feminist blogs

Here's some stuff I've been reading latelyish...

Crazy Aunt Purl is so sassy! I hadn't thought of how annoying it is for veteran bus driver to be inundated with all of the noobs trying to save a gas dollar:

There are a lot of new people taking the bus and they're very needy, holding open the doors while asking the bus driver convoluted questions, "Do I get off here and transfer to get to X or do I go to there and ride another bus to get to X or will I get lost?" As if the bus driver can answer them and let them know if they'll get lost. I personally can get lost on the way to the breakroom at work, so "lost" is a relative state of being, doubtful a random bus driver can analyze it for every strange passenger. I'm impressed with the drivers, though, they're far more patient than the seasoned riders who are pushing these needy newbies out of the way in a huff and rolling their eyes and making comments.

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Those silly bus riders! If they were REALLY concerned about the environment, they would invest in a fully electric car from Tesla Motors. Right? Or use all of the gas money they save in...like...I don't know...a gazillion years of bus riding.

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Maybe someone ought to start researching how to make a vehicle that runs on cow poop!

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Meanwhile, Treehugger.org has provided me with my New Year's Resolutions for the next 10 years. Probably I should start on them a bit sooner than that...

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This is intriguing....

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After spending a weekend with a bunch of teachers and school administrators last week, this article was a good read. I'm happy to say the new principal at the high school I am involved with seems to meet these standards, in theory...let's see how she does in practice.

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I like this plan, but I think people who DON'T own cars ought to be rewarded, too.

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Stefanie Nagorka makes Andy Goldsworthy look positively classical! (here's more)

Babies born by Caesarean Sections more prone to asthma.

I loved reading this article about modular homes in all of their flavors...

Encyclopedia Brittanica gets wiki with it.

Looking for a reusable water bottle that won't give you cancer?

I am totally getting this game. hahaha.

I don't think I ever linked this article about the winter soldier testimony on the west coast, but it's amazing to me that this hasn't been more widely reported on. It was especially troubling to see the video footage of the hearings...

Here's a fun site - convert any unit measurement into something more tangible. [via lifehacker]

I recently had to wipe a hard drive due to a crash. This little app would have come in handy...

This book looks interesting...

Hey...sorry I have been silent, in case anyone is waiting for revealing entries about my emotional topography. I'm just not up to the task. Maybe I'm too old for it? I don't know. I am thinking about lots, but not wanting to share anything. The older I get, the more obvious it seems that my thoughts are sacred and very few people will really be able to apply them to their life anyway.

Onward to the linkies!

I found this in-depth analysis of right wing editorial cartoons fascinating....

This seems like a good idea, but how about we forgo the advertisement and just create ubiquitous billboard gardens?

I guess Austin made the top ten in yahoo's "Best Cities to live, work, and play in." I'm interested in the measurement of "creative class," as I find it to be a very nebulous description, and I kind of wonder how cities are measuring it.

5 ways to keep your car running at peak efficiency (Or, time to convince the ecologically minded 11 year old to start washing the car on a regular basis!)

This article gets a bit overly precious in parts, but I personally can never be reminded too much to find things to enjoy in the everyday moments and not worry so much about epic experiences. Especially when so many of us have so little control over external stimulus...best to nurture a solid appreciation for internal experience.

The previous link is especially going to be important as we begin this whopper of an election cycle. Brace yourselves...if you haven't already done so. Sigh.

I thought my friend John might appreciate this one, since he is a bike riding boy in Chicago. God, if they made dedicated bike lanes somewhere in Austin...like a bike boulevard? I would so have to go buy a bike and not drive anymore. Most of what keeps me off of the road on a bike is absolute abject fear of getting creamed by a car.

Environmental defense fund has some good videos that explain different methods of energy in layperson's terms.

Maybe my housemate is rubbing off on me, but I really love this fixture. My only thing is...really if it's not broken or unusable, there's no need to recycle something. So, yeah...not really green, but still nifty.

A no-dig garden sounds totally my speed! Yay! [link via re-nest]

Hm...I'm not so sure I enjoy the fact that some apes are better than me when it comes to avoiding procrastination...

