It's possible to view a solar eclipse by looking at light filtering through trees or fence slats (http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html). My house has plenty of both, so I was able to take some interesting pictures of the crescent about 2 hours after the eclipse started.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cat-and-dragon/sets/72157629840721686/with/7246308766/
( here's one )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/773587.html, where there are comments.

This post is fairly light on fat hatred and other rage inducing language but I'll still include a ( sanity point saver cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/772610.html, where there are comments.

I think it's edging close to begging the question and appealing to authority to use Biblical language ("thou shalt not commit logical fallacies") to present your poster about logical fallacies. But otherwise it's a good poster.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/yourlogicalfallacyis/pdf/LogicalFallaciesInfographic_A1.pdf

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/772191.html, where there are comments.

http://peerbackers.com/projects/we-see-a-different-frontier

We are raising funds to publish a special issue/anthology of colonialism-themed speculative fiction from outside the first-world viewpoint, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes and published by The Future Fire.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/793547878/feminist-speculative-fiction-anthology

This project will fund a speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, & horror) anthology devoted to feminist themes. Editing the book will be Hugo Award winner Ann VanderMeer and World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer.

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/771895.html, where there are comments.

I took the OTW Community Survey!

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/771644.html, where there are comments.

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/03/bookshelf-heaven-awesome-containers-for.html

I discovered by looking at this post that I don't really approve of organizing books by the color of their spines.

Also, "a deeply comforting amount of books that we will never be able to read in its entirety in our lifetimes"? I saw maybe one image that had that many books.

I like the stretchable ones toward the bottom of the page, which are also discussed here:
http://gizmodo.com/5100849/platzhalter-bookshelf-splits-to-store-extra-books

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/771493.html, where there are comments.

"A Macbook Pro is just as much of a status marker as a Louis Vuitton purse or a BMW."

I recoil at the notion because I think Vuitton purses and BMWs signal a different class than ones I identify with. (At least I tend to have prejudices about people who have those things—I'll assume "not like me" unless I get evidence to the contrary.) But I do think that, in California at least, there's a class I might call "hi-tech professionals" and having Mac products can signal identification with it.

FWIW, I think I'm kind of clueless about class.

Anyway, it's interesting to contemplate. What do you think?

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/771222.html, where there are comments.

There is a company that sells printed magnetic sheets the size of your whole refrigerator*. This one depicts 35mm cameras, Converse basketball shoes, round glasses, something that looks like a cassette tape, and something else I can't parse. This particular magnet is called "hipsters set."

http://www.kudumagnets.com/hipsters-set

I thought I had an idea of what hipster is. But this makes me think that hipster is nostalgia for the 70s, and that's not what I thought it was.

*If you ask me, that takes all the fun out of refrigerator magnets.

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/770994.html, where there are comments.

I used to live in Wallabees in the 70s. But back then they didn't come in purple. (These aren't actual Wallabees, but the uppers look very similar.)

http://www.birkenstockexpress.com/Products/Style.cfm/collection.Footprints/style.Pasadena/prod5.AF488/

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/770641.html, where there are comments.

Meme via ljgeoff. I edited it to remove the shoulds because I don't like shoulds.

Our online journals are little filters that we each see every one else's lives through, the parts others choose to share with us. That said, we all think we are close, but really we seldom know *a lot* about each other. So ask me something you think you should want to know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then, if you like, post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you...

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/770290.html, where there are comments.

We had to say goodbye to our cat Angus today.

( details and a photo )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/770029.html, where there are comments.

( Discussion of the color of certain female reproductive parts )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/769760.html, where there are comments.

http://worlds-only-consulting-dragon.tumblr.com/

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/769486.html, where there are comments.

Jeaniene Frost, author of the Night Huntress paranormal romance series (which I like a lot), successfully convinced her publisher to lower the price of her ebooks relative to the paper books. She explains the backstory here: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/150368.html

It's a good primer on ebook production and pricing.

Personally, I buy the audiobooks for this series because I get all wet hearing Bones whisper "Kitten" in my ear. (Narrator Tavia Gilbert uses a great voice for him.)

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/769032.html, where there are comments.

via micheinnz and hobbitbabe

1. What is your favorite genre to read?
Feminist speculative fiction, detective fiction.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/768988.html, where there are comments.

Scott Eaton is a sculptor and a teacher and is creating an iPad docking station that's a sculpture of a fat woman. He calls it "Venus of Cupertino." This summer it will be available for purchase.

http://www.scott-eaton.com/2011/ipad-docking-station
http://www.scott-eaton.com/2011/ipad-docking-station-coming-soon

Also, a bonus sketch of a fat centaur.
http://www.scott-eaton.com/2008/centaur-sketches

And a fat ballerina.
http://www.scott-eaton.com/2008/ballerina

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/768705.html, where there are comments.

