Completely open thread Friday March 16 2012

 

Irregular Business

"This week in The Slacktiverse" may be posted later than usual this weekend due to a combination of good weather, school holidays and TBAT having opportunities to spend time with people in their lives.

Regular Business

Since it has been a while...we declare this an ABSOLUTELY OPEN THREAD.

One, two, three... Comment!

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The Slacktiverse is a community blog. Content reflects the individual opinions of the contributors. We welcome disagreement in the comment threads, and invite anyone who wishes to present an alternative interpretation of a situation to write and submit a post.

Comments

[Sixwing]

... First?

Boobies!

*cough* Sorry, been a while since I've seen one of those around here.

[Froborr]

Yay, open thread!

On the way to work this morning I was (as I have been doing lately, both for the exercise and the extra couple of minutes it gives me to get ready) sort of half-walking, half-running to the Metro and reflecting how people always seem to hurry to the jobs they hate, but take their time returning to the families they love, and how messed up that is.

I heard a noise behind me, and turned to see that an old man about ten feet away had fallen. He looked perfectly fine--not like he was in pain, and he was already getting back up. I hesitated for a moment, but I had no time to pause--I'd already missed my train by seconds and thus been 10 minutes late once this week, and couldn't afford a second time.

I feel bad I don't feel worse about this, if that makes any sense? I feel like I should have *wanted* to go back to him, and I should feel guilty about not having gone back, and instead I just... don't. Have I become that jaded?

[hapax]

@Froborr -- I lived in New York City during the height of Reagan recession, and found it heartbreaking how easily one became accustomed to stepping over homeless people on the sidewalks.

Spouse told me of going to Delhi with a colleague native to that city, who was literally kicking beggars out of the way as they came out of the airport, not even pausing in his conversation.

I don't want to say that "there's a limit to human compassion." I don't want to say "Sometimes you have to be callous to survive."

I don't WANT to say it.

But I'm very afraid that I have to say "There's a limit to my compassion. Sometimes I have to be callous to survive."

I wish that this weren't true. And I try to push my limits.

And I try to be more forgiving of others who may have reached theirs.

[MercuryBlue]

tw: referenced abortion and lack thereof

Every time I see another instance of the Republican War on Women, or that Protect Life awareness ribbon with a fetus (sans pregnant woman) in the triangular bit, I want to increment the amount of my next donation to Planned Parenthood. I want to, but I can't. I can't even make a next donation to Planned Parenthood, as things stand right now; all my money is earmarked for this loan or that loan or medical or educational expenses or to be touched only in cases of emergency impacting me directly, which, since I don't have sex or use contraception, the War on Women doesn't currently.

The local food bank seems to think everyone who'd want to volunteer for them is available weekdays nine to noon. I work weekdays before nine to after noon. And when I switch to swing shift in a week and a half, I'll be sleeping past nine. (Or I had better be, says the person who has woken up at four-frigging-thirty three nights running.)

Limits on individual compassion and limits on one's ability to put compassion into action are two entirely separate--related, yes, but separate--things.

(...huh, the local Planned Parenthood has changed their webpage re volunteers. I think I'll email them and ask what they might need from somebody with no medical training.)

In unrelated open-thread-ness: three business days from Tuesday would be today, yes? So I should have heard back by now, yes? Where's my phone call? Also, insert rant about insurance companies choosing one's doctor. Trying to find someone who's both BCBS-approved and taking new patients, preferably female (or trans or genderqueer, but naturally BCBS's find-a-provider form doesn't have those tickies) and in town, and it's not going so well. I'm not sure I dare try to find a new dentist. (I do know perfectly well I don't dare not to.)

[Ross]

(TW: Abortion; Child suffering; forced medical procedures; war-on-women)

I just read an article by a woman who found herself in the position of making the difficult decision to end a wanted pregnancy in the second trimester. In texas. She speaks of her experience. On top of the reasons we already know about why the texas forced penetration law is horrific, this article points out how little guidance the law gave for implementing its requirements, with the result that (ROT13 for more explicit triggering) fur'f sbeprq gb raqher n funzvat yrpgher qrfcvgr orvat va n pynff gung fubhyq unir orra rkrzcg.

