sundries

[rm]

Last night I got my first random comment on the tattoo.

A guy in my neighborhood rode his bike up alongside me and said, "Hey love,¹ what's the tattoo?"

And, you know, I'm not so good with strangers, so I was like "Just a phrase."

"But what's it mean?"

And I had that moment of horror of thinking no one will get it ever and the story is always too long to tell. "Just, you know, live your life big, yeah?"

"Oh, that's awesome!" And he rode off.

But today it's covered for the first time, and that's nice too. Mine. My secret.

I've mentioned this to a few of you elsewhere, but unlike other ink I've gotten, this required the needle to be on my skin for far longer chunks of time, because it had to be done in long strokes, like regular writing, to be smooth, so it was a little strange, sitting there in Islington while some loud girl got some stars on her neck and yammered with her friend about boys being able to feel these words being cut into my back.

Bidding has opened at graduate_maria to benefit theotoky. For those that are new here or missed it the first time, Maria's an old friend of mine who never got to finish her degree when we first met over fifteen years ago, because she was supporting her abusive spouse. Now she's one semester away from graduating, but needs tuition money to cover her last semester as multiple issues have intervened to make getting loans and other support problematic for her. People are auctioning everything from photography prints, to fanfiction, to crafts, to baked goods to help her out. There are also some amazing unique items like a steno starter kit and a rainbow horse art project named after John Barrowman. Please check it out, or boost the signal if you can.

Gay marriage has been legalized in Argentina.

NOM thinks gay people aren't persecuted. That'd be no. sparkindarkness has a round-up of the criminalization, persecution, murder and legalized medical torture of LGBT persons, a lot of which occurred in our lifetimes and is still happening RIGHT NOW.

Russia and the sexual revolution.

Women, aging and France.

Women, memory and size. I can see a lot of potential reasons for this study to be crap, including that depression and isolation both negatively impact memory. In a society that penalizes larger people, especially women, with social censure, it seems logical that larger people, especially women, might have memory problems, not because of the physiology of fat, but because of what happens to them socially because of said fat.

Michigan teen starts her own CSA farm in her backyard.

Who do you write like? If you too take crappy Internet quizzes, probably a white guy.

Who would you give your life for? Groups and self-sacrifice.

"In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday" - 18th-century ship found at future WTC site.

Yes, LJ will be purging inactive accounts. However, LJ has just redefined those accounts to mean no log-in for over 24 months AND no content. So it was fucked up last night, but now they've made it not evil.

New, exciting Gallifrey One guest announcements! Ian McNice (so exciting, I am such a fan) as well as a long list of much loved familiar faces, plus some new exciting folks (Jane Espensen!).

Hey, would still hasn't written their WIAD? That would be me. ARGH.

Today is going to be long and brutal work-wise. But tomorrow is another day. And Patty will be home soon.

---

¹ I live in Spanish Harlem. No one calls people "love" as a random term of address. It was completely random.

Comments

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Having lived in France, I just wanted to comment on that "Women, aging and France" article. Paris is the equivalent of New York City in that, if you're living there, you have the funds to do so - the rent is exorbitant! So of course if you're focusing on Paris, which is what this article does, yes, you're going to see more women looking like models and celebrities. They can afford the maintenance. Go elsewhere and people tend to look their age. (Though I'd agree that French people in general are thinner, but Americans are the anomaly in the world in that respect anyway.)

[snakeling]

Yes, this. If you replace all instances of "Frenchwomen" by "upper-middle- and upper-class Frenchwomen", it becomes a damn sight more accurate. (Seriously, who pays €100 for panties?)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I tried the quiz with various blog posts of mine, which got me Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut. On the fic I wrote I think I got James Joyce.

?????!!!

Just no.

The article on Russia is really terrible, I mean it mentions the fact that there is a sex industry, but not much beyond. Because people don't talk about sex and do it the same way in Western Europe/The West(!) they're doing it wrong? I dunno.

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

I did that quiz with some fic from reasonably well-known authors. It identified Tolkien correctly...

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The thing I found problematic about the Sex in Russia article was that they're using the birthrate to assume that sex just isn't being had. Uh, maybe people are just using contraception?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Also, the RIDICULOUSLY high rate of abortion there.

My main reaction to the whole thing was, truth be told, "Pug not dog, goblin!"

