I need to have someone explain some Game of Thrones royal esoterica
Apr. 19th, 2019 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twistedchickWhere I came in, the eldest Lannister was still alive, but the crown prince was Cersei's and Jaime's son.
Why wasn't Jaime in line for the throne? Even if Cersei is older, he should have had it by primogeniture, because he's the male (in that medieval world.) If Cersei should have taken presidence, why did her son rule?
Attempting to be less confused, I am.
A hard rain's a-gonna fall
Apr. 19th, 2019 12:25 pmtwistedchickA Republican group plans to run an ad on Fox News urging the GOP to hold Trump accountable: "No exoneration, definitely obstruction"
From the NYTimes, a searchable version of the redacted report.
***
How women are made invisible, by design.
Casimir Pulaski, the Polish hero of the American Revolution, may have been intersex.
What if Mexico still included California, Nevada and Texas?
To nurture nature, neglect your lawn.
A user's manual for your knees.
50 years after Altamont, photographer Bill Owens remembers the day that ended the 60s in many (but not all) ways.
Trump's proposal to reduce the number of disabled people getting Medicaid -- government monitoring of social media to see if people "look happy".
(no subject)
Apr. 19th, 2019 07:22 amchelseagirlQotD
Apr. 19th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"Jesus, who began praying this psalm [psalm 22] from the cross, must have suffered the ultimate abandonment: doubt that his Father--who had always been a source of joy and strength--loved him. Fully human, not just play-acting, he descended to the depths of human exile. Yet the psalms have a remarkable way of pirouetting from one emotion to another, often from depth to peak.
"Kathy McGovern presents a positive interpretation in her blog 'The Story and You.' After Jesus, in agony, calls out the beginning verse: 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?,' some women 'standing at a distance' respond, 'in synagogue style to his introduction by reciting the rest of it, all 31 verses, including the triumphant end, when the suffering one proclaims that 'all will proclaim the Lord to generations still to come, his righteousness to a people yet unborn.'"
-- Kathy Coffey, "A Reflection on Good Friday", 2017-04-11
[A blessed Good Friday to everyone celebrating Easter weekend, and chag sameach to everyone about to start celebrating Passover tonight!]
QotD
Apr. 18th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"I waved to a man because I thought he waved at me.
"Apparently he waved to an other woman. So to get out of the awkward situation I kept my hand up and a taxi pulled over and drove me to the airport. I am now in Poland starting a new life."
-- Just Sally (@MustardSally1), 2019-04-08
Signal Boost: Using a Cane?
Apr. 17th, 2019 09:58 pmchomiji
veleda_k is wondering whether they might find it helpful to use a cane.
I know there are one or two (possibly more) cane-users on here. james_davis_nicoll, maybe?
Reading Wednesday
Apr. 17th, 2019 09:38 pmchomijiGood Lord, it's been a while since I got around to this.
After I finished the Clocktaur War duology, I felt a need to read something I already knew, so I added Diana Wynne Jones' Magids books to my Kindle and steamed through them. I love them, even when they get info-dumpy. I don't think I'd ever realized how out-of-synch Nick and Roddy are with each other, emotionally, in The Merlin Conspiracy. In fact, SPOILER I don't believe she has any idea how much he's crushing on her, and that's probably just as well. More realistic that way, too.
Now I'm doing some re-reading for a writing exchange. Contrary to my usual practice, I actually have the story outlined: I outlined it on JoCo, during a writing-time meetup.
Then I should do some more Hugo reading. I don't like reading comics electronically (unless web comics), so I bought On a Sunbeam and Abbott, and I should re-read vol. 3 of Monstress which I zipped through much too fast when I got it for Hanukkah.
After that, I guess I'll start looking for Hugo nominee short stories online, but I don't want to mess with the YA nominees untll I learn whether there's going to be a Voter's Reading Packet this year. It's a really sweet deal when they have one, especially now that I've learned how to get the files onto my Kindle.
