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Supermodels for Oaxaca: In May, Miss Universe will be holding its “traditional costume” competition in Oaxaca. Given that repressive Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is likely to capitalize on this event, a group of activists calling themselves the Popular Assembly of Models for Oaxaca (AMPO) will be dressing up and picketing Donald Trump and NBC in Manhattan. on April 18 Auditions are April 18. Narco News has more, courtesy Worcester’s own Cha-Cha Connor.

Press release

Pictured: Activist and “Spokesmodel for Oaxaca” Cha-Cha Connor. “We models aren’t cheap props for dictators.”

Caltech: Niniane has photos and memories of a Caltech mini-reunion.

Taxing non-profits: The Worcester City Council is always mumbling about asking non-profits for a “payment in lieu of taxes.” (PILOT, or, as I like to call it, “taxes.”) Bill Randell wonders why the recommendations of the last city Task Force on this issue haven’t bourne fruit.

St Patrick’s Day: A classic video from last year.

Click To Play

Worcester Indymedia: This has been a busy couple of weeks at the intersection of community journalism and the internet; USA Today launched a redesign, and the Center for Citizen Media published a fantastic report on community, journalism, and technology. And now Worcester Indymedia’s new site is in beta-testing! This has been a long time coming. (P.S. The old site is broken again. I hope that the new site has less frequent outages, or at least more interesting ones.)

Update: Plus Jay Rosen has a post on how the bloggers did the best reporting on the Libby trial.

Vegans and calcium: Great article by Jack Norris on the latest study out of England showing that vegans have a 30% higher bone-fracture rate than non-vegans. I would have assumed this is because of the well-known vegan penchant for indiscriminate brawling, but in fact it seems linked to calcium intake:

And among the subjects who got 525 mg of calcium a day (only 55% of the vegans compared to about 95% of the other diet groups), vegans had the same fracture rates as the other diet groups.

The government thinks you should get 1000mg of calcium a day, so this 525mg threshold is actually pretty low.

Sticker: These guys are putting up stickers encouraging people to use less paper, as a “guerilla public service announcement.”

Lunch: Choice quote from WorldChanging’s article on a massive free lunch in Delhi:

This spirit of inclusion and equality is reinforced by the kitchen’s adherence to vegetarianism, not because Sikhs are vegetarian, but because others who visit may be, and by serving no meat, they exclude nobody.

I wish every soup kitchen in this country had vegetarian options. One of the many things I like about the Catholic Worker in Worcester is that they keep a vegetarian house; people living there can eat whatever they like, but the common meals are veg.

Meta: This site is banned in China.

Metal koala: Link

Rancorous squeegee goblins: Hooting Yard, currently my favorite podcast, just posted their St. Valentine’s Day episode, which begins with a celebration of the Feast of St. Scholastica.

Telegram & Gazette: Letter from Catholic Worker Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, encouraging religious leaders who oppose violence to be consistent and oppose abortion:

While it might sound noble from the pulpit, actual violence is horrific and pointless. It never truly overcomes injustice, not in war zones or in the bedrooms of sexually mistreated women.