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Jan. 6th, 2011 05:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* I spent all day in the living room waiting for UPS. USPS came 2:30ish, and there was a missed package notice from UPS. We have a "please ring bell" sign and if they'd rung the door bell, there is no way i wouldn't have heard it. That means, they did their usual, knock once and run. This is why I hate UPS. It's only 50/50 they ring, and they run without waiting, which makes it hard for me to gimp to the door fast enough to catch them. a single knock through our thick door is hard to distinguish from a single thump, bang, or knock through the walls or ceiling here. If they'd even knocked properly, like a normal person, it's unlikely I'd have missed that, given I was right there with no music or TV on. This leaves their favorite single knock and leave. sigh. I called to complain this time as there was no chance of it being my fault, and they really need to do something about this carrier. I doubt we're the only one they do the knock once time instead of ring thing to. It turns out it's Mike's package anyway, so he can take a turn at waiting for packages tomorrow.
I am so grateful for our wonderful USPS lady as she rings, knocks three times, waits, rings once more before leaving, which means even if I'm asleep in my room, I have a good chance of gimping out to the door before she's out of hailing distance. There is no chance of ever missing her from the front room.
* I have a tea swap box, which I had to fight the Butt for. (No cats are allowed in tea boxes because people have allergies. I'm going to be seriously over caffeinated the next week.
I am already seriously impressed with the Edinburgh tea I sampled first.
* Pocket of Ancient Greek speakers found: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/jason-and-the-argot-land-where-greeks-ancient-language-survives-2174669.html
To give non-classicists an idea of scale, back when I was really good at both Latin and Greek, it was easier for me to read Romanian than either Italian or modern Greek, but I could generally get the gist of written Italian, while Modern Greek was right out. I've known people who spoke modern Greek and read ancient and they do say a knowledge of one is of some help to learning the other, but you really can't default one off the other and the grammar is quite different.
* I think hell may have frozen over. There's a member on the BPAL board, who I'm nearly only on opposite sides of debates with. (Politely. It's the BPAL board, after all). We've been fundamentally in agreement on two topics twice in one week. (1. We both support smoking bans in businesses, but think people should be able to buy flavored smokables. 2. Apparently, we are fairly similar, though not identical, on reincarnation and karma and ended up on the same side of a religion debate. O.o. The latter is the real startle as we are about as ethically dissimilar as you can get and have otherwise nearly completely incompatible religious beliefs.) This is one of the main reasons, I love the BPAL board, honestly. i don't get much debate in meat space these days. it pleases the hell out of me that there's somewhere on the net i can argue polite;ly with people so different from me and still randomly end up on the same side of some other topic, all without anger or rancor.
* For the record, the Buddhist concept of Karma and the colloquial American usage are not the same. To me, it feels like straw man to attack Buddhism as a whole using a simplistic western version, instead of addressing the more subtle and complex concept, especially as there are so many sects of Buddhism, with some really different ideas of how the core concepts work. earlier in the discussion, I'd pointed out that it's rude of us to lump all Christians into one group when there are sects as different as Quakers and Baptists, just as it's offensive for christians to lump all pagans into one group when we are so different from each other.
In chat, Karjack mentioned a friend's opinion that you could group Buddhist sects into two groups: the Buddha point sects, and the no point sects. I pretty much agree. Most of you have heard my why I think Pure Land is toxic rant, so I'll spare you. I'm am not into the Buddha points. I'm more into the spirit of the journey. Most of you have heard my zen marshmallow analogy, so I'll spare you that too.
* The thing that I am taking away from the religion discussion as a thought needing contemplating is how many people take the idea of karma and use it to negate free will, where as for me, Buddhism restores agency in a radical sort of way. For me, it's all about individual choices and the personal pursuit of likely unattainable perfection. It's about the individual deciding what things mean and how to react to them. A lot of people looking in see something akin to predestination. O.o
* In another thread, I mentioned my first sesame oil fail, way back when because i didn't know you needed to add something sweet if you are using it. It amuses me a bunch of people responded with things like, "I bet that's what's wrong with my fried rice!" sharing knowledge = a good thing.