I forced myself to read through to the end. It was not easy. The Right Not to Know

[Laiima]

Much to my surprise, on a walk this evening, Spouse told me that the GOP's war on women and hearing from all his women friends (including me) has finally led him to ... think of himself as a feminist. I thought this day would never come, but here it is. And it's pretty sweet. :)

[Timothy (TRiG)]

@Ross, I'd just read that article (linked from Patheos!Slacktivist), and stuck a link to it on my own blog. Without trigger warnings. What the flip was I thinking? I've edited them in now. (Luckily, I hadn't actually published it yet. It was scheduled for the 27th, because that was my next free day. It's important and urgent, so I've brought it forward. I'll have two posts on the Patrick's Day!)

Yet another sign, perhaps, that I've not been in this community for long enough. I approve of trigger warnings. I understand why they're important. But I still forget them. Ah, privilege.

TRiG.

[J Enigma (the Transhumanist!)]

OT - this little adventure in self publishing has been very enlightening.

I wish someone had told me before I spent 4 hours in photoshop designing my book cover that the hue of blue I selected in RGB would print purple because it was well outside of the range of CMYK printers. I also wish I'd known before hand that the awesome "linear burn" effect that makes my cover look really cool in RGB doesn't work so well in CMYK. The upside is that I get a crash course in color theory, and plenty of experience in photoshop - because this is something like the 8th time I've had to redesign it from the ground up.

At least I'm almost done with the self-editing. I just wish that I could get the color combinations right for the cover. I'm going to have nightmares about misspelled words and ambiguous phrases in super-black and blue eating me alive.

[Leum]

I'm taking the GRE* tomorrow. Well wishes, prayers, etc from everyone are welcomed.

*Big huge important test in the US that helps you get into grad school

[Froborr]

Good luck, Leum!

[Giles]

I'm kind of a longterm lurker on Slacktivist/Slacktiverse. I've been vaguely planning on writing a sequence of blog posts aimed at a Slacktiverse audience... if possible I'd like to get a link from the Blogaround. But I feel like this would be imposing myself since I'm not a familiar face here. Any advice?

(Actually, first I need to find the time to do it and also learn how to write well).

[Mmy]

@Leum: Thinking good thoughts at you. Get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast.

[Mmy]

@Giles: There is no "familiarity" requirement to get into the Blogaround. You can even ask for feedback in the Blogaround. Just send TBAT an email.

[Prell]

Good luck, Leum!

I just got accepted to grad school, kind of against the odds, so you can borrow my luck for the day. (Just bring it back when you're done - I need it to find a lab with funding.)

[Coleslaw]

Sleep well, Leum. (That is a good luck wish.)

[Lliira]

I got a cane today. It's shiny purple. I've been struggling between, "this is a cool cane and I can walk a little more easily now," and, "I'm only 35 years old and I need a cane. If I had money, I would not need a cane. I hate my life and I hate this country."

Mostly I've been trying to avoid thinking about it. Thank the Invisible Pink Unicorn for video games.

[Winter]

Good luck, Leum.

[Nenya]

Good luck, Leum!

Mira Furlan now has a Twitter account, and I have been invited to write an article for my friend's QUILTBAG zine. Yay!

Oh, actually, any of you who are interested, here's the zine:

http://justabitradical.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/call-for-submissions/

[Mike Timonin]

Hope it went well, Leum - and best of luck with grad school. What are you planning to take?

[Lonespark]

Oh good, an open thread!

Here, have a link about race and scifi and why DS9 is the bestest:
http://www.racialicious.com/2012/03/15/o-captain-my-captain-a-look-back-at-deep-space-nines-ben-sisko/#more-21072

[Leum]

GRE went well, I think. Well above the 90th percentile in verbal and well above the 70th in quantitative. Have to wait to get my essays scored, though. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!

[Ross]

(TW: War on women. Abortion. Fetal death. Spousal abuse. Swearing. Gross misogyny)

There are no words. THere are no fucking words.

Georgia state rep. Terry England is proposing that abortion be banned even when the fetus is dead because women should have to carry the dead fetuses until their bodies naturally eject them "like cows and pigs do". Also, he seems to be offering a ban on cockfighting in exchange for a ban on abortion.

In Wisconsin, lawmaker Don Pridemore opposes divorce in all cases and suggests that battered women "refind those reasons and get back to why they got married in the first place" to fall in love with their abusers all over again.

