June 2011
135 posts
What Twitter Could Learn From Tumblr →
soupsoup.tumblr.com
Twitter is on a fast growth path, as shown by recent data, but then the same data show Tumblr growing even faster.
What’s the story?
Twitter and Tumblr strongly diverge in their treatment of tags. Tumblr has implemented tags as first class metadata, explicitly supported…
Interesting post on development opportunities for Twitter.
Tiger Beatdown: Tumblr where your political authorities are American, cis, male and White (and preferably an aggressive anti Abortion activist) →
tigerbeatdown.com
This post should perhaps be renamed to “That one time when I burnt any chances I might have had of acquiring any relevance and/ or popularity within the Tumblr political community”.
Or alternatively, we could rename the post Necessary.
“You Don’t Have to Be Pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked “female”.”
—
Erin, “A Dress a Day” (via petitefeministe)
This is an interesting concept, that women feel obligated to be pretty. Not for themselves, and not out of pleasure, but because they owe it to the other people they interact with in the world. Just because they identify as female. Thank you, society, we’re more fucked up than ever. And my “rent” is overdue.
(via youdontlooklikeafeminist)
Great piece.
When a woman cheats, she’s looking for more than satisfying another man - Anna Holmes →
washingtonpost.com
It wasn’t that my friend’s husband deserved to be cheated on, or even that, in the abstract, I approved of her assignations. It’s not that gender parity is achieved when women can do everything men can do, up to and including breaking marriage vows. But I felt a perverse sort of triumph in her betrayal, a celebration that this vibrant, brilliant, often careful young woman — who, like me, had been bruised and buffeted by the disposability and inconstancy of male affections for so many years — was boldly asserting control over her sexual and emotional desires. In that sense, her duplicity felt not only rebellious but subversive. She’d always been such a “good” girl. Writer Erica Jong, whose seminal 1973 novel “Fear of Flying” caused a firestorm with its frank depiction of an unhappily married woman indulging in casual sex with strangers, agrees with me on this point, saying that female infidelity feels “revolutionary,” adding that, “the context in which we find ourselves is that men still have the power, and so a woman who can say, ‘I take what I want,’ is a revelation.”
That power imbalance is reflected in and reinforced by the messages communicated to women — single and partnered — every day of our lives. Taking what we want, especially with regard to our erotic lives, is considered taboo, a reflection of a society that has long been distrustful of empowered female sexuality. Even supposedly enlightened women’s media outlets push the message that male satisfaction should be our primary objective. Just take a look at the latest issue of Cosmopolitan: The massively popular women’s magazine, which takes the phrase “Fun, Fearless, Female” as its rallying cry, devotes no fewer than three of its seven cover lines to the pursuit of male gratification. (“His 6 Secret Sex Spots,” blares one headline. “What Men Crave in July,” promises another.) The care and feeding of men, we are told, is paramount. (“How do you keep your man from cheating on you?” asked one CNN anchor on May 21. This month, a group of Malaysian women launched the Obedient Wife Club, which purports to teach women how to be more dutiful to their husbands and therefore prevent male adultery.) Women should feel lucky to get what they can, and while they can get it.
Cosmo and its ilk are honestly some of the most misogynistic publications out there. They are devoted to the ideal of a broken woman in need of constant repair. I would honestly rather read a lad magazine, because at least they seem to appreciate women.
PS. I didn’t finish the article because the Post asked me to pay for more, so I’m not endorsing by way of reblogging.
“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”
—
Ernest Hemingway
(Anyone have a light?)
Abortion, Human Rights, and Human Dignity →
kohenari.net
This is a really well reasoned post.
Not too long ago, I wrote about what I regarded as something of an inconsistency in the position adopted by a libertarian anti-abortion activist, who also happens to be an editor of the Tumblr Politics tag. I was prodded by some comments on my post to say a bit more about what I…
“
Science has determined that fetuses are unique human beings. That’s not from my religious beliefs or my personal opinion but rather the conclusion from science. Check out this post to read about how fetuses are human beings.
