First Looks category archive

Update: I’m going to stick this at the top of the page for a while. Unstuck.

Chauncey Devega of the We Are Respectable Negroes blog wants to purchase a bit of history.

It might be more accurate to say “ransom,” rather than “purchase”:

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So, what about that whole self-esteem movement thingy?

Spring fever.

Meanwhile, Noz has dating advice.

Chauncey Devega sees shackles of slave for sale on ebay.

He doesn’t think much of it.

Neither do I.

Wallowing in the misery of others is not a trait of nice people.

When I was a young ‘un living almost on the Atlantic coast, my brother and I would run outside to watch the blimps fly along the coast as part of the early warning system.

It looks as if I might get to relive those days.

Off to drink liberally.

Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.

When: 6 p., Tuesday, May 8.

Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)

Details here. Meetup page here.

I have another podcast up at HPR.

So much for the “throw-away” society:

Self-storage companies, which rent units to small businesses and consumers under names such as “Uncle Bob’s Self Storage (SSS),” produced the best risk-adjusted return among 10 U.S. real estate investment trust indexes in the past decade, according to the BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING. They had the highest total return and the third-lowest volatility, for a risk-adjusted gain of 10.6 percent. Owners of offices, hotels and warehouses fared among the worst, hurt by price swings.

Americans’ paranoia about germs appears to be counterproductive:

Dr. Kurt Watkins of Peninsula Regional Medical Center (Salisbury, Md.–ed.) said modern America’s hygienic lives and shrink-wrapped food may be contributing to an increase in food allergies — a problem those who live and work on farms compensate for through exposure to animals and a less sanitized environment. A board certified allergy and immunology doctor with Peninsula Allergy and Asthma Associates, Watkins said the “hygiene hypothesis” is supported by the fact there are very little allergy problems in the third world.

(snip)

Calling the hygiene hypothesis the most compelling of theories about increased food allergies, he explained that allergies crop up as a result of the immune system perceiving something innocent as a parasite. If a child isn’t exposed to enough allergens at an early age, the hypothesis is that their bodies are less likely to develop tolerances.

“If you have a cat in the household when less than age 1, in infancy, then you are less likely to have asthma at age 5,” he said. “Studies show children who grow up on farms have less asthma, too.”

I had a friend who told that, when her daughter was young, she was sickly and frequently ill.

She asked the doctor what to do and the doctor said, “Let her play in the dirt.”

She did and the illnesses went away.

As one who both bicycles and drives, I find this rather appalling.

Via sfgate dot com:

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Off to drink liberally.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.

When: Tuesday, April 24th, 6 p

Where:
Lubo Wine Tasting Room
1658 Pleasure House Road (Map)

More here.

Rex W. Huppke writes the obit. A exerpt recounts the dying agony of Facts:

Though weakened, Facts managed to persevere through the last two decades, despite historic setbacks that included President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, the justification for PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and the debate over President Barack Obama’s American citizenship.

Facts was wounded repeatedly throughout the recent GOP primary campaign, near fatally when Michele Bachmann claimed a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease causes mental retardation. In December, Facts was briefly hospitalized after MSNBC’s erroneous report that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign was using an expression once used by the Ku Klux Klan.

But friends and relatives of Facts said Rep. West’s claim that dozens of Democratic politicians are communists was simply too much for the aging concept to overcome.

Spring cleaning.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.

When: Thursday, April 14, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

Off to drink liberally.

Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.

When: 6 p., Tuesday, April 10.

Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)

Details here. Meetup page here.