"A few weeks ago I think I actually groaned out loud when I was watching OBLIVION and saw the wrecked Statue of Liberty sticking out of the ground. The same movie makes repeated use of a degraded version of the Empire State Building’s observation deck. If you view that in strictly economic terms–which is how studio executives think–this is an example of leveraging a set of expensive and carefully thought-out design decisions that were made in 1930 by the ESB’s architects and using them to create a compelling visual environment, for minimal budget, of a future world." Marginal Revolution
>>><<<
Cycle lanes in Johannesburg? JUCA
>>><<<
Problems of interpretation abound, but nevertheless some interesting statistics.
"1994: Of the 23 063 910 eligible voters, 85,53 percent (19 726 610) voted while the remaining 14,47 percent (3 337 300) stayed away. The ANC received support from 53,01 percent (12 237 655) of the eligible voting population.
1999: Of the 25 411 573 eligible voters, 62,87 percent (15 977 142) voted while the remaining 37,13 percent (9 434 431) stayed away. The ANC received support from 41,72 percent (10 601 330) of the eligible voting population.
2004: Of the 27 994 712 eligible voters, 55,77 percent (15 612 671) voted while the remaining 44,23 percent (12 382 041) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,87 percent (10 880 917) of the eligible voting population.
2009: Of the 30 224 145 eligible voters, 59,29 percent (17 919 966) voted while the remaining 40,71 percent (12 304 179) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,55 percent (11 650 748) of the eligible voting population." SACSIS
>>><<<
"Puberty blockers are not “sex change drugs”. They pause puberty. They’re completely reversible. The whole point of them is to allow the kids time to grow up and decide what they want to do. Seriously, they’re like the opposite of “sex change drugs”. They’re “wait and see how you feel in a few years” drugs. They’re caution drugs. In fact, why call them "drugs" at all? When doctors prescribe drugs for medical conditions in this country, we generally just call them "medicine". So no drugs, no sex change and no actual nine-year-olds on this trial. Don’t let that get in the way of a juicy headline, though. Sex! Transgender children! The NHS spending money on stuff that’s not cancer! Thank god they didn’t find a way to connect all this to house prices, or else the majority of Mail readers would be housebound indefinitely, glued to the floor by their own bodily secretions." Vice
>>><<<
"Rape and violence existed before porn, and would continue to exist if porn didn't. Why not focus on how rape is structurally permitted due to rape culture, how criminalization and incarceration permit and condone rape, how white supremacy reinforces poverty and institutionalized violence and how notions of moral acceptability make sex workers "rapeable" and "disposable"?" The Coast
>>><<<
"Everybody talks about the insane success of Kenyan long-distance runners, but the truth is that most Kenyans have no better stamina than the rest of us. The Kalenjin, who make up 1/10 of the Kenyan population at best, are the reason for the country's reputation -- for every 10 Olympic medals Kenya has won for running, seven are in Kalenjin hands. Of all the world running records held by Kenyans, only one is not held by a Kalenjin. Oh, and in all of recorded history, only 17 Americans have run a marathon in under two hours and 10 minutes. That's pretty neat-o, except for the fact that 32 Kalenjin have done it.
In October of 2011 alone." Cracked
>>><<<
The author could be more sceptical even of the claims that "Mam has done much for those girls", but this is a useful expose of a major figure in the so-called anti-trafficking movement. She has lied not only about her own story but, more seriously, about the scope and nature of the actual problem. I'll quote some of the relevant statistics:
"Thomas Steinfatt, a professor of statistics at the University of Miami, has done several reports on sex trafficking for the U.N.’s Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking. In a 2008 study, for which he spent months conducting surveys in all corners of Cambodia, he estimated there were no more than 1,058 victims of trafficking in Cambodia and has said the situation has improved markedly since then.
The number of children, both those observed as sex workers and those mentioned by management or by sex workers in the 2008 data, was 127, with 11 of the children verifiably under age 15 and six under age 13. The high-end estimate for the number of children likely involved in sex work in Cambodia in 2008 was 310 children." Newsweek
>>><<<
"If we cannot restore our democratic imagination, and ground it in democratic practices open to all, our future will be limited to a choice between authoritarian modes of containing our social crisis and authoritarian modes of resolving it. This challenge requires us to think of politics beyond the electoral terrain. It also requires us to think of politics beyond the realm of NGOs, the courts and the elite public sphere." SACSIS
>>><<<
A wall of motorised plastic cocks. Need I say more? Nerve
>>><<<
This article really shows how low the opponents of trigger warnings are willing to stoop, intellectually. It claims that "confronting triggers, not avoiding them, is the best way to overcome PTSD". But this claim is defended by reference to results from exposure *therapy", i.e. exposure to triggers under controlled, pre-arranged conditions. How this is relevant to the issue of being unexpectedly exposed to triggers in English Lit class or whatever is beyond me... Pacific Standard
>>><<<
Yep. "Be grateful to your benevolent white saviours!"