I wouldn’t ever want to take away the rights of women, but I think we can all agree that killing human beings should be outlawed. Therefore, it’s difficult to allow women to have the right to kill.
I support the overturning of Roe v. Wade and I support banning abortion in all cases.*
” —Alex Holzbach, editor of Tumblr’s Politics tag
Here, an overview of all editors. And because Mr. Holzbach wants to make sure his viewpoints are widely read, he runs a specific Tumblr, Anti-Abortion Activist, where he makes his position and his intention to have women’s rights restricted clear. Ari Kohen here attempted to tackle some of his pro-life arguments here (I suspect that in a futile effort).
I am disgusted that this partisan, misogynist content producer is allowed to curate a tag that should contemplate everyone’s rights. I am also disappointed. This also probably explains why the Politics tag is actually not Politics but American politics and why the degree of diversity is so troubling. When the blogging platform we use to defend our rights and to keep abreast of the ways in which our reproductive rights are threatened sees fit to allow the same person who wishes to take those rights away from us to curate the content we are allowed to see, I wouldn’t expect to see my views really represented.
Sorry, but not all opinions are equal. The opinions of a person who actively works to take away rights from people should never be considered equal to the opinions of those who are oppressed by his actions.
(via redlightpolitics)
The 100 greatest non-fiction books →
guardian.co.uk
Not sure what to make of this list. Predictably, British and American dead white men are represented very well. The science, philosophy and politics selections are particularly canonical and out of date.
Family, Community, Generational Angst
I live with my parents. It’s increasingly common for people in their twenties, and even their thirties to stay at home longer, or to return to the nest after living alone. So what happens when your parents get older? I’ve had the experience of taking care of my parents, though not through old age. Caring for them was rewarding, because it really meant taking care of each other. It was also challenging.
When I was in my second year of university, and just starting to think about saving for my own place, my mother’s knee and hip problems were officially declared a disability. She was given a cane, put on the waiting list for surgery, given a modified exercise regimen and so many pills. She was in pain every day, sometimes all day.
Months later, my father was struck by a car while riding his bike to work. After the ICU there were weeks in a hospital bed, and then months of recovery at home. He was instantly retired—declared unfit to work ever again. This, I should point out here, is not quite the case. He has issues with memory and concentration, infrequent bouts of debilitating vertigo, and his temper is worse, but faced with early retirement, he pursued recovery relentlessly and eventually went back to school for a French studies degree.
With all this going down, I exchanged my job for a more flexible one, and threw myself into taking care of my family. Later, with my dad slowly recovering and increasingly independent, and my having taken over the burden of household chores from my mother, I had my second bout of major depression. After a solid year of suicidal ideation, general misanthropy and paranoia, I moved into a year of shaky recovery. I dropped out of school. I took up yoga and running and changed my diet. I did cognitive behavioural therapy and even tried giving up caffeine. It was years before I even considered going back to school. I’d left it in a mess and had lingering anxieties associated with class, matters bureaucratic and talking about my problems—probably that was the worst.
What Tami Said: Who is the black Zooey Deschanel? →
whattamisaid.com
Not to make everyone upset because they think they really do look good in photographs of themselves in frilly collared dresses eating ice cream and holding an over-sized balloon with the sunset behind them, jumping adorably off a ledge or whatever (choose your choice, blah blah blah), but this article poses an interesting question, and I’m wondering if anyone has any thoughts.
This part is spot-on:
I also find it worth noting that the persona that Klausner writes about is bound by class and race. The cult of domesticity defined idealized womanhood centuries ago—and that definition included both perpetual childhood and whiteness. The wide-eyed, girlish, take-care-of-me characters that Deschanel inhabits on film are not open to many women of color, particularly black women.
I have to agree with Tami when she says this is a White girl thing. MPDGs of color may exist (although, I actually don’t personally know any), but I would venture to say that there are fewer of them and they definitely aren’t coded in the same way that White MPDGs are.
