5-year-olds. I wish there was one that was. I'm also thinking of getting her Tear Up This Book!: The Sticker, Stencil, Stationery, Games, Crafts, Doodle, And Journal Book For Girls! , but I may wait until we have done more of the activities in the Just Mom and Me book. ]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/just_mom_and_me_book_review.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/just_mom_and_me_book_review.html Books Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:20:12 +0000 The brutality and absurdity of the American justice system is well known around the world. The fact that until recently we were executing juveniles earned us the condemnation of the world (and several international human rights bodies). And now, prosecutors in Pennsylvania are to decide whether to try a kid for a murder he is accused of having committed when he was 11-years old. If convicted he may get life in prison. A child. A stupid, immature child - one whose brain has not fully developed, whose concept of right and wrong is still fussy. A normal child. We, of course, don't know if he was responsible of the crime he is accused of or not. But it doesn't matter. What a child of 11 does is no predictor of what he'll do when he's 22 or 32 or 70. The idea of robbing a child of his whole life because he made a stupid and very, very, very wrong decision as a little kid is beyond absurd, it's unconscionable. Which is not to say that kids like that shouldn't be punished - but it has to be appropriate punishment, psychological counseling and rehabilitation. Jordan Website, where you can contribute to his legal defense. Please do.]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/only_in_america_11yo_kid_may_g.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/only_in_america_11yo_kid_may_g.html The Absurd Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:56:11 +0000 I want to introduce my readers to my friend Alpana Aras-King who runs Storybox Art in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alpana is an amazing photographer, and has taken some of the most beautiful family/children pictures I've ever seen. Alpana is a trained photographer, and her pictures do not just show her artistic vision but her sense of fun and soul. Check out her website.
]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/great_kids_family_photographer.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/great_kids_family_photographer.html Products & Services Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:24:50 +0000 I just got a package of Sparkle Floam at Grocery Outlet for $2 (it sells in Amazon for $4.60) and Mika had a great time playing with it. She made a "cover" for her cell phone and loved how it looked. Of course, this is a non-functioning cell-phone :-) I'm not sure if the floam is supposed to dry and permanently stick to whatever surface you put it on, I really don't care either way, but it would have been nice if it came with instructions on how to use it. Mika and her floam phone
]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/sparkle_floam_review.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/sparkle_floam_review.html Crafts Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:47:43 +0000 website outlook, a site which purports to tell you how much your website is worth. And, according to them, marga.org, my main personal website, is worth $6,000. Meanwhile, voxpublica.org, where this blog is kept, is worth a little over $2K. Aha. It's not clear what they base these values on. The only data they give about the websites are the daily pageviews, which I have no idea how they think they can figure out. Their number for marga.org, a little under 2K, is about 60% less than what I actually get, about 3300 for February 2010. Voxpublica.org, of course, gets many fewer hits, but still more than they give it credit for. I imagine their valuing of the website is based on its potential ad revenue - but that's a very silly valuation. For one, it forgets the value of the domain name alone. marga.org doesn't have much going for it as a domain name, beyond being my name and it being short and somewhat easy to spell (though not to pronounce in English). voxpublica.org may have a higher value just because there is an online magazine in norway that might want the name and because it's a domain name that could work for many sorts of endeavors in any part of the western world. I got it originally to provide hosting for other human rights organizations - though I never used it for that purpose. I do like the domain name, though, so I'm keeping it. But also, how much traffic you get depends on what you put on the website. I have to admit that some of my highest traffic pages are old pages. For example, my most visited content page in marga.org is the one for my recipe for yassa, which has been in my website for as long as I've had it. But my blog post on safeway birthday cakes, which I wrote in 2008, gets lots and lots of hits as well. And, personally, I have no idea what things that I post will generate a lot of traffic (or make it to the top of the search engines). In any case, it's nice to know that I'm worth something ;-)]]> http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/am_i_worth_6k.html http://www.voxpublica.org/2010/03/am_i_worth_6k.html The Absurd Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:10:32 +0000