Category: Read

Replied to a thread by @KerrieDoodles (Twitter)
If people are depressed by this minimal loss since the 60’s, they’re going to explode when they read research like that of Lynne Kelly on what we’ve actually lost from indigenous cultures. Here’s a good place to start: Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: Orality, Memory and the Transmission of Culture though her TED talk gives a bit of the flavor without the heavier, but worthwhile, reading–in part, because it will give us some ideas about how to turn back the clock and recover some of what we’ve lost.

Read Top 10 goddesses in fiction by E Foley and B Coates (the Guardian)
In ancient myth – and novels by authors from Neil Gaiman to Toni Morrison – these ambiguous figures are sometimes repressive, sometimes inspiring

The Mabinogion, translated by Sioned Davies
In You Goddess! we use “supernatural female” as a definition of goddess and this allows us to include the story of Blodeuwedd, who was created out of flowers by a wizard as a wife for his friend, but who kicks over the traces and finds her own partner. Bloeuwedd appears in this medieval collection of Welsh stories. The first English translation was published in the 19th century by the linguist, go-getter and driver of the Welsh renaissance, Lady Charlotte Guest. This 2007 translation by Sioned Davies is a fantastic contemporary version. In the past Blodeuwedd has been taken as a cautionary tale about adultery, but to modern readers she appears as a floral rebel breaking free from male control. Sadly things don’t end well for her and her metamorphosis from vegetable to human ends with her wizard enemy turning her into an owl. She lives on as the inspiration for Alan Garner’s The Owl Service. ❧

This has been on my list for a bit. I’m also reminded that I ought to get back to The Celtic Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends by Miranda Aldhouse-Green
Annotated on September 09, 2020 at 10:09PM

Read Kamala Harris: what her sneakers mean by Priya Elan (the Guardian)
As a woman of colour wearing sneakers on the campaign, it semaphores a change in political dress and much more
On the value of a sneaker… The shoes become a symbol of Harris’ political philosophy in an incredibly approachable way.

Part of what I love about this article is that it could potentially have been written about a male candidate. It’s not sexualized as heavily as an article about her beauty (or lack thereof), her hair, her clothing, etc. We’re apparently making a little progress. Still, I’d much rather read material about the candidate’s positions and direct policies.

 

 

 

Read UK accused of failing to promote minority languages by Severin Carrell (the Guardian)
Critical report by Council of Europe calls for more support for Cornish, Irish and Ulster Scots
The benefits of speaking multiple languages are fairly well documented. How can we–as a society–better support additional languages? Why are we constantly sidelining and devaluing people’s mother tongues? 
Read a thread by Kicks Condor (Twitter)
Read Academy Establishes Representation and Inclusion Standards for Oscars® Eligibility (Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars® eligibility in the Best Picture category, as part of its Academy Aperture...
Long overdue and could have been an even higher bar, particularly on the studio side.
Read Monrovia, Duarte On Alert As Bobcat Fire Continues Its Rapid Growth (CBSLA / KCAL 9)
With powerful Santa Ana winds expected to create challenges for firefighters Tuesday, the Bobcat Fire burning in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia nearly doubled in size for the second straight day. The Bobcat Fire has burned 10,344 acres and still had zero containment as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The fire is churning through some vegetation and brush which has not burned in more 60 years. “The canyons that this fire has lined up with — Monrovia Canyon, Santa Anita Canyon, Little Santa Anita Canyon — those canyons have not burned since 1957 in the Monrovia Peak Fire,” Angeles National Forest Chief Robert Garcia said Monday.
Nothing really very new here.
Read Bobcat Fire: Arcadia Warns Of Possible Evacuations As Blaze Surpasses 10,000 Acres (LAist)
The Bobcat fire ignited on Sunday and quickly grew to threaten Mount Wilson.
We’ve just gotten an evacuation warning, so I’m searching around a bit to find sources to back up the text that disappeared. So far there’s nothing in the media, and it may take a half an hour or more to find more details.  This is the only recent story online at the moment and there are a few spurious tweets that cover Altadena in the warning, but those are entirely unsourced.

Phone notifications that disappear too quickly in emergencies can be really bad UI.

Read Standards Watch: Introduction (Backpacking Light)
Intro to a monthly column that explains important backpacking product standards, interviews key people, and analyzes industry standards.
This is an interesting area and highlights the fact that marketing and standards can sometimes subsume the actual facts and make it that much harder for people to make informed choices. This sort of investigative work and comparison becomes important to help level the playing field, but then again, finding sources like this is yet another task in itself.
Read Rethinking the Blog by James Gallagher (jamesg.blog)
The reason this blog still exists today, after going through so many iterations, is that I always self-dogfood. This is a term in the IndieWeb community that means that I use my own creations. On my blog, everything has been built by me, for me. I haven’t thought about whether my code could be use...
I have seen people in the community do a lot of CMS or platform hopping. Some do it for the fun of it and learning a new system, but it is nice to work at posting on something for a while to see the pros/cons before changing systems. 
Read How Trump’s Billion-Dollar Campaign Lost Its Cash Advantage (New York Times)
Five months ago, President Trump’s re-election campaign had a huge financial edge over Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s. The Times conducted an extensive review of how the Trump team spent lavishly to show how that advantage evaporated.
Read Higher education in the UK is morally bankrupt. I’m taking my research millions and I’m off by Ulf Schmidt (the Guardian)
After 25 years I feel Britain has broken my trust. I’m one of many academics who now see their future in Europe
The tougher part is that with the pandemic and general economic malaise, it’s unlikely that the UK will feel or notice the brain drain until much later.
Read A White professor says she has been pretending to be Black for her entire professional career (CNN)
Jessica Krug, an associate professor at George Washington University, has written extensively about Africa, Latin America, the diaspora and identity, all while claiming her own Black and Latina heritage.
Where are the Lifetime movies about these stories? I’m reminded of the movie Soul Man from the 80’s. I wonder how well it’s aged (or hasn’t).