Posts by Lucy Stewart

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  • OnPoint: Angry Fisk of Rightwing…,

    Like so?

    http://xkcd.org/683/

    I have a serious need to frame that cartoon, put it on my wall, and point emphatically at it when people ask what I do.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Angry Fisk of Rightwing…,

    That post, I must say, was beautiful. And yet terrifying.

    But rather than crediting people who use the technology with its development, perhaps you should credit the people who developed the technology for its development? Maybe? Just a little?

    This bit actually makes me a bit sick, recalling as it does all the times that science and technology get credited not to the actual people who do the actual work, but the pretty people who use it.

    Newsflash: forensics is done by ordinary, non-porn-star people in boring, windowless laboratories. Very few glass walls and flashing computers are involved. New technology is invented, by and large, by people in other boring, windowless rooms. Cool space science is not done by astronauts, it's done by engineers in boring, windowless rooms. Can we have some love for the non-pretty people in boring, windowless rooms here?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Busytown: Holiday reading lust,

    Warning: PTerry fans: there are large slabs of indigestibility in "Unseen Academicals" and not a huge amount of truly good pie material.

    I m aware, as anyone, of Terry's condition. I think he is a stupendous hero for continuing to write.

    Maybe now is the time to stop.

    The main problem with it, thinking back, was that there were several plotlines where I just didn't see the point - mostly Juliet's. What was Pterry trying to say about society/people/history? And his plots pretty much always do have something to say about those things, or at the least mirror/reimage pieces of them in interesting ways. That whole plot just went...nowhere. I didn't get it, and I want there to be something there I failed to get, and I'm horribly afraid there isn't.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Feminist as crazy old man,

    But I suspect it is something to do with selfish genes and their tenacity and ability to 'guide' the mechanism that ensures their survival.

    What better way than to get the parentS to consider it with awe and amazement.

    It's quite a modern thing, though, at least in Western society; childbirth used to be looked upon with a great deal of trepidation and women (middle and upper-class ones, anyway) were basically shut away until it was all over, in case Bad Things happened. Okay, unless you were the Queen of somewhere, in which case it became a live-action event for important people.

    The whole "most special day" attitude seems to have come along since childbirth became safe. I suspect, myself, it's wanting to validate women by celebrating something only they can do but unfortunately focusing on something which only women can do, but not all women can or choose to do. I agree completely with Danielle - the achievement is the lifetime that follows, not just managing to have the kid.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Feminist as crazy old man,

    My father ,myself, my brother and my two daughters have never had a filling. All of us were breastfed. My father grew up on an orchard with no added fluoride in the water.

    Could the luck of genes have something to do with it?
    we have always wondered why we are so lucky!

    Quite possibly. As could how often you cleaned your teeth and how much sugar you ate as children. But, generally, fluoridation and good dental hygeine are the most reliable ways to ensure ongoing dental health - genetics is a chancy thing to rely on when most of the variation is environmental!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • I feel Ayn Rand,

    "Why the fuck would he even bother with her in the first place?"

    Your ability to accurately determine if and why people you've never met might be attracted to each other is truly astounding.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Feminist as crazy old man,

    Gods, okay, my total bad. I didn't realise that and looking back I really should have. I'll go off and make the appropriate sacrifices to regain my ability to parse for sarcasm.

    I'd still call it a satire fail.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Feminist as crazy old man,

    Either way, I don't find her views offensive, just very familiar, and somewhat necessary in a world where people seem to be believe that there are no gender wars left to fight. That we are all equal. Yeah, right.

    Yeah, but there's a difference between fighting sexism and making Fox News's talking points for them, you know? Treating men as the evil overlord Borg is just as wrong as assuming all women love pink and secretly want babies.

    Moreover, declaring that sexuality is and must be a political choice is just nuts. Saying "I am choosing to give up men because of X" is fine, but she doesn't get to dictate if and why the rest of the world chooses to have sex with the gender(s) of people they have sex with, or lambast them for not doing it for the right reasons, because it's not her business why or if they do so.

    And, quite frankly, if you don't find her utterly disgusting attitude to transsexuals offensive, I don't know what you would. The dehumanisation in her description is chilling and horrific.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • I feel Ayn Rand,

    ...well lucy, i think that sux ballz!

    Societal pressure on gay people to be and/or act straight? Yes, it does.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • I feel Ayn Rand,

    wheres the outcry and christian moralising over that ? instead he's held up as a role model for gays in elite sport..go figure

    i guess he's not famous enough ? and this seems weird...

    Given what society does to gay people, especially gay men who aspire to supposedly ultra-masculine sports or careers, I think people find Thomas' actions understandable. Which isn't to say it wouldn't have been braver and maybe truer for him to have not married, and been honest about his sexuality - but how many of us would have the guts to do that? I don't think I would.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

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