[Nenya]

@Lonespark: That is a fantastic article about a fantastic show and amazing captain. Captain Sisko is my favourite. ♥ (I love Janeway too, but DS9 stole my heart long ago, for oh so many reasons.) The article points out a couple of things I hadn't thought of, but I did already know that Jake and Sisko's family relationship was absolutely amazing. ♥ And Kasidy! Kasidy Yates, ILU.

[MercuryBlue]

Pardon my swearing and check Ross's trigger warnings.

A pregnancy ends in one of three ways. An abortion, a miscarriage, or a live birth. If the fetus is already fucking dead, it is not a fucking abortion. It is keeping the miscarriage aftermath from endangering the woman's health and life, in a manner that proves why there need to be doctors familiar with abortion procedures regardless of whether abortion is legal.

But who cares, right? She's just breeding stock. There's always more where she came from.

(Why is PETA not all over this for animal cruelty reasons? Or do veterinarians remove dead fetuses from cows and pigs when necessary as a matter of course?)

I bet if Pridemore were a battered husband, or knew one, he'd be overjoyed that there's legal divorce.

[Wednesday]

(TWs from Ross and MercuryBlue continue)

Sadly, I'm pretty sure that removing a dead fetus is still legally considered abortion of some sort in the US. Some years ago, while the ban on intact D&X was still in courts, I read an account of a woman whose much-wanted, apparently-healthy fetus suddenly died. She wanted an intact D&X so they could have a better chance of finding out went wrong, and also because delivering a corpse was just too horrifying for her to contemplate. The Catholic health services provider she was using wouldn't permit abortion on its premises unless she was hemorrhaging or septic, and she had a very hard time finding anyone who could do the procedure. When she finally did, she had to sign a release saying she knew that abortion was terminating her pregnancy. I can't find the article any more (I think it was in Slate or Ms.).

So that awful excuse for a human being in Georgia is not the first callous monster to insist that women should just go around carrying dead fetuses inside them -- some Catholic hospitals have taken that stance for years.

[Nick Kiddle]

It's Mothers Day today here in Britland. Special good wishes to anyone who would like to be a mother but can't, anyone whose mother is no longer with us and sorely missed, and anyone who for whatever reason finds the cultural injunction to love our mothers hard to bear. I think there are people in the Slacktiverse in all three categories.

[MercuryBlue]

Wednesday: I have no words, except sympathy for that woman.

[hapax]

@Wednesday -- I worked with a woman in the same situation.

She was a fervent Catholic, but since her priest, then her bishop, refused her appeal and left her in that horrible, grief-filled, life-threatening situation for weeks, she has refused to receive the Host from a priest since.

I cannot imagine what is going through their heads (those who make that demand of women, I mean.)

[Ross]

(TV: Abortion. Above TWs Continue)

@Wednesday: I think the fact that you qualify it with "sadly" indicates how badly the forced-birthers have taken control of the frame. *Of course* it's abortion, because *abortion how you terminate a pregnancy*. Tryign to frame it as if abortion was inherently about terminating a fetus is part of the organized attempt to reframe the women out of the discussion. And it pretends that cases like the one you describe don't exist.

(TW: Explicit, forced-birtherism, fetal death)

One time I made a mistake and googled on the subject. ANd found a forum thread from years earlier, in which a catholic woman whose fetus had died was looking for ethical supoport. ANd she was told "I don't agree that it's abortion, so it's okay. But I would still not do it because it's better to die from sepsis than to give money to abortion doctors." and then "No, it's abortion, so you can't have it. The ONLY thing you are allowed to do is to pray for (ad this point it got confused and it seemed like some of the commenters thought that maybe her fetus would come back to life if she prayed hard enough)"

It's not an accident. It's not a problem with the language. Forced Birthers *intend* for women to carry dead fetuses to term. Because they've made it not-about-the-women. They just don't want you to think about it.

[Amaryllis]

@hapax: And I don't blame her.

So I went and googled a whole bunch of "Catholics Answers" kinds of sites, on the question of whether the removal of a dead fetus constitutes an impermissible abortion.