* Wow, John Stewart was on tonight in the first half of the first act, though I think the puppet segment was over the top and not funny at all, just mean.
* Re: Bowdlerizing Twain (I meant to write this yesterday, but got distracted.)
In my district, we showed Roots to the 8th graders. It contains partial nudity and the n-word. How we handled it was, before each segment, I'd stand up there and warn people about the historically accurate nudity and use of the n-word. We'd talk a little about how the n-word is used in the mini-series, and I'd let people opt out. No one ever did. As with anything controversial, you run it by the school board first for liability reasons. We did something similar with the cursing in Of Mice and Men up at the high school.
My feeling is, you can teach things like Huckleberry Finn just fine as written as long as you talk about the complexity of what Mr. Twain was doing with language there and the historical context generally. I agree with the African American studies Scholars that replacing the n-word with "slave" is problematic and actually worse in it's own way than using the n-word there. My feeling is, it's of vastly more educational value to teens to talk about the historical context and what Twain is trying to do with the characterizations and language use than to mindlessly gut a 125 year old piece of literature to make it easier to digest. I don't think hiding the ugliness of slavery from teens does the teens or the truth a service.
* Magazine living: http://curbed.com/tags/magazine-living
* I think I want Niki Minaj to win Fug Madness this year.
* I meant to go to Meet up tonight, but was simply too damned tired.
* Doctor Who talk going on in comments here: http://gwyd.livejournal.com/1081045.html?view=2121685#t2121685
* Buffy/Angel talk going on over here: http://lettersfromtitan.com/2011/01/05/buffy-angel-and-a-whole-bucketload-of-spoilers/
* "Claiming Butch Identity:" http://www.bilerico.com/2011/01/claiming_butch_identity.php
I think the peer pressure to transition can be pretty fucking toxic. There is a real difference between being open and supportive and pushing people to do something dangerous and expensive to keep all the identity boxes tidy. Sometimes real life is messy and ambiguous and fundamentally untidy. That goes extra for identity. I'm not comfortable with gender policing no matter who it comes from.
* Thekitsune found: http://www.weregeek.com/2011/01/04/
* In yet more Who news, lurkitty found: http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/11/01/05/1735205/Doctor-Marries-Doctors-Daughter-TARDIS-Explodes?from=rss:
* Tulaq found, this makes me so angry, I can't frame a response: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/scalia-women-discrimination-constitution_n_803813.html
I am so grateful for our wonderful USPS lady as she rings, knocks three times, waits, rings once more before leaving, which means even if I'm asleep in my room, I have a good chance of gimping out to the door before she's out of hailing distance. There is no chance of ever missing her from the front room.
* I have a tea swap box, which I had to fight the Butt for. (No cats are allowed in tea boxes because people have allergies. I'm going to be seriously over caffeinated the next week.
I am already seriously impressed with the Edinburgh tea I sampled first.
* Pocket of Ancient Greek speakers found: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/jason-and-the-argot-land-where-greeks-ancient-language-survives-2174669.html
To give non-classicists an idea of scale, back when I was really good at both Latin and Greek, it was easier for me to read Romanian than either Italian or modern Greek, but I could generally get the gist of written Italian, while Modern Greek was right out. I've known people who spoke modern Greek and read ancient and they do say a knowledge of one is of some help to learning the other, but you really can't default one off the other and the grammar is quite different.
* I think hell may have frozen over. There's a member on the BPAL board, who I'm nearly only on opposite sides of debates with. (Politely. It's the BPAL board, after all). We've been fundamentally in agreement on two topics twice in one week. (1. We both support smoking bans in businesses, but think people should be able to buy flavored smokables. 2. Apparently, we are fairly similar, though not identical, on reincarnation and karma and ended up on the same side of a religion debate. O.o. The latter is the real startle as we are about as ethically dissimilar as you can get and have otherwise nearly completely incompatible religious beliefs.) This is one of the main reasons, I love the BPAL board, honestly. i don't get much debate in meat space these days. it pleases the hell out of me that there's somewhere on the net i can argue polite;ly with people so different from me and still randomly end up on the same side of some other topic, all without anger or rancor.
