I'm reminded of this rather poignant scene from the movie Repo Man. The parents were dope-smokin' hippies in that one too!

I couldn't find a consolidated historical table of what w-grl wanted (hours worked), but the Bureau of Labor Statistics does make available "Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers" (Series ID LNS13327709). Of course, there is no direct link to LNS13327709, you have to construct it via http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab12.htm (chalk the inability to directly cite to bad software design, rather than deliberate government obfuscation)

That's a pretty inclusive definition of people who in a lousy work situation and the data is for the last ten years.

Here's a picture of that inclusive definiton over the last ten years. And yes, it has worsened over the last year, in addition to being far above the 10-year low of October 2000. Then again the plain old unemployment figures look pretty much the same as the all-inclusive figure, though the vanilla figures start at a lower base. Both give a similar picture of national unemployment.

Going back to the CPI and its components, at least computers are cheaper : )

neat. so who are you considering as your new ISP?

It's also important to keep in mind that the CPI is only a statistic, and that there are wide variations in people's actual experience of price changes.

As an example, here in NYC, the price of take-out food has skyrocketed in the past year. Almost every restaurant has upped their prices at least 10-20%. So this doesn't matter to people who cook their own food in Peoria, but for a culinarily-challenged person like myself, this definitely makes a lifestyle impact.

Regarding the manipulation of statistics for political purposes, I would generally take that with a grain of salt. As previously noted, the numbers are still out there, and you are not required to concentrate on those the politicians choose to trumpet. The people who produce these numbers are generally apolitical professionals.

The more interesting question is not so much how much prices are going up, but why. We seem to be entering a low growth, high inflation period of the economic cycle, the dreaded "stagflation" of the 1970's. The fact that high petroleum prices happened then give no solace to our current prospects.

A great source for the statistically inclined:
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

So when are you coming to NYC? Is there a bigger book tour planned?

Kudos for Ms. Jardin for bringing this to our attention. I had a brief conversation with a friend, a Chinese national, and he was pretty dismissive of Tibetan grievances as well.

The Chinese are fiercely nationalistic, as befits a great nation. Their greatness also encompasses a great deal of mischief and brutality, which again comes with national greatness.

What should be noted is the high spirits of the competing demonstrations. People might have been haranguing each other, but they were also listening and behaving well. One might wonder if such a demonstration could take place in China. And before we knock the Chinese, we might also remember all the peaceful demonstrations that have been infiltrated and violently disrupted by police in the USA, such as the protests at the Republican Convention in New York City in 2004.

The online vigilantism is pretty disturbing, but there's no evidence that it is officially sanctioned. What this vigilantism does bring into question is our own liberal notions regarding free speech. Should such threatening speech be censored? Should Google protect this women by blocking searches for her name?

Solving the injustices of the world are not easy, primarily because one person's justice, be it freeing Tibet or censoring the Internet, is another's injustice.

And as a typical provincial yahoo of an American, I couldn't help but think of this as I watched the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYwDV-7uDyc

Yes, I'm very ashamed of myself, but also laughing.

So I went ahead and downloaded the album out of morbid curiousity. After forcing myself to listen to it for a few minutes, here's my short review--

An addled old man, long sequestered from society, with a pleasantly gravelly bass voice sings nonsense lyrics while strumming an out-of-tune guitar.

Regarding the CC license in this case, I think it's great. It allowed me to listen to this sad figure's musical ramblings without commercial involvement. This recording is more of interest to criminologists than musicologists.

But don't take my word for it, have a listen yourself. You'll find the effect pathetic more than anything else.

Shipping costs out of the UK are prohibitively expensive, $70 just to ship half a kilogram. Any suggestions for a similar store stateside?

maybe they should fly virgin atlantic. ha ha ha ! VA is BoingBoing approved. ha ha ha!

sorry, it's a slow night.

of course, that he has a really hot black wife makes him not so much of a racist.

http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery/friends/Rikke/Rikkes.American.trip.htm

great stuff, especially the klan pix. thansk for pointing them out jon5555.

mazing how even the monsters of our mind seem human in person.

looks like a moonie utopia

is this thing on?

20,000 diapers.

do wives ever get the hint? or should husbands just buy things for themselves. Only the Missus knows.

noen,

Too bad it's not up to you where and when I comment, ha ha. I'm sorry that you didn't mention my Michael Vick story. That one would have had you apoplectic.

and thanks, for the links. I'm told by people on this comment thread that some people pay for the service. My server logs tell me that it would be money poorly spent.

Though really, I think Mott's defenders are thin on material if you have to go this off-topic to defend him.

It'd be nice of Mott to comment on this whole matter. Not likely to happen if the incident is fictional.

Only commenting because I'm being personally attacked, otherwise I agree with everyone that this is getting boring.

Oh heck, let's not deconstruct Antinous' post #5, because it isn't a proper deconstruction, just a rather shoddy line-by-line reading.