Only one site mentioned that specific circumstance, and the author (a priest) states flatly that such a procedure is not only permissible, but mandatory. The other sites ignore the question entirely, concentrating on dogmatic pronouncements against abortion of a living fetus in all other circumstances, regardless of the danger to the woman or the unlikelihood of a successful outcome of the pregnancy.

The Catholic Catechism itself only talks about "living" embryos or fetuses. So I don't know why hospitals, not to mention priests and bishops, are digging in on this, as it seems they are. I can only suppose that the very word "abortion" shuts down all their brain cells, as well as any vestige of ordinary human sympathy. They've got to the point where it's the actual mechanics of the procedure, not its effects, that are considered evil.

Or else they're just scared to death to be seen as deviating one millimeter from the dogma line. Better to err on the side of caution than on the side of heresy, no matter how much they have to harden their hearts until they have no hearts left. Seems to me that Jesus had words for people like that.

As for what's going through the heads of people like Rep. England (and I wonder who wants to claim to be represented by him):
Maybe the line about the fetus "not expected to survive until delivery" means "but maybe it will! God can work miracles! Give him a chance!" Which is still to say that the highly unlikely hope counts for more than the extreme likelihood of pain and damage and even death for the living woman. Even if she's just breeding stock, don't you want her to survive to breed again? I'm not a farmer, but I don't think Rep. England is making any sense here. Veterinarians do indeed remove dead fetuses from cows and horses and such.

Another possible explanation: "Women lie, you know. Also those liberal abortionists at Planned Parenthood. They may claim that the fetus is dead or dying, but they'd say anything to chalk up another abortion. We'll just see if that poor innocent baby is really dead!"

Ugh.

[MercuryBlue]

They may claim that the fetus is dead or dying, but they'd say anything to chalk up another abortion.

Because people get abortions for the fun of it.

[Timothy (TRiG)]

I didn't know it was actually physically possible for me to get more angry than I already was at the Religious Right.

TRiG.

[Nick Kiddle]

//The Catholic Catechism itself only talks about "living" embryos or fetuses. So I don't know why hospitals, not to mention priests and bishops, are digging in on this, as it seems they are. I can only suppose that the very word "abortion" shuts down all their brain cells, as well as any vestige of ordinary human sympathy. They've got to the point where it's the actual mechanics of the procedure, not its effects, that are considered evil.//

One thing that I imagine is a big problem is that, if the procedure is considered evil in *most* cases, medical students won't have many chances to observe it and doctors won't be experienced at performing it. So even if it's acceptable in this one case, it isn't possible. In one account I read, a doctor said "I trained in a Catholic hospital", which could mean "I am morally opposed to this procedure" but could equally well mean "My training didn't cover this procedure and therefore I don't know how to perform it safely". Another reason why abortion restrictions don't just harm the people they're targetted at.

[Amaryllis]

@Nick: Excellent point.

[Mmy]

One of the things that I really don't "get" about the "won't even teach doctors how to perform the procedures" people is that they seem incapable of understanding how much pain they are inflicting on people who believe exactly the same as do they.

TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF DEATH OF A FETUS DURING PREGNANCY.

The wife of someone I knew was pregnant. They already had one child (a daughter) and were ecstatic when she became pregnant a second time. They knew that the child was a boy, they had picked out his name and were in the process of getting his room ready. Both believed utterly that the fetus was an, as yet unborn, child.

Unlike during the first pregnancy she often had disturbing symptoms during this second pregnancy. Then one day the doctor told her that she needed to get a sonogram right away and yes, the fetus was dead. It was, I think, 4 or 5 hours between the moment when she got the news and the beginning of the procedure. Her husband was able to be with her and she was treated well -- but it has always haunted me, those hours she spent waiting for the procedure lying in a bed knowing that the child she had already begun to love was dead in her abdomen.

Now every time I read one of these stories about waiting times, and informing the women and making her look at yet another sonogram I see the face of my friend's wife and think of what torture it would have been for her to go through that.

And, I would point out, that what I or anyone else in the community thought about abortion or contraception had absolutely nothing to do with what we all recognized. By their own intellectual, religious and emotional standards he and his wife had lost of child. They deserved to be given the time, the support and the understanding of their community. †

How can people who talk about being pro-life be so cruel and uncaring even to their own.

