November 30, 2014
The Human Show
"On the third day of the iguana plague..."
The Iguana in the Bathtub by Anne Doten [New York Times] Hard lessons on a cold day in Florida.
"When the temperature dipped below 40, iguanas started falling from the trees. Small, sleek green iguanas; big iguanas as long as four feet from snout to tail, scales cresting gloriously from their heads; orange-and-green iguanas, their muscled, goose-pimpled arms resolving into sharp claws. Iguanas were everywhere: in the bushy areas surrounding canals, on sidewalks, in backyards, lying helpless among the fallen, rotting fruit of mango and orange trees."
"Dude, you're drunk. Leave her alone. Eat this pizza."
Nudging College Students to Prevent Rape and Sexual Assault: Would serial offenders have a harder time if more men and women felt personally responsible for stopping them?
An unusual feature of residential life at Pomona was the "sponsor program," wherein two sophomores (one male and one female) are assigned to live in every freshmen hall. Sponsors didn't enforce rules like residence advisors. Indeed, sponsors often used their upperclassmen friends to get fake IDs or knowledge of local liquor stores to help their new freshmen friends to obtain alcohol. But part of sponsor training involved being taught how to help or intervene in circumstances as varied as clinical depression, alcohol poisoning, an eating disorder, or a drug addiction. For the most part, you avoided butting into anyone's business on campus, even if that person was breaking rules. But you also did your best to prevent anything catastrophic from happening, being just slightly older and wiser. Even a light touch could accomplish a lot. "Dude, you're drunk. Leave her alone. Eat this pizza.""Don't get raped" education is tired and unhelpful. "Don't rape people" education is (many claim) pie-in-the-sky idealism. What if the education focused on bystanders instead? Conor Friedersdorf writes about his own undergraduate experience and whether something like it might be expanded to other colleges.
It's all about the crocodile.
NATO is a military alliance, not a social club.
Summit of Failure: How the EU Lost Russia over Ukraine which led to Four Thousand Deaths and an Eastern Ukraine Gripped By War.
The US and Europe are at odds over NATO expansion. Hate To Say We Told You So: NATO Expansion Edition.
The Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s – Not Putin’s – Fault and Reminds Americans Why NATO Should Not Expand: Not To Ukraine, Georgia, Or Anyone Else.
The US and Europe are at odds over NATO expansion. Hate To Say We Told You So: NATO Expansion Edition.
The Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s – Not Putin’s – Fault and Reminds Americans Why NATO Should Not Expand: Not To Ukraine, Georgia, Or Anyone Else.
Baristas Beware of Blue Beverage Beakers
Flavor scientists in Australia have discovered a link between cup/container color and perceived coffee taste.
"Work Therapy"
Tampa homeless program uses unpaid, destitute residents as steady labor force, revenue source [more inside]
Winter War
Finland commemorates the 75 anniversary of the start of the Winter War today with services held across the country. Hostilities began on 30 November 1939 with an attack by the Soviet Union including bombing raids on the capital Helsinki. via
Speculative questions from research into mental illness
Could depression be an infectious disease? Might hallucinogenic mushrooms be an effective treatment for depression (New York Times link)? Do antipsychotic drugs hinder long-term recovery from episodes of schizophrenia?
Truth is harder to tell than a lie
The habitual liar may be a very honest fellow, and live truly with his wife and friends; while another man who never told a formal falsehood in his life may yet be himself one lie-heart and face, from top to bottom. This is the kind of lie which poisons intimacy. And, vice versa, veracity to sentiment, truth in a relation, truth to your own heart and your friends, never to feign or falsify emotion—that is the truth which makes love possible and mankind happy. Robert Louis Stevenson on truth and writing.
Secrets of the London Tube
In The Hospital, There's No Such Thing As A Lesbian Knee
"When my partner Cheryl was dying from respiratory complications related to treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma, she was in so much physical distress she couldn't bear to be touched.
The only contact she could stand — one of the few ways I could share my love with her — was for me to rub her feet. As I stood at the foot of her hospital bed doing just that, a scrub-clad figure we had never seen before poked her head in the door, curled her lip and demanded: 'What is your relationship?'
The question was clearly directed at me, but my girlfriend reached through her drug-induced, hypoxic haze to respond with her New Yorker tough-girl attitude: 'Really? Whose feet do you rub like this? What the hell are you, the relationship police?' " [more inside]
It's like a fantasy nobody would want to have.
Tory shires join call for more cash and powers for England’s regions
Grauniad: "The huge list of signatories to the letter – which also calls for an end to savage financial cuts imposed by the centre – demonstrate growing all-party frustration at a system that leaves local communities at the mercy of a central government with little or no understanding of each area’s particular needs. The letter states: “There is compelling evidence that taking decisions closer to the people affected achieves better results and saves money.""
Again, Christopher Priest put it best: “Hire some actual black people.”
This was not built to last, and as such, these are not changes that disrupt business as usual. The most bigoted fan can go about their Cap- and Thor-loving life largely untroubled by these events, save for a little message board mayhem, and thus these are not changes I care about. Because that’s a large part of the point of writing characters who aren’t straight white dudes: disruption. Making change that cannot be ignored by those who wish they could.Juliet Kahn isn't impressed by a black Captain America or a female Thor and wants the comics industry to move beyond such gimmicks and promote real change.
this never wanting it to end
Tyranny is the removal of nuance. See ballroom dancing.
Guardian: Alexei Sayle’s Marxist demolition of Strictly Come Dancing. In which the English Marxist-Leninist comedian and author details his dislike of the British version of Dancing with the Stars.
Wussy: The Best Band in America
This year Wussy, the band that Robert Christgau called "the best band in America" released Attica! [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »