julifolo's Journal

8:43am: BBC report: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm

Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

excerpt

"Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's. "

A purr can have two components. It's a neat description of the process & how they did the study.

Julie
Grinning

5:12pm: Good writing (Stonewall letter)
Found this here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/26/DDOH18BVH7.DTL

quote

In the world before that night, we could not have done what we did. But that night we did. We finally stood up and said we have rights. To congregate. To dance. To mourn. To be left alone. Left alone to live, to love, to work, or just dance and listen to Garland sing.

11:41am: A modest suggestion (a recommended rant)
next time an anti-choice male starts making opinions known about how laws need to be made to restrict women's reproductive choices "for the sake of the babies".

see here

Just once I'd like to say to a smug self-righteous anti-choice male, "OK - you want to make abortion illegal, fine. You go ahead and make that choice on behalf of all women, and in return I'll make this one on behalf of all men: from here on out, all unmarried men who have reached puberty, living on American soil will be required to have a vasectomy, and all married men who have either had two children or who have been married ten years, will also be required to have a vasectomy. All we really need to do to eliminate abortions, after all, is to eliminate all that sperm floating around in this country. Oh, no. You don't like me making your healthcare decisions for you? But I though abortions were so evil - think about the unborn babies! Yeah, well, not so much if it means you have to get snipped? Then sit down and shut up you jackass, you don't give a damn about killing babies, it's all about controlling women."
I don't know that I'll ever have the opportunity, but I'd love to see the horror on the face of a fundy during this kind of a tirade.

7:49pm: Domestic Terrorism: Dr. Tiller murdered
I emerged form my hole (I've been making necklaces) to find an email from Planned Parenthood that Dr. Tiller was assasintated this morning.

He provided late term abortions in Kansas. The first, unsuccessful, attempt on his life happened 8 months into Clinton's presidency. When there's a Democratic president, hate radio goes up a notch.

Democrats in power, it will be terrorism against abortion, and terrorism against women. Expect more of this

Can't have women making decisions for themselves, no, no, no

12:47pm: A lawyer's comment on Prop 8 decision (that I hope is right)
Read page 36. They just cut Prop 8 to the bone.

That's an essay at Daily Kos. According to that interpretation, the Calif Supreme Court "as much as" said: the voters voted same-sex couldn't use the designation "marriage", but (according to the original Marriage decision that allowed the same-sex marriages -- it's Settled Law in California that it's discrimination to disallow legal recognition.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735571/-Read-page-36.-They-just-cut-Prop-8-to-the-bone.

By its terms, the new provision refers only to "marriage" and does not address the right to establish an officially recognized family relationship, which may bear a name or designation other than "marriage."

He also pointed out that the court could have interpreted the vote very broadly, but seemed to go to great length to interpret as narrowly as possible. Basically, the difference between "domestic partnerships" and "marriage", as far as legal rights, is still unconstitutional in California.

Many comments ensued, about just "scratch out marriage" on the forms. "Seriously, I think that the governments will be ordered to figure something out." & speculation that that S.F. administrators are doing exactly that. So it's ripe for a test case. Though, of course, better if it wasn't allowed to be voted on at all. (Other commenters were disagreeing -- it really will boil down to what happens when same sex couples demand licenses for "officially recognized family relationships". I'll be watching ...

They also said the inititive system is bad, but it isn't the court's role to fix it ... ?? (Judges, unfortunately, can be recalled) (I think the coward judge's original thought when they let the vote happen -- there was a suite that it would be an illegal vote -- was that the vote would fail & they'd be off the hook.)

7:55am: This is a crime that a hospital did
If we don't have marriage equity, it will happen again.
Note the part where the sympathetic nurse was acting against hospital policy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/18/732663/-Tonight-we-said-goodbye-to-a-photograph

Tonight we said goodbye to a photograph
by Brubs
Sun May 17, 2009 at 11:54:06 PM CDT

[...]

