(no subject)
* Tibicina found, "The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night - and the International Media Is Asleep At the Switch:" http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/20/the-game-changed/
This is at least as bad as what was happening in Ukraine and very likely much worse, but there is very little coverage.
* "Racializing Politics: We don’t say “Slav” Democracy troubled in Ukraine, why Talk about “Arab” Failures?:" http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/racializing-democracy-failures.html
* In Arkansas Republicans are moving to 100,000 kick people off their private health insurance because that is just how much they hate the working poor. After all, Republican politicians get free health insurance from the government, so why should they care how many people they kill for their ideology. They are holding health coverage for children, the elderly, and the disabled hostage, promising to steal all their health coverage too if this incredibly cruel theft of coverage for a hundred thousand of the working poor doesn't pass.
* "Social Identity Markers are NOT a proxy for left wing social policies:" http://www.ianwelsh.net/social-identity-markers-are-not-a-proxy-for-left-wing-social-policies
* "US cheerleader shot dead after prank:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26250162
* "Apparently Jesus Will Return With an AR-15 in Hand:" http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bateman-jerry-boykin-jesus-assault-rifle-tape-022014
* More Republicans lying about history. "DeLay: Americans Have Forgotten That God Wrote The Constitution:" http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/delay-americans-have-forgotten-god-wrote-constitution
* More Republicans lying about history. "Bevin: Same-Sex Marriage Will Lead To Parent-Child Marriage:" http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bevin-same-sex-marriage-will-lead-parent-child-marriage
* "Kitties teach scientists a thing or two about genetics:" http://www.statecolumn.com/2014/02/kitties-teach-scientists-a-thing-or-two-about-genetics/
* "Why Mount Hood's next eruption will be like a big blob of toothpaste (+video):" http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0218/Why-Mount-Hood-s-next-eruption-will-be-like-a-big-blob-of-toothpaste-video
* "The Arctic Ice "Death Spiral" Continues:" http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/02/20/global_warming_old_arctic_ice_is_melting_away.html
* "Looks of early European revealed:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25885519
* "How women's wisdom was lost:" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/26/women-wisdom-papyrus-female-belief-ancient-geopolitics
* "The world's oldest handbag?:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-26288958
* "Could bubonic plague strike again?:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25916296
* "Vive la revolution! How grand opera influenced French political upheaval:" http://phys.org/news/2014-01-vive-la-revolution-grand-opera.html
* "200-Year Old Douche Discovered Under NYC City Hall:" http://gizmodo.com/200-year-old-douche-discovered-under-nyc-city-hall-1525930237
* "Study: Homophobia Takes Years Off of Your Life" http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/homophobia-takes-years-life-75062/
* "GOP Lawmakers Want To Define Anti-Gay Discrimination As 'Religious Freedom':" http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/religious-liberty-bills-idaho-kansas-tennessee
* "Religious Liberty Or Anti-Gay Animus?:" http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/02/19/religious-liberty-or-anti-gay-animus/
"So it also seems to me that the one demand we should make of such a defense of religious freedom is that it be consistent. For me, with devout Catholics, the acid test is divorce. The bar on divorce - which, unlike the gay issue, is upheld directly by Jesus in the Gospels - is just as integral to the Catholic meaning of marriage as the prohibition on gay couples. So why no laws including that potential violation of religious liberty? Both kinds of marriage are equally verboten in Catholicism. So where is the political movement to insist that devout Catholics do not have to cater the second weddings of previously divorced people?"
* Nothing makes me feel quite as much as a lapsed Johnnie as sorting and shelving my books.
* Since Mache died, Hector has been sleeping in her spot when he isn't sleeping actually on me. Last night, he moved back to his own spot.
* I was not planning to say anything about Sochi that didn't have to do with LGBTQ rights, but given how big Mr Plushenko's sudden withdraw and retirement is in the skating world, I feel I need to comment.
Here's my take on Evgeni Plushenko.
