How to Maximize Your Working Time on Amazon Mechanical Turk | eHow.com

How to Maximize Your Working Time on Amazon Mechanical Turk | eHow.com
I'm posting this because I signed up for the Amazon Mechanical Turk and have made .21 cent so far. Really. I guess I'll make it to the $10 you need to earn in able to transfer it to your bank account. Some of the Human Intelligence Tasks won't pay. I got cheated four times in a row. One was to put an ad on Craigslist--never saw that money and the dashboard said that I abandoned it. All I could do was to contact the person who posted the job. I'll keep you informed of my efforts.
In the meanwhile, please enjoy the eHow article on the Amazon Mechanical Turk.
By the way the Turk comes from a mechanical doll from the 1800s dressed in traditional Turkish clothing, who challenged folks in chess as a parlor game. Go figure. I'm uncomfortable saying the name now that I know about its origins. I mean, should we be saying "Turk"? Arrrgggg.

Free Local Mini Parent Conference in Gary, Indiana

The Gary Community School Corporation District Parent Advisory Council will present a free Mini Parent Conference Wednesday May 26, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Pulaski School, 920 E. 19th Ave. Gary, Indiana.
The theme of the mini-conference is, "There's MORE to Parenting Than Meets the Eye."
A Continental Breakfast will begin a 7:30 a.m. for participants.
For more information, please reach Program Associate Dwight E. Pointer at 219-881-4075 or Director, Dr. Cordia P. Moore at 219-881-4064.

Black & White: Kids on Color CNN Special

Please don't show it. Please don't tell!
Sitting and watching TJ Holmes present CNN's Black & White: Kids on Color, Tuesday morning,
I hoped that after the commercial break, I would not hear a discussion on blacks still being color struck.
But it happened anyway.
I guess it doesn't matter how wide a range of skin colors exist in American families.
The tester in the segment asked again and again: Which child is the pretty one, smart one, bad one, etc.
Most of the children chose darker skinned pictures as bad or ugly children and the lighter one as good or pretty. Only a few opted out of complexion stereotyping or as old folks say, being color struck.
The CNN series examines complexion-based internalized racism in school aged children from white and black races. The study mimics the 1939-1940 doll studies conducted
by two black psychologists.
First, the white children were asked questions about the cartoon pictures of asexual dolls, nearly hairless, arranged in a range of complexions from light to dark.
Most chose the lightest ones as a representation of good and the darkest ones of bad.
Then comes the African American children's responses. I held my breath. I tried not to watch. I didn't want to hear the truth.
"Why is this one pretty?" a tester asked after a child pointed to the lightest example as pretty.
"...because she is light-skinned," a pretty dark-skinned girl said.
"Bias towards white is still a part of our culture." A voice over said.
Don't fret Blacks because Whites have the same color struck conversations in their households. A
pinkish hue is still favored over ruddy or olive complexion--as long as there is still an ability to tan reasonably well.
But one needs only to look throughout their own friends and family to see these hurtful stereotypes repeated and reinforced.
It is a good thing that stunning beauty is held in the facial bone structure of an individual and not the skin color.
I wish someone would tell the kids the truth about beauty because skin color stereotypes are perpetuated through the generations, maintained in the home and reinforced in society. (Oh, good hair counts too.)
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What I Should Have Said Is...

I think if Black Leaders were seen as well connected to the Black Community, they would have a better chance at holding an audience with the President, I think.
Courting The People is a good idea. You never get to know what is really going on if you are not there in person, often times. I'd like to see an enriched relationship between Black Leaders and The Community-at-Large.
Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

What About the Kids, Arizona Legislators?