Tonight, surrounded by his family, my best friend Kenneth took his last assisted breaths in a hospital known for its “compassion and care” in the area. His family held his hands and whispered their loving goodbyes while the life slipped from his body and he went to his rest. A sudden heart attack claimed him.

But someone was conspicuously absent…

In the parking lot, Bob, his partner of 26 years, said goodbye to a photograph. It was a photograph of he and Kenneth on vacation celebrating their honeymoon 6 years ago after having been “married” in a ceremony that meant nothing more than symbolism [...]

Bob carried that photograph in his wallet as a reminder of his relationship and what it meant to him. Tonight, he said goodbye to a smiling face in a picture because he had no legal right to be present to say goodbye to his loved one in person. So Bob sat in the parking lot in the passenger seat of my car and wondered the fate of the man he had given his love and life to. He held the only thing at that moment Kenneth’s family could not take away from him – that photograph.

The hospital, at the behest of Kenneth’s family, had banned Bob from Kenneth’s room, or seeing him in the hospital at all. 26 years treated as though they were mere passing acquaintances or work colleagues. Simply because Kenneth’s family could never accept their son’s orientation (NOT “lifestyle” as some refer to it).

Tonight, a nurse sympathetic to Bob’s situation and in violation of the hospital policies, came to the car window and delivered the news to Bob that Kenneth was gone. And Bob said his goodbyes and wishes of love and peace to a picture. A fucking photograph. Held to his chest as though he were holding his loved one in tears. Because that was all he had.

His partner is gone and his partner’s family took away the dignity that Bob had a right to as Kenneth’s lover, confidante, and lifemate to say goodbye. His husband. There, I said it. HUSBAND. WAS THAT SO SCARY [...]?

5:34pm: Angry at the presumption
This crime, as reported by the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/nyregion/09wesleyan.html

I gather the victim "knew" her killer. After (or before) a few interactions (dates?) he decided, since he wanted her, then she belonged to him. Male entitlement behavior. Since she rejected him, after a few years of (my guess) stewing over this injustice, he tracked down and killed her.

OK, I'm extrapolating from a news report that doesn't know everything and there's no way to be "sure" ... but the story happens again and again. And I'm already feeling fragile/besieged because of debates with people who are only looking for "reasonable" restriction on abortion -- as if it's perfectly OK & not sexist to have women's human rights voted on by male entitlement people, instead of trusting it to the woman & medical standards. Then there's all the advertising industry & Hollywood sexism (not to mention Focus on the Family, etc.) trying to enforce gender roles. It's getting worse. Repeating my earlier rant, 30 years ago contraception wasn't controversial. The goal is to shift the Overton Window for how women are expected to act and "choose".

Maybe there are women who stalk men & kill them if they don't cooperate -- the "femme fatale" is a Hollywood cliche. From what I've seen, in the real world the white murders get the airtime on TV news, and it's usually a white guy killing a white woman who wouldn't submit to being his property. Maybe the frustrating abortion discussions I've had makes me overly sensitized to "male entitlement behavior" but it sure feels like the trend is real.

12:06pm: Maine governor signs same-sex marriage bill
happy dance

he had a change of heart:

"In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions," Baldacci said in a written statement. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage."

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/105356.html

The usual suspects will be trying to do a "people's veto". (This happened before with "gay rights" bills -- that had to be passed three times in Maine before it stuck.)

9:25am: Cooking
The Micel Folcland Fest was great fun last weekend. I got further on my naalbinded socks, and other good stuff. Folo has photos on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/folo/sets/72157617574410551/

Mike cooked up a veggie soup that was very good. There was leftover food and I was going to cook it up yesterday after work, but I got talking too late with a friend who was briefly back in town. Then I woke up way too early this morning. I was just going to do chopping this morning & cook in the evening, ... but it went faster than I expected.

I like turnips*. I cut up the 2 left over, 1 leek, 2 onions, the rest of the mushrooms, and some of left-over celery, bullion & some spices. Mike's version tasted better (& had more leaks), ... the turnips cooked up fine. I now know they cook up fast and will probably do this more often.