Google was the only business among the nine main sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference, co-hosted by the Tea Party.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03/google-sponsoring-conservative-political-conference-co-hosted-by-tea-party.html

The company says it will have a presence at both Republican and Democratic events during this year’s election season, including each party’s convention. Google also had a role in the Iowa caucus last month. The CPAC event was attractive because half the attendees are under 25 and heavy users of technology, Google said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

“This event is a great opportunity for us to showcase Google.com/elections and tools like Google+, which we hope will be used by every candidate and campaign,” the Mountain View, California-based company said.

https://plus.google.com/116535035008265766913/posts/HWKthZcF9Ke

Jay Laefer - Feb 12, 2012 - Public
Embarrassed and Disgusted

As I've written before, I don't speak for my employer. Now I feel obliged to write: my employer does not speak for me.

Two days ago, I learned that Google had sponsored the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). During the event, CPAC organized and hosted various panel discussions. Allow me to share a few:

"The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity". The panel was sponsored by ProEnglish, and featured a panelist from VDARE. ProEnglish supports making English the only official language in the United States. VDARE is a white nationalist group.

"Why are U.S. taxpayers spending billions to promote abortion and homosexuality worldwide?"

"The Phony Divide Between Fiscal & Social Conservatives: Protecting Marriage as a Case Study". The panel featured Focus on the Family, Phyllis Schlafly, and the National Organization for Marriage (an anti-LGBT group).

Let me be clear: Each of these people and organizations should be free to express their views, no matter how hateful they are. But my employer spent at least $20,000 to be one of only nine top-tier sponsors of CPAC, and that disgusts me.

ETA: On the other hand, I just got email from Equality California, a group supporting same-sex marriage, that Google is one of the sponsors of their Equality Awards event.

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/768258.html, where there are comments.

It's james_davis_nicoll's fault.

http://books.google.com/ngrams/

( what's the plural of octopus? )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/768157.html, where there are comments.

If you like Kodachrome, photos of women using tools, and/or old US WWII propaganda, check this out.

http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/303194.html

The photo captions are in English. The introductory text is in Russian, and Google Translate says it goes like this:

Я часто хожу на сайт www.shorpy.com вдохновляться цветом Кодахрома. Сайт широко известен своими архивными фотографиями, так что вряд ли он будет для вас открытием. Но мне вот захотелось сделать себе подборку избранного, чтобы под рукой была на одной странице и в хорошем качестве. Может быть вам тоже будет интересно. Все снимки сделаны в 1940-1943 гг. Подписи переводить не стал, потому что плохо умею и боюсь переврать. Но в целом всё итак понятно. Смотрим, впитываем.

I often go to the site www.shorpy.com inspired color Kodahroma. The site is widely known for its archival photographs, so it is unlikely he will be opening for you. But now I wanted to make a selection chosen to hand was on the same page and in good quality. Perhaps you too would be interested. All images were made in 1940-1943. Signatures transfer did not, because what is bad and I'm afraid I can misquote. But in general, all so clear. Look, we soak.

ETA: maize found an English version here: http://pavelkosenko.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/4x5-kodachromes/

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/767778.html, where there are comments.

Two people came to my door yesterday and asked for me by my (legal) name. They claimed to be from the company that I buy landline phone service from (AT&T) and were trying to upsell me on some more services and generally fishing for information. I told them I was happy with the services I have.

I wondered if it was a scam, but I thought "they have my name, and I don't think my full name is publicly associated with my address and phone number."

I told the OH about it and he pointed me here:

http://neighbors.whitepages.com/

I entered an address in my neighborhood. It had full names and telephone numbers associated with every house on my block.

So I take note that anyone can look up my address and associate it with my legal name. Supposedly you can remove your info from this particular site, but it would probably just pop up somewhere else.

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/767671.html, where there are comments.

Via the Incredible Things blog:

Boots with soles that leave bearpaw tracks
http://maskulllasserre.com/artwork/1729401_Kodiak.html

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/767308.html, where there are comments.

http://gunslingerannie.tumblr.com/post/19566671961/greenmachine019-redscharlach-otters-who-look

(via andrewducker, who gives great linkspam)

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/766874.html, where there are comments.

This is a good boilerplate letter from Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size, that you can adapt if your workplace (or local government, or other organization you are involved in) has an "anti-obesity" campaign.

http://healthateverysizeblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/the-haes-files-de-stigmatizing-our-workplaces-a-start/

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/766588.html, where there are comments.

My sweetie sent some pix of me that she took at NOLOSE (a fat queer women and transfolk con) in 2010 and at Fogcon in 2011. I'm actually dressed up a bit, so I thought some of y'all might want to see.

( courtesy cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/766443.html, where there are comments.

The OH and I went to a restaurant called The Village Pub, which has a mind-bogglingly large selection of wines and spirits. We don't drink much at all but I was amusing myself by perusing the dessert drinks list, which had many whiskys, including a Welsh whisky. I didn't know there was any such thing as Welsh whisky. Maybe partly because, as Wikipedia tells me, there wasn't any from sometime in the 19th century until 1990.

