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moominmuppetA federal appeals panel struck down the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul Friday, moving the argument over whether Americans can be required to buy health insurance a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The current drought in the Horn of Africa is the worst in 60 years. Between 11 and 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. (collection of donation links and info)
Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books -- There's a meme going around about this which I'm about to do.
“Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.”
This post by Professor Warren is a strong indication that she is considering a run for the United States Senate. -- Oh, good maude, PLEASE!!!
Slippery Banana Peels Could Be A Savior For Polluted Water
Massive Sun Explosion: Dark 'Fireworks' On The Sun (VIDEOS)
Current TV Launches Original Series "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die" Premiering on Monday, August 1 -- I've been watching this, and have really enjoyed it so far. It's definitely giving me a whole new list to hunt down on Netflix.
Advocates want anti-bullying bill to protect overweight kids
Big, Fat Stereotypes Play Out On The Small Screen
Do bras prevent saggy breasts? -- wanted to double-check my facts after a particularly button-pushing "what butch women should do with their breasts" conversation. (I'm genderqueer, not butch, but also have pretty non-standard feelings about my own breasts as a result. I also hate bras, and only wear them as necessary for work and crap... OK, I'm still pretty wound up and upset about that whole conversation, obviously. On to the next linkety before I start ranting.)
Astronomers have discovered the darkest known exoplanet - a distant, Jupiter-sized gas giant known as TrES-2b. Their measurements show that TrES-2b reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system.
Gorgeous Adipositivity image (marginally NSFW)
Roseanne: God Is Telling Me To Run For President
Discworld's Terry Pratchett On Death And Deciding
IRS: 1,470 millionaires paid no income tax in '09
Exhibition Unmasks the Art of the East German Spy Disguise
One thing I am going to make clear is that I am not going to be commenting on the substance of the changes, or of the original opera—I am not at all familiar with Porgy & Bess and, in any case, this revised production has not played a single performance. What I'm finding fascinating are the general questions raised by this scenario. Namely, what are our obligations to a work of art? When is it and when is it not appropriate to change things?
Related: Stage Left: The Long-Promised Post on Liking Problematic Media
Walmart Job Applicants: 'I'll Take Anything'
Daily Show's Jon Stewart calls Fox's Megyn Kelly a hypocrite (she's apparently a victim of post-partum compassion in regards to maternity leave rights)
Doctor Who: “It takes more than a stroppy alien to shake me up. How else would I deal with you?” Melanie Bush
The Endless Bag of Fried Chicken -- Frightening amount of truth in that, at least in terms of my relationship to the internet.
U.S. Abortion Restrictions on Humanitarian Aid Violate Geneva Convention: Campaign Underway to Petition President Obama
The Most Depressing Pay Gap Statistic You’ve Seen Today
Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish. -- Parts of this look like the same pattern that occur in many situations with power differentials. People not in power have to be able to read the people in power, people in power don't have to be able to read people not in power. It's as much about survival as anything else (I know it's been studied in gender and race at various points).
New 12-Member 'Super Committee' Will Have Only One Woman At The Table
Gay man born in Australia is facing imminent deportation despite being legally married
Cornography (Colbert's SuperPAC has started running ads)
The abortion that Mitt doesn't talk about anymore
Five Reasons to Not See The Help: A Round-Up of Responses
The current drought in the Horn of Africa is the worst in 60 years. Between 11 and 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. (collection of donation links and info)
Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books -- There's a meme going around about this which I'm about to do.
“Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.”
This post by Professor Warren is a strong indication that she is considering a run for the United States Senate. -- Oh, good maude, PLEASE!!!
Slippery Banana Peels Could Be A Savior For Polluted Water
Massive Sun Explosion: Dark 'Fireworks' On The Sun (VIDEOS)
Current TV Launches Original Series "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die" Premiering on Monday, August 1 -- I've been watching this, and have really enjoyed it so far. It's definitely giving me a whole new list to hunt down on Netflix.
Advocates want anti-bullying bill to protect overweight kids
Big, Fat Stereotypes Play Out On The Small Screen
Do bras prevent saggy breasts? -- wanted to double-check my facts after a particularly button-pushing "what butch women should do with their breasts" conversation. (I'm genderqueer, not butch, but also have pretty non-standard feelings about my own breasts as a result. I also hate bras, and only wear them as necessary for work and crap... OK, I'm still pretty wound up and upset about that whole conversation, obviously. On to the next linkety before I start ranting.)
Astronomers have discovered the darkest known exoplanet - a distant, Jupiter-sized gas giant known as TrES-2b. Their measurements show that TrES-2b reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system.
Gorgeous Adipositivity image (marginally NSFW)
Roseanne: God Is Telling Me To Run For President
Discworld's Terry Pratchett On Death And Deciding
IRS: 1,470 millionaires paid no income tax in '09
Exhibition Unmasks the Art of the East German Spy Disguise
One thing I am going to make clear is that I am not going to be commenting on the substance of the changes, or of the original opera—I am not at all familiar with Porgy & Bess and, in any case, this revised production has not played a single performance. What I'm finding fascinating are the general questions raised by this scenario. Namely, what are our obligations to a work of art? When is it and when is it not appropriate to change things?
Related: Stage Left: The Long-Promised Post on Liking Problematic Media
Walmart Job Applicants: 'I'll Take Anything'
Daily Show's Jon Stewart calls Fox's Megyn Kelly a hypocrite (she's apparently a victim of post-partum compassion in regards to maternity leave rights)
Doctor Who: “It takes more than a stroppy alien to shake me up. How else would I deal with you?” Melanie Bush
The Endless Bag of Fried Chicken -- Frightening amount of truth in that, at least in terms of my relationship to the internet.
U.S. Abortion Restrictions on Humanitarian Aid Violate Geneva Convention: Campaign Underway to Petition President Obama
The Most Depressing Pay Gap Statistic You’ve Seen Today
Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish. -- Parts of this look like the same pattern that occur in many situations with power differentials. People not in power have to be able to read the people in power, people in power don't have to be able to read people not in power. It's as much about survival as anything else (I know it's been studied in gender and race at various points).
New 12-Member 'Super Committee' Will Have Only One Woman At The Table
Gay man born in Australia is facing imminent deportation despite being legally married
Cornography (Colbert's SuperPAC has started running ads)
The abortion that Mitt doesn't talk about anymore
Five Reasons to Not See The Help: A Round-Up of Responses
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-13 03:50 am (UTC)Frankly after listening to the lead actress for "The Help" completely tear apart the bullshit that is argument #2, I'm more inclined than not to actually see the damned movie.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-13 04:05 am (UTC)As for Porgy & Bess, if you're doing a large show for a mainstream audience for something that is dodgy by modern standards, then I only see two reasonable answers, one is to make minimal changes, but highlight in various ways just how problematic the play, movie, or whatever is, the other is the bowdlerize the hell out of it. I saw a production of The Merchant of Venice which was brilliant where the focus was entirely on the anti-semitism of the characters and the era, despite being a complete play that used only Shakespeare's dialog (it was brilliant), but if you don't want to focus the work in that way, then IMHO, rewrite the offensive stuff.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 11:03 pm (UTC)