Author Archives: Emily Shaw

Ukraine is in chaos, and the United States is paying attention. Ukraine has become increasingly interesting to Western audiences as initial protests against the president’s abandonment of a trade pact grew into mass violence. You know what else happened today? … Continue reading →

Mark Zuckerberg recently had Facebook purchase a mobile computing software program called “WhatsApp” for $19 BILLION dollars. I feel a lot like Dr. Evil when I write that. As all of the news coverage will tell you, this is for … Continue reading →

Some of today’s thoughts about gender roles. 1. I woke up this morning with an idea for a mobile app. In my mind it was called “Dadabout” or “Dad About Town” and it would resolve the problem that there is … Continue reading →

  My favorite thing about my new commute scenario, in addition to the gas savings, is that I have a daily hour of book reading time on the bus. I finally got around to reading The Spirit Level: Why Greater … Continue reading →

Came across these maps from Business Insider while tooling around on Slate. Take a look at the state-level patterns across these two phenomena. Not to say anything causal, naturally, but it appears that if you want to avoid being murdered … Continue reading →

Archaic Torsos by David Shapiro You must change your life fourteen times. Change your way of living like writing. You must change your method and your mind. You Have to transform life fourteen times. Change life. It has become necessary … Continue reading →

LePage proposal would end assistance to asylum seekers. In this time of ice storms, sluggish employment, and reduced federal food assistance, our governor celebrates the season by cutting our state’s last-resort assistance to the poor. The logic? They are people … Continue reading →

‘Tis finals time here on the old factory floor. For those of us working with a student body that is largely first-generation college attendees we’re watching some especially critical dice rolls. Will students choose to focus on their final assessments? … Continue reading →

Politics is popping up like a Jiffy-Pop pan on a hot stovetop around here! Getting into a pretty exciting season. I’ve got several posts in various stages of development but I’ve got too much going on to finish any one … Continue reading →

(Percentage of each county that receives SNAP benefits: Lincoln county lowest, at 8.2%; Washington county highest, at 22.4%. Data is from the US Census American Community Survey Selected Economic Characteristics 2011 5-year estimates.) We’ve seen some coverage of cuts to … Continue reading →