Because nothing works like good old-fashioned meta-journalism

Dying Newspaper Trend Buys Nation's Newspapers Three More Weeks

WASHINGTON—A recent glut of feature stories on the death of the American newspaper has temporarily made the outmoded form of media appealing...

UCLA Squirrel EXTREME CLOSE-UP

My very first upload. Aww, isn't it cute...

Can't stop the click: The Onion's sonofa Mouse article

This is too good not to distribute as widely as possible:

Son-Of-A-Bitch Mouse Solves Maze Researchers Spent Months Building

IOWA CITY, IA—The mouse briskly traversed the complicated wooden maze in under 30 seconds, roughly 1/8,789,258 the time it took to secure funding for the experiment.

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The Miss America Pageant: New Wine in An Old, Shriveled, Timeworn Teat of a Wineskin?

Not to be a complete wet blanket, I have to credit the folks at TLC who helped make last night's Miss America pageant a little more culturally relevant.

I say, a little more. But in a world where the pretty girls aren't giving us much to look at - whether it's the recovering Lindsay Lohan, or the abusive Naomi Campbell, or the disintegrating Britney Spears [do your own damn web search] - I'm beginning to wonder about the cultural relevance of a contest in which young women, under the guise of nubile virginity, are rewarded largely on the basis of physical attractiveness, with points thrown in for performing a few tricks they learned in finishing school, and speaking in complete sentences that demonstrate effective deployment of clauses like "I believe that" and "such as."

Is there anything wrong with acknowledging hotness? I don't think so. It depends on circumstances, but that's for another post, isn't it?

But is there anything wrong with two equally-qualified people receiving the same pay for the same work, the same seniority, the same achievements? There shouldn't be. But I have to wonder whether the beauty pageant mentality - perpetuated by these resucitation attempts - somehow filters its way into how "female achievement" is defined.

Perhaps I am making a spurious correllation here. One doesn't directly cause the other... but maybe both are symptoms of larger issues that threaten to hamstring a society's development, precisely because they threaten to hamstring one very large segment of that society.

What other indicators can we check besides this redirection of energy into Miss America?

Perhaps the already-tired media obsession with race versus gender politics, despite the outcry over its irrelevance, should get us thinking.

Perhaps the confluence of the conservative stacking of the Supreme Court, the emphasis on abstinence-only sex education, the coincidental uptick in (especially teen) pregnancies and drop in abortion rates, and the gag-order aesthetic that has crept into the "girl in trouble" film genre - exemplified in Juno - should give us pause.

Maybe the very act of removing a child from a parked car - a habit of attention we have strangely naturalized as "instinctive" despite the artificiality of automotive technology and our stimulus-saturated environments - and the huge disparity in prosecution and sentencing depending on who has committed that sin of omission - should make us wonder whether we really have interrogated our assumptions about what is appropriately "male" and "female."

Because a revamped beauty pageant, whatever else it does show, will not offer a peek at the machinery of assumptions, stereotypes and institutional biases that drives it.

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American Apparel misogyny and its discontents

The obvious location to link this would have been facebook, but the LA Times has completely jacked up the way its links appear when you attempt to post them through the "posted items" app. Anyway, when I saw this hot little story I was immediately reminded of fellow facebooker Vivian's link to blog Jezebel's assessment of the visual effect of fashion misogyny on the female form, courtesy of American Apparel. Now... however trendy it is, is it really worth padding this spitwad's wallet?

Lawsuit has fashion mogul in spotlight - Los Angeles Times

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For those who may have stopped dreaming: a refresher

Ladies and gentlemen, may I offer you one of the greatest speeches in history - and I don't think I'm exaggerating here. Advice: watch, reflect, act. And don't stop dreaming.

Embedded video

The full text of the speech, along with the video source, can be found here.

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A reminder: I'm not joking about escalators

It's never a good idea to horse around on moving machinery after consuming significant quantities of alcohol. But I'm telling you, there are some machines to which we have become so habituated that we easily forget how dangerous they can be.

