Femmostroppo Reader – February 8, 2010

by tigtog on February 9, 2010

in blogging

Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.

  • Misogyny in Music: Art vs Science
  • – “Generally what happens is this: I’m driving along, listening to a new song, usually enjoying it – maybe even for the first few times I hear it. And then I really listen to the lyrics, and there’s a grunching moment. There’s rape culture, right there on my radio, right there in the songs crowds are rocking out to at this years’ festivals. Right there in the words being joyfully screamed out from moshpits everywhere. And it’s bloody depressing.”

  • Islam And Feminism | Muslim Feminists
  • – “This patronising discourse arrogantly assumes the way to overcome patriarchy is to abandon Islam and adopt ”Western values”. How can a constructive effort to improve the situation of women begin when the conversation is so unsophisticated, demeaning and primitive?”

  • Battlestar Galactica: Disability In Space
  • – “Despite the fact that some people turn up their noses at science fiction and all it stands for, it is often the most striking television in terms of depicting equality;”

Disclaimer/SotBO: a link here is not necessarily an endorsement of all opinions of the post author(s) either in the particular post or of their writing in general.

{ 3 comments }

Mixed messages

by tigtog on February 8, 2010

in culture wars, environment, parties and factions

The latest Nielsen polls seem to show an electorate that’s not quite sure who’s offering what on climate change:

Crucially in this election year, support for [the Rudd government's] emissions trading scheme (ETS) proposal is down 10 points [since last November] to 56 per cent.

When voters were offered a choice between Labor’s ETS and Mr Abbott’s alternative fund to finance emissions reductions, 45 per cent of those polled preferred the fund and 39 per cent backed the trading scheme.

But when voters were asked to choose between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s broad approaches to climate change, 43 per cent supported Mr Rudd’s approach and 30 per cent backed Mr Abbott.

That looks like an electorate which has absorbed negative messages from all sides about the ETS being environmentally inadequate (true) and financially threatening (arguable), yet who still don’t trust Abbott to take climate change as seriously as they do themselves.

The Poll Bludger sums up the Neilsen poll results:

The latest Nielsen poll has Labor’s two-party lead at 54-46, down from 56-44 in November. The Coalition is up four points on the primary vote to 41 per cent, with Labor steady on 42 per cent (no figure is provided for the Greens as far as I can see). The Prime Minister’s personal ratings have taken a hit, his approval rating down six to 60 per cent and disapproval up four to 33 per cent. The poll is the first since Tony Abbott became Liberal leader, and finds him with 44 per cent approval and 41 per cent disapproval. Kevin Rudd’s lead as preferred prime minister is 58-31, compared with 67-21 in the twilight of Turnbull’s leadership. The sample size was 1400.

No doubt Possum Comitatus at Pollytics will have some more analysis (and graphs!) later this morning.

That’s still a solid lead for Labor and for Rudd as preferred PM. The best that can be said for Abbott is that he has lifted the figures from Turnbull’s nadir, but I’m sure the Libs were hoping for a bigger bump from the change in leadership than this. The comfortable figures for Labor/Rudd also indicate that climate change rhetoric alone will not be a big enough pull for voters to tick the Libs box on a ballot form.

{ 0 comments }

All rain and slow internets makes tigtog something something…

by tigtog on February 8, 2010

in Life

Morbidly concerned with appropriate discipline for a teen who downloaded several gigs of Youtubes the other weekend for a start. I’m on 64kbps until next Monday unless I dive into my netbook’s mobile broadband allowance.

How was your weekend?

{ 9 comments }

Strokable

by Lauredhel on February 7, 2010

in books & writing

embroidered cover of Maggie's Harvest

From the Things I Love files today: Beautifully covered cookbooks.

Sure, the other cookbooks get pulled out plenty for their content. Mrs Beeton’s, the C.W.A. Cookbook, The Cook’s Companion, Complete Vegetarian, How To Eat, 101 Muffins, Trattoria Pasta, the Women’s Weeklies – all these get plenty of bench time and are suitably be-dripped and bedraggled.

But every time I get out Thompson’s* thai food or Maggie’s Harvest, I have to stop to admire and stroke the cover, spend just a moment with it, before opening. Embroidered trees and birds! Hot pink silk! They’re the whole package.

If we’re right into confession time, every now and then I get them out just to admire and stroke the covers.

pink silk cover of Thompson's Thai

(* Ever notice that we tend to call these cookbooks “Stephanie”, “Charmaine”, “Maggie”, and “Nigella”; but people typically don’t refer to “David”?)

