Misc. links
Fire, Measured by What Doesn't Burn. A really incredible piece of writing (it is a retelling of an old fairytale, done for Yuletide, but that is completely totally irrelevant to appreciating it). It's pretty intense. Highly recommended.
The decade in design. Doesn't have pictures, which struck me as a bit odd, but it's an interesting list of things that the author found important, and covers all manner of design (buildings, fonts, objects, etc.).
Color Coding for the Color Blind
Running shoes - worse for your joints than wearing high heels. Not that I am planning on taking up running again, but as soon as I can get my hands on the right pair of Vibrams (they've been out of stock for a while in my size/preferred color/style), I intend to make those my primary walking shoes, 'cause all these shoes-with-heels (even low, <1") make me unhappy.
How accessible are the different social media networks? Looks at Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, things like that.
What makes a website accessible. Bonus: If you design your website with the goal of making it accessible, it will be a nicer experience for EVERYONE. It's one of those funny things about accessibility in general, really.
More about the depressing influence of Texas on textbooks, and why this is relevant to the rest of the country. I say "more" because this piece goes into more the historical "how it all came about, and who the players are" aspects than I've seen elsewhere. (via twistedchick at DW) I'm really sick of the Dominionists/right-wing authoritarians.
Problems with parental notification laws. A long write-up of the many various and surprising ways the process doesn't work, at least in the author's home state, even when parental notification has happened. Here's the key thing to remember:
So, welcome to the reality of legal restrictions on medical services to teenagers! This is a thing to keep in mind whenever you read about a new law taking shape or being passed. If the new law does not explicitly identify standards and procedures, and if it does not explicitly identify service providers, and if those service providers do not actually exist in your community, you now have a pretty good idea of the intentions of the lawmakers. Passing a law that is undefined and inaccessible is passing a law you don’t want to see enforced. When lawmakers passed this notification law, they didn’t want girls to actually be able to acquire bypasses. They didn’t even care if girls notified their parents. If they had cared about these things, the law would have actually addressed what “notification” means, what “parents” mean, and who provides bypasses. It did not address these things, because these were not the things lawmakers actually wanted to see happen. The lawmakers purposefully made a law where it is impossible to ensure compliance, but is entirely possible to be punished for non-compliance. They made it this way because they did not want to see compliance. They wanted to see a full stop.
Laws restricting access to medical services are laws restricting access to medical services. They are not laws creating family talks, better worlds, or moral teenagers. They are laws creating restrictions to medical services, which people do not seek unless they need them. Laws creating restrictions to medical services are laws creating restrictions to services people need and need desperately. You can argue that the lawmakers had some kind of noble intentions in mind - I will not buy it, but you can argue that. But you cannot argue that once the law has been in effect and created an inability to comply, and yet remained unchanged. If this was a law about notifying parents, it would have addressed how to notify parents. If this was a law about how to seek a bypass, it would have addressed how to seek a bypass. Since it didn’t address either of those things, this is obviously a law about something else. You only get one guess about what that something else is.
(emphasis in original)
ETA: One more for luck: The Art of Non-Conformity, which has such things as a A Brief Guide to World Domination (that article is not in itself especially interesting, but the Guide is, and there are numerous other good articles; I started with the Top Ten list on the front page).
The decade in design. Doesn't have pictures, which struck me as a bit odd, but it's an interesting list of things that the author found important, and covers all manner of design (buildings, fonts, objects, etc.).
Color Coding for the Color Blind
Running shoes - worse for your joints than wearing high heels. Not that I am planning on taking up running again, but as soon as I can get my hands on the right pair of Vibrams (they've been out of stock for a while in my size/preferred color/style), I intend to make those my primary walking shoes, 'cause all these shoes-with-heels (even low, <1") make me unhappy.
How accessible are the different social media networks? Looks at Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, things like that.
What makes a website accessible. Bonus: If you design your website with the goal of making it accessible, it will be a nicer experience for EVERYONE. It's one of those funny things about accessibility in general, really.
More about the depressing influence of Texas on textbooks, and why this is relevant to the rest of the country. I say "more" because this piece goes into more the historical "how it all came about, and who the players are" aspects than I've seen elsewhere. (via twistedchick at DW) I'm really sick of the Dominionists/right-wing authoritarians.
Problems with parental notification laws. A long write-up of the many various and surprising ways the process doesn't work, at least in the author's home state, even when parental notification has happened. Here's the key thing to remember:
So, welcome to the reality of legal restrictions on medical services to teenagers! This is a thing to keep in mind whenever you read about a new law taking shape or being passed. If the new law does not explicitly identify standards and procedures, and if it does not explicitly identify service providers, and if those service providers do not actually exist in your community, you now have a pretty good idea of the intentions of the lawmakers. Passing a law that is undefined and inaccessible is passing a law you don’t want to see enforced. When lawmakers passed this notification law, they didn’t want girls to actually be able to acquire bypasses. They didn’t even care if girls notified their parents. If they had cared about these things, the law would have actually addressed what “notification” means, what “parents” mean, and who provides bypasses. It did not address these things, because these were not the things lawmakers actually wanted to see happen. The lawmakers purposefully made a law where it is impossible to ensure compliance, but is entirely possible to be punished for non-compliance. They made it this way because they did not want to see compliance. They wanted to see a full stop.
Laws restricting access to medical services are laws restricting access to medical services. They are not laws creating family talks, better worlds, or moral teenagers. They are laws creating restrictions to medical services, which people do not seek unless they need them. Laws creating restrictions to medical services are laws creating restrictions to services people need and need desperately. You can argue that the lawmakers had some kind of noble intentions in mind - I will not buy it, but you can argue that. But you cannot argue that once the law has been in effect and created an inability to comply, and yet remained unchanged. If this was a law about notifying parents, it would have addressed how to notify parents. If this was a law about how to seek a bypass, it would have addressed how to seek a bypass. Since it didn’t address either of those things, this is obviously a law about something else. You only get one guess about what that something else is.
(emphasis in original)
ETA: One more for luck: The Art of Non-Conformity, which has such things as a A Brief Guide to World Domination (that article is not in itself especially interesting, but the Guide is, and there are numerous other good articles; I started with the Top Ten list on the front page).