DCentric

Good Morning, DC! Who’s ready for some links?

Nigerian Sesame Street teaches kids about gender equality, AIDS, Malaria “What makes Nigerian Sesame Street, which is being titled Sesame Square, different from the original? For one thing, they’ve replaced the cookie monster with yam monster…’We had comments from children asking if these muppets are from heaven,”(theatlanticwire.com)

Metro installing cameras on buses to monitor driving “DriveCam, the San Diego-based firm contracted to conduct the program, will analyze data from any incidents and provide it to Metro to promote better driving habits and also help with investigations.” (The Washington Post)

Not a way to bring Tai-Shan home, either, okay? “Airport customs in Thailand have found a two-month-old tiger stashed in a bag which was checked in for an international passenger flight…The dazed and drugged cub was concealed in an oversized bag packed with stuffed tiger toys and bound for Iran when it was discovered by Thai authorities…” (ABC Online)

Meet Bruce Majors: The Tea Partier Advising Beck Rally-Goers To Stay Off The Green And Yellow Lines “Like his visitor’s guide, which offered advice to dealing with “African immigrants,” Major’s other writings have clear racial undertones…Upon news of White House economic adviser Christina Romer’s upcoming departure, Majors tweeted, “Congratulations Christiina Romer! A house slave is now free.’” (Matthew Yglesias)

Maybe falling home sales aren’t a bad thing for the economy ““All the social harms or externalities or ‘impact on the neighborhood’ you hear about? That is all straightup bull—-,” he continued. “Crime rates are lower than they were at the start of the crisis, there is no evidence that houses priced at market-clearing levels are failing to sell, [and] the army of zombie squatters has not materialized. Neighborhoods are managing to ‘heal’ just fine.”” (The Daily Caller)

From rumor to reporting: The Washington Times story “Is there still such a thing as responsible withholding of information until it is confirmed? Do you lend more credence to news organizations that make the calls and do the checks before publishing, or do you prefer to see the raw material at first blush, even if it hasn’t been checked yet?” (blog.washingtonpost.com)

Why You Shouldn’t Trust Scientists from Michigan and DC “At the other extreme, states including Michigan, Ohio, District of Columbia and Nebraska had between 95% and 100% positive results, a rate that seems unrealistic even for the most outstanding institutions.” (stumbleupon.com)