[cookiedough.livejournal.com]

I hope you will share a picture of the tattoo at some point.

[rm.livejournal.com]

http://twitpic.com/24n8py

[sykii.livejournal.com]

Actually, "mi amor" is a pretty common term of friendly, mild affection at least in Dominican Spanish, though more often said by women to people they already know.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I've NEVER heard that in my neighborhood before (which is mostly Puerto Rican, granted). I hear "mami" all the time, but not that.

Yay internets. Sum of all knowledge.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just found out why you like the blind dude on Covert Affairs: It's Christopher Gorham, who's just about the cutest guy ever, and he's very, very hot. He plays nerd hot very well.

And now I have to watch that show.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am totally, TOTALLY watching the show for that dude. Also, wow, someone needs to write Jack/that dude (DOES ANYONE KNOW THE CHARACTER'S NAME? we all suck), like right now. And not make him into a woobie overwhelmed by Jack. At all.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only difference between the latest crappy Internet quiz and previous ones is that it's not sponsored by OKCupid.

It's been interestingly absurd to see whether the algorithm actually recognizes some of these Old White Men's work...

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

it seems logical that larger people, especially women, might have memory problems, not because of the physiology of fat, but because of what happens to them socially because of said fat.

Seems to go almost without saying! I wonder if the study is more interested in the physiology or in the psychology, and how it will control for social expectations, if at all, in the study?

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

Fat panic is one of the reasons that I'm eager to forget my teenage years. And that a lot of what I remember is being hungry and ashamed.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

There's such thing as a non-crappy internet quiz?

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I love the story about the girl started her own CSA farm in her backyard. I love to garden, but unfortunately, my other half is not too wild on the idea of me expanding my vegetable garden. That's okay, I kind of got around that by planting squash. It is taking over! Tee hee!

So, I think I might be giving away a ton of butternut squash later this season....

[Edit: Oh...I'm also growing hops for a friend, and that's taking over too].

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

Just don't be growing barley. It grows like a weed and you never get rid of it.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Speaking of NOM, last week's episode of "Futurama" had a fantastic parody of NOM's storm cloud commercial.

[introductory.livejournal.com]

"Just, you know, live your life big, yeah?"

:)

Your tattoo looks amazing. Good luck getting through today!

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

ah tattoos... i don't know why ppl assume just b/c i have something inked on my arm it means i want to talk to them about it (it's like when women are pregnant and total strangers think they are allowed to feel their stomach)

[liminalia.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way. My arm tat is in Sanskrit. I feel like saying, "Dude, if I wanted randoms to know what it said, it would have been in English."

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

I am extremely dubious about that study because, if I'm understanding it correctly, I'm not sure you could chose not to jump and save no one (except yourself). Also, if you are someone who would sacrifice yourself, they also gave no option for a non-politically sensitive choice (ie: a mixed group), or a scenario where you don't know the ethnicity/purpose of the people you could be saving.

Even if the questions allowed for not jumping, the structure of the survey would imply, strongly that you were supposed to choose something that would save lives. And, if none of the life-saving options were politically neutral, then you'd have to chose either in or out grouping.

I, for example, would give up my life to save others in many situations without much concern about who for. But, if forced to chose between two 'different' groups then, obviously, I'd have to start making choices based on my criteria for worthwhile.

Finally, of course, all that is nice on a piece of paper but it's kind of meaningless considering none of the participants probably ever had to make those sorts of choices in action.

[stardust9121.livejournal.com]

I'll be honest, at first I read that as "Gay marriage has been legalized in Arizona" and was so thrown off.

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

That would have been a good news story.

[botia.livejournal.com]

Anecdata time:
I had a near-eidetic memory for a very long time. It's still pretty good, but it took a hit once I started to develop fibromyalgia and arthritis

And, of course, when you have severe chronic pain, you gain weight because:
1. you aren't exercising as much
2. many of the medications we are prescribed for our chronic conditions CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN

Also, chronic pain negatively impacts memory as well.

Did the study control for people who have conditions like fibromyalgia, arthritis, lupus, etc? I doubt it.

Also: We tend to gain weight with AGE. Was age controlled for effectively? Because we also seem to have less effective memories as we age.

So many fucking holes in that study, and this is just a sliver of what I've found.