Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Currently Reading
NB: When you first get onto the This and That website, you might see a login popup for something called wastedblogs.com. Wastedblogs is an adult site and I have no idea how this blog got connected to it. I'm currently going through all the websites that I've linked to recently to see if they are the problem. Either way, just click CANCEL or the red X in the top right corner of the popup and the login thingy will go away.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Love Bites, Andrea Zanin and the Heterosexual Paradigm
“Most of us are raised within and completely immersed in the institution of heterosexuality. By this I don’t mean the sexual orientation per se; I mean the paradigm that has us all believing a certain package deal of sexual and gender-related feelings, identities and behaviours is normal and right. Within that paradigm, the prescribed set of behaviours is more or less as follows: you are appropriately gendered for your sex, feel sexual attraction to people of only one sex/gender (the ‘opposite’ one), engage in monogamous or serial monogamous partnership with such people, marry, reproduce and so forth. Sometimes we encounter people or situations that fall outside that paradigm but as long as we can normalize them, we can sort of incorporate them into the paradigm so that they remain comfortable for us. So for example, if your guy likes other guys, that can be seen as something that makes him unique or unusual, but you can still be ‘fine’ with it as long as it doesn’t disturb the rest of the package deal. The problem is that sometimes those unique or unusual people or circumstances are just a bit too hard to normalize, for whatever reason, and that causes us a great deal of anxiety.”
Just Passing Bi
Thank you, Ickaprick & Ironpussy
But I like bookish libraries
Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. "Loud rooms" that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.
The future of libraries, with or without books
I'm such a libra: I blog AND like the Dewey Decimal System. (Even if Mr. Dewey was sexist.)
Books on the Web: Books v. e-Books
Is there a difference in the way the brain takes in or absorbs information when it is presented electronically versus on paper? Does the reading experience change, from retention to comprehension, depending on the medium?
Does the brain like e-books?
Do I like e-books? No, not really. I like the feel of the page in my hands, the smell of the book, the sound of pages turning. Reading is not just about the words on the page, and the images in your head: it is a sensuality that you don't get from a computer.
Books on the Web: Barbara Kingsolver
“Obviously, authors don’t own our physical books, just the words inside, so we have no control over how they’re sold,” Ms. Kingsolver said. “But we can ask our readers to consider how much they value their local bookstores. If this price war is another way of using volume discounts to put independent booksellers out of business, then every thoughtful reader is going to lose in the long run.”
God, I hate Wal-Mart!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
My Chinese Horoscope for today
If there was a one-word horoscope, your word would be "travel". You may only be going across town, but your mind will be across the country, and your heart is flying around the world. You are likely to be making plans for travel even if you are not traveling right now.
[I was born in the Year of the Rabbit.]
Books on the Web: But this isn't porn!
Two librarians fired at local librarian for refusing to check this out to a customer. This isn't porn!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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Finished
"What am I going to do?" Ricky said, his hands on her shoulders. "I'm going to miss you so."
Jem moved closer, placing her head against his chest. They moved, ever so slightly, together, and it felt to Jem like they had begun wending their way along a path of music, finding their way. She could hear the sound of the drums through the movement of Ricky's chest, jazz and trills of Arabic music, bright as comet tails, and through this, the pulse of the world. All around her, through the thin, high basement windows, the maple trees shook; she watched them, their leaves turning desert red and gold.
~Arabian Jazz by Diana Abu-Jaber
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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