The Blogaround
Kit Whitfield continues her analyses of famous first sentences. This week:
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt and Stalky and Co by Rudyard Kipling.
Literata wrote about the Intiutive Reiki Level I class she attended and described how her new tattoo brought home to her the love of the body.
Laiima reports: In the last two weeks I have been reconnecting to my creativity, and along the way, rediscovering self respect: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5. I also posted
an ode to plaid and wrote about
names complicated by gender.
MercuryBlue writes: I'm participating in the 100 Things Blogging Challenge, and one of my topics is 'a hundred ways to save the planet'. Thus far, I have: given money to my parents aka landlords for the express purpose of buying renewable-sources electricity, at least enough to cover my usage; resolved to start buying carbon offsets to cover all of my carbon footprint, dating from the day I was born; ordered a sample cloth menstrual pad with the intent of buying more if the sample is no more of a pain than disposable pads; contemplated green funeral arrangements; investigated hand-crank cell phone chargers. This last might be easier if I knew what model phone I have. (It says Nokia. That's all I know.)
yamikuronue writes: This week I did a song lyric mini-deconstruction and discussed my gender identity. In TPD, we continue following Hank through the Arcade Of Doom, while in Easily Amused we meet Piper and continue to despise Lola. I'll be out of town this weekend attending the Steampunk Empire Symposium, so no tea reviews.
Michael Mock writes: This week at Mock Ramblings has been extra-special-rambly, owing mainly to sick kids and general exhaustion. This began back on Saturday, with a brief exchange at work about The Royal Y'all. The highlights included a filler post on Wombats, further discussion of combat theory as it relates to writing/film in He's Dead, Jim, an important safety announcement about Zombie Defense For Exhausted Parents, plus filler posts including Things I Just Read and a Classic Tai Chi video. Finally, I complained about an advert for a "Steampunk Shop" and posted a brief vignette: Zombie Defense For Exhausted Parents II.
Coleslaw writes: After years of talking about it, we are buying New patio furniture. To my great surprise, a new property tax to support CATS (the Capital Area Transit System) actually passed in a local tax election. I don't believe in Astrology, but it's eerie how much my husband is like my late dad, whose birthday he shares. And speaking of their birthday, it was also World Malaria Day, which I wrote about A Day Late.
gleomstapa reports: Last weekend I was mistaken for an archaeologist and wondered why this keeps happening and whether it matters.
Storiteller this week remembered what it was like when she was eight years old, on her hot pink bike, and every slight slope looked like a mountain. In The View from the Bottom of the Hill, she reflects on how she is trying to take this perspective again at times.
Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
Twilight: The Chapter 7 Wrap-Up
I'm thoroughly amused by Bella's belief that Edward Cullen's behavior will be guided by any semblance of social expectations, politeness, tact, or basic decency. Because he has certainly been nothing but a model gentleman, what with all the moodiness, the violent and pointed avoidance, the gaslighting, the argumentativeness, the physical manhandling, the repeated trampling of her consent, and all the other delightful behavior he has demonstrated thus far.
Twilight: The Chapter 7 Wrap-Up
I'm thoroughly amused by Bella's belief that Edward Cullen's behavior will be guided by any semblance of social expectations, politeness, tact, or basic decency. Because he has certainly been nothing but a model gentleman, what with all the moodiness, the violent and pointed avoidance, the gaslighting, the argumentativeness, the physical manhandling, the repeated trampling of her consent, and all the other delightful behavior he has demonstrated thus far.
In case you missed this
Coleslaw writes: For anyone who is interested in this kind of thing, the United Methodist Church General Conference is going on in Tampa. Friday, a resolution to strike the words "The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers the practice incompatible with Christian teaching" from the Book of Discipline has passed a subcommittee, along with amending the statement, " . . . sexual relations are affirmed only within the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage" by removing the word "heterosexual". It still has to pass in the full committee and of course on the conference floor before anyone can do the happy dance. I'm trying to keep up with events on Twitter feeds and blogs and may have a post on the subject next week.
Pediatricians in Canada discharging unvaccinated children [The Toronto Star, April 25 2012]:
More and more, doctors are taking a stand when their medical advice is being ignored, said Dr. Hirotaka Yamashiro, chair of the pediatrics section for the Ontario Medical Association and president of the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario.
“There have been some pediatricians who are very concerned about that, and may not take on the patient in the beginning,” Yamashiro said. “If you are going to fundamentally disagree with one of the things I think is good for your child, what else are we going to have a problem with?”
More and more, doctors are taking a stand when their medical advice is being ignored, said Dr. Hirotaka Yamashiro, chair of the pediatrics section for the Ontario Medical Association and president of the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario.
“There have been some pediatricians who are very concerned about that, and may not take on the patient in the beginning,” Yamashiro said. “If you are going to fundamentally disagree with one of the things I think is good for your child, what else are we going to have a problem with?”
