Booker International Prize

Nominees for the Man Booker International Prize:

• Margaret Atwood (Canada)
• Saul Bellow (Canada)
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
• Gunter Grass (Germany)
• Ismail Kadare (Albania)
• Milan Kundera (Czech Republic)
• Stanislaw Lem (Poland)
• Doris Lessing (UK)
• Ian McEwan (UK)
• Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
• Tomas Eloy Martinez (Argentina)
• Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
• Cynthia Ozick (US)
• Philip Roth (US)
• Muriel Spark (UK)
• Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
• John Updike (US)
• Abraham B Yehoshua (Israel)

The new £60,000 award is open to writers of all nationalities who write in English or are widely translated.

The prize commends an author for their body of work instead of one book.

The prize, which will be awarded in London in June, will be given once every two years.

It will reward an author - who must be living - for "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage". An author can only win once.

The international award was started in response to criticisms that the Booker Prize is only open to British and Commonwealth authors.

(via Bookslut)

UPDATE: Handicapping the Field: A Punter's Guide
Saul Bellow and Gabriel Garcia Marquez lead the pack at 5:1.
Stanislaw Lem has 30:1 odds.

tags: literature, Booker Prize, Stanislaw Lem

friday random ten

Instructions from Lauren:

Fire up that IPOD, MP3 or other digital media player
Set it to random play
List the first 10 songs


"San Quinten" - Johny Cash
"Chelsea Hotel" - Leanord Coen
"Sugar, Sugar" - the Archies
"Road to Nowhere" - Talking Heads
"Spanish Bombs" - the Clash
"Killing Moon" - Echo and the Bunnymen
"Cretin Hop" - Ramones
"Jersey Girl" - Holly Cole
"Lady Scarface" - Lydia Lunch
"Bright Yellow Gun" - Throwing Muses

the Archies? now how did that song get in there?
*blush*

Mad Rollin' Dolls Set To Bout This Weekend

The flat track Mad Rollin' Dolls will hold their second bout of the 2005 season on Sunday, February 20th in Madison, WI.

The first bout will feature the Reservoir Dolls vs. the Psycho Kitties

The Quad Squad will then skate against the Unholy Rollers.

Sunday, February 20th at Fast Forward Skate Center.

Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.

DJ Nascar provides the tunes. Half-time entertainment by Funrod.
Doors open at 6:30, bout at 7pm.

Visit the Mad Rollin' Dolls website for more inf.

support your local rollergirl

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, bout, madison

A Social Justice Quiz: Twenty Questions

- by Bill Quigley

1. In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation?

2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?

3. The US is composed of 3,066 counties. In how many of the nation's 3,066 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?

4. How much must the typical US worker must earn per hour hour if they dedicate 30% of their income to housing costs.

5. How many million workers in the US earn poverty-level wages of less than $8.20 an hour?

6. What are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee?

7. What are Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia?

8. In 2001, the average financial wealth for black householders was about what % of the average for white households?

9. The median financial wealth for blacks is how much of the corresponding figure for whites?

10. Over the entire 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. In the ten years since the Clinton administration implemented the current U.S. border strategy with Mexico, how many people have died trying to cross?

11. Where does the US rank worldwide in the imprisonment of its citizens?

12. In 2004, the direct reported US military budget was how much for each second of the year?

13. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender?

14. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times as large as the combined spending of the seven so-called "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria)?

15. The difference in income per head between the richest nation and the poorest nation in 1750 was about 5 to 1. Today the difference between the richest nation and the poorest nation is what?

16. Of the 6.2 billion people in the world today, how many live on less than $1 per day, and how many live on less than $2 per day?

17. The richest 1% in the world receive as much income as what percentage of the poorest?

18. The Congress under President Bush has been more generous in helping poor countries than under President Clinton. In 2003, the US increased official development assistance to poor countries by one-fifth. Where does the US contribution rank in the top 22 countries in proportion to our economy?

