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George Washington slave book pulled after criticism

A children's picture book about George Washington and his slaves has been pulled by publishers Scholastic.

A Birthday Cake for George Washington tells the story of Washington's slave Hercules, a cook, and his daughter.

It had been criticised for its images of smiling slaves, and described as being "highly problematic".

Scholastic said in a statement that without more historical context, the book "may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves".

The book, telling the story of Hercules and Delia making a cake together, had been released on 5 January. It was met with a barrage of one-star reviews on Amazon, with readers describing it as "disgustingly inaccurate", and one writing: "I can't believe people are celebrating a children's story that depicts happy, joyful slaves."

Scholastic's description of the story had read: "Everyone is buzzing about the president's birthday! Especially George Washington's servants, who scurry around the kitchen preparing to make this the best celebration ever. Oh, how George Washington loves his cake! And, oh, how he depends on Hercules, his head chef, to make it for him. Hercules, a slave, takes great pride in baking the president's cake."

Auschwitz price-fixing claims: Israel police arrest nine

Nine executives at Israeli travel agencies have been arrested on suspicion of fixing the price of high school students' trips to former Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz.

Police say they are investigating allegations of a secret price-fixing arrangement by companies who organise the trips for students.

Investigators have raided the homes of executives and frozen bank accounts.

At least six travel agencies are accused of violating competition rules.

They are suspected of colluding on prices before responding to an education ministry tender to take students to Holocaust memorials.

When the Israeli education ministry approached a number of different companies, it received identical quotes.

Reports say the alleged collusion was aimed at artificially inflating prices.

Rubio: "we make deals with Iran, we betray our allies like Israel"

...You forgot to say Saudi Arabia.

Long exchange between Trump and Cruz over Cruz's citizenship. It seems most of the boos around this portion are pro-Trump.

~40 minutes in. Carson: "I was mentioned." Host: "You were?" Carson: "He said 'everybody'."

~86 minutes in. Christie trying to be the NSA's top cheerleader yet again. No Rand on stage to balance him out anymore.

~95 minutes in. Kasich: "I believe in the PTT."

~100 minutes in. Trump cuts in to call Jeb weak. Are the boos for Trump or Jeb?

~124 minutes in. Some kind of heckling. "We want ----."

Christie calls FBI Director Comey a friend.

~131 minutes in. Rubio calls Snowden a traitor who committed treason while bashing Cruz.

~134 minutes in. Bush talks about encryption/cybersecurity. "NSA should be put in charge of the civilian side of [cybersecurity]." "If you can encrypt messages, ISIS can." Narrowly avoids endorsing backdoors, but he's a Bush so we know how much that's worth.

Kasich's closing statement mentions reform of military contractor spending. Bencarson.com's closing statement mentions bencarson.com. Rubio: a Hillary Clinton-based closing statement. Cruz: mentions a Benghazi movie, panders to military and law enforcement. Trump: mentions the 10 sailors in Iran, something about making America good again.

I Went to a Cannabis-Themed Gala and Saw the Future

Marketed as "Canada's first vapour gala," the Go Greene Winter Gala was held at a "private upscale location" made known to ticketholders the day of. Go Greene is an advocacy group that promotes diversity within the cannabis community. It was founded by former Alaska-based TV journalist Charlo Greene, who quit her job on air to become a full-time activist.

[...] A table outside the door of the party room was stacked with goodies like THC-infused soda, cookies, and candy. I passed, and by that I mean I stuffed them into my purse, because I knew I wouldn't be able to interview people baked. Once outfitted with green wristbands, we headed into what was akin to a massive hotbox. There was green lighting, gold balloons that spelled out "Go Greene," and a green carpet that was made of felt or something very similar to felt and was secured to the floor with visible packing tape.

The 80 or so guests were instructed to dress to impress, and many of them obliged, wearing gowns, tuxedos, and random head gear. (I put on a grey dress that I wear to work all the time because I'm lazy.) They posed for photos in front of a backdrop branded with the names of different cannabis industry sponsors—the kind normally reserved for film festivals and obnoxious clubs.

