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I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist. 

My name is Ela.  I am seventeen years old.  I am not Muslim, but my friend told me about her friend being discriminated against for wearing a hijab.  So I decided to see the discrimination firsthand to get a better understanding of what Muslim women go through. 

My friend and I pinned scarves around our heads, and then we went to the mall.  Normally, vendors try to get us to buy things and ask us to sample a snack.  Clerks usually ask us if we need help, tell us about sales, and smile at us.  Not today.  People, including vendors, clerks, and other shoppers, wouldn’t look at us.  They didn’t talk to us.  They acted like we didn’t exist.  They didn’t want to be caught staring at us, so they didn’t look at all. 

And then, in one store, a girl (who looked about four years old) asked her mom if my friend and I were terrorists.  She wasn’t trying to be mean or anything.  I don’t even think she could have grasped the idea of prejudice.  However, her mother’s response is one I can never forgive or forget.  The mother hushed her child, glared at me, and then took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the store. 

All that because I put a scarf on my head.  Just like that, a mother taught her little girl that being Muslim was evil.  It didn’t matter that I was a nice person.  All that mattered was that I looked different.  That little girl may grow up and teach her children the same thing. 

This experiment gave me a huge wakeup call.  It lasted for only a few hours, so I can’t even begin to imagine how much prejudice Muslim girls go through every day.  It reminded me of something that many people know but rarely remember: the women in hijabs are people, just like all those women out there who aren’t Muslim. 

People of Tumblr, please help me spread this message.  Treat Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Taoists, etc., exactly the way you want to be treated, regardless of what they’re wearing or not wearing, no exceptions.  Reblog this.  Tell your friends.  I don’t know that the world will ever totally wipe out prejudice, but we can try, one blog at a time.  

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Google+ Identification Card

I'm official.

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TheOatmeal.com is dark today. #SOPA #PIPA

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Can't...breathe. Can't...move. Hurts. Why did I...mmm, pie? Yes, please.

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Yeah.

If you have 8 minutes, watch this.

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As much bitching as I do about Steve Jobs and Apple, and even knowing about his health problems and that this day would come, I just really didn't think it would affect me. But while reading the news, something hit me that I guess I just never connected before. The first computer I ever wrote code for was an Apple IIe in my high school computer lab. And now coding feeds my family, puts a roof over our heads, and gives us everything we have. I guess being a PC I just identified myself with the Gates/MS camp more than Jobs/Apple camp. After all these years I finally realized that you actually did completely change my life. So, thanks, Steve. I really owe you.

[admtaptap-blog]

Privacy is not dead. And it is not taken away by the likes of Google and Facebook. It is given away.

Admiral Taptap

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Redemption Song

I got this song in my head today. It rattled around while I worked. It rattled around while I read post after post about Occupy Wall Street. It played over and over again as I consumed, and internalized, and broke reading story after story of the hardest hit families of us 99%.

I had planned to write up something about this song, maybe drawing parallels from the song to what;s going on out there...but...it's just too much. There...it's all just too much. So, in the end I decided to just let the words speak for themselves.  

Please take a moment to read over these lyrics. Reflect on the weight of these words written over 30 years ago. If you like, there is a beautiful performance here to play along with it.

Redemption Song

by Bob Marley

Old pirates, yes, they rob I; Sold I to the merchant ships. Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong By the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this generation Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever have Redemption songs Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy 'Cause none of them can stop the time. How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand aside and look? Ooh! Some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfill the Book.

Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever have Redemption songs, Redemption songs, Redemption songs.

---  /Guitar break/  ---

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our mind. Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy, 'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time. How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand aside and look? Yes, some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfill the book.

Won't you have to sing These songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever had Redemption songs All I ever had Redemption songs: These songs of freedom, Songs of freedom.

[admtaptap-blog]

The trend of Big Social regarding independent voice

Folks this is a very good read on the trend of Big Social regarding independent voice

It’s the end of the web as we know it by Adrian Short

Excerpt:

You can turn your back on the social networks that matter in your field and be free and independent running your own site on your own domain. But increasingly that freedom is just the freedom to be ignored, the freedom to starve. We need to use social networks to get heard and this forces us into digital serfdom. We give more power to Big Web companies with every tweet and page we post to their networks while hoping to get a bit of traffic and attention back for ourselves. The open web of free and independent websites has never looked so weak.

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Welcome Diaspartans!

In lieu of filling out a bunch of stuff in a profile, I thought I'd introduce myself directly. But most of my posts are public, that should help clear things up any other questions. So here's some generics:

Star Trek over Star Wars

TOS over TNG, but Picard over Kirk

No B5, BG, or SG

Marvel over DC (but the movies suck because they break continuity with the comics)

PC over Mac

Chrome over IE, but IE over FF

C# over VB, but WebForms over WinForms

Atheism over Theism

I don't like spiders, code that looks like a ransom note, or the tomato next to the bread.

Please feel free to consider me deeply disturbed as you see fit.

Ahoy!

And remember: This is DIASPARTA!!