piscesinpurple overflow

"To listen to poor people, to talk about poverty, is to admit that there is something deeply wrong in..."

socialismandrum — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:00:05 -0400

“To listen to poor people, to talk about poverty, is to admit that there is something deeply wrong in our society. Poor folks shouldn’t be ‘grateful for what they’ve got.’ They should be furious about what is being stolen from them. They should be angry about the rise of corporations, the increasing concentration of wealth into a handful of people, many of whom didn’t work for it. They should be angry about the deliberate creation of systems intended to maintain strict class stratifications. They should be angry about the fact that even the good poor people, the ones who do it right, the ones who are quiet and submissive and patient, the ones who work hard, they are still poor.

They should be angry about the fact that poverty is on the rise. They should be angry about unemployment, about corporate tax breaks, about lobbies that control Congress, about the fact that the Supreme Court basically wrote a blank check that millionaires can cash any time they want to buy political campaigns. They should be angry about the rise of poverty porn on prime time television, whether it’s ghastly shows like Secret Millionaire or grim documentaries on Detroit. They should be angry about the exploitation of poverty and poor people in the pages of magazine. They should be angry about the fact that people have to win the lottery to pay for health care in the United States.”

- s.e. smith (via thirdw0rld)

lunchbagart: My kids saw E.T. for the first time. Big...

socialismandrum — Mon, 30 May 2011 10:00:06 -0400

lunchbagart:

My kids saw E.T. for the first time. Big success.

Interestingly, they noticed that there was only one real bad guy in the movie: the captain of E.T.’s ship, who ditched his crewman because he was afraid of the locals. They felt the captain should lose his command.

lickypickysticky: Ten Little Suffergets tells the sad tale of...

socialismandrum — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:00:06 -0400

lickypickysticky:

Ten Little Suffergets tells the sad tale of ten little girls who lose their pro-suffrage leanings when they spy shiny objects like toys, men, and the Sandman. The 1915 picture book ends with the final baby suffragette cracking her baby doll’s head open. “And then there were none!” ends the book on a gleeful note.

The suffrage movement, both in America and England, involved angry debates about the ideals of womanhood, the power and purpose of government, and how much beer everyone should be drinking. The debate continued until the passing of the 1918 Representation of the People Act in Britain, and in the U.S. with the 19th Amendment in 1920. While often overlooked today, the anti-suffrage movement attacked the power-hungry, unnatural women (as they saw the suffragettes) with word and policy and pen and ink.

Comic poetry was another outlet for suffragette retaliation. In Are Women People?: A Book of Rhymes for Suffrage Times, Alice Duer Miller listed 12 common reasons for anti-suffragette belief. On the next page, she writes, “Reasons Women Should Not Have Pockets.” These reasons include:

1. Because pockets are not a natural right.
2. Because the great majority of women do not want pockets. If they did, they would have them.
3. Because whenever women have had pockets they have not used them.
4. Because women are required to carry a great number of things without pockets as it is.

Responding to the claim that women would be placed in danger while visiting the polls, the author mimics an equal-opportunity anti-suffragist.

“You must not go to the polls, Willie,
Never go to the polls,
They’re dark and dreadful places
Where people lose their souls.”

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor. Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking..."

socialismandrum — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:00:06 -0400

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor. Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force. Clutter is a wonderfully fertile ground—you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip.”

- Anne Lamott (via nathanielstuart)

robotindisguise: Langley School Music Project - Band On The...

socialismandrum — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:00:06 -0400

robotindisguise:

Langley School Music Project - Band On The Run

The Langley Schools Music Project is a collection of recordings of children’s choruses singing pop hits by the likes of The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney. Originally recorded in 1976–77.

The project was undertaken in 1976–77 by Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger with students from Langley School District in British Columbia. Recordings were made in a school gym in Langley, in Metro Vancouver. (via: Wikipedia)

This came on while listening to my itunes on shuffle. Kinda forgot about it. It’s an interesting listen.

