Sunday, January 31, 2016

in the wind | tweets from the space ending 01.31.16


1991-2014, US birth rate for 15–19 year-old females dropped 61%, from 61.8 to 24.2 per 1,000

it ads up | day-to-day e-cigarette advertising impressions + teenagers

sick of political correctness

Yes, some types of screen time are better than others 

Liars, Tyrants + Beers (Oh my!) | What worries parents right now

What's your school district's policy dealing with student-on-student sexual assault allegations

"the crouch before a leap" | a brief history + long view on digital reading
teaching kids to neutralize trolls + haters

87% of US kids 0 - 14 engage in non-screen traditional play each week

Ad features regular girl with regular body | everybody freak out

"...it appears that Gen Z may not be as enamored with luxury goods as millennials were"

are your kids' favorite Minecraft video channels "family friendly"?

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

read it yourself | 2016 State of the Union Address

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

Remarks by the President in the State of the Union Address

United States Capitol
Washington, D.C.  
9:10 P.M. EST
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans:  
Tonight marks the eighth year that I’ve come here to report on the State of the Union.  And for this final one, I’m going to try to make it a little shorter.  (Applause.)  I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa.  (Laughter.)  I've been there.  I'll be shaking hands afterwards if you want some tips.  (Laughter.)  
And I understand that because it’s an election season, expectations for what we will achieve this year are low.  But, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach that you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families.  So I hope we can work together this year on some bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform -- (applause) -- and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse.  (Applause.)  So, who knows, we might surprise the cynics again.  
But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead.  Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients.  And I will keep pushing for progress on the work that I believe still needs to be done.  Fixing a broken immigration system.  (Applause.)  Protecting our kids from gun violence.  (Applause.)  Equal pay for equal work.  (Applause.)  Paid leave.  (Applause.)  Raising the minimum wage. (Applause.)  All these things still matter to hardworking families.  They’re still the right thing to do.  And I won't let up until they get done.
But for my final address to this chamber, I don’t want to just talk about next year.  I want to focus on the next five years, the next 10 years, and beyond.  I want to focus on our future.

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

read it yourself | Remarks by the President on Common-Sense Gun Safety Reform 01.05.16

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

Remarks by the President on Common-Sense Gun Safety Reform

East Room
11:43 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Please have a seat.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.
Mark, I want to thank you for your introduction.  I still remember the first time we met, the time we spent together, and the conversation we had about Daniel.  And that changed me that day.  And my hope, earnestly, has been that it would change the country. 
Five years ago this week, a sitting member of Congress and 18 others were shot at, at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona.  It wasn’t the first time I had to talk to the nation in response to a mass shooting, nor would it be the last.  Fort Hood.  Binghamton.  Aurora.  Oak Creek.  Newtown.  The Navy Yard.  Santa Barbara.  Charleston.  San Bernardino.  Too many.
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Too many.
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Too many.
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Too many.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks to a great medical team and the love of her husband, Mark, my dear friend and colleague, Gabby Giffords, survived.  She’s here with us today, with her wonderful mom.  (Applause.)  Thanks to a great medical team, her wonderful husband, Mark -- who, by the way, the last time I met with Mark  -- this is just a small aside -- you may know Mark’s twin brother is in outer space.  (Laughter.)  He came to the office, and I said, how often are you talking to him?  And he says, well, I usually talk to him every day, but the call was coming in right before the meeting so I think I may have not answered his call -- (laughter) -- which made me feel kind of bad.  (Laughter.)    That’s a long-distance call.  (Laughter.)  So I told him if his brother, Scott, is calling today, that he should take it.  (Laughter.)  Turn the ringer on.  (Laughter.) 
I was there with Gabby when she was still in the hospital, and we didn’t think necessarily at that point that she was going to survive.  And that visit right before a memorial -- about an hour later Gabby first opened her eyes.  And I remember talking to mom about that.  But I know the pain that she and her family have endured these past five years, and the rehabilitation and the work and the effort to recover from shattering injuries.
And then I think of all the Americans who aren’t as fortunate.  Every single year, more than 30,000 Americans have their lives cut short by guns -- 30,000.  Suicides.  Domestic violence.  Gang shootouts.  Accidents.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost brothers and sisters, or buried their own children.  Many have had to learn to live with a disability, or learned to live without the love of their life. 
A number of those people are here today.  They can tell you some stories.  In this room right here, there are a lot of stories.  There’s a lot of heartache.  There’s a lot of resilience, there’s a lot of strength, but there’s also a lot of pain.  And this is just a small sample.
The United States of America is not the only country on Earth with violent or dangerous people.  We are not inherently more prone to violence.  But we are the only advanced country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency.  It doesn't happen in other advanced countries.  It’s not even close.  And as I’ve said before, somehow we’ve become numb to it and we start thinking that this is normal.
And instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, this has become one of our most polarized, partisan debates -- despite the fact that there’s a general consensus in America about what needs to be done.  That’s part of the reason why, on Thursday, I’m going to hold a town hall meeting in Virginia on gun violence.  Because my goal here is to bring good people on both sides of this issue together for an open discussion. 

Friday, January 01, 2016

in the wind | tweets from the space ending 12.31.15


the year in gun violence | If you're OK with things as they are for a little longer, no action is required

"Take the redemption of the ungodly and the love of enemy out of the Christian faith, and you un-Christian it" buff.ly/1O93buU

2002–14 teen DUI-alcohol fell from 16.2 - 6.6%. DUI-alcohol+pot dropped from 2.2 - 1.4% buff.ly/1MioB7E

what would cool Jesus do? | a remarkable piece of writing in this season of longing

a bracing - and, I think, fair - commentary on male fragility in these United States - you …

Meet Your Second Wife | SNL (+ comedy) at its best

short + sweet | The Editorial Board of the Washington Post on the spirit of Jesus this Christmas

comfort + joy | "scaring people is a fantastic way to sell things"

Pastor: "my family of faith is wrong on guns."

No father should ever have clear cause to feel this... but here we are. Let's get busy [h/t @EphremSmith]

Thanks, , for affirming that . May your tribe increase

think of it as video dim sum @ the closing of the year