I'm back--briefly. Long story short, funding is not coming through. I last ate a solid meal on the fourth of March. People can live fairly comfortably for quite a long time without solid food; I have had plenty of liquids, medicinal garlic, and the usual gardener's treat of nibbling on all the docks, dandelions, violets, and wild garlic in the not-a-lawn...but I am "running on fumes" and have little energy to waste on nonessential activities. I walked out to get some supplies and check e-mail this afternoon, and after sorting out the bacon I found a little time for Twitter and Google + and even for a Link Log. I won't be doing this regularly. Miss it? Fund it. Penniless? Share it with people who can afford to fund it. Categories: Books, Controversies, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Politics, Psychology, Travel.
Books
Review of an old favorite:
Gentle Readers, start your lists. He says "women aren't interested in uneducated or antisocial types." Passing lightly over the George Peters FacTape in which a woman researcher later to be known as Priscilla King discussed the life of David Koresh in comparison with other "cult leader" types...how many books can you think of in which women writers discuss "uneducated or antisocial" characters? Margaret Atwood did a splendid job with the antisocial, alienated woman artist in Cat's Eye
. Alice Walker wrote about characters who were both uneducated and antisocial in The Third Life of Grange Copeland
, about characters who are uneducated in The Color Purple
. How would you describe the characters of Grace Paley? What about Joanne Greenberg
(Hannah Greene
), who's consistently chosen to write about people whose brain and nerve damage causes them to seem about as "uneducated or antisocial" as humans get? What do you make of the tendency for young women, when they want to write novels that are definitely Serious and absolutely not to be regarded as Romances, to write about addictions and/or mental breakdowns? (What else can they write about--they're too young to write about growing old!) Hmm...maybe we're too quick to pounce, too quick to parse a comment that must have been either unfinished in the real interview or quoted in an incomplete form. He had to have meant to say "Newspapers don't pay women to interview uneducated or antisocial types."
. Alice Walker wrote about characters who were both uneducated and antisocial in The Third Life of Grange Copeland, about characters who are uneducated in The Color Purple. How would you describe the characters of Grace Paley? What about Joanne Greenberg (Hannah Greene), who's consistently chosen to write about people whose brain and nerve damage causes them to seem about as "uneducated or antisocial" as humans get? What do you make of the tendency for young women, when they want to write novels that are definitely Serious and absolutely not to be regarded as Romances, to write about addictions and/or mental breakdowns? (What else can they write about--they're too young to write about growing old!) Hmm...maybe we're too quick to pounce, too quick to parse a comment that must have been either unfinished in the real interview or quoted in an incomplete form. He had to have meant to say "Newspapers don't pay women to interview uneducated or antisocial types."
(For the record, before I'd even set up the Blogspot, someone suggested a bipartisan, Republican-friendly book about coal mining camps, as told by people who'd grown up in them. Adayahi knew several people who were, some of whom still are, just reaching that "old person thinks back, realizes the people s/he has previously been protecting are now dead, tells the whole uncensored story" stage in life. Nobody seemed to want to buy the book, but it's not that "women were" or that I was too snobby to write it. I was, in fact, interested in the break-up of mining camp communities and the many different things those people have done with the rest of their lives.)
Controversies
This article seems to be skirting the question a bit. Women have always served in the U.S. military in non-combat positions. Louisa May Alcott
, Harriet Tubman, and the woman remembered as "Molly Pitcher" are three famous examples. Does that mean women should be equally vulnerable to the draft? The position of this web site is that men should be equally exempt from "involuntary servitude" through conscription into military service in any capacity. If we can't muster an army that are fit and willing to fight, we should reconsider the whole war.
, Harriet Tubman, and the woman remembered as "Molly Pitcher" are three famous examples. Does that mean women should be equally vulnerable to the draft? The position of this web site is that men should be equally exempt from "involuntary servitude" through conscription into military service in any capacity. If we can't muster an army that are fit and willing to fight, we should reconsider the whole war.
Food (hopefully to become Yum)
A step toward labelling the yuckiest of the yuck:
Fun Stuff
Unfortunately, this game is free only if you have unlimited cell phone and Internet minutes, and rewarding only if you have a better phone-camera than most of the people I know. If you do meet those requirements, however, it looks like fun...constantly sharing nature/phenology photos with e-friends from all over the world.
Health
Dr. John McDougall looks delighted to introduce his son's, Dr. Craig McDougall's, first "Webinar." (This is a temporary link.)
Politics
Too many occupational licensing requirements are one of the things that cause people to say that "the free market doesn't work." Actually, when people are allowed to set up protectionist licensing requirements with the goal of forcing competitors off the market, the free market isn't being tried.
Psychology
Shaunti Feldhahn
researches ways to control anger:
researches ways to control anger:
Travel
What to do in Roanoke if you have weekend/vacation time this spring:
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