Thursday, May 7, 2009

Oh the irony

Just a quick one folks.

In an effort to respond to a question from one of my professors about The Great Gatsby, I wanted to find out some of the history on women's suffrage.

I ended up on about.com on a timeline of Woman' s Suffrage (link coming in a sec, hold on). So Here is what I looked at.




You might see, on the right, a small picture of two girls in bikinis.

Interesting image to see next to Sojourner Truth's name isn't it?

Well, you can look for yourself at the page here, and you can watch that video of the ladies here.



My response is Ba-huh? Pasty white chicks need a chance to get a tan. Oh boy, we've come a long way baby.

Or not.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Shout-out to 'The Takeaway'

The Takeaway

So, I got a call yesterday from The Takeaway, and they proposed a citizen "stress test" in which they would have listeners (me being one) talk about their financial situations with a financial advisor. Needless to say, I was really psyched about the opportunity, mostly because I love The Takeaway, and talking with them would be like talking with my friends with whom I spend every morning. (In fact, John Hockenberry, if you are looking for a co-host, I'm totally available.)

I had a great chat with a producer from the show. It did not work out for me alas, but I was happy to chat with some folks who produce a show that I really, really like. They did the segment with a couple other folks and it is worth a listen.

They talk with Gary Belsky, author and expert in Behavioral Economics, which is my favorite branch of the field, combining psychology and economics to get a bigger picture of economics (more on this later from Brian Lehrer too, check here. Oh, NPR, you are endlessly interesting and helpful). The Takeaway clip is quite short, but Mr. Belsky is reasonable and level-headed, so I'm intrigued. I'll bet it's worth it to check out his book with Thomas Gilovich Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them: Lessons From The New Science Of Behavioral Economics.

If you haven't listened to The Takeaway, I highly recommend it for your morning radio show. It's like getting the news from your friends. For me, The Takeaway does the best job I have seen yet, of using our technology to foster community in a big picture way.

Also, I directed my friends at The Takeaway here to the Nifty Thrifty, and I like to think it is not coincidence that they have also used Fantastic Voyage as a reference in another segment (in their case to swine flu, rather than traumatic sexual awakenings).

Next up I would like to do an episode of the Nifty Thrifty on how to budget time, but I suppose, in the interest of getting things done, I will write that later.

xoxo

The Nifty

P.S. In honor of The Takeaway, here's a Fantastic Remix