* For the record, the Buddhist concept of Karma and the colloquial American usage are not the same. To me, it feels like straw man to attack Buddhism as a whole using a simplistic western version, instead of addressing the more subtle and complex concept, especially as there are so many sects of Buddhism, with some really different ideas of how the core concepts work. earlier in the discussion, I'd pointed out that it's rude of us to lump all Christians into one group when there are sects as different as Quakers and Baptists, just as it's offensive for christians to lump all pagans into one group when we are so different from each other.
In chat, Karjack mentioned a friend's opinion that you could group Buddhist sects into two groups: the Buddha point sects, and the no point sects. I pretty much agree. Most of you have heard my why I think Pure Land is toxic rant, so I'll spare you. I'm am not into the Buddha points. I'm more into the spirit of the journey. Most of you have heard my zen marshmallow analogy, so I'll spare you that too.
* The thing that I am taking away from the religion discussion as a thought needing contemplating is how many people take the idea of karma and use it to negate free will, where as for me, Buddhism restores agency in a radical sort of way. For me, it's all about individual choices and the personal pursuit of likely unattainable perfection. It's about the individual deciding what things mean and how to react to them. A lot of people looking in see something akin to predestination. O.o
* In another thread, I mentioned my first sesame oil fail, way back when because i didn't know you needed to add something sweet if you are using it. It amuses me a bunch of people responded with things like, "I bet that's what's wrong with my fried rice!" sharing knowledge = a good thing.
* Wow, John Stewart was on tonight in the first half of the first act, though I think the puppet segment was over the top and not funny at all, just mean.
* Re: Bowdlerizing Twain (I meant to write this yesterday, but got distracted.)
In my district, we showed Roots to the 8th graders. It contains partial nudity and the n-word. How we handled it was, before each segment, I'd stand up there and warn people about the historically accurate nudity and use of the n-word. We'd talk a little about how the n-word is used in the mini-series, and I'd let people opt out. No one ever did. As with anything controversial, you run it by the school board first for liability reasons. We did something similar with the cursing in Of Mice and Men up at the high school.
My feeling is, you can teach things like Huckleberry Finn just fine as written as long as you talk about the complexity of what Mr. Twain was doing with language there and the historical context generally. I agree with the African American studies Scholars that replacing the n-word with "slave" is problematic and actually worse in it's own way than using the n-word there. My feeling is, it's of vastly more educational value to teens to talk about the historical context and what Twain is trying to do with the characterizations and language use than to mindlessly gut a 125 year old piece of literature to make it easier to digest. I don't think hiding the ugliness of slavery from teens does the teens or the truth a service.
* Magazine living: http://curbed.com/tags/magazine-living
* I think I want Niki Minaj to win Fug Madness this year.
* I meant to go to Meet up tonight, but was simply too damned tired.
* Doctor Who talk going on in comments here: http://gwyd.livejournal.com/1081045.html?view=2121685#t2121685
* Buffy/Angel talk going on over here: http://lettersfromtitan.com/2011/01/05/buffy-angel-and-a-whole-bucketload-of-spoilers/
* "Claiming Butch Identity:" http://www.bilerico.com/2011/01/claiming_butch_identity.php
I think the peer pressure to transition can be pretty fucking toxic. There is a real difference between being open and supportive and pushing people to do something dangerous and expensive to keep all the identity boxes tidy. Sometimes real life is messy and ambiguous and fundamentally untidy. That goes extra for identity. I'm not comfortable with gender policing no matter who it comes from.
* Thekitsune found: http://www.weregeek.com/2011/01/04/
* In yet more Who news, lurkitty found: http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/11/01/05/1735205/Doctor-Marries-Doctors-Daughter-TARDIS-Explodes?from=rss:
* Tulaq found, this makes me so angry, I can't frame a response: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/scalia-women-discrimination-constitution_n_803813.html