(Caveat: I have no secret knowledge here. I don't know him. I don't know anyone who knows him. Also, I haven't been following skating that closely the last few years for a variety of reasons. These are merely the observations of an ordinary figure skate fan). First, my biases: 1. While my bias is towards all around skaters, I believe that Mr. Plushenko was the best jumper in the world. He is still one one the best jumpers in the world. (I don't know the new men coming up as well as I like, so I don' know exactly how e ranks these days). Seriously, he's been one of the best in his field for a really long time and his prowess isn't hype. I say this as someone who's preference is for more rounded performances than he generally gives. I respect him as an athlete and he really did change the way people skate. he really did earn his fame and he really is a wonder to ewatch on the ice. 2. I don't much like him as a person, as he's been a poor sport on occasion. he's also had a hard time adjusting to the new scoring standards and has been kind of a dick about other skaters who adjusted better In other words, I admire his work, but I'm not inclined to be biased in his favor on a personal level.
Here's the thing though: He is thirty one years old. I know that to a lot of us that sounds young, but it's old for the amateur circuit. Most of the folks who skate our Olympics are from countries with shallow skate pools, or have for one reason or another underperformed in the Olympics. (Lots of titles, but never made gold in the Olympics). For folks like these, sometimes taking an extra four years of extreme physical punishment seems worth it. I say extreme physical punishment because it is grueling and the risk of serious injury is high. Don't believe me? Go watch a lip of Jeremy Abbot hitting the wall at high peed and struggling to get up. Try googling "figure skater" and "head injury" or "knee surgery" or "back surgery." Figure Skating chews people up incredibly fast and injuries mount up. He's been competing at the top level for more than half of his life. He's an incredibly driven world class athlete.
I absolutely believe he wanted to compete, and made the decision to do so on the adrenaline high after the team competition. Those of us who are older athletes and ex-athletes know that you generally don't know you are injured or how badly you are injured right away unless you did something extreme like break a leg or rip all the ligaments in your hand. It's the next morning that you start really feeling the pain and it can take a few days to realize, "Hey, I need to see a Doctor." The day after pain is widespread and can hide a more serious problem. The hint you are in trouble is that it's not getting better and the part or parts in question aren't working properly. The gap between the team free skate and the single event was exactly right for misjudging the extent of an injury an not being able to withdraw in time to be replaced. Yes, he likely knew during morning warm up he was fucked, but it was too late by then. If he'd had an obvious terrible fall, non-athletes would think, "Oh! He's really hurt!" and not think twice about him withdrawing, but sometimes the really crippling stuff is invisible, like pulling all the torso muscles on one side or a particularly viscous groin pull.
I may not be fond of him as a person, but I'm giving him full benefit of the doubt on his withdraw and retirement. I think his body was just done and he didn't know it until he discovered he couldn't jump on the day of the competition. He likely thought he could push through but hit a hard limit. I know something about that. I was an athlete until my body simply stopped obeying. It's hard adjustment. You spend a couple decades pushing through pain, because pain is always there when you are an athlete. Pain is like breathing, really. you get used to it; it is inconvenient sometimes; you try not to think about it; it is always going on. Then one day you hit a hard limit that didn't used to be there, and trying to push through only makes it worse. All your finally honed competitive instincts are now an enemy you have to fight against instead of an ally in achievement. It can literally take years to learn how to listen to your body in a completely different way than you did when you were healthy.
So yes, I believe Mr. Plushenko. I really do think he'd rather have gone out on a win, rather than fucking over e skate who was planned to do the singles event. I'm pretty damned sure he did not want people who were treating him like a rock star last week to hate him today. I think the drive that made him one of the best in the world at his sport betrayed him. Financially, leaving after the team event would have been better for his pro-circuit and after career than leaving under a loud of suspicion. Yes, he has been a showman and has a taste for drama, like most world class figure skaters, bu I have really hard time thinking this was on purpose.