19. Americans give how much per day in government assistance to poor countries?

20. Americans spend how much on soft drinks each day?

ANSWERS

friday elfgirl blogging

Detroit Roller Derby

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, detroit

As The Stomache Turns

Preznit nominates death squad supporter to be nation's intelligence tsar.

Tucson Roller Derby Ready To Bout

The girls of the flat track Tucson Roller Derby will kick off their season on Saturday, February 19.

The new team on the rink, the VICE Squad will skate against the Furious Truckstop Waitresses.

Saturday, February 19th at Bladeworld in Tucson, AZ.

Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Doors open at 6:30pm, bout at 7pm.

See the Tucson Roller Derby website for more info.

talk derby to me

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, bout, tucson

U.S. Government vs. American War Heroes

The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites). And it has taken a strange twist.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq (news - web sites) that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime.

The rationale: Today's Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money.

The case abounds with ironies. It pits the U.S. government squarely against its own war heroes and the Geneva Convention.

Many of the pilots were tortured in the same Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, where American soldiers abused Iraqis 15 months ago. Those Iraqi victims, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said, deserve compensation from the United States.

But the American victims of Iraqi torturers are not entitled to similar payments from Iraq, the U.S. government says.

"It seems so strange to have our own country fighting us on this," said retired Air Force Col. David W. Eberly, the senior officer among the former POWs.

(via Rorschach at No Capital)

"Eyes Wide Open" Memorial In Austin

"Eyes Wide Open:The Human Cost of War"

The American Friends Service Committee is striving to put a price tag on the human cost of the war in Iraq.

The committee put that price tag on display Tuesday in Austin's Zilker Park Peace Grove. The memorial will last until Thursday.

The "Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War" traveling memorial currently consists of 1,462 1,464 1,467 1,472 1,478 1,485 pairs of empty combat boots, arranged by state in parallel rows resembling the layout of a military graveyard. Each pair of boots represents a soldier who died in Iraq and is marked with a name tag stating the name, age, home state and rank of each soldier.

The memorial, which first opened in January 2004 in Chicago and contained 504 pairs of boots, is constantly evolving, as more pairs of boots are added to the exhibit as the death toll rises.

"As the exhibit travels across the country, families and friends come to grieve for lost loved ones and strangers who gave their lives to a cause far from home," AFSC General Secretary Mary Ellen McNish said in a written statement. "At each stop, people have left notes of commemoration, photographs of lost soldiers, identification tags, flowers and American flags to accompany the boots on their journey."

Also included in the memorial is a display of more than 1,000 other shoes including loafers, flip flops and baby sneakers, and a wall of names and causes of death representing civilian losses in Iraq. Newly added is a display of caps in honor of fallen contractors and the full military regalia of Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey, who returned from Iraq in July 2003 and hanged himself a year later.

"The exhibit is a memorial to all the victims of the Iraq war," AFSC spokeswoman Yvonne Montejano said. "There are the soldiers, the civilians, the contractors and the suicides by Iraq veterans. We are trying to highlight and bring voice to the human and psychological aspects of war."

Whammy Awards

Texas Rollergirls 2004 Season Whammy Awards winners:

League MVP - Buckshot Betsy (Honky Tonk Heartbreaker)

Best Jammer - Trouble (Honky Tonk Heartbreaker)
Best Pivot - Devil Grrl (Hell Mary)
Best Blocker - Devil Grrl

Most Feared - White Lightnin' (Hotrod Honey)
Most Improved - Crazy Duke (Honky Tonk Heartbreaker)
Best Rookie – The Crusher (Hell Mary)

Best Ass - Lucille Brawl (Hotrod Honey)
Best Rack - Cat Tastrophe (Hotrod Honey)

Best Fight - Hotrod Honeys vs. the Hustlers
Best Takeout - Trouble vs. Suzy Homewrecker (AZ Tent City Terrors)

Most Spirited - Scarlot Harlot (Hell Mary)
Most True To Her Name – The Crusher
Best Injury - Vendetta Von Dutch (Hotrod Honey)

Crowd Favorite - Vendetta Von Dutch

and

Miss Texas Rollergirl - Scarlot Harlot

Visit the Texas Rollergirls website for more info.

talk derby to me

tags: Texas Rollergirls, roller derby, rollergirls, Austin

Mad Rollin' Dolls to take Polar Plunge

On Saturday, February 19th, the Mad Rollin' Dolls will be taking the Polar Plunge to raise funds for Special Olympics Wisconsin.

