Day: 2008-08-05
Got Breastmilk? Californian Milk Board Threatens Batik Artist Mum
Remember when Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist was stomped on by Big Pork for selling a T-shirt saying “The other white milk”?
“Your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board’s mark, in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption”,
the Pork Board whined, with a side serve of insinuation that The Lactivist was a sexual lactation fetish site. (Or were they really, truly freaked out that she is just fine with toddlers and preschoolers breastfeeding, not just infants – and thought that that any association with all that booby malarkey would reflect badly on an organisation that intensively tortures pigs before making them into bacon? We’ll never know.)
The gap between American justice and that of the rest of the world is enormous and growing
Xeni Jardin notes that it’s official: more than 1% of the US population is now in jail or prison. The stats one finds can be a little confusing because of that particular US distinction (between jail (a remand facility for those awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanours) and prison (convicted criminals only)), but most studies find between 750 to 800 persons imprisoned per 100,000 US populace. Other nations treat jail/gaol and prison as synonyms, so their incarceration rates may well include those held on remand or for misdemeanours, making the difference in figures between the US and other countries even more striking.
“For want of a transporter”
Despite several attempts, the cremated remains of actor James Doohan (Scotty in Star Trek) have not yet made it out into space.
While the family understands that being on the cutting edge of technology can mean that things often do not go as planned, they’re not finding this easy. His son Ehrich writes:
Hoyden About Town 