Friday, January 25

Black Men more likely to be in prison than married or college educated

Forget the esoteric discussions about statistics…This is what is extremely worrisome

“….others have been arguing for a long time that incarceration is by now a modal event in the life-course for young black men. Black men are more likely to go prison than complete college or serve in the military, and black, male, high-school dropouts are more likely to spend a year in prison than to get married. “

What kind of a society are we bring up? In 30 years time, what will these people and their children do? And its worse

… incarceration is so common in some sociodemographic groups that there are few comparable individuals in the population who have not experienced incarceration. The ubiquity of incarceration among low-skill black men undercuts research designs that require comparison groups to isolate the effects of incarceration from other factors like race, low education, or living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. A significant body of causally oriented research uses quasi-experimental designs … that compare the outcomes of inmates or former inmates with similarly-situated individuals who have not been to prison or jail. There is no valid comparison group for many of America’s inmates exactly because incarceration now inheres in whole sociodemographic groups ..

What are we talking about here? that there is nothing we can do? because they simply do not know any other way of living?

Its a similar discussion about the hundreds of thousands of families here in the UK where nobody has EVER done a bit of job. What kind of kids will come out of these families? There are QUARTER OF A MILLION kids in these families. What is the upbringing they are getting?

Thursday, January 24

What are the 10 Most Important Documents in American History?

Quite an interesting survey

1) The Declaration of Independece
2) The U.S. Constitution
3) The Bill of Rights
4) The Louisiana Purchase Treaty
5) The Emancipation Proclamation
6) The 19th Amendment to the Constitution
7) The 13th Amendment to the Constitution
8) The Gettysburg Address
9) The Civil Rights Act
10) The Social Security Act

(and the spelling mistake is on the history site, heh, ironic, eh?). Note that the top 3 were already defaulted to the The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

but quite fascinating to see the relative rankings, eh? Why would the Louisiana Purchase Treaty go on the top?

Wednesday, January 23

You got a opportunity for a job - Bhaskar Dasgupta -

heh, this is a new one for me, I got this email yesterday…fascinating, i am so going to apply for this…£1500 for 2-3 hours per day? It has to be kosher, no? lol

Smile

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Hill [mailto:it.multimedia.uk@gmail.com]
Sent: 21 January 2013 11:23
To: Bhaskar Dasgupta
Subject: You got a opportunity for a job - Bhaskar Dasgupta - Mon. Jan.21, 2013, 1:31 PM

Welcome Bhaskar Dasgupta,

We are delighted to offer you employment as Financial Services Officer We have selected your resume from jobsite.co.uk.

The salary for position offered is 1,500 pounds per month. The standard group benefit plans and fringe benefits will be covered. The job details will be provided to you with return e-mail.

Your working timetable will be Monday through Friday for 2-3 hours a day. Trial period - 30 working days from the day you apply.

Please contact with HR Department at it.multimedia.uk@gmail.com if you agree to the specified terms and conditions.

Regards,

Jason Hill

HR Manager

Tuesday, January 22

One of the bibliographic hero’s

I was bidding for a set of books on ebay and came across this name. John Leland.

What a great man in the annals of bibiliophilia. I quote from his wiki entry.

In 1533, the king appears to have entrusted Leland with a document, "a moste gratius commission" (or principis diploma as he called it in Latin), which authorized him to examine and use the libraries of all religious houses in England.[10] Leland spent the next few years travelling from house to house, for the most part shortly before they were dissolved, compiling numerous lists of significant or unusual books in their libraries.[11] About 1535, he met the ex-Carmelite churchman and fellow antiquary John Bale, who much admired his work and offered his assistance.[2]

In 1536, not long after the First Suppression Act commanding the dissolution of lesser monasteries was passed, Leland lamented the spoliation of monastic libraries and addressed Thomas Cromwell in a letter seeking aid for the rescue of books.[2][12] He complained that

"The Germans perceive our desidousness, and do send daily young scholars hither that spoileth [books], and cutteth them out of libraries, returning home and putting them abroad as monuments of their own country."[12]

In the 1530s and 1540s, the royal library was reorganised to accommodate hundreds of books that were previously kept in monastic collections. Leland himself describes how Henry's palaces at Greenwich, Hampton Court and Westminster were adapted for the purpose. Leland's part in this is uncertain.

In humanist fashion, Leland styled himself antiquarius, a title which was at one time interpreted as referring to a formal appointment as 'king's antiquary': however, it is now understood to have been merely Leland's own preferred way of describing himself.[13] There is no evidence that he personally oversaw the relocation of the books to their new home or received a librarian's wages. What he did do was to compile his lists of important volumes, and to take measures to encourage their preservation.

What a man, eh? a man who rescued books. Hats off to you, Sir.