What I’m Reading, May 26, 2014

Posted on May 26, 2014 by wellsdc

Why the ’90s are literally disappearing from history, Andrew Leonard, Salon, May 17, 2014

So what do we keep, and what do we let go? Much is made in Silicon Valley today of the notion that access is replacing ownership. We don’t need to own cars in the age of ride-sharing. The “cloud” will take care of all our computing needs. We don’t even have to employ full-time workers, we just grab them from TaskRabbit. We rent, we share, we outsource — this is the millennial way. Owning is just so feudal.

Much of this is rhetorical bullshit aimed at justifying $10 billion market valuations for the likes of Airbnb and Uber. But there is grist to it that can’t be dismissed.

Men and Feminism, The Belle Jar, May 19, 2014

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Monday Morning Cute: Memorial Day Edition

Posted on May 26, 2014 by wellsdc

I found this picture in an Imgur album, and tracked down photo credits at Retronaut:

“Marine First Sergeant Neil I. Shober of Fort Wayne, Indiana, shares the spoils of war bananas with a native goat, one of the few survivors of the terrific naval and air bombardment in support of the Marines hitting the beach on the Japanese-mandated island of Saipan.” – National Museum of the Pacific War

Saipan is a 12-mile-by-5.6-mile island in the Northern Marianas Islands. From June 15 to July 9, 1944, the U.S. fought to take control of the island from Japan, which had held it since 1914. 71,000 American troops met 31,000 Japanese. The U.S. suffered 3,426 killed and about 13,000 wounded. It was the most costly battle of the Pacific War up to that point for the U.S.

Of the 31,000 Japanese soldiers, only 921 were taken prisoner. The rest were either killed in action or committed suicide. Out of a civilian population of around 25,000 people, an estimated 22,000 died. Many of them committed suicide, allegedly with the encouragement of the emperor, who promised them “an equal spiritual status in the afterlife with those of soldiers perishing in combat,” according to a Wikipedia article citing a book by David Bergamini.

But this goat survived, and got some bananas. Whether this scene is more cute or horrific is up to each of us, I guess, but war is hell.

Photo credit: National Museum of the Pacific War.

I Hated “Great Expectations”

Posted on May 24, 2014 by wellsdc

Now I feel vindicated. (If you can’t see the infographic below, click here.)

What I’m Reading, May 23, 2014

Posted on May 23, 2014 by wellsdc

By User Magnus Manske on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Anti-Choicers Desperately Insist You See Things That Are Clearly Not There, Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check, May 12, 2014

To hear the lurid descriptions of what anti-choicers imagine abortion to be, it seems that they imagine someone killing an actual baby. Upending that narrative and reminding people, through incontrovertible visual proof, that during a first-trimester abortion the embryo is so small as to barely register as a potential baby, much less an actual baby, might be the most threatening part of the Letts video. Her stomach is flat. The abortion is quite obviously a quick gynecological procedure. If she had stayed pregnant, eventually there would be a baby. But it’s clear as could be, watching the video, that only fantasists have the ability to see “baby” where realists see nothing more than the beginning of a long process known as “pregnancy.” It’s no more a baby than a seed is a tree.

While the debate over abortion is really about sexuality and women’s rights, the official line from anti-choicers is that they’re against killing “babies,” and so this probably is pretty embarrassing for them, because it reveals that their cover story is perhaps even sillier than their fears about female sexuality. So, their effort to save face involves multiple variations of “Don’t believe your lying eyes! Just because you can’t see a baby doesn’t mean there isn’t a baby there!”

The Myth Of White, Heterosexual Christian Entitlement, Manny Schewitz, Forward Progressives, May 12, 2014 Continue reading →

What’s the Harm?

Posted on May 23, 2014 by wellsdc

Avicenna, a medical student in India who blogs at A Million Gods at Freethought Blogs, offers an example of the harm that can result from seeking “alternative” or “natural” treatments to the exclusion of medical treatment.

Ever had a sore throat? Impetigo? See both are caused by Streptococcus. Harmless right?

Not really. Do you ever wonder why doctors give out anti-biotics for just a sore throat?

There are two diseases you can get. One is nephritic syndrome. The inflammation of the body causes protein and blood leakage via the kidneys. While “alarming” it is more treatable.

The other? Is a thief of childhood. I had a case on friday. A 10 year old child who was 3 inches and 10 Kg lower than what his height and weight should be. And we cannot calculate the loss of development this disease has caused to his intellect. The child is tired. When he takes his shirt off all you can see is skin and bones.

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The Joy of Flight Delays

Posted on May 22, 2014 by wellsdc

Get it together, Southwest. If the flight’s delayed, it’s delayed, but at least be consistent, please.

What I’m Reading, May 22, 2014

Posted on May 22, 2014 by wellsdc

Unattributed [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Thomas Edison and the Cult of Sleep Deprivation, Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, May 14, 2014

For some, sleep loss is a badge of honor, a sign that they don’t require the eight-hour biological reset that the rest of us softies do. Others feel that keeping up with peers requires sacrifice at the personal level—and at least in the short-term, sleep is an invisible sacrifice.

The problem has accelerated with our hyper-connected lives, but it isn’t new. Purposeful sleep deprivation originates from the lives and adages of some of America’s early business tycoons.

The Secret History Of The Word ‘Cracker’, Gene Demby, NPR, July 1, 2013 Continue reading →

This Is How You Prom

Posted on May 22, 2014 by wellsdc

Asking Miss America, a supermodel, or a porn star to your prom is pretty much played out by now. Especially now that a girl asked Vice President Joe Biden:

Forget all the idiots inviting hot young celebrities to prom: Talia Maselli of Newington, Connecticut blew them out of the park by inviting the ultimate hunk, Vice President Joe Biden, to her night of a thousand shining stars.

Well played, young lady. Well played, indeed. With that amount of gumption, it doesn’t even really matter if he could go or not.

Unfortunately, the Vice President declined because of his schedule (and because it’d be sort of creepy if he had accepted). But! He sent Maselli a corsage (white roses and baby’s breath tied with red, white and blue ribbon) and a handwritten note inviting her to visit him at his place of business.

Skill level: Knope.

Fun Moments in Misheard Lyrics: Toto

Posted on May 22, 2014 by wellsdc

For whatever reason, I have spent most of my life so far thinking that Toto was singing about “Kilimanjaro ris[ing] like a leopress above the Serengeti.”

I am now pretty much certain that they’re singing that “Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.”

This makes perfect sense, considering that Kilimanjaro and Olympus are both mountains (well, one’s a volcano, but you get the idea), and Kilimanjaro looms over the Serengeti—or at least the general vicinity of the Serengeti—in a way that is surely reminiscent of the divine nature ascribed to Olympus at various points in history. (The Olympus in Greece, I mean. Not so much the ones in Washington, Utah, or Mars.)

It also makes sense because:

I’m not sure “leopress” is even an actual word used to describe a female leopard (although it does describe a WordPress theme), and
In what possible way could a volcano rise above the savannah in a way that is reminiscent of a mostly-jungle-dwelling large cat?

Think about it. But hurry, boy—it’s waiting there for you.

Cryptic Philosopher

Phlogiston on the Flame of Foolishness

What I’m Reading, May 26, 2014

Monday Morning Cute: Memorial Day Edition

I Hated “Great Expectations”

What I’m Reading, May 23, 2014

What’s the Harm?

The Joy of Flight Delays

What I’m Reading, May 22, 2014

This Is How You Prom

Fun Moments in Misheard Lyrics: Toto