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29 May 2010 16:16

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U.S.: Census 2010: The ever-evolving “What’s Your Race” question

  • Few questions are as controversial as the race question on the Census box. What’s surprising about it is that it started out as complicated (due to slavery), became simple again and then became complicated again (due to political correctness). Racebox.org has gathered all the census sheets from 1790 on. Great historical documents. source

17 Feb 2010 21:55

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Offbeat: South Africa giveth and taketh away lottery prizes very quickly

  • Stanley Philander wasn’t the big winner of Saturday’s PowerBall drawing. Whoops. Philander, 52, gladly took the $12 million prize, but another woman really won. He had bought a ticket with the winning numbers after the drawing and went to pick up his prize. Due to the large divide between rich and poor in the country, Philander’s family had to be taken to a secret location for their own protection after winning. We wonder if he’s going to need another secret location after losing. source

19 Nov 2009 09:50

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World: Caster Semenya, the sorta-kinda-girl, gets to keep her gold medal

  • Because Caster has been found to be innocent of any wrong, she will then retain her gold medal, retain her title of 800m world champion and retain her prize money.
  • A message from the South African sports ministry • Describing the decision to allow the runner, under tons of scrutiny due to gender tests that were perhaps a little too public and revealing for their own good, to keep her medal. We have to imagine, though, that it’s going to be tough for Caster Semenya to run in the future because of this controversy. • source

20 Aug 2009 22:40

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Sports: Caster Semenya could be a fast female, or a speedy sir

“Looks like a man and runs like a man, it might be a dude.” That’s how our girlfriend put it. source

19 Aug 2009 11:07

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Culture, Tech: Anonymous blogger cattiness isn’t protected, a judge says

  • A blog named Skanks in NYC wrote this mean, biting statement about model Liskula Cohen: “How old is this skank? 40 something? She’s a psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank.” Cohen saw it and got mad. source
  • Cohen sued a few months ago, and on Monday, the court ruled that she was allowed to sue the anonymous blogger for defamation. And worse: Google has to reveal her identity. Yikes. This is bad precedent. source