The Sunday Cat loves “kitty litter”

 

 “Rick Ordonez: Kitty Litter”, an exhibition at Mid-City Arts, a street-art gallery in Los Angeles, features the work of a graffiti artist whose tags of cats have appeared across Los Angeles. 

 

A work from the show (I think):

His art, unfortunately, earned him 90 days in jail and 300 hours of community work.

The long arm of the law intervened in July, when investigators with the Sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau caught up with Ordonez, 33, and busted him for creating cats on public property, especially on or near the Pasadena Freeway.

Apparently he was vigorously pursued, according to another article:

The Sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau, which specializes in pursuing high-profile taggers, arrested Ordonez based on tips and information gathered in the community.

Most of the infamous cat paintings were plastered on state and local transit properties… According to investigators, Ordonez has associations with a tagging crew and is a cat owner.

Quite an M.O. 

Though the cats are fairly new, Ordonez is a highly respected street artist who has been at it for 20 years.  He has no desire to be recognized.

Gender Inequality Index

Click here for links on/for the 2013 Gender Inequality Index
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Click here for links on/for the 2012 Gender Inequality Index
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Although many of the links in the comments below (mostly on/for grassroots organizations) still work, the UNDP keeps changing the URLs for the links just below in the main post here and I have stopped updating to keep up with them. All the UNDP links above for the 2012 and 2013 Gender Inequality Indexes currently work.

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Apparently, the recently released 2010 Human Development Report (HDR) added three new indices to the Human Development Index (HDI). They are The Multidimensional Poverty Index, The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, and the Gender Inequality Index.

The Gender Inequality Index ranks countries by taking account of five indicators: 1) maternal mortality ratio, 2) adolescent fertility rate, 3) the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex, 4) secondary and higher education attainment levels, and 5) by women’s participation in the work force.

This index is (supposed to be) “a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.”

Saudi Arabia, which ranks 55 in the “high human development” category, ranks 128 in the Gender Inequality Index.

Here is the new Gender Inequality Index:
…link deleted, see above…

Here is the Human Development Report webpage on it:
…link deleted, see above…

Many details here for different interpretations in different ways…

…Update from 2012 (and comment #70 below):

Out of 187 countries in the 2011 Human Development Index, the United States ranks 47, the United Kingdom ranks 34, and Canada ranks 20 in the 2011 Gender Inequality Index.

You can download a PDF of the 2011 Gender Inequality Index (with rank and indicators listed in the order of the more comprehensive Human Development Index) by clicking and/or saving here:
…link deleted, see above…

You can download a PDF that provides a graphical presentation of the human development indices, including the gender inequality indicators, here:
…link deleted, see above…

You can download a PDF of Frequently Asked Questions about the Gender Inequality Index here:
…link deleted, see above…

Just the man to put in charge of cost-cutting

I knew Lord Browne– author of the Browne report which is shaping UK education policy– was a former BP exec. But I only recently learned that he’s said to be the man responsible for the brilliant cost-cutting decisions widely credited with giving rise to the Deepwater disaster.

Browne is described by journalist and author Tom Bower as irresponsible for a “ruthless” programme of cost-cutting at BP that compromised safety, and thus the man most responsible for a string of major accidents including the Texas City Refinery explosion (2005) and the Deepwater Horizon explosion (2010).

Yes, this is the man to turn to for wise counsel on efficiency savings.

Pete Seeger

This post is a comment on the one below it.  It’s like the 60’s all over again.  Maybe we can get the attack on education linked to the outrageous output in wars.

 

When will they ever learn?

You have a group of students, professors and no doubt the ever guilty ‘outside agitators’ all in London protesting possible tuition hikes.  So what do you do?  Here’s a great idea: charge** into the crowd with horses!  Won’t that show everyone you are right and they are wrong?

Now, here’s the thing that gets me:  at least since the student protests at Berkeley in 1964-65, we’ve had all sorts of police attacks on students.  Pretty much, they do not work.  There should be some lesson book that says something like, “Lots of people think of students as overly privileged, but few want to see police charging at young people who are our future.”  And, as it turns out in this case, highly vulnerable.  I.e., pregnant.  Or so it seems.

The mounted police charge** at about 1:06.

 

**The description of the police on horses as charging comes from the Guardian.