effex | Internet Readalong

Let's start with disaster relief:

* The flooding in Australia is still bad, bad, bad, but you probably know that already. Both the Australian Red Cross and the Queensland Government homepage are good places to donate (via

copperbadge).

* There's also flooding in Brazil, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. And Columbia is still recovering from flooding in early December. Googling gets me the Brazilian Red Cross (in Portuguese), the Philippine Red Cross, the Malaysian Red Crescent, the Thai Red Cross, the Sri Lanka Red Cross, and the Columbian Red Cross (in Spanish). Anyone know of other repudiable organizations?

* It's been a year since the earthquake in Haiti and they're still rebuilding (while fighting a malaria outbreak) -

help_haiti has a roundup of organizations still operating in the country.

I've been reading a lot about the shooting in Tucson and how it relates to the current (US) national dialogue (for a given definition of 'dialogue'). I'm struggling to pin down a personal opinion because yes, the rightwing rhetoric of violence and hate does not exist in a vacuum and yes, Sarah Palin painted a target on Rep. Giffords, using violent rhetoric, and then someone shot Rep. Giffords. On the other hand, there's no evidence (last I read, someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the shooter was a Tea Party member or paid any attention the Tea Party movement. Not all rightwing extremists are Tea Partiers, correlation, causation, jumping to conclusions, etc. THAT SAID, dude was sure as fuck a terrorist, blaming his actions on his mental health is ableist, and the current cultural clime is dangerous and damaging as hell. Also, Sarah Palin is an ignorant asshat.

Enough opinionating, on with the links:

* Why is nobody calling Jared Loughner a terrorist?

* On Tiger Beatdown - The Arizona Shooting: An FAQ

* On Slacktivist - Only a crazy person would take what we say seriously

* From Ta-Nehisi Coates - On Loughner

Comments were good reading on all of these last time I checked.

Other things:

* From Sara Mayeux, one of Ta-Nehisi Coates' recent guest bloggers Fun with numbers, high school student drug use edition

* From Jamelle Bouie, also a guest blogger - A brief history of welfare for middle class Americans

* On boingboing - US orders Twitter to hand over account data on Wikileaks and multiple Wikileaks supporters

* You've heard about the 'Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior' article on the Wall Street Journal, yes? Turns out it had been edited without [Chua's] input, and by the time she saw the version they intended to run, she was limited in what she could do to alter it.

"I was very surprised," [Chua] says. "The Journal basically strung together the most controversial sections of the book. And I had no idea they'd put that kind of a title on it. But the worst thing was, they didn't even hint that the book is about a journey, and that the person at the beginning of the book is different from the person at the end -- that I get my comeuppance and retreat from this very strict Chinese parenting model."

Good job, WSJ.

Okay, onto the fun shiny stuff:

* Recs! I was thinking about putting together more formal recs for Chak De! India and Coffee Prince, but it turns out fandom has done this for me. Sweet. From

dharmavati: Yuletide Fandom Promotion: Chak De! India (2007). From

darkeyedwolf: Coffee Prince: Living the dream of punching your boss in the face!. From

topazera: Six Reasons Coffee Prince is Completely Addictive. In conclusion: these two things are awesome, you should watch them.

* The deadline for submissions to

glass_icarus's Potluck festival is January 21st. I can't wait until this goes live.

* Porn Battle XI is open for prompts until January 21st and is actively encouraging prompts about chromatic characters [goes to do that].

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