April 2005 – Page 3

New Comment Feature

Directly above the text box to enter a comment at this blog, there exist new buttons you can use to help format the appearance of your comment.

To make something bold, italic, or blockquoted (note for the html illiterate: blockquoted as it is set off in gray when I quote someone else’s work), highlight the words or phrases you want to format and click the needed button. The code will appear in the textbox. To check the definition or spelling of a word, highlight the word in question and click “Dict.” It will open a new window of a dictionary site to define the word and spelling for you.

It appears this erodes some of the functionality of the comment preview feature — italics, bold, and links will not appear in the preview any longer, but the blockquote will. If anyone knows how to override this quirk, please let me know.

Open thread to annoy me with the new comment formatting toy.

Somebody Convince Me Not To Drop Out

Welcome to the obligatory end of semester procrastination post. Why, if it weren’t for this blog, I might be doing something else. Like writing the four papers due on Thursday.

Tonight’s goals:

Finish two 3 page papers. Email both to prof.
Have thesis and opening statements for 3rd paper.
Not get sidetracked by laundry, cat, or blogs.
Don’t drink too much caffeine.
Plan 4th paper; try to find corresponding sources.

Yo, Lauren, good luck on this. Excellent. I’m already blogging about not blogging.

What Makes A Woman A Woman?

From Big Brass Blog:

According to the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005 (Senate Bill 51 and House Bill 356, if you’re curious), it’s the ova and the uterus and nothing else. The Act, which has been criticized for its possible effects on abortion law, has been referred to committee in both the House and the Senate. It contains this excellent definition:

WOMAN- The term `woman’ means a female human being who is capable of becoming pregnant, whether or not she has reached the age of majority.

This definition of ‘woman’ was considered appropriate by both House and Senate. There are several interesting implications to this:

A. A female human being who is not capable of becoming pregnant does not qualify as a woman under this definition.

B. This definition implies that a woman is not, as any dictionary will tell you, an ‘adult female human.’ A thirteen-year-old female child is a woman if she has reached puberty. Fertility is the sole measure of womanhood, not maturity and the capacity to make one’s own decisions.

C. This definition could be used in other laws if this bill is passed and signed.

All of this reminds me of the definition of ‘woman’ in Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, wherein infertile women were considered Unwomen.

This is so unbelievably reductive it’s scary. And infuriating.

Cat Town

I should be ashamed that I find this and this so funny.

But I’m not.

Weekend Reads

Feminism
Shakespeare’s Sister: Women, They’re Coming For You Next
Unscrewing the Inscrutable: The A Word and the Filibuster
Culture Kitchen: Are Men Afraid of Us?
Burningman: Andrea Dworkin, “I’m a Radical Feminist, Not the Fun Kind”
Whirled View: That Harvard Business
Preposterous Universe: Humble Larry
Nick Lewis: Women, Geeks, and the Blogosphere
Julie Saltman: False Rape Claims
Shades of Grey: On Teenage Pregnancy and Adoption

Sex
NYTimes: A Group at Princeton Where ‘No’ Means ‘Entirely No’
And from a Canadian naturist colony, Sitting the Naked Body, an excellent essay on the visual representations of the body and how it colors our perceptions of nudity in relationship to sexuality and pornography. Pictures included.

Race and Ethnicity
Alternet: “FOBs” vs. “Twinkies”: The Language of Intraracial Discrimination
ISOU: Writing While Pissed

Media
Whirled View: Rest in Peace, The Dearly Beloved and Respected PBS
What Do I Know?: Little Green Fascist Footballs

Religion
Majikthise: Clown Ministry
The Talent Show: Jesus Math
American Street: It’s All Relative

Education
Schenectady Synecdoche: About Textbooks

Happy Birthday, Bettie!

If it weren’t for Waveflux, I wouldn’t have known it was Bettie Page’s birthday.

Shame on me. After all, my haircut is based on hers.

Sexiest woman ever (aside from yours truly, of course).

Open Thread: I’m Quite Busy

So, how’s your Friday going?

Winner!

Someone sent me the link to the OSSCAS blog award, but it got lost during my blogging vacation.

To my surprise, I won! I won best “Real Life” Blog and 2nd place overall. My winnings include a brand new redesign by Joni Mueller of Baby Got Blog. Sweet!

If she’s feeling kind, maybe I’ll finally get skins working on this thing.

Friday Random Ten – The Completely Honest Edition

Okay, I admit it. I occasionally edit out songs that make me cringe or induce a series of eye rolls. My FRT is more of a first-ten-songs-that-I-would-actually-listen-to list than a first-ten-songs list.

This week’s challenge: Impress us with your horrible taste.

If it’s Friday somewhere, it’s time for the Friday Random Ten. Fire up your mp3 players, load up your entire mp3 collection (even the bad stuff), and hit play. List the first ten that pump through your radio, radio. And this week, be honest.

1) Smoke City – With You
2) The Clash – Bankrobber
3) Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
4) Trick Daddy – She Walla Walla
5) Gary Wright – Dream Weaver
6) Tom Petty – Last Dance With Mary Jane
7) The Stooges – My Girlfriend Hates My Heroin
8) The Alchemist ft. T.I. – Pimp Squad
9) Titanic Soundtrack – Piano Solo
10) Hooverphonic – 2wicky

See? That wasn’t so bad, just a few breakdowns with the Titanic business, pimp shit, and Gary Wright. Winamp is being kind today.

The Family That Studies Together Annoys Each Other

Just five minutes to myself to finish my papers, please.

What you can’t tell from this picture is that Pablo is peeking around the corner from a shelf inside the closet, five feet off of the floor. I don’t think he can stand me in the office working, not paying attention to his every freakin’ need.

In frustration, Pablo decides to do some work of his own. He reads Ethan’s LeapPad through osmosis.