Excellent point. Follow the link in the above quote for a good read on race, class, femininity and manic pixie dream girls.
georgethecat replied to your post: georgethecat replied to your post: Winick to write…
What are your thoughts on it? Based on the interview? (I’m glad she’s not in Sirens anymore!!!) I hope Selina is still humanitarian, etc.
I think a lot of people will be unhappy, but so far there’s nothing in it that particularly alarms me. I didn’t expect her to come through the reboot with all her relationships and history intact and ‘classic’ Selena is far from a terrible state of affairs. I get the sense that we’ll be reading about a Catwoman who’s an up and comer, still becoming the world class thief we know and love.
There’s still a lot I want to know, like: Where’s she operating? Who are her allies and enemies? Will we be seeing Holly? Slam Bradley?
georgethecat replied to your post: Winick to write Catwoman
Pssst it’s Winick, just one ‘n’ :)
Thanks, I edited it!
My spelling. It’s far from impressive. :D
Winick to write Catwoman
Is this series getting back to her roots as a morally ambiguous cat burglar and thief?
Oh yeah. She steals things! The gray line for her is day in and day out she’s thinking about stealing things. That’s what she likes. That, if you pardon the expression, is what she gets off on. So we are getting back to her core roots as Catwoman the cat burglar.
There have been so many different versions of Catwoman over the years, are you pulling from a specific era of Catwoman for the comic or are you pulling parts from every era?
I’d say it’s a little bit of everything, but most importantly it feels modern. I’m striving for keeping it really real, and less technology. I don’t think you’ll ever see Selena pull something out of her belt and do a scan of the entire building in an instant and whatnot. It’s more hammer and nails, it’s a little more low-tech which is, we feel, a little more interesting for the character. It’s not about her being a computer whiz and finding this out — if she’s breaking in someplace she going to cut through a window and crawl through a vent because that is, for me, more interesting than her doing things with lasers and infra-red schematics. It should be fun! I think in general DC Comics and all comics have gotten a little too darn high-tech. Somebody can pull something off their belt and do anything, and that’s no fun. It’s too easy. So I guess what I’m saying is I want to make it hard for us. It makes the story better to challenge ourselves that way.
And:
The words reboot and relaunch have been thrown around a lot as some titles retain their creative teams and some seem to be getting new continuity. Does this “Catwoman” comic erase parts of her continuity, such as palling around with the “Gotham City Sirens” and being a good guy?
There’s been a lot of discussion and worry about this, about what used to be as opposed to what is. I don’t think I’m erasing much of anything. That said, Catwoman is still Selina Kyle and she still puts on this cat suit and she steals things. Beyond that, how she got here, what she’s done before is less of a concern than the stories we are telling right now. But I don’t think anyone is going to read, not just mine but any of the books, and truly feel like we’re undoing everything. That’s not what we are trying to do. We’re trying to move forward and it isn’t a reboot. It’s a first take on everything. Some things have been rejiggered and some things have been re-clarified as we go through; some things will be eliminated, but for the most part I don’t think anyone is going to come in and say, “Oh no, it’s a whole different thing!” Selina is not 50 years old and blonde and living in Russia and an alien — she’s Selina Kyle. She’s Catwoman, she’s stealing things in Gotham City. Again, I don’t think anyone will feel that we’re taking a big departure from what was. And not just me, for any of the books.
via CBR.
Even when Gotham City was just a one-horse town, crime was rampant – and things only get worse when bounty hunter Jonah Hex comes to town. Can Amadeus Arkham, a pioneer in criminal psychology, enlist Hex’s special brand of justice to help the Gotham Police Department track down a vicious serial killer? Featuring back-up stories starring DC’s other western heroes, ALL-STAR WESTERN #1 will be written by the fan-favorite Jonah Hex team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and illustrated by Moritat.
