Adventures in Tab Closing #1
I have a very bad habit of abusing the tabs function of Firefox; I have the tendency to open up new tabs for everything and keeping them open, causing my computer to slow down and Firefox to crash often. I can't be the only one who does this, right? ^_^; So right now, I have a huge backlog of links that I think are interesting and want to post here, but instead of dumping them all at once (which I realize can be annoying), I'm going to do six at a time. I'll try to post six new links, selected at random, every day (or whenever I feel up to it), in addition to the 30-day music meme. Hopefully y'all won't get annoyed by all the spam. XD
Binyavanga Wainaina: "How (Not) to Write About Africa"
Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.
Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.
In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don't get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn't care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.
Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it-because you care.
I tried to find a good quote or two to post here, but the more I tried the more I realized I'd end up quoting the whole piece anyway. So the first four paragraphs will have to do. 8D
RELATED:
--Actor and GQMF Djimon Honsou doing a reading of an abridged version of the above
--Chimamanda Adichie: "The danger of a single story" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
--William Easterly: "How (not) to write about poor people"
MSNBC: "Australian 'angel' saves lives at suicide spot"
In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?" the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.
For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia's most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.
What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.
"You can't just sit there and watch them," says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. "You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple."
s.e. smith: "What To Do When Someone Approaches To Tell You About Sexual Assault or Abuse"
Start with ‘This is terrible. I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you.’ Or some variation on this phrasing. It’s important to emphasize that you recognise this thing that you are being told about as a wrong. And that you recognise that this wrong happened to the person you are talking to.
Follow with ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ ETA: It’s worth noting that this framing can be problematic, because it can put pressure on the person, who may feel an obligation to come up with something for you to do. You can say ‘I’m here to help,’ or ‘I’m here to listen, if you like.’ (end edit)
And stop right there.
Right. There.
That is all you need to say. What this person needs from you right now, what this person is asking for by coming forward, whether it’s talking about a molestation that occurred 30 years ago or a phone call in the middle of the night asking for a ride home from a party, is your support. Is your unconditional love. Is a reinforcement that yes, this happened, and it was wrong and awful and horrible and not the victim’s fault. It should not have happened. And you are in this person’s court. You are there. You are listening.
A very good guide of what to do in case you're in this sort of situation. Because as much as we think we know what to do or say, chances are we really don't.
Andrew Sullivan: "Getting Shit Done"
What are the odds that Obama's huge success yesterday in getting BP to pledge a cool $20 billion to recompense the "small people" in the Gulf will get the same attention as his allegedly dismal speech on Tuesday night? If you take Memeorandum as an indicator, it really is no contest. The speech is still being dissected by language experts, but the $20 billion that is the front page news in the NYT today? Barely anywhere on the blogs.
This is just a glimpse into the distortion inherent in our current political and media culture. It's way easier to comment on a speech - his hands were moving too much! - than to note the truly substantive victory, apparently personally nailed down by Obama, in the White House yesterday. If leftwing populism in America were anything like as potent as right-wing populism - Matt Bai has a superb analysis of this in the NYT today - there would be cheering in the streets. But there's nada, but more leftist utopianism and outrage on MSNBC. And since there's no end to this spill without relief wells, this is about as much as Obama can do, short of monitoring clean-up efforts, or rather ongoing management of the ecological nightmare of an unstopped and unstoppable wound in the ocean floor.
I sure understand why people feel powerless and angry about the vast forces that control our lives and over which we seem to have only fitful control - big government and big business. But it seems to me vital to keep our heads and remain focused on what substantively can be done to address real problems, and judge Obama on those terms. When you do, you realize that the left's "disgruntleist" faction needs to take a chill pill.
[...]
In the bank bailouts (much more successful than we first thought), the stimulus (still working), the health insurance reform (a real start on a deep and vexing problem across the developed world), and even the swarm of issues around Gitmo (torture has ended, while necessary, lawful military detentions and renditions continue), you see the same pattern of emotionally unsatisfying but structurally deep changes in the orientation of the ship of state. This is very gradual change we can believe in.
[...]
I don't see all this as ideologically liberal or leftist - which is where I agree with some of Obama's sternest critics. But I never saw Obama as such and never supported him as such. He may, however, end up a liberal hero. To see why check out Michael Tomasky's sharp essay in Democracy Journal. Money quote:
Our political culture affects the way we think about the past as well. Too often, when progressives think of American history, we think only of the snapshots: those glorious moments when a historic bill is signed into law, or when the great progressive leader thunderingly confronts the forces of reaction. It’s good to remember those; they are our lodestars. But they are moments. Actual history is slower, more tedious, and certainly less uplifting. It’s not for Obama’s sake, but for liberalism’s over the long haul, that we need to consider this reality and proceed in full awareness of it. It’s only by seeing this fuller picture that we can know how history actually unfolds in real time and place our present experience within that context. We don’t do nearly enough of that. Cable news and op-ed pages and websites are a kind of modern-day camera obscura, giving us an image to be sure, accurate in a way, but upside-down.