† Not that a story like this can ever have a "happy ending" but they have since had another child. They had wanted a large family and had been terrified that this "problem" signaled an inability to have more children. Two years later they were once again the sleep deprived parents of a newborn and happy beyond words. They also still mourned their dead son.

[Ross]

How can people who talk about being pro-life be so cruel and uncaring even to their own.

I suspect that if you are the sort of person who thinks that the suffering of a fertile woman is something worth caring about, you are operating from a fundamentally different and incompatible mindset from the hard-line pro-lifers.

As I increasingly find myself saying, the morality of pro-choicers doesn't make any sense at all until you realize that the issue of abortion is not about TEH BAYBEEZ, but rather about the rights and the suffering of women.

But surprisingly the actions of the pro-lifers don't make any sense at all until you realize the exact same thing

[cyllan]

TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF DEATH OF A FETUS DURING PREGNANCY. (and also swearing)

I am breaking my 20 year old vow to never discuss abortion on the internet.

I spent 2 weeks pregnant with a non-viable fetus. I did this voluntarily to make sure that the fetus in question HAD actually stopped growing before having an abortion. It was (and still is) one of the single most traumatic and horrible things that happened to me. I can not actually form words in response to the bill in my state senate right now. When I consider having to live with that knowledge and that visceral horror for SEVEN FUCKING MONTHS because some jackass thinks that women can't be trusted with their own bodies, I lose the power to have a civil conversation. Fuck them. Fuck them all.

The Republicans have lost my vote for the rest of my life as far as I am concerned. Fuck it.

[hapax]

@cyllan: I am so sorry that you went through that.

Thank you for your courage in discussing it publicly.

[Mmy]

@cyllan: There are not enough words to express how sorry I am that you had to go through that.

As hapax said, thank you for your courage.

[MercuryBlue]

cyllan: what they said. hugs?

[cyllan]

Internet hugs are always appreciated. :-)

[Kit Whitfield]

Hugs to cyllan. Lots and lots of hugs.

[sarah]

Hugs for cyllan. I'm sorry.

[Sixwing]

Many hugs for cyllan indeed. But thank you for discussing it here - as awful as it is.

[Ross]

TW: Forced birth. Rape. Misogyny:

Ahem:

This is barely even comprehensible.

Guvf ovyy qbrf abg erdhver n genaf-intvany rknz. … Vg yrnirf gung hc gb gur cngvrag naq gur culfvpvna gb znxr gung qrgrezvangvba.” Ur fnvq, “Encr naq vaprfg jnf hfrq nf n ernfba gb bccbfr guvf. V jbhyq ubcr gung jura n jbzna tbrf va gb n culfvpvna jvgu n encr vffhr, gung culfvpvna jvyy vaqrrq nfx ure nobhg creuncf ure zneevntr, jnf guvf certanapl pnhfrq ol abezny eryngvbaf va n zneevntr be jnf vg gehyl pnhfrq ol n encr. V nffhzr gung'f cneg bs gur pbhafryvat gung tbrf ba

Chuck Winder, R-Boise

Is he suggesting that rape victims might be using their rapes as an "excuse" to "get out" of the state-mandated slut-shaming when aborting an unrelated pregnancy?

[MercuryBlue]

TW: marital rape. Though why I'm TWing for something that the resident expert, Chuck Winder, says is an impossibility...

[sarah]

Since this is an open thread, can I poke my head in for something lighter (and that intersects with one of our previous threads)? Dear Author has been posting a series on fanfiction. I thought MercuryBlue and Ana would be especially interested, given what they've written in the past...

[Mike Timonin]

Hey - I asked this of my FB friends, but didn't get a solid answer. If I record myself reading something published by someone else, and then post it on Youtube, will I be in violation of US copyright? (US, because that's where I am right now, I understand that different things are different in different places, and I don't want to re-open the whole copyright can of worms. I just want to know if such an act will get me sued or issued with a C&D letter.)

[Froborr]

@Mike: Unless you have permission of the copyright holder, yes, it is a violation. I would think that would be obvious--you are effectively making and distributing an audiobook without the permission of the author.

[Mmy]

@Mike Timonin: Long story short -- yes some people have gotten C&D letters over doing that.