And it's never occured to me that those rubber belts on the banister could be ridden. Most of the time they don't even go the same speed as the steps. Plus, do you know how many little vectors have touched those things? (No, that's not my #1 anxiety, but still...)

I've been to the Hollywood & Highland complex. if you're on the top floor looking out into the open courtyard, you'll quickly notice that it's a long way to the bottom. Whatever transportation you take to get there. Which is probably why I don't go there much. All the same... I think I don't even want to know all the details of this tragedy. I just imagine one of the three or four nightmare escalator scenarios I've already filed under WCS and that's all I need.

The only thing that would have made it worse is if this fellow had been taking the escalator with a baby stroller in tow.

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I got Foo Fighters tickets and now I want to scream like a little girl

The Internet presale started at 10 a.m., and I got my tickets at approximately 10:04, but it has just now hit me that I am truly in a position to attend the Foo Fighters concert just added to the tour schedule. In LA.

It has just now hit me and, since I have the catalog (plus the typical boots) but have never seen them perform, unless you count that little program on DirecTV's channel 101 back in September... and that was from the IYH tour, before ESP&G... to my chagrin, I have this strange impulse to go completely spastic.

But I'm going to hold on to this feeling. I'm going to save it up for the gig and then go loopy. Until then, I will work diligently on my various academic projects and duties, and eat as much ramen as it takes to stay within budget. Especially since I just had to buy a couple of new tires in the wake of yesterday's blowout. But that's another story - stay tuned...

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I worry overmuch about escalators (yeah, right)

For those of you who think it's really cute when my anxiety gingerly guides me on and off the escalator... It's not just a depth perception issue - this is machinery and, just like any machinery, it can malfunction too.

If only they weren't so damn convenient. Kind of like freeways, huh?

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A haiku of equivocation*

*Inspired by a pedagogy workshop.

I hope this helps you.
Does this answer your question?
Yes and no. Maybe.

When Old Tech Was New: Technical Support

For all of you technophobes out there, a gentle reminder at the jump:



If the embed doesn't work, try this link.

Another Reason Big Black Birds Totally Rock

Crows wield tools with human-like skill - life - 16 August 2007 - New Scientist

Bird brains. Ha!

Humans are freaked out over ravens and crows, not necessarily because of their traditional association with death, but because they're wicked smart - and smart birds scare some people. :-) Not that Alfred Hitchcock helped matters any, I suppose.

Sorry - I have a soft spot in my heart for these animals. They're fun to watch, especially when they mistake golf balls for eggs. If I ever make it to England, I mean to visit the ravens at the Tower of London. *sigh*

Next up: The Official JGR Welcome-Abord Pinkbelly

Busch gives Joe Gibbs Racing powerful 3-car lineup - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

Wow, what a combination of personalities. Seems to me that the next order of business is for Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin to pin young Rowdy down and give him a "welcome to the team" pinkbelly.

Seems only fitting.

Strangely, I think this combination is going to work out well. Not easily (LOL), but well.

Note to J.J.: Absolute best of luck to you, dude. You're going to go places... But whatever you do, don't, don't, sign with Wood Brothers, please. You saw that Boris Said couldn't finish higher than 14th with one of their cars at Watkins Glen on Sunday. Don't do it!

Otherwise... let the pinking begin.

Nice Toy, but Why "Make" Someone Hear if They Don't Want To?

Technology Review: Making Deaf Ears Hear with Light

While this isn't earth-shattering news in terms of technological advancement, as someone sympathetic to Deaf culture, and as someone who recognizes that language isn't merely an aural thing, I was really annoyed with this title.

This is perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of transhumanism and its embrace of human-"improving" technology - who gets the right to decide what, precisely, is a deficiency that needs to be corrected or improved in the human condition? Hearing people may think of "curing" deafness as a no-brainer, but members of Deaf culture in the U.S. and elsewhere don't see their not-hearing as a problem, simply another way of being in the world. IMHO, the #1 handicap that Deafies have to deal with is the "benevolence" of a bigoted and closed-minded hearing majority.

