Damn!

The Democrats were slaughtered in yesterdays midterm elections in the U.S.A. The Republicans won a majority in both the house and the senate.

The above picture comes from the first page of Huffington Post, via J.M.G.

Damn, damn, damn! And did I say damn?

Picture of the Day - 217

"Rainy days" by Priscila Olrich

If you wish to see more of Priscila's photography, please visit her Flickr photostream here.

No Hate Speech Movement

The Council of Europe is an international organisation in Strasbourg which comprises 47 countries of Europe. It was set up to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe.

"Young People Combating Hate Speech Online is a project being run by the Council of Europe’s youth sector between 2012 and 2014. It aims to combat racism and discrimination, as expressed online as hate speech, by mobilizing young people and youth organisations to recognize and act against such human rights violations. The project is a tribute to youth participation and co-management. It was initiated by the youth representatives in the Joint Council on Youth, the committee which brings together youth leaders belonging of the Advisory Council on Youth and the governmental youth representatives of the European Steering Committee on Youth. The project is therefore being carried out by young people with the support of governmental youth institutions.

The campaign is not designed to limit freedom of expression online. Neither is it about everyone being nice to each other online. It is against hate speech online in all its forms, including those that most affect young people, such as cyber-bullying and cyber-hate. The campaign focuses on human rights education, youth participation and media literacy.

The goals of the campaign are:

• To raise awareness about hate speech online and the risks it poses for democracy and individual young people.

• To promote media and Internet literacy.

• To support young people in standing up for human rights, online and offline.

• To reduce the levels of acceptance of online hate speech.

• To mobilise, train and create a network of online youth activists to defend human rights.

• To map hate speech online and develop tools to combat it.

• To support and show solidarity to people and groups targeted by hate speech online.

• To advocate the development of and consensus on European policy instruments combating hate speech.

• To develop youth participation and citizenship online."

Read more about this campaign: http://www.nohatespeechmovement.org/

Tipped by the blog Vanadis ser på saken

Sleep

One of our present Western work-culture's main characteristics is that we are all living under the dictatorship of the early birds. I'm not a worse person because I need to sleep longer in the mornings.

Picture of the Day - 216

"Coming together is just the beginning..." by Tessa Auguscik

If you wish to see more of Tessa's photography, please visit her Flickr photostream here.

At the Zeus Fish Market

Michelangelo Vilota, the owner of Zeus Gay Club, and Fran Ghoststar, builder the of the new and improved Zeus, have been hard at work with the revamping of the sim. Their hard work is starting to pay off and it is really coming along nicely.

Can We?

"I pledge to create a short film titled 'Going Home', in which we visualize a utopia for women, where, unlike today, mistrust and fear don’t dictate actions and decisions,” says director Vikas Bahl.

"This video shows a utopia where a woman can do what she did with no problem, a place where men are always helpful and polite, and a woman is always safe. It does a good job of showing why women feel scared even when guys are trying to be helpful. Not all men are like the men in the video, and women know that, but a woman doesn't know a man's intentions when she first encounters them.

If you watched this video and kept thinking, "Why is she talking to them!? Why didn't she just call her mom!? Why did she let them give her a ride!?!?" the way you're feeling is how victim-blaming happens. She had no choice, really, but to accept help from these men. And if they hadn't been helpful, it would not have been her fault. Remember that."