The changes we want to see won’t happen in 18 months, or in two years, or four, or probably even eight. Indeed, the entire Obama era, if it lasts eight years, is best thought of not as a culmination, or a self-contained time frame that should be judged a failure if X, Y, and Z don’t happen. It’s the start of a process that may take 16 years, or 24; that may be along the way interrupted or undone; that will be fought tooth and nail, as we’ve plainly seen these recent months, by others whose idea of America is incomprehensible to us but who are citizens too, with the same rights we have. They (and by the way: no despair on their side! There is rage, to be sure, but judging from the Tea Party events I’ve been to and watched, it is a joyful rage) and the corporate interests and the elected representatives on their side have a lot of power. Liberal despair only reinforces their power and helps to ensure that whatever gains are made during the Obama term could quickly be rolled back. And if that happens, we are back, ten years from now, to fighting the usual rearguard battles.
And that's why Obama's incrementalism, his refusal to pose as a presidential magician, and his resistance to taking the bait of the fetid right (he's president - not a cable news host) seems to me to show not weakness, but a lethal and patient strength. And a resilient ambition.
I posted this article here on ontd_political, with the depressingly expected results.
RELATED:
--Jonathan Chait: "Liberal Despair and the Cult of the Presidency"
Nerd Salad: "Artist Makes Steampunk Gizmos Out of Dead Animals"
There’s some art that borderlines between creative and disturbing, and New Zealand artist Lisa Black definitely takes the title of “crazy chick that I would not want to get angry”. Fascinated with taxidermy, she sought out to create perfect still-life forms of the furry deceased, until she began to go a different route. Lately, Black has been replacing various animal parts with machinery, cogs from watches, for example. She then titles each animal as ‘fixed’, leaving the interpretation up to the beholder. Whatever you decide, all I know is that sleeping soundly next to a cyborg lamb isn’t happening.
Not for the easily squeamish. ^_^; Pictures are at the source; the link to the Treehugger website only gives a 404 error, so you may want to go on Black's website if you wish to see more.
Yahoo! News: "Immigrant farm workers' challenge: Take our jobs"
In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.
Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.
So the group is encouraging the unemployed - and any Washington pundits or anti-immigrant activists who want to join them - to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.
All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at http://www.takeourjobs.org, and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms.
XD
Binyavanga Wainaina: "How (Not) to Write About Africa"
Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.
Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.
In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don't get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn't care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.
Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it-because you care.
I tried to find a good quote or two to post here, but the more I tried the more I realized I'd end up quoting the whole piece anyway. So the first four paragraphs will have to do. 8D
RELATED:
--Actor and GQMF Djimon Honsou doing a reading of an abridged version of the above
--Chimamanda Adichie: "The danger of a single story" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
--William Easterly: "How (not) to write about poor people"
MSNBC: "Australian 'angel' saves lives at suicide spot"
In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?" the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.
For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia's most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.
What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.
"You can't just sit there and watch them," says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. "You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple."
s.e. smith: "What To Do When Someone Approaches To Tell You About Sexual Assault or Abuse"
Start with ‘This is terrible. I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you.’ Or some variation on this phrasing. It’s important to emphasize that you recognise this thing that you are being told about as a wrong. And that you recognise that this wrong happened to the person you are talking to.
Follow with ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ ETA: It’s worth noting that this framing can be problematic, because it can put pressure on the person, who may feel an obligation to come up with something for you to do. You can say ‘I’m here to help,’ or ‘I’m here to listen, if you like.’ (end edit)
And stop right there.
Right. There.
That is all you need to say. What this person needs from you right now, what this person is asking for by coming forward, whether it’s talking about a molestation that occurred 30 years ago or a phone call in the middle of the night asking for a ride home from a party, is your support. Is your unconditional love. Is a reinforcement that yes, this happened, and it was wrong and awful and horrible and not the victim’s fault. It should not have happened. And you are in this person’s court. You are there. You are listening.
A very good guide of what to do in case you're in this sort of situation. Because as much as we think we know what to do or say, chances are we really don't.
Andrew Sullivan: "Getting Shit Done"
What are the odds that Obama's huge success yesterday in getting BP to pledge a cool $20 billion to recompense the "small people" in the Gulf will get the same attention as his allegedly dismal speech on Tuesday night? If you take Memeorandum as an indicator, it really is no contest. The speech is still being dissected by language experts, but the $20 billion that is the front page news in the NYT today? Barely anywhere on the blogs.