"Words don’t live forever, and neither do you. Some books may become classics that are perennially..."

socialismandrum — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:01:05 -0400

“Words don’t live forever, and neither do you. Some books may become classics that are perennially read, but Shakespeare is still fucking dead. The fact that people are reading Hamlet now isn’t doing his corpse much good.”

- Drew Magary, author of the forthcoming novel The Postmortal, over at Esquire writer Chris Jones’s blog. Not sure I’ve ever seen someone put so much into an email interview before. (Well, maybe that Eggers-Harvard showdown…) A worthy read. (via booksinthekitchen)

"Many observers might think a more ‘sensible’ way to handle the emergence of groups such as the..."

socialismandrum — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:01:06 -0400

“Many observers might think a more ‘sensible’ way to handle the emergence of groups such as the Brocial Network is not to take potentially compromising photographs, and certainly not to put them online. But people should never be forced to modify their behaviour to indulge those who refuse to respect them, and it’s equally abhorrent to couch this coercion in patronising terms including ‘sensible’, ‘careful’ and ‘prudent’.”

- The Brocial Network proves just why we need Slutwalk | Crikey (via faradaycagefight)

Groping

socialismandrum — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:06:06 -0400

bluebears:

The always amazing Kate Harding wrote a great article for Jezebel today that touched on both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn specifically their tendency to grope unsuspecting and unconsenting women. Also the pass they (and many, nay most men) seem to receive from society as a whole for this type of behavior.

That’s not to say these things are entirely unrelated, mind you. There are certainly points of overlap between being a cad and being a criminal: An overblown sense of entitlement, an apparent lack of empathy for anyone you might hurt, an erection. But cheating on your wife is not a gateway drug to sexual assault. They are two different things, one of them a crime. If you’re a journalist, please take a moment now to repeat that to yourself a few times.

And then please consider this: A man who’s known for grabbing women’s breasts and asses without their consent (a crime) is not just some amusing, slightly pathetic Pepe Le Pew cartoon until the day someone accuses him of non-consensual penetration. He was actually already a sexual predator! And yet, inevitably, as soon as someone does accuse him of rape, friends who are familiar with his history of non-consensual groping will rush to tell the press that the accusations are absurd, insulting, inconceivable! Sure, everyone knew the lion liked to chase gazelles and pin them down and bat them around a bit for fun, but he would nevereat one. That’s just not in his nature.

Do you see the difference? One guy treats women rather shabbily, and he should be ashamed of himself. The other guy treats women like inanimate objects he is entitled to do whatever the fuck he wants to, and he should be ashamed of himself and also held legally responsible for his crimes. The line between the two is really not all that fine or blurry, you guys! It’s actually pretty recognizable!

Great right? But it also was kind of depressing. I mean how many times have you as a woman been groped? A lot right? Or at least once, most likely. I started to think about it and I remembered little shits in middle school grabbing my ass because why? It was funny? That’s just what they as boys (young men) were “supposed” to do? How they were supposed to treat women? I mean it wasn’t ever a huge deal, I don’t think it traumatized me for life or anything. But it was just accepted. That’s just what happens.

The thing is 12 year old boys become powerful men.

"By now you may have heard that Rick Santorum has now responded to John McCain’s claim that torture..."

socialismandrum — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:03:06 -0400

“

By now you may have heard that Rick Santorum has now responded to John McCain’s claim that torture didn’t lead to Bin Laden’s death by insisting that on the subject of torture, McCain has no idea what he’s talking about…

McCain, of course, has direct experience of this process, He has even written that he did not become cooperative under “enhanced interrogation” at all, and in fact gave his tormentors false information to get them to stop.

So I asked McCain spokesperson Brooke Buchanan for a response to Santorum. She emailed a one word reply: “Who?”

”

- McCain camp laughs off Santorum torture comments

Once again, Santorum makes an ass of himself.

(via ryking)

redforgender: Critical Caribbean Feminist Commentary Just in case you missed it! We’ve got...

socialismandrum — Wed, 18 May 2011 04:00:06 -0400

redforgender:

Critical Caribbean Feminist Commentary

Just in case you missed it! We’ve got some of the best Caribbean feminist blogging online all in one place!