* "Comet Lovejoy over The Great Wall:" http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140220.html
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/406964.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
This is at least as bad as what was happening in Ukraine and very likely much worse, but there is very little coverage.
* "Racializing Politics: We don’t say “Slav” Democracy troubled in Ukraine, why Talk about “Arab” Failures?:" http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/racializing-democracy-failures.html
* In Arkansas Republicans are moving to 100,000 kick people off their private health insurance because that is just how much they hate the working poor. After all, Republican politicians get free health insurance from the government, so why should they care how many people they kill for their ideology. They are holding health coverage for children, the elderly, and the disabled hostage, promising to steal all their health coverage too if this incredibly cruel theft of coverage for a hundred thousand of the working poor doesn't pass.
* "Social Identity Markers are NOT a proxy for left wing social policies:" http://www.ianwelsh.net/social-identity-markers-are-not-a-proxy-for-left-wing-social-policies
* "US cheerleader shot dead after prank:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26250162
* "Apparently Jesus Will Return With an AR-15 in Hand:" http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bateman-jerry-boykin-jesus-assault-rifle-tape-022014
* More Republicans lying about history. "DeLay: Americans Have Forgotten That God Wrote The Constitution:" http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/delay-americans-have-forgotten-god-wrote-constitution
* More Republicans lying about history. "Bevin: Same-Sex Marriage Will Lead To Parent-Child Marriage:" http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bevin-same-sex-marriage-will-lead-parent-child-marriage
* "Kitties teach scientists a thing or two about genetics:" http://www.statecolumn.com/2014/02/kitties-teach-scientists-a-thing-or-two-about-genetics/
* "Why Mount Hood's next eruption will be like a big blob of toothpaste (+video):" http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0218/Why-Mount-Hood-s-next-eruption-will-be-like-a-big-blob-of-toothpaste-video
* "The Arctic Ice "Death Spiral" Continues:" http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/02/20/global_warming_old_arctic_ice_is_melting_away.html
* "Looks of early European revealed:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25885519
* "How women's wisdom was lost:" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/26/women-wisdom-papyrus-female-belief-ancient-geopolitics
* "The world's oldest handbag?:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-26288958
* "Could bubonic plague strike again?:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25916296
* "Vive la revolution! How grand opera influenced French political upheaval:" http://phys.org/news/2014-01-vive-la-revolution-grand-opera.html
* "200-Year Old Douche Discovered Under NYC City Hall:" http://gizmodo.com/200-year-old-douche-discovered-under-nyc-city-hall-1525930237
* "Study: Homophobia Takes Years Off of Your Life" http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/homophobia-takes-years-life-75062/
* "GOP Lawmakers Want To Define Anti-Gay Discrimination As 'Religious Freedom':" http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/religious-liberty-bills-idaho-kansas-tennessee
* "Religious Liberty Or Anti-Gay Animus?:" http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/02/19/religious-liberty-or-anti-gay-animus/
"So it also seems to me that the one demand we should make of such a defense of religious freedom is that it be consistent. For me, with devout Catholics, the acid test is divorce. The bar on divorce - which, unlike the gay issue, is upheld directly by Jesus in the Gospels - is just as integral to the Catholic meaning of marriage as the prohibition on gay couples. So why no laws including that potential violation of religious liberty? Both kinds of marriage are equally verboten in Catholicism. So where is the political movement to insist that devout Catholics do not have to cater the second weddings of previously divorced people?"
* Nothing makes me feel quite as much as a lapsed Johnnie as sorting and shelving my books.
* Since Mache died, Hector has been sleeping in her spot when he isn't sleeping actually on me. Last night, he moved back to his own spot.
* I was not planning to say anything about Sochi that didn't have to do with LGBTQ rights, but given how big Mr Plushenko's sudden withdraw and retirement is in the skating world, I feel I need to comment.
Here's my take on Evgeni Plushenko.