...and on that note, I should probably get back to work here. :)

Here's what I've been favoriting these days:

Top 10 Muppet Show clips. via

Michael Pollan comments on the recently-passed farm bill.

Watching this McCain speech made my inner speech critic declare that it will move to Canada at least until this election cycle is over with. If McCain wins, it will be looking to wed a hunky Canuck's inner speech writer to gain citizenship. I hear that's legal there. Any takers?

Word Count Analyzer, analyzes word frequency. :)

This is kind of old news, but I always love Mr. Rowland's perspective.

“Our galaxy isn't as messy as many thought,” says Dame, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “What we have found is evidence of some balance and order, like the yin and yang of Chinese philosophy.” (source)

The coverage of these hearings was absolutely chilling.

Top 10 Computing energy savers.

I don't really have anything to add to this LiP Magazine article, Uh-Obama:

Note, never has a white politician been confronted with questions about his or her ability to transcend race, or specifically, their whiteness. And this is true, even as many white politicians continue to pull almost all of their support from whites, and have almost no luck at convincing people of color to vote for them. In the Democratic primaries this year, Obama has regularly received about half the white vote, while Hillary Clinton has managed to pull down only about one-quarter of the black vote, yet the question has always been whether he could transcend race. The only rational conclusion to which this points is, again, that it is not race per se that needs to be overcome, but blackness. Whiteness is not seen as negative, as something to be conquered or transcended. Indeed, whereas blacks are being asked to rise above their racial identity, for whites, the burden is exactly the opposite: the worst thing for a white person is to fail to live up to the ostensibly high standards set by whiteness; it is to be considered white trash, which is to say, to be viewed as someone who has let down whiteness and fallen short of its pinnacle. For blacks, the worst thing it seems (at least in the minds of whites) is to be seen as black, which is no doubt why so many whites think it's a compliment to say things to black folks like, "I don't even think of you as black," not realizing that the subtext of such a comment is that it's a damned good thing they don't, for if they did, the person so thought of would be up the proverbial creek for sure.

Just a few things I have favorited these past few weeks. I have been out of town and haven't been updating or reading a whole lot of feeds (although I did stay in a hotel room with CABLE(!) so I was actually able to keep up with goings-on.)

Anyway...on to the linky links:

From WePO, via Crooks and Liars - McCain doesn't know who we're fighting in Iraq. Brilliant.

Ding at Bitch, PhD asks some important questions about the mainstream media's (and white America's) fear of an angry black man.

Science Daily had a string of interesting articles last week. First, Does Touch Affect Flavor was a report on how the sense of touch can affect how things taste.

This was amusing to me, because I sincerely do choose my wine based primarily on the design of the label, and anything with a bear or a bird wins out just about every time.

I just love seeing the word "tightwad" used in a scientific capacity. hahaha.

The ideology of consumer technology describes four different ideological mindsets which inform our experience of technological advancements.

I bookmarked this one right before leaving on vacation. The concept of charity organizations who fund vacations for disadvantaged children and adults is intriguing to me. I have always found it extremely valuable to get the Hell out of Dodge for a bit as often as possible. Glad to know there's a pseudo-scientific explanation for that.

Heather Corrina, as usual, delivers a poignant peep into her life as a reproductive services counselor. I'm thankful she's able to find a way to disclose the stories she does without compromising the identiies of her clients. To me, posts like these are why blogs are so powerful in terms of bringing people to an understanding of issues from an intensely personal perspective.

And, with that, I think I'm going to step away from the computer for a bit and see what sorts of life I can observe on this lazy Saturday. I hope you all are well...Take care.