DC is putting out a few books I’m interested in. Selling my soul is finally paying off. I love short run team up books, and god, anthologies. They tend not to become as convoluted, or as weighed down by continuity, retroactive and otherwise.
I do <3 Moritat for many reasons, but this writing team is a big, old pass for me. The amount of the number of raped and/or dead girls and the racism in the current Jonah Hex series doesn’t make me want to see what other takes they have on the genre.
Sorry, I didn’t catch this response! I’m always excited about Westerns, so I’ll be checking this out. I do, however, trust your assessments of writers. I haven’t had time for Jonah Hex, but it’s been on my too read list for some time. So disappointing to hear this.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
—Dwight D. Eisenhower
“War doesn’t determine who is right—only who is left.”
—Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
In Defence of Oracle →
fullofwhoa.tumblr.com
Great, more ignorant people talking about taking the Oracle identity away from Babs Gordon.
Look: disability can be an identity, a valid identity, a fundamental aspect of how someone approaches themselves and the world, rather than suffering, confinement, or reduction.
Colorlines » The Ultimate 21st Century People of Color Sci-Fi List →
colorlines.com
Ten recs for great POC-centric books, film, and music—avoiding Butler and Delany to highlight lesser-known creators. Quality.
Via Cripchick on Twitter.
Battle for the Arctic, CBC Doc Zone. →
cbc.ca
Some of the rhetoric is a bit weird (THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!), but lots of useful information.
Engineering An Empire
This show is so much fun. It looks at how empire and civilization building is tied to advances in engineering, science and technology.
- Egypt: Dams, pyramids, the Sphinx.
- The Byzantine Greeks: Beyond Rome; the world’s longest aqueduct.
- The Persians: Water management, cross-continent roadway.
- Rome: Urban planning, aqueducts.
- China: World’s longest canal, naval fleet, Great Wall.
- Greece: Geometry, architecture.
- The Aztecs: North America’s greatest empire in 200 years.
- Carthage: Navy, city building.
- Russia: Architecture, infrastructure.
There are more episodes, but this is a good start.
Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY): Quantifying the Burden of Disease from mortality and morbidity
Because my last post mentioned Disability-Adjusted Life Years, I figured I might as well post this FAQ from the WHO, on how DALYs are calculated.
Definition
One DALY can be thought of as one lost year of “healthy” life. The sum of these DALYs across the population, or the burden of disease, can be thought of as a measurement of the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation where the entire population lives to an advanced age, free of disease and disability.
DALYs for a disease or health condition are calculated as the sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for incident cases of the health condition:
Calculation
DALY = YLL + YLD
The YLL basically correspond to the number of deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age at which death occurs. The basic formula for YLL (without yet including other social preferences discussed below), is the following for a given cause, age and sex:
YLL = N x L
where:
- N = number of deaths
- L = standard life expectancy at age of death in years
Because YLL measure the incident stream of lost years of life due to deaths, an incidence perspective is also taken for the calculation of YLD. To estimate YLD for a particular cause in a particular time period, the number of incident cases in that period is multiplied by the average duration of the disease and a weight factor that reflects the severity of the disease on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (dead). The basic formula for YLD is the following (again, without applying social preferences):
YLD = I x DW x L
where:
- I = number of incident cases
- DW = disability weight
- L = average duration of the case until remission or death (years)
“
[Trigger Warning: Discussion of depression, mental illness]
Worldwide, mental illnesses (major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcohol use, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder) accounted for 9.4% of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2002. This is comparable to 9.9% for cardiovascular disease and almost twice as high as DALYs attributed to cancer (5.1%).
According to the 2002 Mental Heath and Well-being Survey, 75.5% of individuals with a mood or anxiety disorder or substance dependence in the previous 12 months, reported that the condition interfered with their lives (71.2% of men and 79.2% of women). Nearly 1 in 3 individuals (32.7%) reported that they had to reduce activities at home. One in 6 (18.4%) reported that they had “often” or sometimes” found it necessary to reduce their activities at work. This percentage does not include people who had to leave the workplace because of their mental illness.
