Community Center idea: Clean Out Your Computer Day

I have had this suggestion for a few years and casually made it, but perhaps it is going to take putting it on paper to convince a few folks.  I've never seen it done as a community event.

Clean Out Your Computer Day
Monday February 10th

I am sure lots of LGBT community centers are searching for each programming. I envision folks bringing their laptops for a morning/afternoon/evening. Move the day to Saturday if you normally have an open house/hours that day.

Materials:
*electronic duster (canned air!)
*screen and keyboard cleaner
*special screen wipes
*tiny tools/screw drivers (I know that I have 2 screws that fell out of my laptop
*your Center's STICKERS or your state LGBT group's STICKERS

Reasons why I think this is great programming
*almost every laptop could use a good cleaning
*almost every laptop could use a good virus scan
*shared resources....rather than buying that bottle of cleaner then never using the whole bottle
*cross generational (youngins can help the less savvy do things like virus scan, etc)

This could be extended to cell phones as well I guess.....someone might donate a stack of iPhone sticky/plastic protectors. The phones need cleaned before those get stuck on as well! Perhaps existing programs like computer education could be moved to this day as well.

I'm fully aware that only a portion of community members have such electronics.

Monday's Song from Hell - March 11th

I think this classifies as such not because the song itself is so horrible or so catchy that you can't stop humming it (and I can't catch any intelligible words), but for what it has inspired so many people to do. Making 30 second videos of people dancing to the song became a viral internet sensation nearly overnight, and thankfully has started to recede nearly as fast.

15 seconds of someone in a helmet/mask dancing as if they were invisible to the rest of the room, then 15 seconds of everyone dancing, usually awkwardly and with some kind of partial costume and/or odd props.  And usually a bit of partial "nudity" and perhaps suggestive hip movements.

But it's so ridiculous that even children are convinced of how silly it is. And that is why they love it too. So this may be the most innocent version of it on the internet.  It makes it no less annoying however.

Monday's Song from Hell - February 11th

Not that this song is so catchy or annoying that you can't forget the tune or some riff from it.  Rather the lyrics and story that it tells is a bit haunting.  Powerful stuff you could say.  I think country music has a good history of telling stories that are sometimes hard to tell.

This is in honor of this song winning two Grammy's last night: Carrie Underwood for Country Solo Performance, and Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins for Country Song.

Monday's Song from Hell - December 3rd

Monday's Song from Hell - February 27th

Don't even try to deny that you both hate and love this song.

Graph of the Day - December 24th

(Source: MaddowBlog via Robert Frank chart by way of Ezra Klein)

Vocabulary Review: "Median" does not mean average...it means exactly in the middle. If there were a total of 3 workers, it's worker in the #2 spot. If the are 101 workers, then it's worker #51. A median worker has an income smack dab in the middle of all workers. The same goes for median rent.

For Baby Boomers to insinuate that current (young) workers have it so much better off and that they are merely squandering their income on unnecessary toys is insulting and counterproductive to any discussion of economic reality. Not only do Baby Boomers as a group speak from a chronologically privileges position (older workers hold a disproportionate percentage of jobs above the median due to number of years on the job, tenure, experience, etc), they also reference their past with false equivalency.

And a note about the "standard of living" argument. This is not 1950. You can't get ahead through social networking by asking everyone you meet for a card and storing it in your Rolodex. A smart phone is a near necessity if you want to get above that median during your life. Most decent jobs now require applications complete with PDF downloads, uploads, customized cover letters, and more information about your past than one person can possibly remember. Let's not forget that just the cost of attending college has grown at a far faster pace than inflation or wages.

Graph of the Day - December 6th

(Source: CNNMoney)

Mancession? He-covery?
(Update: I hadn't heard the term "he-covery" but a little Googling finds a good early source in the NYT.)

During the peak of the Great Recession many economists and labor experts commented on the gendered nature of job losses. Some coined it the "mancession" because men were losing jobs much faster, so fast that at one point the number of working men and women in the American economy was equal. The graph above illustrates that well. There is more behind it though. Newsweek pointed out in July 2009 that it didn't mean it was all roses and daffodils for working women.

The basic gist: women on average hold more part time jobs and are paid less and the Recession hit hardest on "male" jobs, full time jobs, and higher paying jobs.

So men are recovering faster in the job market? I am sure with more research I would understand it better, but I am more interested in the "what it means" rather than the "why." The new jobs created in the "he-covery" tend to be lower paid than the jobs that were lost. If it is the case that men are taking these jobs then as whole we should see the income of men lowered. Does this mean the gap between average pay for men and women will shrink, but not because women have increased towards parity? Just a thought.