Jamaica to make fathers’ names on birth certificates mandatory.

Guyana launches Men’s Affairs Bureau.

Barbados looks at paternity testing during Child Month.

CodeRed tackles the imperialism and racism of the American Gay Rights lobby.

Exposing Class and Economic Citizenship in Barbados.

Commodification and Erasure of Indigenous Peoples.

Caribbean media does poor job of reporting on violence against women.

Trinidad Carnival and Fat (Un)Acceptance.

We tackle EVERYTHING from a Caribbean feminist perspective. Trust us, there’s something there that you should be reading.

Reblog ‘cause you know it’s worth sharing!

Let's talk about Satoshi Kanazawa.

socialismandrum — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:03:06 -0400

ramou:

I avoided this article yesterday because I occasionally get into a head space where I simply cannot. After handing in my thesis proposal that basically seeks to prove that Black women have a hell of a lot harder time dating and being thought of as potential partners than their White counterparts, I just haven’t been in the mood to read some more about why no one is trying to date me.

The “science” backing the article is offensive and, you know, not fucking science. Saying in earnest “The only thing I can think of…” in a study that you want people to take seriously is laughable and makes me think that maybe, just maybe, Kanazawa is trolling us. For what it’s worth, I don’t take anyone seriously who insists that there are biological and genetic differences that account for why one race is inferior/superior to another.

However, I do think that there is something to be said about this “study” and where we go from here. You would be hard-pressed to convince me that we - society - don’t perceive Black women, or women of color generally, as less attractive than White women. There are far fewer women of color represented as symbols of beauty in…well, okay…anywhere. (This is, of course, not including publications, magazines, etc. geared towards women of color. And in these publications it is essentially us reassuring each other that we are beautiful. No one else is really telling us that.) The question that we should be asking is why? Why are Black women perceived to be less attractive than White women? Why are there so few Black women presented (except for in the Black ladies’ edition of Vogue Italia, of course) as symbols of beauty? Why can almost all of us reading this count on one hand the Black women who are presented to us as symbols of beauty?

Let’s start talking about those things.

partiallycommitted: another reason to love the internet.

socialismandrum — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:00:06 -0400

partiallycommitted:

another reason to love the internet.

Sean Hannity Provokes right-wing terrorists: A Washington, DC church receives threats following a Sean Hannity broadcast | Radio-Info.com

socialismandrum — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:00:06 -0400

Sean Hannity Provokes right-wing terrorists: A Washington, DC church receives threats following a Sean Hannity broadcast | Radio-Info.com:

goodreasonnews:

Washington’s Shiloh Baptist Church has received over 100 calls and faxes they deem as threats in just the past few days, following comments made by the church’s pastor and after a visit to the church by President Obama and the First Lady. On his Fox News evening talk show, syndicated conservative radio host Sean Hannity played a tape of a speech Rev. Wallace Charles Smith gave at a school in Pennsylvania in January, and then asked, “of all the churches in the country that Obama finds himself sitting in, why is he always in pews listening to such controversial spiritual leaders?” In the speech, Rev. Smith was quoted as saying, “Now, Jim Crow wears blue pinstripes, goes to law school and carries fancy briefs in cases. And now, Jim Crow has become James Crow, esquire. And he doesn’t have to wear white robes anymore because now he can wear the protective cover of talk radio or can get a regular news program on Fox.” Hannity compared Rev. Smith to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Church representatives tell the Washington Post one fax they received “had the image of a monkey with a target across its face,” and said they have yet to notify police. The Shiloh Baptist Church was founded by slaves in the 1860’s and has hosted a number of Presidents, including Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

cargohoo: Go The Fuck To Sleep: A Storybook For Exhausted...

socialismandrum — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:00:06 -0400

cargohoo:

Go The Fuck To Sleep: A Storybook For Exhausted Parents

via BoingBoing

B Michael Tumblr: On Birthing

socialismandrum — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:00:05 -0400

B Michael Tumblr: On Birthing:

bmichael:

The birther situation doesn’t have anything to do with evidence, because to be a birther is to fundamentally reject the notion of evidence. This is a very truncated/shoddy philosophical perspective on why the birther thing happened and why it’s important.

