Found via hrafn, the URL says it all.

http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/12/08/the-discovery-channel-not-for-womens-eyes/

Like I said in another recent post, there's reasons I don't usually reveal my gender in a science context, and now the Discovery Channel has joined those reasons.

(Edited to the correct name of the channel: Discovery Channel. Not to be confused with Discover Magazine.)

Edit: I have received a response, and it seems good.

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LJ is now requiring new users to specify "male" or "female" on new account creation. If you don't like this,

1. Edit your profile and select Unspecified for your gender option.


2. Give feedback to LJ about this, see sample below.


3. Send an email to Anjelika, GM of US operations, anjelika@livejournalinc.com, again see sample below.

More info here. You have until this Thursday (12/17) to make your voice heard.

( sample text )

I've decided I hate preachy religious books that masquerade as fiction. "Left Behind" and "Summer's Path" are two examples.

"Left Behind" I read a year or two ago because I felt it was an important cultural work, and might help me understand the mind of the evangelist. The premise is that one day half of the world's population disappears suddenly, leaving behind their clothing and all worldly goods, and the remaining people slowly come to the realization that they have missed the Rapture. While I do feel that witnessing something like this would be compelling, the manner in which the main characters become converted is unrealistic. Right after the rapture happens the main character and his college-aged daughter are skeptical and confused about the disappearance of the mother and baby brother. Then the father attends a sermon and suddenly sees the light. He takes his daughter to the priest and she suddenly sees the light as well. Mere exposure to The Holy Word is all it takes for them to suddenly become utterly converted.

"Summer's Path" I am reading the audiobook b/c Audible.com gave it away for free and I thought it was fantasy. I was deceived - it's New Age pseudo-Christian evangelism. The main character is dying of terminal cancer and contemplating suicide (this book is not for the triggery) when he meets a non-denominational angel who offers to take over his body for him. The main character only passingly wonders if the angel is an alien body snatcher, and never wonders whether it's a devil instead because the angel tells him to "trust his feelings". The book is now devolving into preaching about how all physical ills are caused by not being in touch with your emotions, and depression is caused by suppressing your physical sensations. No that doesn't make any sense to me either. The main character (now in the body of a dog) is currently sitting in a car with some New Age hippies (who keep calling the angel now in the main character's body a hippie, ironically) who are guiding him in connecting with his inner energy source, and of course he believes it as soon as he hears about it and is able to do it on the first try.

Yeah, if religion really worked that way - all you needed was to be exposed to the One True Religion to suddenly convert - then just about everyone in the world would have come to the same One True Religion by now.

CNN has an article up about Disney's new black Princess. While the article leaves some to be desired (as do most CNN articles), it's still an interesting read.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/11/princess.frog.parents/index.html

Hooray, this means I can do more work. Wanted to go to the gym (I missed the last couple weeks), but the roads are a bit messy.

What is it about the US's three branches of government that has led to a two-party system throughout the US's history, where nations with two branches tend to have a robust multi-party system?

(Where by "two branches" I mean the Executive and Legislative merged into a Parliament and the head of their majority party is the prime Prime Minister. If there's another name for this style of government, I'd be curious to know.)

As soon as Joe's Shanghai opens we'll place an order for their famous soupy dumplings (and other things of course) - yes, Chinese take-out. We'll take it over to Nga Boo (Chinese grandmother), who's at a Kosher Jewish nursing home. We're supposed to eat in the non-Kosher cafeteria, but that's often full on holidays so we may sneak the food upstairs and eat on her floor instead. Dad (Jewish) will of course complain that we're being horrible to do so, but he'll be the one who suggests it.

Ah, traditions. :)

An open letter to my senators and representatives.

I am writing to you today regarding the health care reform bill currently before the house and senate.

The bill as it currently stands sets women's rights back decades. Not only does the bill currently not provide access to safe, legal abortions, but it also does not provide access to the hormonal birth control which would reduce the necessity for abortions. If women are not provided access to safe legal abortions, some women will be forced return to back alley hack-job abortions, coat hanger abortions, or chemical abortions. The greatest benefit of Roe vs. Wade was not that it allowed women to have abortions, women were already having them, but allowing women to have SAFE abortions. In addition, removing access to hormonal birth control will only increase the need for illegal unsafe abortions.

What's even worse is that the bill as it currently stands does not allow for pelvic exams, a necessary routine yearly medical examination for the physical health of women. This routine preventative exam helps catch the early stages of fertility and life threatening diseases such as ovarian cancer or cervical cancer. Removing access to such exams threatens the lives of every woman on such a health plan, and will increase health care costs in the long run through treating the full blown disease instead of preventing it. In addition only women are being denied access to routine exams, giving the message that only men should have the right to good health care.