Tell me about your cookbooks and recipe repositories, or your favourite strokable book covers. Or both.

{ 12 comments }

Femmostroppo Reader – February 6, 2010

February 6, 2010

Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.

Shaking hands with Death
– “Terry Pratchett recently had the honour of giving the Richard Dimbleby Lecture. It was actually given by Tony Robinson as Pratchett’s early-onset Alzheimer’s can make it [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Carnival! We’re TWENTY-ONE!

February 6, 2010

The Bumper Coming-of-age Twenty-First Edition Down Under Feminists Carnival is up at The Radical Radish!. Check it out now.
The range of posts tackles domesticity, race, trusting women, respect, politics, activism, body image, sexuality, media, movies, SF, fashion and rape culture. And there is tea.
The Twenty-Second Carnival, covering posts from February, will be hosted by [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Otterday! And Open Thread.

February 6, 2010

It’s Otterday! Today’s river otters were photographed at Yellowstone – please go check out the rest of the photos at Laurie’s Blog.
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a [...]

10 comments Read the full article →

For Haiti Orphans, Cross Nursing Can Save Lives: ILCA, UNICEF, WHO, PAHO

February 5, 2010

For those wondering how on earth aid to a disaster area can exist without huge-scale donations of infanf formula from the United States, or wondering how to explain this to others, this press release from ILCA, and the links therein may extend understanding.
[notes: I prefer the terms "cross-nursing" or "shared breastfeeding", which don't so much [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Hey, let’s send people who don’t speak the local language – what could go wrong?

February 5, 2010

Unable to speak Spanish except for a few phrases, the CIA team had difficulty calling off the operation.

2 comments Read the full article →

Driving Under The Influence Of A Uterus

February 5, 2010

logansrogue (napalmnacey) points out an ad for AAMI insurance’s “Safe Driver Rewards” programme.
The ad features a series of people in the aftermath of crashes admitting to culpable driving, to the tune of “What About Me”. Check it out:

Transcript:
Young white man: I was twittering [away before?] I crashed into the corner shop
Young blonde white women: [...]

30 comments Read the full article →

You better run, you better take cover

February 4, 2010

What the flying blueberry-flavoured hell is up with this idea that Men At Work now owe bazillions of dollars – up to 60% of their earnings on Down Under – to a pack of copyright trolls?
SMH:
Men at Work’s Down Under ripped off Kookaburra: court
Men at Work’s No.1 hit Down Under reproduced a “substantial [...]

17 comments Read the full article →

Quickhit: iiSmackdown: Roadshow, Disney, Paramount, Sony, 20thC Fox, Universal, Dreamworks, Warner Bros, and friends to pay costs

February 4, 2010

Stilgherrian writes at Crikey: iiTrial: ISPs not responsible for users’ copyright infringement
Film industry claims that iiNet, Australia’s third-largest internet service provider, was responsible for its users’ illegal file sharing were dismissed. [...]
“I understand this is the first Australian trial to be twittered or tweeted,” Justice Cowdroy said. “It seems rather fitting for a copyright trial [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

Thursday Cheezburger: Dismissed!; and Delurking Day

February 4, 2010

Today’s Thursday Cheezburger theme is: “Dismissed!”

Post your own favourite “Dismissed!” Cheez here, and wait for admin image magic to make it appear.
Please post a link to a FULL webpage, rather than a direct link to an image only – that is, no URLs with .jpg, .png, .gif (etc) on the end. This makes our admin [...]

15 comments Read the full article →

Femmostroppo Reader – February 3, 2010

February 3, 2010

Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.

SPUDWORKS – The Abridged Atlas Shrugged
– Hahahahahahahaha.
Tim Tebow and the anti-choice Superbowl ad
– “The fact that my existence wouldn’t have happened without WWII and without Australia’s old policies of [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

This is why the “it’s just sci-fi, it shouldn’t have to be PC” argument is crap

February 3, 2010

I mean how am I supposed to feel if I see a movie set in the future and there aren’t any black or brown people in it? How is a child supposed to feel? It’s like someone’s saying, “I don’t like you and I don’t want you to be here, so I’m creating a world where you don’t exist.”

6 comments Read the full article →

Femmostroppo Reader – February 2, 2010

February 2, 2010

Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.

Sunny, with a chance of racism
– “I feel sad and appalled and kind of defeated too. I mean, two little girls playing in the pool, for fucksake, absolutely delighted with [...]

6 comments Read the full article →
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