We have a lot more to gain by learning from, and cooperating with, a community that carries its culture in its hands than by plugging every last member in to the hifi and hoping for the best. It would be kind of nice if the PTB figure this out before we exterminate another culture.

Don't Be a Neologism-hater!

Some people just need to stop being "classical" English (as if) nazis.

OK, I'll admit, every day is a new adventure with Internet technology, and it takes a lot of cognitive power to keep up with the emergent jargon that comes along with it. It's one thing to deal with the anxiety - OK, a rant, a rave, a flame, maybe even taking it out on the poor machine... I can accept that.

It's quite another thing to troll for responses from technophobes for confirmation, however.

And a poll conducted by "British pollsters YouGov," at that, like that entity name isn't part of the problem.

Also, I'd really like to know the age distribution of the 2,091 adults surveyed. I'm willing to bet it's heavily skewed over 35, maybe even over 40. Tradition of Complaint, still alive and kicking. :-P

Personally, "godcast" had me ROTFLMAO.

Fighting like Cats and Dogs

The kneading is the best part, tho. It reminds me of that Looney Toons where a bulldog adopts a kitten. Wait. I correct myself. It's a Merrie Melodies cartoon, but a classic all the same. :-)

What Baby Monitors Can't Do Nowadays

This is what happens when the FCC makes you comply with "Part 15 of the FCC rules." You know, the one that goes like this:

"Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation."

Well, um, duh.

But what I want to know is, where can I get one of these baby monitors? :-)

Something to Give Your Right Eye For: eye-fi

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Grocery Store as Gauntlet (file under I Told You So)

Isn't this interesting... it seems as though grocery retailers are finally recognizing that grocery stores aren't exactly a cake walk for all their customers.

Unsurprisingly (and a little sadly), the focus is exclusively gender-based, the implications being, men get lost, women don't. Which, of course, makes AD/HD-grrl feel a little bit more like a freak.

Still, in response to the guy mentioned in this article as on his way to "a nervous breakdown in the cereal aisle," I've got this: You think the cereal aisle is mind-boggling! Try the feminine hygeine products aisle. Setting aside the plethora of tampon choices... there's short pads, long pads, overnighters, wings, no wings, fragrance, no fragrance, baking soda, special liners, brief-friendly, thong-friendly. (And various permutations therof.)

The folks who make Always pads tried some kind of bizarre, arbitrary iconic identification system a few years back that I am personally grateful failed. Do I get the stars, the flowers, the sailboats, or the duckies? WTF? Imagine a woman in the throes of PMS, before a wall of plastic-covered product, shuddering short of tears. Those were moments I wondered whether the act of shopping for the rag wasn't actually causing the PMS.

I suppose I should be grateful. If the grocery store marketing mavens improve shopping for men, I suppose it should help me too. But in a world where the marketing campaign is so quickly confounded with the societal norm, it's a bittersweet victory.

Especially if, after all the other man-friendly changes, they don't do anything to streamline the feminine products aisle.

As the World Worlds

This week in our Comp Lit class on the German philosophers, we're covering Heidegger's "Origin of the Work of Art."

There are moments when I feel guilty about all the studying I do, and I'm certain this contributes to my procrastination (yeah, I get housewife hangover after all these years). The only way I seem to be able to allay this anxiety is by showing Matt (el esposo) just what I have to deal with.

Reading random passages from Heidegger usually does the trick.

"Matt! Listen to this… Heidegger's talking about… here… the `thingly character of the thing, the equipmental character of equipment, and the workly character of the work.' But there's more. A little further on - this is even better - 'the world worlds.' You see what I have to put up with??"

Matt's eyes widen incredulously and he slowly shakes his head.

Am I grossly oversimplifying? Sure. Am I being dramatic? Of course.

Am I gloating? Hee-hee. Vindication!

I can now go back to my homework. A little less guilty about not doing the dishes at the moment. And eventually, a little less guilty about being behind on all the stuff I'm setting aside to attend to Heidegger's prose.