In spite of the fact that I still think people aren't fully understanding the notion of re-training (a post I will have to get to later...and it's not that I disagree that it's a Bad Thing for people to be forced to learn new skills for new jobs due to globalization...but rather I think people who have not had any amount of training on new technologies and have established careers might need to have training available to them at low cost JUST IN CASE they want or need to change careers and find that the harsh reality is that they will have to learn to deal with new technology in a way they aren't currently being asked to) this article [via Crooks and Liars]goes a long way towards explaining why I miss Edwards and fervently hope Obama (uh, if he's the nominee) chooses him as his running mate:

Edwards took a huge swing at corporate lobbyists by singling out the NAFTA-like Chapter 11 rights. As I explained (and Public Citizen has a much more detailed explanation): Let's say a company doing business in a country that has a party to one of these so-called "free trade" agreements believes a law violates rights or protections the company has under the trade deal. The company can take its case before a trade tribunal, which can, then, rule that a law--say an environmental law or labor--is illegal under the so-called "free trade" regime and award tax-payer dollars to corporations. And this tribunal operates behind closed doors, with no public input or scrutiny and none of the basic due process or transparency one would expect in open courts.

Edwards' position was really important. These Chapter 11 rights are one of the most odious provisions of so-called "free trade" deals. They allow companies to undercut our democracy--laws that are passed by the people we elect can be overridden by an unaccountable, unelected tribunal. Edwards stood up and, effectively, said he would not sign trade deals with these undemocratic provisions.

Neither Sen. Clinton or Obama have made that specific pledge. Too many people think that globalization is just a slogan to mouth without looking at the rules that are governing trade. The fact is: globalization is nothing new. We've traded ever since humans walked on the earth. We need to stop being enthralled by the slogan "globalization" and think about how we set up rules that govern those trading relationships.

My friend Harold sent me this link about evolutionary "propaganda." Although, I don't know...after reading these bios, I kind of feel like the ministry is a hoax...what do you think?

"Diamond" Jack Holgroth is a Game Theoretician who currently teaches a course in Advanced Game Theory for Theologians at Fellowship University. He served our country during the Cold War as a Game Theory Tactician for the Department of Defense and single-handedly developed an elegant solution to the "Fisherman's Quandary", a game theory problem that was crucial to the winning of the arms race and that was famously intractable - until Diamond Jack came along. Jack also enjoys vexillology and can signal Bible passages from memory in fluent semaphore.

(although, secretly, I would like to see Bible passages recited in semaphore. hahahaha. That's freaking BRILLIANT.)

ACK! there is all sorts of brilliance on this site. My friend Chris just messaged me and encouraged me to mouse over the baby on this page. EEEEK! If you click on him a lot, he cries! I made baby Jesus cry!

Anyway, on to more serious items...or item, as I am running out of time...this Alternet article about how well Obama plays the media game is interesting to me:

The media can also veto candidates, as in the case of John Edwards. He was not by definition a "marginal" candidate: a U.S. senator and vice-presidential candidate in the last election, at various junctures he polled better against potential Republican contenders than the other Democratic candidates. He led his rivals in introducing a serious health care plan, and arguably transformed the contest in his appeal to the Democratic base on that and other issues.

But the media rejected Edwards, by a combination of ignoring him and subjecting him to much more negative reporting than the other major contenders. The same was true in 2004 for Howard Dean, who rallied the Democratic base but found himself with five or six times as many negative articles in the media than his major democratic primary opponents.

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On the other hand, Obama knew how to define his candidacy within the limits of the media's constraints and still have a mass appeal. From the beginning of his campaign he mostly avoided challenging powerful interests, and talked about "getting all sides to the table" and overcoming "decades of bitter partisanship." The media and punditocracy lap this stuff up like honey. At the same time he was able to tap into the voters' deep desire for change, with inspirational speeches, transcendental narratives, and celebrity-studded videos.

The Luscious Librarian demyths sex. My favorite is:

5. It’s better when it’s all night long. What? Don’t work harder, work smarter. If both of you can get done in 20 minutes, instead of 2 hours good for you. Crossing the finish line feels just as good for the sprinter as it does for the cross country runner, and I bet you the sprinter still has energy to run another race or wash a load of laundry in the same day.

Perhaps it's the ADD side of me, or maybe it's just because I am supermom...but unless you are super awesome and change things up an awful lot, after an hour or so of sex, I'll be totally checking my watch and thinking about what ELSE I should be doing.