Philosophy has something to do with…

doctorswithoutborders: Pharmaceutical giant Johnson &...

socialismandrum — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:00:05 -0400

doctorswithoutborders:

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is putting the lives of people living with HIV at stake by refusing to participate in the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world.

Full Press Release.

Where Did The Easter Bunny Come From?

socialismandrum — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:00:06 -0400

Where Did The Easter Bunny Come From? :

caraobrien:

Spring is the season of rebirth and renewal. Plants return to life after winter dormancy and many animals mate and procreate. Many pagan cultures held spring festivals to celebrate this renewal of life and promote fertility. One of these festivals was in honor of Eostre or Eastre, the goddess of dawn, spring and fertility near and dear to the hearts of the pagans in Northern Europe. Eostre was closely linked to the hare and the egg, both symbols of fertility.

As Christianity spread, it was common for missionaries to practice some good salesmanship by placing pagan ideas and rituals within the context of the Christian faith and turning pagan festivals into Christian holidays (e.g. Christmas). The Eostre festival occurred around the same time as the Christians’ celebration of Christ’s resurrection, so the two celebrations became one, and with the kind of blending that was going on among the cultures, it would seem only natural that the pagans would bring the hare and egg images with them into their new faith (the hare later became the more common rabbit).

The pagans hung on to the rabbit and eventually it became a part of Christian celebration. We don’t know exactly when, but it’s first mentioned in German writings from the 1600s. The Germans converted the pagan rabbit image into Oschter Haws, a rabbit that was believed to lay a nest of colored eggs as gifts for good children. (A poll of my Twitter followers reveals that 81% of the people who replied believe the Easter Bunny to be male, based mostly on depictions where it’s wearing a bowtie. The male pregnancy and egg-laying mammal aspects are either side effects of trying to lump the rabbit and egg symbols together, or rabbits were just more awesome back then.)

Oschter Haws came to America with Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in the 1700s, and evolved into the Easter Bunny as it became entrenched in American culture. Over time the bunny started bringing chocolate and toys in addition to eggs (the chocolate rabbit began with the Germans, too, when they started making Oschter Haws pastries in the 1800s).

Read more…

Languages Grew From a Seed in Africa, Study Says | nyt.com

socialismandrum — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:00:06 -0400

Languages Grew From a Seed in Africa, Study Says | nyt.com:

A researcher analyzing the sounds in languages spoken around the world has detected an ancient signal that points to southern Africa as the place where modern human language originated.

The finding fits well with the evidence from fossil skulls and DNA that modern humans originated in Africa. It also implies, though does not prove, that modern language originated only once, an issue of considerable controversy among linguists.

The detection of such an ancient signal in language is surprising. Because words change so rapidly, many linguists think that languages cannot be traced very far back in time. The oldest language tree so far reconstructed, that of the Indo-European family, which includes English, goes back 9,000 years at most.

Quentin D. Atkinson, a biologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, has shattered this time barrier, if his claim is correct, by looking not at words but at phonemes — the consonants, vowels and tones that are the simplest elements of language. Dr. Atkinson, an expert at applying mathematical methods to linguistics, has found a simple but striking pattern in some 500 languages spoken throughout the world: A language area uses fewer phonemes the farther that early humans had to travel from Africa to reach it.

Some of the click-using languages of Africa have more than 100 phonemes, whereas Hawaiian, toward the far end of the human migration route out of Africa, has only 13. English has about 45 phonemes.

This pattern of decreasing diversity with distance, similar to the well-established decrease in genetic diversity with distance from Africa, implies that the origin of modern human language is in the region of southwestern Africa, Dr. Atkinson says in an article published on Thursday in the journal Science.

