So this is the end-product of a few days of tinkering and not yet really intended for serious public consumption, but I’ve been toying with different ways of trying to make more of the scanned material I have from FREE SOCIETY easily browseable and digestible (as well as a bunch of stuff going on on the back-end to make it as easy as psosible for me to just upload the files and have them quickly integrated into the system). Any thoughts on how it looks/works on your end (other than “God, a frameset interface, what is this, 1997”)? http://fair-use.org/free-society/issue/345

From Jessica Valenti. Via Nathan Goodman

A Decade of Dinosaur Comics http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2364 (Also, plush Utahraptor.)

Science is kind of awesome.

Science is kind of awesome.

Victor Yarros on “Socialist Economics and the Labor Movement”: http://fair-use.org/victor-yarros/socialist-economics-and-the-labor-movement/ (a three part book review of George Gunton’s “Wealth and Progress”, serialized in Liberty, 1888)

In other news, the “elite” Narcotics shakedown squad led by Jeffrey Cujdik, including rapist-in-uniform Thomas Tolstoy, are still all working desk jobs for the Philadelphia police department, four years after their crimes came to light. http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-25/news/36529204_1_officer-jeffrey-cujdik-thomas-tolstoy-perry-betts “An FBI-led task force was launched at the start of the series after the Daily News reported that a longtime drug informant had accused Officer Jeffrey Cujdik of sometimes lying on search-warrant applications to gain access to suspected drug homes. “The probe mushroomed when the Daily News reported allegations that Cujdik and other members of the Narcotics Field Unit took cash and merchandise from corner stores after disabling surveillance cameras. Then came allegations from three women who said that a member of the squad, Thomas Tolstoy, fondled, groped or sexually violated them during raids. “Amid the revelations, five officers, including Cujdik and Tolstoy, were placed on desk duty. Today, nearly four years later, all but one, who retired, remain there. “The FBI interviewed Duran and other merchants shortly after the Daily News’ reports, but never followed up, Duran said. None of the alleged victims has been asked to appear before a grand jury. And none of the women who alleged abuse by the police was ever contacted by the FBI or the District Attorney’s Office. “. . . As a result, 10 veteran narcotics officers in two squads are in a holding pattern, stripped of the job they were trained to do, but never charged with a crime and still getting paid. “Cujdik, his brother Richard, Robert McDonnell Jr. and Tolstoy each earns about $62,000 a year as an officer. “The recently transferred officers – Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds, John Speiser, Michael Spicer and Perry Betts – earn the same. Their lieutenant, Robert Otto, who was also moved out of narcotics, earns just over $81,000. “While in narcotics, the officers also earned large sums in overtime. In 2010, Liciardello, Spicer, Betts and Otto each added at least $54,000 to his base pay. Spicer earned $59,672 extra, bumping his total pay to $131,500.”

From Firestorm Cafe and Books in Asheville, NC: “Today (2/2) is the last day of our Red Emma’s Fundraiser Booksale! Buy a book [from Firestorm] at 15% off and we’ll donate a portion of the sale or send money directly to the good folks at Baltimore’s amazing infoshop through their Indiegogo page.”