“There is a tendency among a lot of white mentors to see a personal betrayal in the movement of the black professionals whom they have ‘made’ which does not exist to the same degree with the white professionals who move just as often... Some of them have even been so bold as to use this perceived disloyalty of black professionals as a basis to avoid mentoring and training this category of employees.” M&G
>>><<<
Good for him, and his skill as an actor, but it's kind of gross that film-makers find it easier to cast a somewhat brown-skinned guy to play any non-white character they happen to need. Slate
>>><<<
The defence of the bedroom tax is gross, but this is a useful examination of some important trends. I tend to think that the best solution would be higher and more progressive property taxes. The supply side is also worth tackling, since having more spare rooms is obviously something people want...
"... The central failing of British housing is chronic under-occupation, which is getting worse. The 1971 census return showed Britons enjoying 1.5 rooms per person. Today, with a larger population, the figure is 2.5. Small households were moving into larger properties and staying there, even when children fled the nest. The rich are simply storing money in surplus rooms." Guardian
>>><<<
"The FDA claims there's no evidence that triclosan soap is any more effective at washing away germs than non-antibacterial soap and water. What's more, according to recent studies, triclosan can "disrupt hormones critical for reproduction and development, at least in lab animals, and contribute to the development of resistant bacteria." So not only is this chemical not doing you any real good, it could actually be harming you, too." Gizmodo
>>><<<
In the last ten years, there have been over 350,000 sex scenes shot in the adult industry without condoms with zero infections occurring due to sex on film in that period... AHF has used the 24 people who have tested HIV positive through the testing agencies performers use as a way to drum up evidence of a failing system, but these positives were performers who had not been exposed on set, but in their personal lives, or those who were testing in order to start in the industry, who found out their status before ever shooting." Tits and Sass
>>><<<
A couple of good articles on how racism has been defined by the political classes as a personal rather than institutional or structural problem, and thus swept under the rug. Multicultural Politic, Voice Online
>>><<<
Cycle lanes in Johannesburg? JUCA
>>><<<
Problems of interpretation abound, but nevertheless some interesting statistics.
"1994: Of the 23 063 910 eligible voters, 85,53 percent (19 726 610) voted while the remaining 14,47 percent (3 337 300) stayed away. The ANC received support from 53,01 percent (12 237 655) of the eligible voting population.
1999: Of the 25 411 573 eligible voters, 62,87 percent (15 977 142) voted while the remaining 37,13 percent (9 434 431) stayed away. The ANC received support from 41,72 percent (10 601 330) of the eligible voting population.
2004: Of the 27 994 712 eligible voters, 55,77 percent (15 612 671) voted while the remaining 44,23 percent (12 382 041) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,87 percent (10 880 917) of the eligible voting population.
2009: Of the 30 224 145 eligible voters, 59,29 percent (17 919 966) voted while the remaining 40,71 percent (12 304 179) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,55 percent (11 650 748) of the eligible voting population." SACSIS
>>><<<
"Puberty blockers are not “sex change drugs”. They pause puberty. They’re completely reversible. The whole point of them is to allow the kids time to grow up and decide what they want to do. Seriously, they’re like the opposite of “sex change drugs”. They’re “wait and see how you feel in a few years” drugs. They’re caution drugs. In fact, why call them "drugs" at all? When doctors prescribe drugs for medical conditions in this country, we generally just call them "medicine". So no drugs, no sex change and no actual nine-year-olds on this trial. Don’t let that get in the way of a juicy headline, though. Sex! Transgender children! The NHS spending money on stuff that’s not cancer! Thank god they didn’t find a way to connect all this to house prices, or else the majority of Mail readers would be housebound indefinitely, glued to the floor by their own bodily secretions." Vice
>>><<<
"Rape and violence existed before porn, and would continue to exist if porn didn't. Why not focus on how rape is structurally permitted due to rape culture, how criminalization and incarceration permit and condone rape, how white supremacy reinforces poverty and institutionalized violence and how notions of moral acceptability make sex workers "rapeable" and "disposable"?" The Coast
>>><<<
"Everybody talks about the insane success of Kenyan long-distance runners, but the truth is that most Kenyans have no better stamina than the rest of us. The Kalenjin, who make up 1/10 of the Kenyan population at best, are the reason for the country's reputation -- for every 10 Olympic medals Kenya has won for running, seven are in Kalenjin hands. Of all the world running records held by Kenyans, only one is not held by a Kalenjin. Oh, and in all of recorded history, only 17 Americans have run a marathon in under two hours and 10 minutes. That's pretty neat-o, except for the fact that 32 Kalenjin have done it.