Language is at least 50,000 years old, the date that modern humans dispersed from Africa, and some experts say it is at least 100,000 years old. Dr. Atkinson, if his work is correct, is picking up a distant echo from this far back in time.

Linguists tend to dismiss any claims to have found traces of language older than 10,000 years, “but this paper comes closest to convincing me that this type of research is possible,” said Martin Haspelmath, a linguist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

thefrogman: April 20th. 4/20. Hitler’s birthday. The day we...

socialismandrum — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:00:05 -0400

thefrogman:

April 20th. 4/20. Hitler’s birthday.

The day we celebrate the psychoactive cannabis plant.

That would look good with some Christmas lights.

I’ve never smoked pot. I’ve never had alcohol. The idea of being intoxicated has always been unappealing to me. I know others enjoy it and some even make it a lifestyle. To each their own and whatnot.

Cannabis was indigenous to Asia in the beginning. Some 5000 years ago, folks in Romania figured out that if you set it on fire, the fumes would alter your perceptions and give you the munchies. Unfortunately at that time, the nearest Chinese takeout was 4000 miles away.

After that, many cultures began to use it in rituals, as medicines, and even a gay old time. It was the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Pot Era.

The key to intoxication is the THC. Tetra hydro cannon ball. Turtle hyper-cannibal. Turkey harpo can of balls. *checks wikipedia* Tetrahydrocannabinol. Scientists believe the psychoactive properties of THC are a defense mechanism for the cannabis plant. A herbivore takes a little bite, trips balls, and decides to eat other plants in the future. I imagine eucalyptus had the same idea, but didn’t count on koalas being major stoners.

Many believe that the high from marijuana can inspire them artistically. They unearthed some pipes from William Shakespeare’s residence in Stratford. They contained traces of cannabis. I’m guessing that has something to do with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What many fail to realize, is that you must already be talented before you can take advantage of any inspirational effects. If you are untalented, you are more likely to accidentally pee on the cat.

Marijuana shouldn’t be illegal. For one, making it illegal does nothing to deter the smoking of it and it gives criminals a major source of income. Secondly, it’s hypocritical. Alcohol and cigarettes have far more negative effects and yet they are legal. And three, cannabis was most likely made illegal because of greed and not public safety.

In 1937, they passed the Marijuana Transfer Tax Act. This prohibited the production and distribution of cannabis and hemp. People were finding out that hemp could cheaply be made into anything. Clothes, rope, tacos, cellular phones, magnets, furniture, and most importantly… paper.

You see, this guy named Andrew Mellon had a ton of money invested in the timber industry. The timber industry made lots of paper pulp for newspapers. It was very lucrative. Then some guy invented a thingie that could turn hemp into paper at a much lower cost. A decoraterater. A decoripotater. This thing.

Mellon started freaking out. Luckily for him, he was the Secretary of Treasury and the wealthiest man in America. Meaning he had the power to push this “tax act” through and essentially destroy the hemp industry. I feel he should be listed in history books under the “Douche Nugget” section. Next to Napoleon and Aaron Burr.

The debate continues. The stoners get stoned and the parents try to act like they’ve never tried it. I don’t condone the smoking of pot. I’ve seen it make people stupid and unmotivated. But in moderation, it’s really not a huge deal. There has been no recorded case of anyone overdosing on marijuana. Though many have tried. Any side effects caused are usually reversible if you stop smoking. It can help cancer patients tolerate life. It can clear up the eyes of those 20 somethings that have been ravaged by this recent youth-glaucoma epidemic. I’d say that the teenagers should wait. You have plenty of time to get stoned. If you get caught with it, you could get into trouble. It could affect college admissions, getting a job, and your studies in school. And if you get caught with just a tad too much of it… that’s intent to sell. One mistake could derail your future. So be careful. *teenagers roll eyes*

And so the lesson ends. I hope all of you enjoy your 420 day. May it be filled with weed, pretzels, and cartoons.

berimbauone: (via Help me getting beautiful)

socialismandrum — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:00:06 -0400

berimbauone:

(via Help me getting beautiful)