[...] Caterers made their way around the room carrying trays of prosciutto-wrapped melon and black bean cakes, while hip-hop artists and DJs performed on a slightly elevated stage. The bar was manned by two dabtenders with blowtorches. (There was no booze on premise, which is probably for the best.)

Sarah Gilles, who works at promotions/events company The High Five, was serving up weed juice shots and giving away swag bags filled with her cannabis-infused beauty products like body butter and a scrub. She told me weed is responsible for her glowing "420 face" and that people who suffer from skin conditions and pain should consider using it.

[...] My photographer and I were separated briefly until I found her sitting alone on a bright red dentist's chair beside the bathroom, hair tousled and eyes glazed.

"I did dabs," she said. "I seriously actually can't feel my face right now." Her words convinced me to do one, after which we posted up on a couch in the loft discussing all the times we'd ghosted on events because we were too high. Then we did exactly that.

In hindsight, I realized the weed ball was novel for more than just its atmosphere; there seemed to be no fear of being busted by cops and, for the first time in my experience reporting on drugs, no one hesitated to give me their name.

But the party is only a small reflection of movements taking place across the country. Pot shops (including a recreational one with a dab bar), already well-established on Canada's west coast, are making their way east. Judges have been calling bullshit on possession-related cases due to the "ridiculous" laws they hinge on, and politicians are vocalizing their visions for having cannabis sold in liquor stores. Dealers are even hosting holiday sales.

So while pragmatists will tell you legalization is a long way from being a reality, in some ways it seems it's already here.

Other selected stories:

Google dives into virtual reality with new division and new boss

Yahoo dumps 13.5TB of users' news interaction data for machine eating

Intel: For Mainstream Gamers, Our IGPs Are Equivalent to Discrete GPUs

Plan For Cuba Ferry Terminal Reveals Shift In Miami Politics

Microsoft Releases Its JavaScript Engine As Open Source 'ChakraCore'

The Guardian reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland has advised its clients to:

“Sell everything except high quality bonds. This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small.”

There is a warning that the current situation is strongly reminiscent of 2008 just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

In another report, there are more prophecies of doom.

What's going on?

It's not all about Oculus:

Tom's Hardware

JB McRee, Sr. Manager of Product Marketing of Virtual Reality at HTC confirmed to us that the Vive headset will in fact be available for pre-order on February 29, 2016. HTC doesn’t have any other details to share about the retail release, but McRee told said the details will be announced prior to the pre-order date.

Wikipedia

HTC Vive is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display being developed in co-production between HTC and Valve Corporation. It is also part of Valve Corporation's SteamVR project.

Today was a beautiful sunny day here in Portland. Cold, but clear.

I earned $14.50 in tips just by singing for twenty minutes.

I only know twenty minutes worth of songs. I always sing the same songs, I'm growing rather weary of them:

The Star Spangled Banner
America the Beautiful
My Country 'Tis of Thee
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Oh Clementine
You Are My Sunshine
House of the Rising Sun
Somewhere Over the Rainbow

It's hard to find songs that work well for me, singing both solo and a capella. But there are such songs I just got to find them.

I only sang for twenty minutes today because that's all the money I required for what I want to do today and tomorrow. But most people work full-time, why shouldn't I, by singing?

A room in Portland is about $600.

Next time I sing I'm going to keep singing until I have some money that I can just save.

To be edited

When Will Potential 2016 Candidates Discuss the ‘Extraterrestrial Issue’?

Former Obama aide and well-known X-Files obsessive John Podesta tweeted this month that his "biggest failure of 2014" was "Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files."

Many assume that Podesta will soon sign up for the still-hypothetical Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, which means that the UFO lobby might just endorse Clinton for a second time if decides to run.

Stephen Bassett, head of the Paradigm Research Group (which runs a blog about presidential UFO news and hosted an off-brand hearing for ex-members of Congress on government transparency in matters extraterrestrial), told the Huffington Post in 2007 that Hillary Clinton "knows this issue is not trivial." Nearly eight years later, Bassett is still trying to access any government documents on UFOs, and still hoping that Clinton will reach out to constituents like him.

CIA Cover-up Alleged in JFK's 'Secret UFO Inquiry'

So, I've been seeing this girl for about 3 months now. I don't really know if she qualifies as a 'girlfriend' or not. Probably not, but it's close.