(Caveat: I have no secret knowledge here. I don't know him. I don't know anyone who knows him. Also, I haven't been following skating that closely the last few years for a variety of reasons. These are merely the observations of an ordinary figure skate fan). First, my biases: 1. While my bias is towards all around skaters, I believe that Mr. Plushenko was the best jumper in the world. He is still one one the best jumpers in the world. (I don't know the new men coming up as well as I like, so I don' know exactly how e ranks these days). Seriously, he's been one of the best in his field for a really long time and his prowess isn't hype. I say this as someone who's preference is for more rounded performances than he generally gives. I respect him as an athlete and he really did change the way people skate. he really did earn his fame and he really is a wonder to ewatch on the ice. 2. I don't much like him as a person, as he's been a poor sport on occasion. he's also had a hard time adjusting to the new scoring standards and has been kind of a dick about other skaters who adjusted better In other words, I admire his work, but I'm not inclined to be biased in his favor on a personal level.
Here's the thing though: He is thirty one years old. I know that to a lot of us that sounds young, but it's old for the amateur circuit. Most of the folks who skate our Olympics are from countries with shallow skate pools, or have for one reason or another underperformed in the Olympics. (Lots of titles, but never made gold in the Olympics). For folks like these, sometimes taking an extra four years of extreme physical punishment seems worth it. I say extreme physical punishment because it is grueling and the risk of serious injury is high. Don't believe me? Go watch a lip of Jeremy Abbot hitting the wall at high peed and struggling to get up. Try googling "figure skater" and "head injury" or "knee surgery" or "back surgery." Figure Skating chews people up incredibly fast and injuries mount up. He's been competing at the top level for more than half of his life. He's an incredibly driven world class athlete.
I absolutely believe he wanted to compete, and made the decision to do so on the adrenaline high after the team competition. Those of us who are older athletes and ex-athletes know that you generally don't know you are injured or how badly you are injured right away unless you did something extreme like break a leg or rip all the ligaments in your hand. It's the next morning that you start really feeling the pain and it can take a few days to realize, "Hey, I need to see a Doctor." The day after pain is widespread and can hide a more serious problem. The hint you are in trouble is that it's not getting better and the part or parts in question aren't working properly. The gap between the team free skate and the single event was exactly right for misjudging the extent of an injury an not being able to withdraw in time to be replaced. Yes, he likely knew during morning warm up he was fucked, but it was too late by then. If he'd had an obvious terrible fall, non-athletes would think, "Oh! He's really hurt!" and not think twice about him withdrawing, but sometimes the really crippling stuff is invisible, like pulling all the torso muscles on one side or a particularly viscous groin pull.
I may not be fond of him as a person, but I'm giving him full benefit of the doubt on his withdraw and retirement. I think his body was just done and he didn't know it until he discovered he couldn't jump on the day of the competition. He likely thought he could push through but hit a hard limit. I know something about that. I was an athlete until my body simply stopped obeying. It's hard adjustment. You spend a couple decades pushing through pain, because pain is always there when you are an athlete. Pain is like breathing, really. you get used to it; it is inconvenient sometimes; you try not to think about it; it is always going on. Then one day you hit a hard limit that didn't used to be there, and trying to push through only makes it worse. All your finally honed competitive instincts are now an enemy you have to fight against instead of an ally in achievement. It can literally take years to learn how to listen to your body in a completely different way than you did when you were healthy.
So yes, I believe Mr. Plushenko. I really do think he'd rather have gone out on a win, rather than fucking over e skate who was planned to do the singles event. I'm pretty damned sure he did not want people who were treating him like a rock star last week to hate him today. I think the drive that made him one of the best in the world at his sport betrayed him. Financially, leaving after the team event would have been better for his pro-circuit and after career than leaving under a loud of suspicion. Yes, he has been a showman and has a taste for drama, like most world class figure skaters, bu I have really hard time thinking this was on purpose.
* "Comet Lovejoy over The Great Wall:" http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140220.html
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/406964.html. Please comment there using OpenID.