Long story medium sized. There is quite a "rights tussle" going on about the reading of books. Not too long ago the people who read books out loud to children at a library got "C&D" AND "you owe us back copyright" letters. I have no idea how that case will go (it seems like overreach) but in the US a public performance of a copyrighted work is considered copyright infringement and putting something on YouTube has been considered a public performance.

[hapax]

Yes. Our library has "Online Storytime" videos accessible at our website, and we always get copyright permission before posting them.

The same is true for "book trailers" that our teen groups create and post to Facebook.

(Not for just the in house story hours, however. That has generally been considered "fair use.")

It has never been a problem getting permission; authors and publishers are usually happy to grant it, and quick to respond.

[Mike Timonin]

Got it - I will avoid the C&D letters. Froborr, yeah, that seemed pretty obvious to me, but I thought it would be best to check.

[MercuryBlue]

Recent events suggest that I have no problem calling people out on offensive language online, case in point, here with 'lame'. But somebody busts out with 'retarded' in my workspace and I clam up. *frustrated* I mean, I emailed her, told her I'd appreciate it if she didn't, but that doesn't tell anyone else that such language is not acceptable.

[Froborr]

@Mmy: Interesting. I would have thought putting it up on YouTube counts as creating and distributing a derivative work (hence my "should be obvious" above), while reading books to children at a library is equally obviously Fair Use since it is not-for-profit and educational. In fact, I thought reading books to a class/library full of children is what educational Fair Use exception is for.

@Mike Timonin: Apologies if that came across as snarky, wasn't my intent.

(TW: Ableist language)

@MercuryBlue: Gah, I know what you mean. My supervisor uses ableist language all the time, especially "retarded." I really do not feel I can call her on it, I just have to try to ignore it.

[Mike Timonin]

Hmmm. I posted a post, it said it posted, but I do not see it...

[The Board Administration Team]

@Mike -- you aren't in the spam trap. You could email to TBAT and we could post it for you.

[Nick Kiddle]

TW: Ableist and racist language

//My supervisor uses ableist language all the time, especially "retarded." I really do not feel I can call her on it, I just have to try to ignore it.//

I work with some ... well, one of them is a proud reader of one of the most bigoted newspapers in the UK, and the others don't seem to have much understanding of oppressive language either. One day they were recounting how the counting-out rhyme went "Eeny meeny miney mo, catch a n_____ by the toe" in their day, and I was reduced to spluttering, "Um, that really isn't a very good word to say."

It's a horrible choice, because I can either listen and say nothing and feel complicit, or speak up, get a faceful of their bigotry that's pretty much aimed at me (suggesting that words don't matter and I'm a whiny whiner for having a problem with it) and listen to them still saying whatever oppressive things they feel like. Ugh.

[Mike Timonin]

I can re-post - the problem is probably on this end, since my wifi is being ... odd. New router, new apartment, newish laptop - it's all contributing.

Froborr - I was not particularly bothered by any snark in your comment - snark, among my clan, is a sign of affection.

The other thing I posted is entirely unrelated. There are some documents at the National Archives in College Park, MD, that I need to take a second look at. The only gap in my schedule this semester is the weekend before Easter - Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday. Is there a slacktivist within an easy drive from College Park who would be willing to lend me some couch space for Thursday night and Friday night, April 5th and 6th? I recognize the inconvenience, but would appreciate it greatly.

[Froborr]

@Mike: Sorry, I would but I am out of town that weekend. Also not sure how much of an "easy drive" SW DC counts as, anyway.

[Mike Timonin]

Froborr - I have friends in Manassas and environs, and that's a bit further than I want to drive first thing in the morning - ideally, I'd like to be able to avoid the beltway if at all possible (but it almost always isn't possible.)

[Steve Morrison]

Does anyone know how to report errors to Project Gutenberg? I've found errors in some of the early etexts, e.g. "musing chorus" for "rousing chorus" in #245 (Life on the Mississippi), but the PG site doesn't say what to do in that case.

[The Board Administration Team]

@Steve Morrison:

Send an email to errata2010_AT_pglaf.org.

Any errata/bug/typo report is welcome! There is additional guidance in the FAQ on how to prepare errata reports so they are easiest for the Project Gutenberg team to handle. Start with FAQ #R.26 on how to report typos. [From Their Contact Page]

[Steve Morrison]

Thanks! I missed that.