Make a pledge for your favorite Doll now!

Plunge: Saturday, February 19, 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m at Olin Turville Park, Madison WI.

Check out the Mad Rollin' Dolls website for more info.

support your local rollergirl

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, madison

Jeff Gannon/Guckert

Media Whore

Homelessness Marathon

This is the final broadcast schedule for the Homelessness Marathon, which begins its broadcast today (Monday), at 7pm eastern. A list of stations carrying the broadcast as well as a link to the Marathon's webcast can be found here.

Each hour of the Marathon after the first begins with a short five-minute pre-recorded segment followed by a longer live segment. All times are EST.

7pm - 8pm Welcome. Then, "Why Are There So Many Of Us On The Streets? a panel of homeless single women.

8pm - 9pm SHORT: "The Causes of Homelessness Part 1."LONG: Remote from Portland, ME, "Housed Teens Talk With Homeless Teens." Then Open Mic Time with co-hosts Israel Bayer of Street Roots and Indio of Street News.

9pm - 10pm SHORT: "The Causes of Homelessness Part 2." LONG: "Who Profits From Poverty?" Co-host: Frances Fox Piven, author of"The Breaking of the American Social Compact" and, most recently, "The War At Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush's Militarism," and housing activist Frank Morales.

10pm - 11pm SHORT: "Homelessness In Literature." LONG: "Homelessness in New Haven" - Co-Hosts: Alison Cunningham, executive director of Columbus House, and Bonita Grubbs, director, Christian Community Action.

11pm - Mid. SHORT: "What Happened to Federal Housing Funds?" Guest, Sheila Crowley, president National Low Income Housing Coalition. LONG: "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," recent Green Party VP candidate, Pat Lamarche, talks with homeless people she met during the campaign.

Mid. - 1am SHORT: "Global Homelessness." Guest, Medea Benjamin, director "Global Exchange." LONG: Remote from KUNM, Albuquerque, NM. "We're Here, We're Queer, We're On The Streets -- Don't Get Used To It."

1am - 2am SHORT: "Street Poetry" LONG: "Hangin' In Homelesstown: The Daily Lives of Our Most Vulnerable Citizens. Guest host: Kerry Seed.

2am - 3am SHORT: "Hurricanes and Homelessness," Guest: Ginger Ferguson, director Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless of Brevard County (Florida). LONG: Open Mic Hour.

3am - 4am SHORT: "Schooling Homeless Children." LONG: "Media, Menace and Mendacity." Co-hosts: Chance Martin, editor of San Francisco's "Street Sheet" and Tom Boland, Founder of Homeless People's Network.

4am - 5am SHORT: "Fresno vs. Freedom." Guest: independent journalist Mike Rhodes. LONG" "Green Spaces As Safe Spaces," a simulcast with the Canadian Homelessness Marathon.

5am - 6am SHORT: "Rising from the Ashes" LONG: "Homelessness Abroad." Co-hosts, Inger Koch Nielsen, Danish representative to FEANTSA (European Federation of Organizations Working With the Homeless) and Cheri Hankala, executive director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union (just returned from the World Social Forum).

6am - 7am SHORT: Street Poetry LONG: "No Global Warming In Washington: Why Homeless People Are Out In The Cold." Co-Hosts: Brad Paul, Director National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness and Tom Gomez, co-founder Mayday DC.

7am - 8am SHORT: "Homeless News #1" LONG: "Homelessness By The Numbers." Co-Hosts: Dennis Culhane, Professor of Social Welfare Policy, University of Pennsylvania and Dona Anderson, director, Institute for Children and Poverty.

8am - 9am SHORT: "Homeless News #2" LONG: "Aren't We the Truly Needy?" a panel of disabled homeless people.

tag: homeless