Cleaned out dryer vent.

We are lucky the house didn't catch fire.

*******

Conflict between endangered predators and cattle-owning Masai significantly helped by project using African myrrh trees

http://bit.ly/PTQM7j

Responding to escalating unrest in their country, hundreds of Jews have been fleeing Ukraine since the start of year and heading to Israel.

http://bit.ly/1jqfrec

Weird bright light on Mars

http://bit.ly/1incBmY

What If Everything You Knew About Poverty Was Wrong?

http://bit.ly/1p0VpJk

OkCupid's CEO Donated to an Anti-Gay Campaign Once, Too

Wait, what?

http://bit.ly/1indDPG

The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide if a New Mexico wedding photographer was within her rights when she refused to work at a same-sex ceremony.

http://usat.ly/1hxh4lV

The eight Staten Island Ferry boats that carry 60 million people every year are ill-designed, poorly maintained safety hazards, a ferry captain has revealed

http://bit.ly/1kmA92m

A Recovering US Is Outpacing Other Major Economies

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=299719679

Most immigrants deported under Obama had thin or no criminal record.

It's not clever or helpful to say "well, they were here illegally!!!", and yet, people always do. Why do people do that? It's like they think that somehow contributes to the discussion.

http://time.com/51518/obama-deportations-immigration/

NYPD and FDNY brawl at a charity hockey game. I just... Ugh.

http://time.com/51390/police-firefighters-brawl-hockey/

Scientists Invented An Injectable Oxygen Particle That Lets You Survive Without Breathing

http://www.geekosystem.com/new-oxygen-particle/

The right-wing is getting riled up about food stamps, again. Sean Hannity even dedicated an entire hour to the food stamp program last week, with predictable messaging about how it is exploding and a scourge on the country. While the purpose of this manufactured outrage is to get rid of or dramatically shrink the food stamp program, I think a better move is to go in the opposite direction and just give everyone food stamps.

http://mattbruenig.com/2013/04/10/just-give-everyone-food-stamps/

Only 28 percent of Fox News climate segments are accurate

That high?

http://bit.ly/1mVsV5p
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/images/gw/Cable_news_piecharts_horiz.jpg

Surviving the post-employment economy

http://aje.me/1eNtG96

States try to block cities’ transit plans

http://grist.org/cities/states-try-to-block-cities-transit-plans/

I'm reposting this for the following comment:

"In the mid-1990s, I was a high school teacher in East Flatbush, in Brooklyn, NY. My students were all minorities and low income.

I taught a humanities class. We would do a section on art history. I would give extra credit if they would visit the Met, and look at some of the art that we had discussed. I would tell the students that the entry fee is suggested, and they are allowed to pay just one penny to enter.

Some would go every year, and invariably, they would report being made to feel like second class citizens because they didnt pay the full amount. In three or four years, I must have had 50 students who reported being made to feel low by the ticket sellers at the Met. Never once did one report that the Met was happy to have a low income minority visitor, if anything they reported being followed by security after being called out on the ticket purchase line.

From my own personal experience, the Met does not want certain residents of the city to visit the museum."

In that same time period, I was also a high schooler and also went to the Met and the Natural History Museum using "suggested donation", and by and large the cashiers joked with me about it. I want to believe that these kids were taking entirely the wrong end of the stick, or that I was simply oblivious, but I suspect that both they and I were getting exactly the right impression of people's reactions to us. That thought does not make me a happy Connie.

http://www.metafilter.com/138077/Why-Dont-More-Poor-Kids-Get-to-See-Art

The woman who lost a dog and gained 200 sloths

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26734289

Somebody downstairs keeps helpfully letting the new cat in.

Which would be great if we weren't trying to avoid unsupervised interactions between him and the others. Poor Callie is a nervous wreck, and Mama Cat is super grumpy. I need to put a sign up on either side of the back door.