Interesting Links for 16-10-2015

[andrewducker]

• Feel guilty a lot? You're probably really sensitive to other people's emotions
  • (tags: guilt emotion )
• I'm going to "The Humanities in a Post-Human Future: Iain M. Banks’s Theory of Mind" (tickets still available)
  • (tags: IainBanks scifi writing )
• The tantalizing links between gut microbes and the brain
  • (tags: microbiome brain bacteria )
• Mathematicians

Comments

[bart_calendar]

It's interesting to see that tampon tax story in the way it's being presented in English language media

[andrewducker]

I agree that it's nowadays considered perfectly safe:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/no-periods/403894/

However, I know several women who have had major issues with hormone pills (including really awful weight gain, mood swings, etc), and I don't want to put any pressure on women to feel that they must ingest artificual hormones on a constant basis.

Also, I'd like to see some evidence around infections, STI, etc. I'll go digging when I'm not at work though.

I'm also _really_ against doctors effectively arguing that we should make women's choices more expensive to force them into making a particular choice.

[bart_calendar]

Yeah, it's an incredibly complex issue and as a dude I don't think it would be fair for me to take a stance either way.

I just think it's an important part of the context.

(And, yeah, I don't think doctors want to stop periods for all women, simply for the huge numbers of them who use hormonal birth control.)

As to periods raising STI risks there is some controversy over it, but in general it probably does. Many STIs are transmitted through blood. Adding blood to the sexual act (because lots of people have period sex) naturally increases exposure.

Also it seems like the cervix is more open during periods.

http://std.about.com/od/riskfactorsforstds/f/Does-Period-Sex-Increase-STD-Risk.htm

[bart_calendar]

Another thing - making things expensive to alter health choices is pretty common.

Hence taxes on beer and cigarettes.

[gonzo21]

Sanders feels a bit like the US version of Corbyn. A candidate who might actually represent the will of the people, so the billionaire-owned media refuses to acknowledge him.

[chess]

Also they're both pretty old, which I find quite odd (and also limits their support base in some places - not actually mostly among youth, but among people who are worried they won't be able to keep their faculties through the next election and a full government term).

[gonzo21]

True, American politics does seem to place way too much power in one persons hands.

I wonder what the median age of American politicians is compared to the Uk.

[chess]

Comparing PM and President, at a quick glance at the other related results that come up for 'Sanders age' and 'Corbyn age', Presidents are about 20 years older (~40 for UK PMs, ~60 for US presidents).

[naath]

ebook pricing> I figured that book prices are essentially demand driven. And my demand is based on how much I *want* the book, not on how much it costs to produce a book. Obviously you wouldn't usually sell a paper book for less than what it costs to print a copy which puts a floor on paper prices that isn't there for e-book prices; but the price on release-day is more controlled by how many people are expected to want it (some books get hard cover releases, some do not!).

[lilchiva]

When you use the phrase “politically correct,” here’s what you’re saying.You’re saying, “I want to be able to say things that are damaging - and I don’t want to be held accountable for it.”

My personal experience is that's not what people are saying when they say that. Often it means "I am going to espouse a set of facts or a POV that is uncomfortable to or different than the prevailing ideology or morality". It usually has nothing to do with intentionally saying crappy bigoted things about people. In my experience, when people are being bigots, they don't actually realize they are being bigots.

This blog post is a prime example of that. She thinks she's being righteous. She doesn't realize that she's actually espousing prejudice and propagating hate herself. I bet she'd be ashamed and appalled to see her essay characterized that way. : /

[andrewducker]

Often it means "I am going to espouse a set of facts or a POV that is uncomfortable to or different than the prevailing ideology or morality".

Interesting. I've literally never heard it that way. I've only ever heard it from people going more conservative, never from people going more liberal. Do people actually say things like "I'm not going to be politically correct here, because I think that women deserve equal rights."?

[cartesiandaemon]

I think I hear "politically correct" more from people saying you SHOULD be politically correct, than that you shouldn't, despite the fact it only became so prominent as a criticism of it.

Occasionally I want to say something that I think is true but I think is likely to sound offensive, and if I decide it's worth saying anyway, I struggle with what to actually say in that case...

You must work with people for a living!

[lilchiva]

Yeah. Around 80% of the HR "best practices" or "interpersonal training" is heavily branded with that phrase or permutations of it. Larger companies that are consumer based spare no expense in trying not to offend anyone.

[agoodwinsmith]

You need to read this book about raising a baby raccoon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rascal_%28book%29
Very sad - I read it several times as a child.

[andrewducker]

I need to read a _sad_ book about raccoons? Why would you do this to me?

(I'll add it to my list. But it's a long list, and I'm not reading much at the moment.)

[agoodwinsmith]

It's just that raccoon babies grow up, and are not domesticatible, really. Check out raccoons and Japan for more information about the initial cuteness turning into a mass release into the wild - and now they are chewing down wooden temples. Ancient wooden temples. Raccoons have their own opinions about how living in a house should go.