Taiwan-born sex worker Niko, 47, smokes a cigarette outside a brothel in Taipei June 24, 2009.

Taiwan began a process of legalising prostitution on Wednesday, making the island the latest place in the world to decriminalise the world’s oldest profession. In six months, authorities will stop punishing Taiwan sex workers after prostitutes successfully campaigned to be given the same protection as their clients, a government spokesman said.

REUTERS/Nicky Loh

THE GULABI GANG (aka the Banda Sisters) When local officials refused to take action against an alleged rapist, scores of pink-sari-clad women stormed the police station, demanding action. They also reportedly dragged a politician from his car to show him a decaying road.

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btvs > twilight
(aka “Buffy the Vampire Slayer shuts down Edward Cullen”)

Everything that is portrayed in Twilight as super romantic about Edward is exposed as creepy and stalkerish here, which is fantastic, as Edward Cullen’s creepiness too often gets a pass from those who brush aside his controlling, stalkerish ways as the signs of “true love.” Edward is not the dreamboat here—he’s the enemy. The best part? Edward lays down his famous line, “You’re like my own personal brand of heroin,” and Buffy responds, “Oh my god, what are you, 12?” It’s amazing—see for yourself.

Two months ago, Sarah Allen and Sarah Mei started planning a Ruby on Rails outreach workshop for women. Our goal: each participant leaves with a fully-functional development environment, a working application, and some space online to show off their work.

As we got into it we realized it was really, really ambitious. But I am profoundly thrilled to report that the SF Ruby community came together this weekend and made it happen.

It was really, really incredible. More than 60 people spent their Friday evening installing Rails. Then they came back on Saturday and learned how to use it. A lot of them had never programmed before, but now they have Github accounts and a URL on Heroku. Watch out world!

“ People want to know how I started Teach For America straight out of college, and honestly, my greatest asset was my inexperience. It proved absolutely critical at many junctures. When I declared in my thesis that I would try to create this corps myself, my thesis adviser pronounced me “deranged.” When he looked at my budget of $2.5 million for the first year, he asked me if I knew how hard it was to raise $2,500, let alone two and a half million dollars. But aided by my inexperience, I was unfazed by these reactions. When school district officials literally laughed at the notion that the Me Generation — this was the label for my generation — would jump at the chance to teach in urban and rural communities, their concerns, too, went unheard. My very greatest asset was that I simply did not understand what was impossible.

— Wendy Kopp, Teach For America founder

“The Obamas really are products of the culture,” said Christine B. Whelan, a sociologist at the University of Iowa who studies the American family. The Obamas exemplify what sociologists call the “individualized marriage,” she added, where a thriving relationship is marked by love and mutual attraction, not just duty to family and social roles.

Put All Three Skills Together: Sexy. Thus with the Age of Data upon us, those who can model, munge, and visually communicate data — call us statisticians or data geeks — are a hot commodity. I grew up before the age of geek chic, when the computer wizzes were social pariahs, and feature-length movies were dedicated to nerds seeking revenge. But in the last decade, Steve Jobs became an icon, the Internet became cool, and an entire generation of tech kids grew up well adjusted. They even built the social web to prove it. I believe it could happen to statistics and data geeks too.

“

Suppose, during a date, you casually say, “The sugar maples in Harvard Yard were so beautiful every fall term.” Here’s what you’re signaling, as translated by Dr. Miller:

“My S.A.T. scores were sufficiently high (roughly 720 out of 800) that I could get admitted, so my I.Q. is above 135, and I had sufficient conscientiousness, emotional stability and intellectual openness to pass my classes. Plus, I can recognize a tree.”

— Message in What We Buy, but Nobody’s Listening - The New York Times

thisgirlangie's feminist thoughts go here

Shepard Fairey’s latest campaign poster