Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:15 PM

Went out for Chinese food last night.

My fortune cookie read:

There are 365 days in a year, may all 365 of your dreams come true.

My gut reaction was 'No! I don't want to retake my final exams naked!

Seriously, my dreams are far too surreal for such a fortune to feel at all comforting...

But around the table, we all managed to get bizarre fortunes. Get a load of the odd phrasing in this one:

An optimistic attitude is a force multiplier.

Who writes fortunes like that?

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:30 PM

Serenity opens next Friday. I've been waiting for about six months to see this movie, hopefully with a large group of friends on opening night.

I have just confirmed that Showcase Cinemas in Woburn will be showing Serenity, and that seems like a good central location. [The only problem with that venue is that I know of no convenient eateries where we can talk about it afterwards, but that's a minor matter.] They don't have specific movie times yet, but I was figuring on a showing between 7pm and 9pm.

I am going to want to buy advance tickets in case it sells out (like every previous showing), so if you're interested in seeing the movie with us, please RSVP here and let me know if you'll make your own arrangements or if you want me to buy them and you'll pay me back. [If I buy tickets for you and you fail to show, you will still be obligated to pay me back unless I manage to resell them at the theater.]

Just to repeat, the plan is:

Serenity
Showcase Cinemas Woburn
Friday, September 30
starting sometime between 7 & 9pm

So, who's with me?

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:05 PM

Making the rounds:

When you see this in a friend's journal, quote Shakespeare!

It was hard to choose just one excerpt, but here's my contribution, from As You Like It, Act II, Scene 2:

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:15 PM

On August 30, I wrote:

I've written previously about my preference for the Opera browser. When I first discovered it (back in 1998!) I found it so superior to IE and Netscape that I've been a paying customer ever since.

Well, turns out today is Opera's 10th anniversary, and to celebrate the day, they're giving away free registration codes. If you've ever wanted to try the browser without paying for it and without seeing banner ads, this is your day!

Opera has just released version 8.50, and with it they're eliminating the ad banners and registration codes.

It's totally free!
Ad-free and free-of-charge.

Get more information on the change, or just download Opera and try it yourself.
[They support Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and numerous mobile devices.]

This change is part of some big plans to boost their market-share. Currently, they're #5 (behind IE, Firefox, Safari and AOL-Netscape, according to InformationWeek).

If you're a web developer, they already provide a page detailing their support for various web specification standards. [They've got a strong reputation for compliance.]

And the Opera Watch weblog is useful and interesting reading material, including an interview with Opera's CEO and rumors about future releases.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:30 PM

On a lighter note...

You Are A: Groundhog!

Groundhogs are cuddly-looking and timid mammals that eat mostly grass, seeds, and other vegetation. As a groundhog you will rarely stray far from your burrow and will run in the face of danger, but you will defend your home fiercely from predators. Groundhogs are even given their own holiday in the US, during which a groundhog is said to predict how long winter weather will last!

You were almost a: Lamb or a Chipmunk
You are least like a: Duck or a SquirrelTake the Cute Animal Test

[First seen via Nolly, a duck]

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:45 PM

Over on Making Light, there's been a fair bit of discussion regarding the role of race and class in New Orleans, and some questions over the numbers.

In the hopes of resolving that aspect of the debate, here are the figures according to the Census bureau:

From the Census 2000 Briefs and Special Reports.

Specifically, all data and prose come from Poverty: 1999 (PDF), Table 6.
[Though I also consulted Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin, Table 1]

Characteristic	Total Population	Percent of total population	Number below poverty level	Percent below poverty level	Characteristic as percentage of poor
All people	273,882,232	100.0%	33,899,812	12.4%	100.0%
White alone	206,259,768	75.3%	18,847,674	9.1%	55.6%
Black or African American alone	32,714,224	11.9%	8,146,146	24.9%	24.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone	2,367,505	0.9%	607,734	25.7%	1.8%
Asian alone	9,979,963	3.6%	1,257,237	12.6%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone	364,909	0.1%	64,558	17.7%	0.2%
Some other race alone	15,100,625	5.5%	3,687,589	24.4%	10.9%
Two or more races	7,095,238	2.6%	1,288,874	18.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	34,450,868	12.6%	7,797,874	22.6%	23.0%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino	189,785,997	69.3%	15,414,119	8.1%	45.5%

In other words, 9.1% of whites are below the poverty level, but 55.6% of those below the poverty level are white.

Further clarification in prose from the Census Bureau:

Non-Hispanic Whites had the lowest poverty rate (8.1 percent) in 1999. The poverty rates for Asians (12.6 percent) and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders (17.7 percent) were somewhat higher. Poverty rates were higher still among Blacks or African Americans (24.9 percent) and American Indians and Alaska Natives (25.7 percent). Poverty rates for those who were of Some other race (24.4 percent) or Two or more races (18.2 percent) were also higher than the national average (12.4 percent).

People who were Hispanic or Latino (who may be of any race) also had a high poverty rate (22.6 percent) compared with the national average.

Hope this helps...

Addendum:

Here's the brief racial breakdown I posted in the comments of Making Light to more clearly demonstrate the scope of the problem:

• Whites
  • 75% of the total population is white. 56% of poor people are white.
  • 9% of whites are poor. 12.4% of the total population is poor.
• Blacks
  • 12% of the total population is black. 24% of poor people are black.
  • 25% of blacks are poor. 12.4% of the total population is poor.
• Asians
  • 4% of the total population is Asian. 4% of poor people are Asian.
  • 13% of Asians are poor. 12.4% of the total population is poor.
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
  • 13% of the total population is hispanic. 23% of poor people are hispanic.
  • 23% of hispanics are poor. 12.4% of the total population is poor.
• Non-Hispanic Whites
  • 69% of the total population is non-hispanic whites. 46% of poor people are non-hispanic whites.
  • 8% of non-hispanic whites are poor. 12.4% of the total population is poor.

If there were no racial differences, the percentage of poor people who are X would be the same as the percentage of all people who are X, like you can see among Asians.

Whites are disproportionately less likely to be poor, and Blacks and hispanics are disproportionately more likely to be poor.