They all look alike
Apr. 17th, 2019 05:44 amsupergeeThanx to
andrewduckerQotD
Apr. 17th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"So maybe the true marker of Jewish adulthood isn't the b'nai mitzvah but rather the first time you feel stressed about getting ready for Passover." -- Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR), 2019-04-08
This has to be said.
Apr. 16th, 2019 07:00 pmtwistedchickAll of them damaged by fire yesterday. All three.
None of them are a subject for humor. None of them are a topic for glee, for schadenfreude. All of them are tragedies, the destruction of places and objects of historical, religious and human value. Each one is a loss to world culture, world knowledge, the cultural inheritance of everyone.
There's a lot of UPG on Facebook and elsewhere about these fires. Some people are reading great or small omens in them; some are using them to denigrate believers of the faiths involved, as if the stone and wood of the buildings created centuries ago were responsible for the behavior of current adherents of the religions they serve. All of that is UPG -- unverified and unverifiable personal gnosis. If you see a fire in a centuries-old building and you have to use that for your own self-aggrandizement, building up your ego on someone else's sorrow, you should see a shrink or a counselor or therapist and do the work to figure out just why you have to put others down to build yourself up.
These three fires are not the only tragedies that happened yesterday. They are ones that affect nations, faiths, and all of humanity in their own ways; that is the difference between them and the fire in the local pizza parlor. All are worthy of respect, in their own way. Millions of Euros have already been donated to rebuild Notre Dame; we do not know how much may have been donated to rebuild Al Aqsa in old Jerusalem; a Facebook benefit has been created to rebuild Tsogyelar Shrine.
(https://www.facebook.com/donate/
If it upsets you that the biggest and best-known disaster is getting the donations, put aside your complaints and donate to a benefit for what you want to support. This is a time to mourn, and to build, and to rebuild, and not to tear down anyone over it.
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Apr. 16th, 2019 11:35 amtwistedchickUsing lasers to unlock how cathedrals were built, all the hidden bits of design.
Some think yesterday's fire burned the heart of Paris.
***
Something broke down in America this last week. Read it all.
Republicans are the real extremists, who would rather have their way than have a working democracy.
You're on camera, in more places than you know -- and it's not that hard to track your movements from camera to camera, or use facial recognition to determine identity. What does that do to your personal right to privacy?
Who is Trump targeting with his latest immigration crackdown?
***
Ilhan Omar, AOC, and the silencing of women of color in Congress.
Why did the suffragettes ignore Kitty Marion, one of their fiercest supporters, when their histories were written?
***
Geography contributes to wild weather.
Improving media literacy in Gen Z -- helping people learn to find what is true and what is not when they're online. And along with this comes the ability to distinguish politics from evidence in Trump's war on science. And why facts alone don't change people's minds.
Fewer states will have caucuses this election cycle. Does it matter?
***
Yo Yo Ma plays cello at a Mexican border crossing to connect people with music.
The ACLU issues a travel advisory for people of color: don't go to Florida.
Subvert the culture of contempt.
What does it mean to live a non-fascist life?
A child with three biological parents has been born in Greece.
QotD
Apr. 16th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"Back in the 1500s, the culture that we had built in the West embraced multigenerational projects quite easily. Notre Dame. Massive cathedrals were not built over the course of a few years, they were built over a few generations. People who started building them knew they wouldn't be finished until their grandson was born." -- Jamais Cascio
Historian Peter Kuznick
Apr. 15th, 2019 10:59 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
project_censored_feedHistorian Peter Kuznick returns to the Project Censored Show to discuss the newly released second edition of The Untold History of the United States. The new material covers the period from 2012 through 2018. In the interview on this week’s show, Kuznick addresses issues including nuclear arsenals, climate change, Trump and Russia, and the leadership vacuum in the U.S. and worldwide.
Notes:
Peter Kuznick is Professor of History at American University in Washington DC, and directs the Nuclear Studies Program at that institution. He and Oliver Stone wrote the groundbreaking book The Untold History of the United States, and also produced a Showtime documentary series based on the book. More information can be found at www.untoldhistory.com.