Anyways, I've been seeing this girl for about 3 months now. We usually are able to get together every week or two, so I've seen her around 10 times. Before Christmas, I went over to her house and met her boyfriend (primary). I was pretty nervous to meet her boyfiend. You can never be sure that partners are fully on board, or not, until you actually meet them. There was a slight chance that I would get my ass kicked (I'm more of a flighter than a fighter), so I was pretty nervous to meet him. Anyways, he turned out to be a really cool guy that I liked a lot.

Last night was my turn to introduce her to my wife. She was nervous. I was nervous. We spent the evening together while my wife was at work, and they met as my wife got home from work.

It was a little awkward. My wife was tired from a day at work. My girlfriend was nervous to meet my wife. I was nervous for both of them. I didn't know what to do while they met. I didn't know if I should touch one (or both) of them or not. I ended up kind of standing between them in an awkward triangle in the kitchen of my house. Small talk ensued.

Yes, it was awkward, but it went well. As well as a meeting like that could go, I suppose. We chatted for about 10 minutes, then I saw her out.

Everything is still going well between my wife and I. She is still not pregnant yet, despite ~8 months of trying or so. I've looked at the stats, and 80% of fertile couples conceive within one year, so there is nothing to worry about yet, but it's hard not to go down that thought path. We will continue trying. It took my mom almost 3 years to get pregnant with me, so...

I'm also thinking of trying to line up more dates again. It's been really, really nice not getting depressed over dating (poly dating as a male is super, super depressing), but I think I might take another try anyways. I really like the girl I have been seeing the last few months, but we aren't able to see each other as much as I would ideally like (because of work or other obligations), so I'm tossing around that idea.

I'm not really sure what the protocol would be for that though... I already talked to my wife about possibly trying to line up another date with someone else, but should I have the same conversation with the new girl that I have been seeing? It's only been 3 months, so I'm not really sure... I think it's a courtesy to check in with your partners before looking for another, but, I mean, we've only had ~10 dates, so... I'm kinda leaning towards just looking and if I manage to find anything to let her know, but I'm not sure...

Anyways, after a year and a half, things are still progressing well. I haven't screwed everything up yet!

When I was asked to make this address I wondered what I had to say to you boys who are graduating. And I think I have one thing to say. If you wish to be useful, never take a course that will silence you. Refuse to learn anything that implies collusion, whether it be a clerkship or a curacy, a legal fee or a post in a university. Retain the power of speech no matter what other power you may lose. If you can take this course, and in so far as you take it, you will bless this country. In so far as you depart from this course, you become dampers, mutes, and hooded executioners.

As a practical matter, a mere failure to speak out upon occassions where no statement is asked or expect from you, and when the utterance of an uncalled for suspicion is odious, will often hold you to a concurrence in palpable iniquity. Try to raise a voice that will be heard from here to Albany and watch what comes forward to shut off the sound. It is not a German sergeant, nor a Russian officer of the precinct. It is a note from a friend of your father's, offering you a place at his office. This is your warning from the secret police. Why, if you any of young gentleman have a mind to make himself heard a mile off, you must make a bonfire of your reputations, and a close enemy of most men who would wish you well.

I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard. "In a few years," reasons one of them, "I shall have gained a standing, and then I shall use my powers for good." Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought, his ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say. I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.

John J. Chapman
Commencement Address to the Graduating Class of Hobart College, 1900

I hear what many of you posted regarding my reputation. But I made the decision to burn my reputation in the Spring of 1997, in response to the Heaven's Gate UFO Cult Mass Suicide. I've been publishing openly about my mental illness ever since then, in hopes of pointing out to others that reality is not as concrete as it may seem.

If my present consultancy doesn't work out, maybe I'll start a donut shop. No one would care that I'm a wingnut provided the donuts tasted good.

I have lots of other ideas.

I'm not saying you're wrong, rather, that to wreck my reputation was my conscious, carefully-considered choice.

Just before I posted my first web page about my illness, I carried a hardcopy around with me, to ask friends, family and my mental health professionals whether I should really publish it. All but one encouraged me to do so. That one who said I should not, had been stigmatized due to her own disability. I chose to publish in part to erase the stigma against people like her.