” —The Human Face of Mental Health and Mental Illness in Canada (2006 Ministry report).
Also check out, Disability-Adjusted Life Years.
“
[Trigger warning: Discussion of depression, mental illness]
The serious stigma attached to mental illnesses is one of the most tragic realities of mental illness in Canada. Arising from superstition, belief systems and lack of knowledge, this stigma has existed throughout history and results in stereotyping, fear and discrimination. Symptoms of mental illness remain strongly connected with public fears about potential violence and with a desire for limited social interaction. Yet very few people with mental illness are violent.
Stigma also results in anger and avoidance behaviours among those with a mental illness. By forcing people to remain quiet about their mental illnesses, stigma often causes them to delay seeking health care, avoid following through with recommended treatment, and avoid sharing their concerns with family, friends, co-workers, employers, health service providers and others in the community. Stigma in the workplace has a profound impact on people with serious mental illnesses. This includes:
“… diminished employability, lack of career advancement, and poor quality of working life. People with serious mental illnesses are more likely to be unemployed or to be under-employed in inferior positions that are incommensurate with their skills or training. If they return to work following an illness, they often face hostility and reduced
responsibilities. The results may be self-stigma and increased disability.”
A high degree of stigmatization of pregnant women and mothers who are substance users, mothers who are abused by their partners, and mothers with mental illnesses is created by media and public discourse. Mothers who use substances experience greater stigma than mothers with mental illness. Stigma also has a great impact on mothers who are marginalized by poverty and racism.
Seniors with mental illness carry a double burden stemming from the stigma associated with both mental illness and old age. As a result, seniors mental health problems are under diagnosed and under treated. Stigma also affects seniors suffering from dementia, sometimes causing alienation from their familiar supports.
Addressing stigma about mental illnesses is one of the most pressing priorities for improving the mental health of Canadians. Educating the public and the media about mental illness is a first step toward reducing stigma and encouraging greater acceptance and understanding. Developing and enforcing policies that address discrimination and human rights violations provide incentives for change.
” —The Human Face of Mental Illness in Canada (2006 Ministry Report)
“Steel is what we would call a ‘mature technology.’ We’d like to think we know most everything about it. If someone invented a way to strengthen the strongest steels even a few percent, that would be a big deal. But 7 percent? That’s huge.”
—Ohio State professor and engineer Suresh Babu • Discussing a Detroit-based DIY dude’s method of creating a stronger type of steel. The technology, called Flash Bainite, was made by Gary Cola, a metal hacker who managed to figure out a way to cook really strong steel in a matter of seconds — ten to be exact. Babu was skeptical, as you might guess. ”The process that Gary described – it shouldn’t have worked,” he said. “I didn’t believe him. So he took my students and me to Detroit.” We expect Apple to use this technology in their next iPhone, just because. (via shortformblog)
"I am ringing out an American girl." →
notalwaysright.com
GAS STATION | ONTARIO, CANADA | AT THE CHECKOUT, OH, CANADA, TOP (I am ringing out an American girl. Keep in mind Canada uses coins for $1 and $2.)
Me: “…and your change is $3.64. You have a wonderful day.”
Customer: “Excuse me, you didn’t give me the right change.”
Me: “Yes I did.”
Customer: “No you didn’t. You only gave me coins, no paper.”
Me: “Ma’am, we’re in Canada, and here we use coins.” *I hold up a $1 coin* “This is a loonie, and is worth $1.”
Customer: “What’s a Canada?”
Saw this and thought of my Canadian friends. :D
WHAT’S A CANADA?
Seriously. Give me answers to this question for the ages: What’s a Canada?
Womanthology has a publisher!!!
Renae just announced on her Twitter that Womanthology will be published by IDW Publishing! This is Exciting news for all the contributors! It’s going to be a fantastic book!