This is just a glimpse into the distortion inherent in our current political and media culture. It's way easier to comment on a speech - his hands were moving too much! - than to note the truly substantive victory, apparently personally nailed down by Obama, in the White House yesterday. If leftwing populism in America were anything like as potent as right-wing populism - Matt Bai has a superb analysis of this in the NYT today - there would be cheering in the streets. But there's nada, but more leftist utopianism and outrage on MSNBC. And since there's no end to this spill without relief wells, this is about as much as Obama can do, short of monitoring clean-up efforts, or rather ongoing management of the ecological nightmare of an unstopped and unstoppable wound in the ocean floor.
I sure understand why people feel powerless and angry about the vast forces that control our lives and over which we seem to have only fitful control - big government and big business. But it seems to me vital to keep our heads and remain focused on what substantively can be done to address real problems, and judge Obama on those terms. When you do, you realize that the left's "disgruntleist" faction needs to take a chill pill.
[...]
In the bank bailouts (much more successful than we first thought), the stimulus (still working), the health insurance reform (a real start on a deep and vexing problem across the developed world), and even the swarm of issues around Gitmo (torture has ended, while necessary, lawful military detentions and renditions continue), you see the same pattern of emotionally unsatisfying but structurally deep changes in the orientation of the ship of state. This is very gradual change we can believe in.
[...]
I don't see all this as ideologically liberal or leftist - which is where I agree with some of Obama's sternest critics. But I never saw Obama as such and never supported him as such. He may, however, end up a liberal hero. To see why check out Michael Tomasky's sharp essay in Democracy Journal. Money quote:
Our political culture affects the way we think about the past as well. Too often, when progressives think of American history, we think only of the snapshots: those glorious moments when a historic bill is signed into law, or when the great progressive leader thunderingly confronts the forces of reaction. It’s good to remember those; they are our lodestars. But they are moments. Actual history is slower, more tedious, and certainly less uplifting. It’s not for Obama’s sake, but for liberalism’s over the long haul, that we need to consider this reality and proceed in full awareness of it. It’s only by seeing this fuller picture that we can know how history actually unfolds in real time and place our present experience within that context. We don’t do nearly enough of that. Cable news and op-ed pages and websites are a kind of modern-day camera obscura, giving us an image to be sure, accurate in a way, but upside-down.
The changes we want to see won’t happen in 18 months, or in two years, or four, or probably even eight. Indeed, the entire Obama era, if it lasts eight years, is best thought of not as a culmination, or a self-contained time frame that should be judged a failure if X, Y, and Z don’t happen. It’s the start of a process that may take 16 years, or 24; that may be along the way interrupted or undone; that will be fought tooth and nail, as we’ve plainly seen these recent months, by others whose idea of America is incomprehensible to us but who are citizens too, with the same rights we have. They (and by the way: no despair on their side! There is rage, to be sure, but judging from the Tea Party events I’ve been to and watched, it is a joyful rage) and the corporate interests and the elected representatives on their side have a lot of power. Liberal despair only reinforces their power and helps to ensure that whatever gains are made during the Obama term could quickly be rolled back. And if that happens, we are back, ten years from now, to fighting the usual rearguard battles.
And that's why Obama's incrementalism, his refusal to pose as a presidential magician, and his resistance to taking the bait of the fetid right (he's president - not a cable news host) seems to me to show not weakness, but a lethal and patient strength. And a resilient ambition.
I posted this article here on ontd_political, with the depressingly expected results.
RELATED:
--Jonathan Chait: "Liberal Despair and the Cult of the Presidency"
Nerd Salad: "Artist Makes Steampunk Gizmos Out of Dead Animals"
There’s some art that borderlines between creative and disturbing, and New Zealand artist Lisa Black definitely takes the title of “crazy chick that I would not want to get angry”. Fascinated with taxidermy, she sought out to create perfect still-life forms of the furry deceased, until she began to go a different route. Lately, Black has been replacing various animal parts with machinery, cogs from watches, for example. She then titles each animal as ‘fixed’, leaving the interpretation up to the beholder. Whatever you decide, all I know is that sleeping soundly next to a cyborg lamb isn’t happening.
Not for the easily squeamish. ^_^; Pictures are at the source; the link to the Treehugger website only gives a 404 error, so you may want to go on Black's website if you wish to see more.
Yahoo! News: "Immigrant farm workers' challenge: Take our jobs"
In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.
Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.
So the group is encouraging the unemployed - and any Washington pundits or anti-immigrant activists who want to join them - to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.
All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at http://www.takeourjobs.org, and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms.
XD