I urge you to work towards a more equitable health care bill by supporting any amendments that would provide access to abortion, to hormonal birth control, and to pelvic exams.

Look up your Reps and send your letter here.

Last night T$ and I were watching a cartoon series by Tartakovsky last night, and I assumed he was Polish while T$ told me he was Russian. There ensued a conversation about how Poland had been part of Russia at times in the past, and vice versa, so it makes sense they'd have similar names. Which prompted me to wonder if there is a language that is partway between Russian and Polish, or if there's a pidgin combination of the two (or whatever the appropriate word is instead of "pidgin").

Does this really happen, are there "intermediate" languages when there isn't geographical separation between two regions with different languages? I'm thinking of a comparison between how languages separate and how species evolve, that it'll start with two subspecies that become more and more distinct, and sometimes there'll be a third subspecies that can interbreed with both even when the two extremes can't interbreed with each other. Is it like that?

I am hopeful q10 will reply to this with his expertise, but if anyone has info it'd be interesting.

Read "An Economic Case Against Homosexuality" by self-proclaimed conservative librarian Bert Chapman. Among the head explodey:

* The AIDS epidemic is caused by homosexuals worldwide, and heterosexual promiscuity in Africa (note: Africa exclusively).
* Homosexuals are criminals, as evidenced by the high rate of homosexual rape in prison.
* Domestic partner benefits and other forms of progress for homosexuals has come at the expense of us poor heterosexuals and this is ruining the economy.

Working on my primary NaNoWriMo story since I finished the short story. I realized my brain was dry and I wasn't coming up with good names for my characters, so I turned to online name generators. All the names sounded too bland, so I picked Irish from the dropdown menu. Then I realized I'd only been picking white names, so I found me a nice Hispanic name. Then I wanted something else for my last character and decided I wanted part of the name Asian, and part Islamic, mostly for variety. I could retcon that this hodge-podge fits her do-anything character, or that it demonstrates the genetic mixing that takes place in a fixed population, but really I just wanted something new. I posted to the NaNoWriMo forums b/c I was having a hard time finding an Islamic name generator online, and the Asian names I found were either androgynous (to American me) or else were stupid anglicisms like "Beautiful Tree" or "Strong Wind". I got a bunch of helpul replies too, and then I got this one.

( Racefail cut for the sensitive )

H1N1 has further confirmation of being a zoonotic disease. There have been 2 confirmed cases of ferrets contracting the disease (one of which recovered and one of which died), and now 1 confirmed case of a cat contracting the disease (it recovered). Just like you would when interacting with humans, wash your hands frequently and especially before handling pets' food, and wear a mask while sharing the same room for an extended period of time. There have yet to be any confirmed cases of animal to human transmission, so don't go kicking your pets out of the house or sending them to the shelter.

I'm going to try it, though not aggressively (I want to write, I don't necessarily want to write a novel). I'm zandperl. I'm starting off with finishing a supposedly short story that I started this summer.

Edit: Anyone know why people can't find me in a search? I don't see a setting for this that I've blocked or something.

Edit again: This should link to my profile.

Because rosefox and the_xtina always need more word games, Clockwords is a simple game where you shoot words at robot spiders to kill them. If you use certain letters or combinations you get do more damage. You can combine letters in the lab to make more powerful letters.

Dear Librivox,

If a volunteer reader refers to it as "Libraryvox," chances are she's not going to do any better reading the rest of Frankenstein.

No loves,

Me

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Dear Librivox Volunteer Readers,

If you can't read through an entire chapter without stumbling, use an editor. If you can't use an editor, or if you can't read through an entire sentence without stumbling, read to children at a local library instead reading to discriminating adults via Librivox.

No Loves,

Me

(P.S. I understand that dyslexia is a real disability. That doesn't mean that I want to listen to the product of your dyslexia rather than listening to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus.)

This weekend I played through the entirety of Beatles: Rock Band with a few friends in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, Vermont. There's an achievement to complete the entire game in 24 hours, and we did it in two sittings: 1.5 hours on Sunday evening, and another 1.5 hours on Sunday after a hearty breakfast of apple chocolate chip pancakes. Since I'm a vocalist primarily, and the vocals are what's supposed to be new about BRB, that's what I focus on here.

( Full review )

In final conclusion I'm not a Beatles fan and I'm only a casual gamer, but I still think it was worth my $60 due to the harmonies. If you're not a Beatles fan and harmonies don't do it for you, then save your money. If you're a rabid Beatles People, then $60 would be a steal for you. For most gamers, the best balance is to have a friend who's willing to buy it, or consider chipping in together and buying it as a group, or wait a bit and pick it up used. And if your parents or grandparents already have a system (they all have the Wii, right?) then it'd make a great Christmas gift for them.

The new Grand Theft Auto expansion coming out soon is subtitled "The Ballad of Gay Tony". Discuss.