In October of 2011 alone." Cracked
>>><<<
The author could be more sceptical even of the claims that "Mam has done much for those girls", but this is a useful expose of a major figure in the so-called anti-trafficking movement. She has lied not only about her own story but, more seriously, about the scope and nature of the actual problem. I'll quote some of the relevant statistics:
"Thomas Steinfatt, a professor of statistics at the University of Miami, has done several reports on sex trafficking for the U.N.’s Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking. In a 2008 study, for which he spent months conducting surveys in all corners of Cambodia, he estimated there were no more than 1,058 victims of trafficking in Cambodia and has said the situation has improved markedly since then.
The number of children, both those observed as sex workers and those mentioned by management or by sex workers in the 2008 data, was 127, with 11 of the children verifiably under age 15 and six under age 13. The high-end estimate for the number of children likely involved in sex work in Cambodia in 2008 was 310 children." Newsweek
>>><<<
"If we cannot restore our democratic imagination, and ground it in democratic practices open to all, our future will be limited to a choice between authoritarian modes of containing our social crisis and authoritarian modes of resolving it. This challenge requires us to think of politics beyond the electoral terrain. It also requires us to think of politics beyond the realm of NGOs, the courts and the elite public sphere." SACSIS
>>><<<
A wall of motorised plastic cocks. Need I say more? Nerve
>>><<<
This article really shows how low the opponents of trigger warnings are willing to stoop, intellectually. It claims that "confronting triggers, not avoiding them, is the best way to overcome PTSD". But this claim is defended by reference to results from exposure *therapy", i.e. exposure to triggers under controlled, pre-arranged conditions. How this is relevant to the issue of being unexpectedly exposed to triggers in English Lit class or whatever is beyond me... Pacific Standard
>>><<<
Yep. "Be grateful to your benevolent white saviours!"
“There is a tendency among a lot of white mentors to see a personal betrayal in the movement of the black professionals whom they have ‘made’ which does not exist to the same degree with the white professionals who move just as often... Some of them have even been so bold as to use this perceived disloyalty of black professionals as a basis to avoid mentoring and training this category of employees.” M&G
>>><<<
Good for him, and his skill as an actor, but it's kind of gross that film-makers find it easier to cast a somewhat brown-skinned guy to play any non-white character they happen to need. Slate
>>><<<
The defence of the bedroom tax is gross, but this is a useful examination of some important trends. I tend to think that the best solution would be higher and more progressive property taxes. The supply side is also worth tackling, since having more spare rooms is obviously something people want...
"... The central failing of British housing is chronic under-occupation, which is getting worse. The 1971 census return showed Britons enjoying 1.5 rooms per person. Today, with a larger population, the figure is 2.5. Small households were moving into larger properties and staying there, even when children fled the nest. The rich are simply storing money in surplus rooms." Guardian
>>><<<
"The FDA claims there's no evidence that triclosan soap is any more effective at washing away germs than non-antibacterial soap and water. What's more, according to recent studies, triclosan can "disrupt hormones critical for reproduction and development, at least in lab animals, and contribute to the development of resistant bacteria." So not only is this chemical not doing you any real good, it could actually be harming you, too." Gizmodo
>>><<<
In the last ten years, there have been over 350,000 sex scenes shot in the adult industry without condoms with zero infections occurring due to sex on film in that period... AHF has used the 24 people who have tested HIV positive through the testing agencies performers use as a way to drum up evidence of a failing system, but these positives were performers who had not been exposed on set, but in their personal lives, or those who were testing in order to start in the industry, who found out their status before ever shooting." Tits and Sass
>>><<<
A couple of good articles on how racism has been defined by the political classes as a personal rather than institutional or structural problem, and thus swept under the rug. Multicultural Politic, Voice Online
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