Arizona was the last state to sign the Martin Luther King Day bill into law. I took note of that then and I take note with parts of their anti-ethnic education bill.
Why is it that the people of Arizona feel the way they do about minorities? What are they going through every day that makes them not accepting of minorities and why can't they handle their frustrations any better than they have been doing?
Granted, if a politician runs for office and is elected by the people for the people he or she should serve the people completely. More qualified people should have run for office if the people wanted a smarter legislature. However, why stop the African American education curriculum in public schools? Really.
Every ethnic race, Eastern European, African, Hispanic, Dominican, Italian etc. deserves to be highlighted for their race's achievements in American history. The culmination is that we have all contributed in making this country great, so why cull those parts out? It is not a good solution to the problems in Arizona. Students in Arizona won't know or understand who they are or where they come from when they are not taught about European immigrants and what they did to establish their place in American history and culture. Damn shame. There are a lot of European immigrants in this country.
Read more: http://ping.fm/pfjAZ
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Family Guy Transgender Episode or Quagmire's Dad Gets a Sex-Change Operation

I saw the Family Guy transgender episode and I just have to say: Please don't act as if we don't already know and understand prejudice exists in America. Seth just did it in a funnier way.
Really. You who support or are GLAAD didn't know that people laugh behind your back and make fun of you? Right. Well, I never heard a racist black joke either. Or a fat joke.
SMH at the whole matter. Seth MacFarlane is in the business of comedy. He is the Equal Opportunity Offender and so the f what. He makes me laugh and I thought the episode was funnier than anything.
Along the lines of GLAAD, I should have expressed similar dismay and agitation at the "My Black Son," cut away. ..."and also he's a Ninja!" Really now, we knew what he was edging at but I was so shocked and stupefied, I laughed because it was funny and we all have a turn at the wheel with the FG creator. So what. He pokes fun at the inhabitants of the Northeast every time FG airs. Look at how he portrays these folks and they're not complaining. They are laughing. Maybe they don't take themselves as seriously as everyone else does. Seth grew up in this Northeastern environment and he is only conveying a portion of what he experienced growing up. There are not many of our generation who bother to participate in our Pop Culture Renaissance. They point out more things we have in common on the show than what they point out as different. Watch the episode in question. Notice how Peter, Lois and Brian interact when Brian makes an announcement about a trip. Listen to that dialogue. And the "can of pennies?!" That is comedy gold and it hits so close to home. The indifference in which we all treat each other in families is a common strand. Trying to get a family member who is so not interested in what you are doing to be interested in you and what you are doing, is an every day challenge for those of us who still bother to interact with our families. I laughed so hard at that. Gold, Seth baby, gold.
I support Seth and the FG team. They're great and they make me laugh and think at the same time. I personally think folk should stop being so fn sensitive and Chicken Little-ish. Save the fight for when it really matters so that you'll have supporters for your cause when you really need it. Also be glad that the issue has been placed before relevant portions of the American public rather than be ignored and shoved out of every one's mind!
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Reversal of Fortune: A documentary on Showtime

I saw a good portion of this documentary on Mother's Day and found it quite interesting. First off, I would like to know where the filmmaker got $100,000 to give to a homeless man?
Obviously, the guy had some personality disorders, delusions, etc.
He does not know the right thing to do and as he stated, his mother was a "bar whore." He said that on the weekends, he found a different man his mother would bring into his home as a child. I wonder what types of abuse he experienced as a child and if he is a result of one of his mother's trysts? No one asked him any follow up questions.
Maybe that is why he frequented bars. Then again he also said he had not had a woman in years and that most of the woman he meets found him undesirable for either his lack of teeth in the front of his head or other reasons. (Check out how he argued with that woman at the recycling center. Really.)
After one's basic needs are met they are supposed to climb Maslow's hierarchy of Need, not just stop at the basics, safety, food, clothing, shelter, emotional needs. But he did not know that and he is obviously not self-actualized. Many are not and that is the basic problem with society.
In his defense however, he has a kind heart and gave the ones close to him some of his treasure. He gets big points for that. I think at least one of them should have convinced him to use the financial counselor. With discipline, that money could have lasted quite a while. But self-discipline is a quality many people do not own. His outlook on life is to live without restraint so the very nature of giving him a large sum of money could have led to his death. Then what would the filmmaker do? That money could have gone to a socially well-adjusted but struggling family. I wonder what they would have done?
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