*The only way I like sweet potatoes is how my Sister-in-Law's sister cooks them, with turnips. It tastes like food, not the over-sweet candy the dish usually is, with brown sugar & marshmallows ...

2:26pm: Factory Farms ...
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/swine-flu-causes-47042601

There are all sorts of reasons to avoid eating too much meat, especially if it's from animals raised on so-called factory farms (known to the industry and its regulators as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs). There's animal welfare, since the animals are typically kept in cramped conditions that are likely to turn the stomach of many people. There's the environmental cost, since the meat from an animal feeds fewer people than the feed and water used to raise that animal could. There's the concern about antibiotic-resistant strains of disease, since animals in close quarters are often treated before an outbreak happens, leading to the possibility of bacteria growing resistant to medicines humans need to stay healthy. And then, there is swine flu. ...

For a while, I tried to be vegetarian. It didn't work. Later, I got into a conversation with a social justice person at work who is also a home cooking fan, and she pointed out that in food history she's read, vegetarian food traditions have always been Elites. Food traditions from even the poorest areas have always included small amounts of animal protein (milk, eggs, or meat) with the predominant grains, veggies & fruits. Especially necessary for hard physical labor. So now my goal is to eat less animal protein, and try to get more of it from local free-range farmers.

6:53am: Productive interneting yesterday (abortion politics)
there were a couple long discussions at Daily Kos-- a lot of the usual unproductive discussions and arguments. I did many variations of my usual reply: Medical Standards, not Laws. There's no good way to write good laws about abortion, because it isn't something for legislation. Someone else took that thought and said it better than I was:

The fact that there is no black and white here means that this should be a matter for medical ethics -- in other words, laws are designed to determine what situations are black and white. Medical ethics, or any other ethical field, for that matter, are designed for situations in which there is no such thing as black and white.

A late term abortion can't happen without help. In almost all cases, it's a mercy abortion, it isn't really a woman, on a whim, looking for a doctor who'll take her money. Or if it does happen, that isn't a reason for writing laws that put a greater burden on 99.99% of women ... when medical standards would do the job without creating that burden. But, of course, the anti-abortion people search out these "abortion mill" clinics (some of which are only a little better/safer than backalley abortions) and trumpet the abuses ... as if abortion were the problem rather than abortion care being pushed out of hospitals, far enough out of the mainstream to make the abuses possible.

Birth control methods aren't 100% effective (even sterilization), and there are a lot of abortions that can be arguably termed "abortions of convience" and there's arguably some moral ambiguity there. However, it's a lot more immoral the way Nature (natural selection) rigged the system for "whatever species creates the most babies" rather than "good of the individual". I really don't think there's much moral goodness in a sacrifice if the person doing a sacrifice isn't doing it willingly.

In my opinion, the bad ethics of Nature overrules any ethical imperative to the woman. Since women are biologically forced to expend resources for the next generation and men are not similarly forced by biology, I see unlegislated reproductive choice is a kind of "affirmative action" that is necessary for a culture to (attempt to) be equitable. On the other hand, to people who think "things happen for a reason", being born a girl rather than a boy is a rather large Sign about "what God means for me". So when I have these discussions with people who think like that I get puzzled looks and questions about "you're a woman; why do you want to be a man?"

Bottom line: Medical Standards, not Laws.

3:38pm: No, you do not understand me perfectly
... when you continue to insist it's my problem.

I'm midway through a year's worth of dataentry (taxes) which put me in the right frame of mind to deal with phone company billing. I have another bogus charge for a service we didn't order. When I call the phone number on the bill, the number's been disconnected. Proof enough to me it's a scam.

The person on the other side of the line (I did get to talk to a human) is going to get me another phonenumber to call & I say "No. It's your responsibility, not mine." She keeps telling me what the procedure has to be. No. It's a business policy, and negotiable.