But I will comment on the last part, since it comes painfully close to libel, insinuating that I am being paid to attack the original post. This is innuendo with no basis in fact. It is, in fact, wholly untrue. Like many things you read on the Internet, there is little one can do to easily verify it one way or another. Caveat lector.

What is particularly troubling in Antinous' analyses is that while he uses a singular posting history to question the bona fides of those he disagrees with, that the original story is made by such a lone poster does not arouse his scrutiny. Caveat lector, whether you are sympathetic to the writer or not.

I don't believe the story, it sounds like bullshit. I am biased, having several friends who are adoptive parents, some from outside the US. But my skepticism, to repeat myself, is based on Occam's Razor: why would child brokers go through the risky procedure of a daytime kidnapping in a good neighborhood when there were plenty of defenseless young mothers in poor neighborhoods, with healthy children, who would be much easier to prey upon. Criminals, like the rest of us, like to do things the easy way. It's easier to victimize the poor and helpless than the rich and powerful.

It is a hair-raising and well-written story. Perhaps there are elements of truth to it, or the whole thing is true, but just because it is posted on this website, with no profession of critical verification, does not render as factual. There is no way to judge its truthfulness, other than through supposition, based on the presentation.

Microbuses full of well-dressed abductors were randomly targeting infants in one of the city's better neighborhoods? It seems like a risky, and unlikely plan, far riskier than just paying some poor desperate mother some money for her infant. Any outside verification that this is a bona fide story?

But I shouldn't let my skeptical nature get in the way of a good yarn.

-Dandavis,

IANAL, but I think that the statute of limitations applies to when charges can be brought, not when they have to be prosecuted.

In other words, since he was charged within the six year statute of limitations, then the charge can apply indefinitely until he is brought to trial.

We were pretty disappointed with the XO. It is definitely still a beta product. The mouse pad is very wonky. There is no easy way to update or get new applications. The networking is awful. The hardware itself seems rather rickety.

The kids find it amusing, but not for so very long.

I got caught up in all the hype in ordering, but I found, once it was in my hands, that all the reviewers were just aping the press releases and not casting a critical eye on the product itself.

There have been a lot of complaints similar to mine on the XO user forums. Also, there is a pretty strong fanboy element that flames anyone critical of their pet.

What I don't understand about XO is why the developers got caught up in the hardware. Computer hardware is cheap. A decent computer can be had for less than the price of a new XO, but the software is not ported to anything but the XO platform. Sop the project is not so much as getting the XO experience out there, as it is to selling the hardware. Sort of an Apple Computer for the Third World. Then there is this weird sniping against Intel because the dare to compete with the OLPC project.

So yes, I'm disappointed. I'm not a computer genius, but I'm certainly more computer literate than much of the intended audience for this product, and I can't make heads or tails of getting the thing to be truly useful.

Bah, just a lot of hype. Reminds me of Miro (sorry, I just couldn't resist.).

Whl fnd th slf-prmtn n Bng Bng t b t n ccptbl lvl, ws prtty prtrbd t fnd n flsh pst t b flshd dwn th mmry hl. Thnk gdnss fr Ggl's cch:

http://64.233.169.104/srch?q=cch:1hq2nV4hkJ:www.bngbng.nt/2008/02/23/pntgn-t-bsh-cl.html+pntgn&hl=n&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=s

pblctn's dtrl ntgrty s dcrsd whn t trs t rs t's mstks, rthr thn wnng p t thm. Bng Bng rrly ddrsss ts rrrs. Lnks r ftn pstd ndscrmntly, s lng s th prty ln s spprtd. f th stry ltr trns t t b rrnsly ctd, th mttr jst gts swpt ndr th rg.

Gd lck nd ll, bt yr crdblty tks ht frm sch ctns.

A few years ago there was a traveling exhibition called "The Last Expression: Art and Auschwitz". It documented the art created by concentration camp inmates while they were interned. One particularly striking piece was a graphic novel :

Mickey au Camp de Gurs - Publiée sans l'authorisation de Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse in the Gurs Internment Camp - Published without Walt Disney's Permission) and Le Journée d'un hébergé: Camp de Gurs 1942 (A Day in the Life of a Resident: Gurs Internment Camp, 1942)

By Horst Rosenthal (Breslau 1915 - Auschwitz 1942?)

Here are a few links giving examples of the work:

http://www1.yadvashem.org/Odot/prog/image_into.asp?id=4646&lang=EN&type_id=7&addr=/IMAGE_TYPE/4646.JPG

http://www1.yadvashem.org/Odot/prog/image_into.asp?id=4647&lang=EN&type_id=7&addr=/IMAGE_TYPE/4647.JPG

http://www1.yadvashem.org/Odot/prog/image_into.asp?id=4648&lang=EN&type_id=7&addr=/IMAGE_TYPE/4648.JPG

Sorry I couldn't find more. If you read French, the captions are funny.

Apropos of Boing Boing, worries about copyright were even a worry to those about to be shipped off to Auschwitz, as evidenced by the title.