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Tonight's a big night for President Obama. Starting at 9 p.m. Eastern, he'll be giving the annual State of the Union Address. Here's your chance to talk about all the drama. What do you think of the new seating arrangements? Which invited guest do you think has the most moving story? And, most importantly, which old senator do you think will doze off first? Personally, I'm hoping Obama sings the whole thing. Oh, and, if you're one of those people who doesn't have a TV, you can watch it here. Yeah, America! More »
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A couple of months ago, I spoke in front of a class taught by a crony of mine who teaches at a local university. The presentation went well — I thought — and the students asked questions that indicated that they'd been listening, and no one threw any rotten fruit in my direction and only one kid fell asleep. Afterward, my teacher friend told me that I'd done a good job, but that I had a tic that detracted from my credibility and air of authority: I have a horrible habit of punctuating my sentences with a billion uses of the word, "like." More »
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According to the Times, voice recognition is the next frontier in technology. As a five-year veteran of voice rec software, I'm extremely skeptical. More »
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I finished reading Push last Thursday and saw Precious the following day. Although the latter opens this Friday, I'm already horrified at a lot of the discussion prompted by the film. Did these people watch the same movie I did? More »
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A new study tackles the myth that "men are direct while women are tentative." I have to confess, it's one gender stereotype I used to believe. More »
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As mentioned briefly last night, Judith Krug, the founder of Banned Book Week and champion of the First Amendment, died Saturday in Evanston, Illinois. She was 69. More »
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Michael Grove, the shadow education secretary and a prominent Conservative in England, gave a speech today at a meeting organized by the think tank IPPR condemning lad mags (like Nuts, Zoo, and Maxim) for promoting "instant-hit hedonism" and presenting women as "permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available." The result, according to Grove, is that the magazines promote a deterioration of responsibility in young men towards women, leaving British communities with apparently the worst social situation that could ever occur: single-parent families. Yes, lad mags may present a sexist image of women, but is focusing on the importance of "male responsibility" towards women reinforcing sexist and misogynist attitudes towards women or destroying them? (A poll on the website of the Guardian reveals that, as of this morning, 54% of respondents think that lad mags do not "make men feckless".) More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5032654&view=rss&microfeed=true [www.youtube.com] State Representative Sally Kern was recorded in a recent speaking event, making egregious homophobic, ignorant,  bigoted, hateful remarks, namely, equating homosexuality with terrorism. This has been circulating over the weekend on YouTube, and plus Perez picked it up—landing numerous embarrassed responses from self-proclaimed Oklahomans. As an Oklahoman myself, I am just as mortified and heartbroken. More »
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