Thousands gather in Oslo to sing song Anders Breivik hates [The Guardian, UK, April 26, 2012]
Up to 40,000 Norwegians have staged an emotionally charged singalong in Oslo near the court building where Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for the murder of 77 people in a protest organisers said showed he had not broken their tolerant society.
...
The crowd chose to sing Children of the Rainbow, a song that extols the type of multicultural society Breivik has said he despises and one he dismissed during the trial as Marxist propaganda.
Up to 40,000 Norwegians have staged an emotionally charged singalong in Oslo near the court building where Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for the murder of 77 people in a protest organisers said showed he had not broken their tolerant society.
...
The crowd chose to sing Children of the Rainbow, a song that extols the type of multicultural society Breivik has said he despises and one he dismissed during the trial as Marxist propaganda.
(Trigger Warning: Descriptions of racist language both in the summary and the article itself)
NHL player Joel Ward's winning goal sparks racist tweets [CNN, April 26, 2012]:
As Joel Ward’s Washington Capitals teammates swarmed their new hero after his playoff series-winning goal against the NHL’s defending champions Wednesday night, more sinister emotions were swirling on social media.
A number of people took to Twitter with racist comments, calling Ward – one of about 20 black men currently on National Hockey League rosters – the N-word after the Capitals beat the host Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime of Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.
As Joel Ward’s Washington Capitals teammates swarmed their new hero after his playoff series-winning goal against the NHL’s defending champions Wednesday night, more sinister emotions were swirling on social media.
A number of people took to Twitter with racist comments, calling Ward – one of about 20 black men currently on National Hockey League rosters – the N-word after the Capitals beat the host Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime of Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.
Things you can do
MercuryBlue reports: This Kickstarter is for an anthology of feminist sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, with intent to focus on women's writings from the 1970s on—they want to acquire reprint rights for some big names as well as lesser-knowns and unknowns.
The Winnemem Wintu tribe are not yet a federally recognized Native American tribe, though they do have recognition from the state of California. Not being federally recognized is a problem because the Forest Service will not close a particular section of river for them to hold a coming-of-age ceremony unless they are a federally-recognized tribe. Closing the river is necessary because the last couple times they held this ceremony, it was interrupted by jackasses, who could not have been there had this section of river been closed. Details and an email address for the person who can change the Forest Service's decision.
--Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community
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.
I have very mixed feelings about pediatricians refusing to treat unvaccinated children. On the one hand, I think it's good that pediatricians are taking a stand about the issue. On the other hand, if parents who are adamantly against vaccination are told by doctors that they won't get care for their kids without vaccinations, some of them will choose to keep their kids away from doctors rather than getting them vaccinated. I don't believe in pandering to anti-vaxxers in the slightest--I don't even think it should be legal to refuse to vaccinate children other than for valid medical reasons--but I worry about how many kids just won't get any medical care if a lot of doctors do what these pediatricians have.
Posted by: kisekileia | Apr 28, 2012 at 08:53 PM
There's a petition going to get TransUnion et al to stop selling credit reports to employers, started by someone who got fired when her employer decided her debt-to-credit ratio was too high.
Posted by: MercuryBlue | Apr 29, 2012 at 11:11 AM
Hey, just a heads-up: the comments feed rss link for this post seems to be broken. Other posts still seem okay.
Posted by: Ross | Apr 29, 2012 at 11:22 AM
If anyone's been wondering what I've been doing lately, not a lot. I've been tired, mostly. I also wrote four posts so far putting way more thought than warranted into a thing about one's zombie apocalypse team being composed of the protagonists of last three things one read/watched/played. (In other words Bella, Tsukasa, JC Denton.)
Posted by: chris the cynic | Apr 29, 2012 at 12:40 PM
The annual Brenda Novak online auction for diabetes research is about to start: http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/. This is an auction geared heavily towards writers and readers; many of the prizes are ARCs, book sets, meals with authors, and services like 'an agent/author/editor reads your query/first few chapters/whole book and gives you a line edit/overall advice/three hour workshop session'). For anyone interested, the auction runs May 1 - May 31, although there are also a few '1 day only' items.
The website also handles automatic bidding -- you tell it how much you're willing to spend, and it handles raising for you, so you don't need to camp out for the last few hours to make sure no one snipes you.
Posted by: ZMiles | Apr 29, 2012 at 11:32 PM
I am having a silent auction to benefit a couple of friends, one offline, one online. Please come get some jewelry or custom work, and help me help my friends!
Posted by: Sixwing | Apr 30, 2012 at 10:42 AM
I'd just like to hug all y'all for getting citations when somebody says 'citation needed' rather than continuing to assert without evidence and for assuming that the opponent is arguing in good faith until proven otherwise and for generally being awesome people.
Posted by: MercuryBlue | May 02, 2012 at 12:22 PM