BurningbirdThere is no one more capable of providing an entertaining “this site is under construction/this site is having problems” then Fishrush. This is the person who should be designing the front end to ThreadNeedle.
However, Fishy One, must get you off of Tripod. Would you like a nice, temporary fishrush.burningbird.net, instead? No popup ads.
(Or would close proximity to the Bird that Burns poach Fishy?)
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Feeling MUCH better today after massive amounts of sleep time yesterday. I can’t remember the last time I felt so tired.
Today is a day of changing addresses at various creditors, as well as getting new cell phone number. Hopefully I’ll also get DSL working (I would not have gone with Earthlink for broadband access but didn’t have a lot of options in the area).
I joined the St. Louis Bloggers site that Ben maintains – a very nice site. However, I stated that I live in St. Louis directly when I believe I may live in Jefferson county.
Missouri really is a beautiful, green, lush state. I want to begin my acquaintance with my new home by exploring the cave systems in the state, at least until the heat and humidity drop a bit so that I can begin exploring the many, many paths and trails. Hopefully, I can also look into kayaking the rivers.
I don’t feel at home in a new place until I’ve explored it a bit, walked it’s soil, tread it’s waters, breathed its air.
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
I was extremely pleased and surprised to hear that an appellate court has ruled that reciting the Oath of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase “…under God”.
Not everyone believes in a God, nor do all religions support the concept of taking an oath. In both cases, the daily oath makes kids who don’t participate feel like outsiders, especially in today’s frenzied patriotic environment.
The Oath of Allegiance and coating our cars, homes, and bodies with variations of red, white, and blue are cheap and easy ways to show our patriotism. Much simpler to say an Oath than to carefully pursue details of bills pending in Congress, or to vote based on individual merit rather than party affiliation.
Not all webloggers are so pleased as I. Amidst a tangled web considers this a giant step back, saying As a big fan of God, I hope he gets to stay in the USA. At Boboroshi.com:
It’s gotten to the point where society is evicting any piece of religion from anything political. The problem exists that, in evicting religion from our society and becoming completely secularized, those who have exized religion have not been able to replace its moral teachings.
Our society was based on a secular government, a nation whereby church and state are separated. This does not preclude the practice of religion, but does put religious practice where it belongs: celebrated by individuals in their own space, their own time, protected by law.
As for the “moral teachings” of religion, there is no religion – none – that doesn’t have incidents in its past that the modern practitioners of same would just as soon forget. And there have been few wars fought that didn’t have a kernel of religion at their core – including the current conflicts in the Middle East. In actuality, morality, or lack thereof, is a matter of individual responsibility rather than religious affiliation.
Perhaps we should create a new Oath – one with a bit broader base:
I give my promise
to all of humanity
to support freedom in all its forms.
And to the world
in which we live
one world, indivisible
I support liberty and justice for all
I can live with this.
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Jonathon juxtaposed two quotes within a posting – a serious one from a woman questioning whether she would ever meet the man of her (overly perfect) dreams; and a rather humorous exchange between guys on IRC.
In response to a comment attached to the posting, Jonathon also stated:
An alternative reading of the (ironically) juxtaposed quotes might draw attention to the earnest self-centeredness of the woman compared to the easygoing self-deprecating humor of the men. Or to the failure of thirty years of feminist theory to effect a truly fundamental change in men’s thinking.
Leaving aside questions of earnest self-centeredness and self-deprecating humor based on choice of quotes, I wanted to focus on Jonathon’s statement about feminist theory effecting fundamental change in men’s thinking.
I’m not surprised that thirty years of feminist theory, or practice for that matter, haven’t instituted major changes in the male thought processes – feminism was never about changing men’s thinking. It was always about changing women’s thinking.
We can’t say to men, “Look, you have to change your evil ways and start treating us equally”, when we’re not willing to make changes ourselves. And we definitely can’t expect to have our cake and eat it, too.
For instance, do we as women see ourselves as nurturers first, and then as unique human beings? If we do, then we women haven’t achieved the growth and change we need to make. Women are far more interesting and capable then just being baby incubators and brood mares. As part of our complexity, we can be excellent mothers and wonderful mates, but that’s not the sum and total of what we are. Until we start respecting our own uniqueness and individuality, we can’t demand that men look beyond the stereotype we’re perpetuating.
We say that society puts women into a position and keeps us there, but if all women said “Enough of this bullshit”, society wouldn’t have a chance. If we women as a whole rejected the stereotypes, refused to compromise ourselves, didn’t play the “woman” game, change – real change – would occur. And it starts with us, not the guys. It was never about the guys.
Saying that change must start with men perpetuates male-centeredness and denies women any say in this change – yet again another, albeit extremely subtle, stereotype.
And as for humor….
IRC Quote 1834:
[09:50] Hey, anyone who knows Japanese, what does “kikurimu” mean?
[09:52] “I am a preteen with bouncing breasts.”
[09:53] There are probably three or four words for that.
[09:53] Sort of like the Eskimos having so many words for snow.
IRC Quote 6918:
I don’t like pamela anderson type breasts
Their remote controls are annoying and not well documented.
IRC Quote366
“Too few women on the internet?
There are lots of women on the internet,
only most of them are naked and in JPG-format.”