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Seemingly on a totally different note (but perhaps indicative of how my brain works and WHY I am so distractable) re-nest provides step-by-step instructions for creating an indoor one-pot herb garden. [via lifehacker, which I am sure if it was a person would have my full attention for as long as he needed.]

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And if you are feeling stupid today, at least you know you are never as stupid as the man who is allegedly in charge of our country (but kind of after 8 years of stupid, these jokes about how stupid he is are getting really sad...and he's only getting more stupid.)

You see, it's not the war. The war is HELPFUL to the economy. The economy is actually fucked because we built too many houses...

Bush: Yeah, because we’re buying equipment, and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses (Curry: hmmmmm) and the economy is adjusting. On the other hand we’re just about to kick out 157 billion dollars to our taxpayers……what would have been had we abandoned Iraq when times were tough and let those soldiers die in vain..

You see...it's not that he's DUMB. It's that he has TOO MANY brain cells. Who can get anything done with all those brain cells running around thinking things?

And I still think all republicans are probably DREADFUL in bed.

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What the fuck is going on in Kosovo?

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Another weird seque...Foodsel is a site that gives you nutritional analysis of the foods you are consuming, as well as providing information about how much you will need to sweat to work it off. [via lifehacker again]

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Treehugger tracks the semiotics of greenwashing.

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Oh, and this looks totally yummy...and will be in my soup pot this weekend.

And that...is that.

BBC News has a feature about Iraqi bloggers that I thought provided an interesting (if disturbing) snapshot of life in Iraq today.

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Redneck Mother reports on A visit from the homeschool inspector, and illustrates why it's important to know your rights.

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I happen to have a personal affinity for oysters, so
this article was especially disturbing to me:

If present acidification trends in the world's oceans continue unabated, mussels, oysters and other shellfish could become extinct as early as 2100.

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Michael Pollan provides clarity on the farm bill issue in Weed It and Reap:

Americans have begun to ask why the farm bill is subsidizing high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils at a time when rates of diabetes and obesity among children are soaring, or why the farm bill is underwriting factory farming (with subsidized grain) when feedlot wastes are polluting the countryside and, all too often, the meat supply. For the first time, the public health community has raised its voice in support of overturning farm policies that subsidize precisely the wrong kind of calories (added fat and added sugar), helping to make Twinkies cheaper than carrots and Coca-Cola competitive with water. Also for the first time, the international development community has weighed in on the debate, arguing that subsidized American exports are hobbling cotton farmers in Nigeria and corn farmers in Mexico.

(via Treehugger)

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And on that note, I'm going to go make some oatmeal. Have a good day!

Seems to be media day here. No Media Kings is (are?) soon to release a serial low-fi sci-fi movie called Infest Wisely... Mr. Munroe is always scheming fun ways to use media, and is the author of several innovative novels, films, and let's not forget punk points!!! I am just so impressed with all that he does. I'm looking forward to the release of the first 7 episodes!! Yay, Jim!!! (and everyone else who is involved.)

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I would like to take this moment to personally thank Mr. Harmon Leon for cracking me the fuck up when I accidentally stumbled upon the Lederhosen episode of Blind Date last night.

"Don't worry, this is all a part of a TV show," I say, realizing the two of us (man in cowboy hat, guy in lederhosen, standing by urinal) looks like a Village People video from another dimension. The producer comes back. Lederhosen-APPROVED!

With cameras in place, I jump the gate in front of the restaurant, spring in front of my date like Peter Pan, making my big lederhosen entrance.

"Mien Frau! Ich bin hungry. Let us go dine!"

I was telling my friend Chris that, sadly, what with all of those fucking bizarre Hollywood Insider shows and the freaking weird-ass nightly nose (nose? I mean NEWS. GOD, what is it with me and the bizarre typos?!)...the lederhosen dude was probably the LEAST surreal thing on television last night. Which is probably why I avoid television.

I told J about it...and he had all sorts of information for me...evidently this dude does this a lot. I am going to have to watch the Press yr Luck one. Oh, and here's a video of the blind date:


I will have to watch his entire body of work...