The post Historian Peter Kuznick appeared first on Project Censored.
project_censored_feedOn this very special episode of Along the Line, the listeners control the show. Listen as Dr. Dreadlocks Nicholas Baham III, Dr. Nolan Higdon, and Janice Domingo discuss listener questions about the Alt-Right; Joe Rogan; Alex Jones; Tim Poole; Twitter; Rashida Tlaib; Lynching; Brian Kemp; The Term “Latinx;” Michael Cohen; and Identity Politics. Listen to all of our previous content at ProjectCensored.org/atl and youtube.com/alongtheline Contact us on Twitter at @Nolan_Higdon @DOCTORDredlocks @j_nice44 Check out United States of Distraction by Higdon and Huff at www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=
The post Episode 23: Alt-Right; Joe Rogan; Alex Jones; Tim Poole; Twitter; Rashida Tlaib; Lynching; Brian Kemp; The Term “Latinx;” Michael Cohen; and Identity Politics – Listener Questions Episode appeared first on Project Censored.
QotD
Apr. 15th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"And so the people had a grand old time for a bit anyway, until this fella now, the absolute horrors in his mind*, began to commit some less than pleasant crimes. This pure mad feen was called Grendel, a notorious outsider - he ruled the marshes and the swampy land [if this isn't Cork then I dunno where it is**]. This miserable boyo hung out for a while in thee home of the langers, ever since the Lord himself had had it up to here with these bloody relatives of Cain - the Eternal Lord (for ever and e
ver Amen) was getting back at him for murder after he gave Abel one too many clatters across the head." -- from Boyowulf, Alison Killilea's translation (in progress) of Beowulf into Cork slang, ll. 86-109 (I didn't try to figure out exactly which lines match this excerpt from the longer blog post covering 86-109.)
QotD
Apr. 14th, 2019 06:23 ameftychia"It is true that behavior cannot be legislated, and legislation cannot make you love me, but legislation can restrain you from lynching me, and I think that is kind of important." -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (b. 1929-01-15, d. 1968-04-04), speech at Oberlin College, 1964-10-22
QotD
Apr. 13th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"There should be a hotline you can call where you can safely pronounce words you've only ever read out loud for the first time, and they say 'oh sweetie' and kindly explain how it's pronounced." potch (@potch), 2019-04-05
[Note that some dictionary websites do have pronunciation samples (i.e. audio snippets, not just the written-out pronunciation) ... but not all of them are as reliable as one would hope.]
(no subject)
Apr. 12th, 2019 09:37 amchelseagirl
Privacy and its lack in your life and mine
Apr. 11th, 2019 06:04 pmtwistedchickOverview: The Privacy Project (with links to other stories): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/
A few of the articles:
Feeling Safe in the Surveillance State (China): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/
Do you know what you're giving up? : https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/
But I love my phone: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/
It's time to panic: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/
How The Times thinks about privacy, and what they're re-examining: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/
QotD
Apr. 11th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"Legalized discrimination isn't just bad for the LGBT community; it's bad for anyone who just wants to use the restroom, go to work or live their life free of harassment. Laws like HB 1523 are a slippery slope to legalizing prejudice against just about anyone: women, children and even those who served in the military.
"When you make it easier to discriminate against one group, you make it easier to discriminate against everyone."
-- Nico Lang, "Think 'bathroom bills' and other anti-LGBT legislation don't impact you? Think again", Los Angeles Times, 2016-04-29 [thanks to Karen O'Donoghue for sharing this on FB]
QotD
Apr. 10th, 2019 05:24 ameftychia"According to several studies, people's brains function differently when they perceive or anticipate scarcity. More specifically, people get dumber: One study found that when subjects simply thought about a big bill that would strain their finances, their cognitive abilities plummeted by an average of 14 IQ points - a similar deficit to pulling an all-nighter." -- Charlotte Cowles (@charlottecowles), "The Fear of Losing It All", 2019-03-21