Eliterate

So, I was reading this post by addienfaemne, entitled "On Sexism in the Speculative Fiction Canon" (http://addienfaemne.livejournal.com/790108.html?thread=5317724), which largely consisted of a long quote from a person called Bidisha in the Guardian, "When Harry Met Sexism" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/22/harrypotter.women), which was mostly an attempt to defend J. K. Rowling -- unfortunately, by attacking other fantasy fiction. And, among other things, it contained this whopper of inept criticism, which addienfaemne quoted in her post:

Readers who rave about the scope of Lord of the Rings, in which a club of white men flee (a) a big burning vagina and (b) some black guys in hoods ...

to which I pointed out the obvious, namely

... the quote you excerpted shows Bidisha's lack of familiarity with the source materials. To take her obvious mistakes regarding Tolkien, the Fellowship of the Ring is not a "club of white men" (only two of the Nine Walkers are technically "Men" at all, and only one of them what we would think of as remotely a modern Caucasian), the Nazgul aren't "black guys in hoods" (they are wraiths who are wearing black cloaks), and the Eye of Sauron is rather clearly not meant to stand for "a big burning vagina." That much contemptuous ignorance, shown toward one of the founders of the modern fantasy genre, makes me deeply question just how widely and deeply Bidisha has read the corpus she is attempting to criticize.

which all happens to be true. What I did not realize was that addienfaemne was quoting Bidisha approvingly (why would someone quoting a critic "approvingly" include a hilariously-ignorant statement like that?) and so she replied to my point with

"I don't like you. Please go away. I'm not sure why you still read my journal."

Now, I'm a bit curious about why my point aroused such hostility. Did addienfaemne assume I was disagreeing with her about Harry Potter? Or about the larger issue? Was what I said in any way shape or form offensive? Or am I simply not supposed to point out the obvious if it would make someone on the Left look bad?

I ask everyone's opinion regarding that exchange.

"who's there?"
"all your favourite guys."

i'd like to think that we've all moved on with our lives and we could never go back to that same phase ever again. all we can ever do is just relive memories. we could reenact but it'll never be the same. i've gained, lost, and experienced about almost all the emotions i could ever experience this year.

& it's because of the simplest gesture that's making me reflect. i've been scarred, could've been hurt, but i've learnt.
sad to say, things haven't been the same in a long while. when one hand's willing to clap, what happens then?

different groups, different personalities, battling issues.
we are, after all, Making memories (history).

and yet we wonder all the same.

I am not angry, neither am I upset.

All I'm saying is, you have your principles, he has his.
The only similiarity between you both is just one thing - your egos.
I just hope you'd realise that really, no one is perfect. You are far from it.

Anyway, I'm glad things finally took a turn.
The week started out horrendous, and as the mid-week comes, the water's not that choppy anymore.

Just 48 days left, bring it on.
And after that, freedom baby!

Well at least for a short period while I have my deserving rest and fulfill my own wishes.
Before I let reality set in.

Can't wait to hang with the girlfriends on Saturday!
Oh, and Atiq's brother's wedding at Fort Canning too!

By the way, last weekend was a blast.
I'm loving my weekends.

I'm loving you.

Okaythanksbye!

richardthinks in http://richardthinks.livejournal.com/218226.html?view=531570#t531570 has unwittingly pointed out an obvious means of retaliation against the Somali pirates.

From "Somali sea pirates lure investors at pirate lair," (Mohammed Ahmed, Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B01Z920091201?sp=true):

In Somalia's main pirate lair of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings offshore, a sort of stock exchange meets criminal syndicate.

... now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments.

One wealthy former pirate named Mohammed took Reuters around the small facility and said it had proved to be an important way for the pirates to win support from the local community for their operations, despite the dangers involved.

The long and the short of it is that the pirates have set up a regular trading exchange, where their ill-gotten gains can be sold and shares can be traded in their next expedition. The former small fishing port has become a thriving town, with a good deal of the money from piracy invested into local infrastructure.

( What Does This Mean? )

Three possible options. What do you think?

Oh, and thanks again, richardthinks, for the idea. Just think, if the meme spreads and we really do some of this, you'll share in the honor of having inspired it! :D

everyone has their days and i guess today's mine. i keep getting myself in tonnes of shit. it's time to just disappear from the world and stop agreeing to so many things. this is major shit. now NEA's gna call me.

it's so tiring, having to battle with emotions.

@2pm: school, getting the test over and done with, indoor stadium for slingers (break), send email, start entre, sleep, h1n1 jab, entre, sleep, entre, school, pmm pmm pmm pmm pmm, sleep, ip ip ip ip ip ip. die.

Introduction

Arguably the most significant technology to appear in Western times was the backem, the ability to directly copy and back up the human mind. It ultimately resulted in the conquest of death: not merely "emmortality" (an end to death from old age) but true immortality (provided that a sufficiently current backup had been made). it offered the possibility of technological reincarnation: when the person perished, his backem was downloaded into a fresh body, and his life resumed.

Like most major technologies, it neither appeared suddenly nor in immediately-perfected form. Indeed, at the start it was not even immortality at all.

( How Did This Come to Be? )

Conclusion to Part I

I hope to continue this with a Part II, "Social Development," which will examine the effects of these technologies on society and religion. In particular, the difficulty that earlier religions had in adapting to the development of emming, and the ease with which Changist and Messnic assumptions (in their different ways) embraced the concept, had much to do with the decline of those earlier faiths, and the rise of Changism and Messnim.

Comments, criticisms and suggestions are extremely welcome.

I'm done with my FYP! Not exactly done, but I'm there, need to do more fine tuning to get it right. I did rather well for my presentation and I'm glad.

And I'm leaving for Perth in a day time! See you mother fucker around when I'm back!










I'm glad(L)

mangoflush made the mistake of asking me, probably not expecting an answer:

Name one incident where a fundamentalist muslim has killed an American on US soil after 9/11 (with a credible news source).

Wait. That's too easy. Name ten. ;)

(http://mangoflush.livejournal.com/208110.html?view=988654#t988654)

Which led me to do some research, and the results of that research actually shocked me, even though I had heard of the vast majority of these cases myself. I'd just never added it up, that's all.

( So How Big Was Their Bag? )

I have known for some time that Islam is the Religion of Death. What I hadn't realized was just how lethal it is, even in America -- where it is probably less lethal than in any other country with a significant Muslim minority.

9-11 Quarter to the Foe!