My favorite riff in these kinds of situations (she's following a script that's trying to make it sound like I'm the person being unreasonable): "Quit acting like I'm asking you to break a law. If we don't follow the Rules that doesn't mean we're going to jail."

Rule of thumb: Are they reasonable? If yes, be nice. If no, get 'em off script. Then it's possible to negotiate.

4:39pm: Today is not Friday
I just confused a co-worker by saying "Have a good weekend!" Much teasing ensued.

Tomorrow this time we'll be on our meander down to New Orleans ... and the weekend I was was mostly working on taxes & inventory paperwork for Garnets & Glass, so today does feel like Friday to me, not 1st-workday-after-weekend. (Anyway, it was tecnically accurate. The next time I see coworkers will be next Monday ... after the weekend.)

7:56pm: Silly, via friend
see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPTGASZ62ys

caption: "Kitten attacks wolf" (actually a very patient dog).

if you turn the sound down you won't get the distracting TV noise...

11:22pm: Got the fabric swatches!
Aidan Campbell, Regia in England, announced a PROJECT last fall, which I joined. In the interest of "less posh, more common" he was coordinating hand spinners and weavers -- getting the yarn to the weavers -- to make lots of various weaves & weights accurate to our era for members to make clothes in natural (undyed) colors so, at the various shows Regia was contracted to do, there would be going toward a more accurate portrayal. [One of his points being that when the norm was people never left their area there would be much less attention to "making a good first impression". "This means simple weaves and un-dyed yarns, something which were still common place in rural Britain up until the time of World War I."] Doing it as a coordinated project, he got a variety for the same typical price of ordering a custom bolt of cloth of one variety. (Which wouldn't work for the "typical" goal, as members would have looked like they were in uniform...)

I first heard about the project in October. In Febuary he "[took] delivery of more than [his] own body weight in cloth" and today I got my swatches -- one of each variety, to show as examples. I'm in cloth heaven, all beautiful creams, browns, greys. Folo wants to make me a reliquary box to keep them safe.


My plan is do a blanket stitch along all the raw edges to stabilize the swatches, starting will the most ravelly, & use the wool thread I've been spinning.

12:53pm: Someone told me ...
(still looking for link)

There are 3,985 Medical Lobbyists for each person in Congress.

US, for healthcare, is ranked 37 on a list of 191 countries.

We should have single payer healthcare. But when the Clintons tried to reform the system, the insurance & allied groups spent between $100 million and $300 million to defeat it.

9:13am: Eight years ago today
There's an 8 year old piece of paper on my work terminal (it was transferred when our machines got upgraded). Eight years ago, very grumpy, I put it there:
George W. Bush
President of the Republican Party
of the United States of America
Stuff hadn't happened yet, but the color ink I chose was dark red. I think my thinking was red for Rethuglican, but darken it to make it legible. Now, after his wars-of-choice, looks like old blood.

11am, local time, will be noon on the east cost. That's when I tear it up. I may bring the pieces home and burn them.

8:37am: Plane rescue: Coast Guard video on YouTube
Folo found this & sent me the link (video only, no Coast Guard audio)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mLKfRVU3qM

the splash landing is about at minute 2:00 ... & you can clock how fast the two ferries got there. By 7 minutes both ferries were evacuating!!!

More applause.

10:22am: Hurrah for the professionals!
Pilot Is Hailed After Jetliner’s Icy Plunge
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/nyregion/16crash.html?th&emc=th

A US Airways jetliner with 155 people aboard lost power in both engines, possibly from striking birds, after taking off from La Guardia Airport on Thursday afternoon. The pilot ditched in the icy Hudson River and all on board were rescued by a flotilla of converging ferries and emergency boats

comment on Daily Kos which sums it up about doing one's job:

It was one of the big "negatives" thrown around by Republicans - we're "elitist." Well, this is what elitism means - the best doing what they're best at, when it all falls apart. The pilot was already considered one of the top people in airline safety and crisis handling - and he showed in practice that he is indeed that good. The rest of the crew doing what they're supposed to do. Right on down the line. It kept the passengers calm, and enabled them to be successfully rescued.