Anyway, I wound up on http://www.celticmalts.com/ reading an article about Welsh whisky, and I glanced at the sidebar and saw a link labeled "Outer Hebridean whisky." Both Wales and the Hebrides are important in the history of knitting and sheep breeding, so suddenly my brain went "Whisky and knitting tour! Single malt whisky and single origin sheep!"

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/766162.html, where there are comments.

This statue ("Super-sized David Garden Sculpture by Design Toscano") is for sale on Amazon and is being made much of in several "weird things" blogs. As a public service, here it is minus all of the negative commentary it comes with in other blogs.

( possibly NSFW, although he is wearing the traditional figleaf )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/765623.html, where there are comments.

I read a blog called The Beheld.

In this post, "Recommended Reading," Autumn Whitefield-Madrano discusses Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth and recommends some books that "go beyond" and "work alongside" Wolf's book. One of them is Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Whitefield-Madrano includes the following quote from the book:

A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. Whilst she is walking across a room or whilst she is weeping at the death of her father, she can scarcely avoid envisaging herself walking or weeping. … And so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman. … Thus she turns herself into an object—and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.

Whitefield-Madrano says that she relates to this quote.

I don't. Sometimes I dress to look and/or feel a certain way, but once I'm dressed, I don't go around constantly surveying myself. And when I do feel that way, I hate it.

So I'm trying to figure out whether this is in fact a part of being a woman or identifying as feminine (and thus my not doing it is part of my being genderqueer) or whether the author maybe doesn't know what he's talking about or is exaggerating what he's talking about (by using terms such as "continually" and "scarcely avoid").

I'd love for people of all genders to comment on this. What is your gender? Do you constantly watch yourself and feel aware of your image of yourself most of the time? Do you think women or people who identify as feminine usually do that?

Ways of Seeing was published in 1972. In what ways do you think enforced image self-consciousness for women or people who identify as feminine has changed since then?

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/765199.html, where there are comments.

http://xkcd.com/1027/
( courtesy cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/765178.html, where there are comments.

This is depressing and I thought about not posting it, but I spent a couple of hours reading these articles and I figured someone might be interested and/or need their blood pressure raised.

"I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave" by Mac McClelland describes the stress of working in an etailer warehouse. When I ran across this quote:

I suppose this is what they were talking about in the radio ad I heard on the way to work, the one that was paid for by a coalition of local businesses, gently begging citizens to buy from them instead of off the internet and warning about the importance of supporting local shops."

I wondered: aren't local shops also stocked via warehouses? Do those warehouse workers get treated better than the ones working for direct etailers? Digging around in some other articles, I found evidence that some warehouse jobs are better than others. The ones that are especially bad are associated with big companies like Amazon and Walmart, which seem to mostly hire temps, set them impossible tasks, and then fire them after a few weeks.

"Inside Amazon's Warehouse: Lehigh Valley workers tell of brutal heat, dizzying pace at online retailer"

Excerpts:

During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress....

Goris, the Allentown resident who worked as a permanent Amazon employee, said high temperatures were handled differently at other warehouses in which he worked. For instance, loading dock doors on opposite sides of those warehouses were left open to let fresh air circulate and reduce the temperature when it got too hot, he said. When Amazon workers asked in meetings why this wasn't done at the Amazon warehouse, managers said the company was worried about theft, Goris said.

Just to show that it's not entirely the corporations at fault for this behavior:

OSHA does not mandate that work cease when temperatures exceed a specific degree. Instead, the agency gives employers guidelines about what they should do in specific ranges of the heat index.

The article explicitly compares Amazon to Walmart.

Amazon's competitors are no longer just bookstores. It's now considered a key competitor to Walmart, which has seen its growth slow considerably while Amazon's sales have skyrocketed.

Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeffrey Bezos, keeps climbing the ranks of the world's wealthiest people. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $18.1 billion this year, making him the 30th wealthiest person in the world. That wealth is tied to the value of Amazon stock, which has grown about eightfold to nearly $240 per share over the past five years.

This one specifically discusses how arms-length relationships between the warehouse companies and temp agencies contributes to the problem of worker mistreatment: The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse by Dave Jamieson. Excerpt:

The industry relies so heavily on temp work that many temp agencies actually have offices inside the warehouses themselves.
...
...the splintered workforce among all the temp agencies creates a tremendous obstacle to unionization.

Hotels are replacing in-house employees with temps too. "As Hotels Outsource Jobs, Workers Lose Hold On Living Wage" by Dave Jamieson

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/764709.html, where there are comments.

Star Trek (TOS) themed colognes

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=GK67123

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/hitlist.asp?company=Jads+International&theme=Star+Trek&searchorder=com

This entry was originally posted at http://firecat.dreamwidth.org/764222.html, where there are comments.