That's the sort of elitism we need, and should demand. The best people, the best training, and doing what they should in a superb manner - competence.

8:33am: Two "Shoe" diaries on Daily Kos
Morning Reaction: The Picture Seen Around the World
by Kula2316
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/15/35034/027/98/673150
-- has a roundup of many newspaper front page pics

Muntadhar al-Zeidi is an overnight hero.
by ftwfl
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/15/75146/890/39/673217

6:50am: First I'm cold, then I'm hot, then I'm cold again
Bah

On the other hand, getting old means that yesterday, when I got on a bus crowded with college students going to class, one of them got up to give me his seat. *grin*

2:04pm: Adventures in cataloging
folo1 wrote a book on Viking, the replica viking ship that sailed to the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. He donated a copy to the Univ of Illinois Library and, since I do the sorting of "not found on OCLC" items to catalogers for original cataloging I grabbed it as work for me to do. (The Humanities cataloging position who normally would get this work is currently vacant. My assignment is Sciences.)

OK, so I look up the OCLC record for Magnus Andersen's memoir of the voyage for subject heading help.

Viking (Clipper ship)
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)
Voyages and travels.
Andersen, Magnus, 1857-1938.

-- Trouble is, Viking isn't a clipper ship, yikes!

So I check other instances of that subject heading, 9 matches in various different libraries. Four of them concern Andersen's ship, the other five concern other ships named Viking. "Viking (Ship)" or "Viking (Sailing ship)" would be better and those subject headings also exist in OCLC, some of them about the same ship(s). (There apparently was a grain ship named Viking that was wrecked in about 1930.)

Ideally, all records for Viking ships should colocate to the same subject heading for each ship. What I should do, if I get permission, is change 4 records belonging to other libraries to "Viking (Ship : 1893)" & use that heading in the record for Folo's book, which would untangle one of the confusions. I have to ask for guidance ...

12:50pm: Ralph Nader has a question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkoB4r9FSzY


If the price of getting this on the table is Nader trashing his reputation, I'm glad the question is on the table.

I'd like to have some extra insurance (in addition to the mandate of grassroots that expect their hope to be confirmed) that Barak needs to not let the Big Corporations push him around. To prove Nader wrong.

Obama cooperated with the "Bailout", didn't he? Hank Paulson is busily spending the treasury so the usual subjects can say "No, you can't" in response to "Yes, we can".

I didn't vote for Obama, I voted for his platform.

I didn't vote for Edwards, I voted for his platform.

I don't trust politicians.

I don't want "bipartisan" to mean "keep dismantaling the New Deal".

Grass roots gave him the victory. Grass roots should be ready to hold his feet to the fire if polititians (both parties) start insisting he needs to compromise his promises.

Lockstep Republican polititions don't "compromise", "bipartisan" means giving in.

... Unless Obama is leader enough to stop them.


(I don't have a transcript. The only transcript I can find is partial out-of-context and to make Nader look bad. If I can find a ful transcript I'll edit to put that in.)

6:45am: Too little sleep last night. 4 for 4 homophobic votes
Big relief, Obama won.

Maybe the recurring WWIII nightmares will calm down & let me sleep.

California Prop 8 still isn't called, but odds are very bad.

So 3 states vote against gay marriage (and one was wiping out the only pro-gay votes in how many years?) And Arkansas won't let gays adopt.

I feel ill. My heart is breaking for what the gays & allies must be feeling -- Having been battered and surviving this long those with experience are going to keep fighting. But I wonder how many more teen suicides are being bred in this toxix environment?

Massachussetts, the sky hasn't fallen. ButProp 8 was heading for Fail until the huge influx of mormon money and feet on the ground. I'm so glad it's so much harder for amendments to be voted in Massachussetts.

I'm not being very coherant. This really hurts.

9:38am: Round 16