Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

About the author: Elisabeth at BloggerCon I, photo by Dan Bricklin
Elisabeth "Lis" Riba is an infovore with an MLS. This is her place to share whatever's on her mind, on topics both personal and political. [more]
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Sunday, March 12, 2006
Ian's been baking hamentashen
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:30 PM  

all weekend, and he shares his recipe in the foodporn community.

An excerpt, just to whet your appetite:

Throw about five tablespoons of sugar, half a cup of honey, two lemons' worth of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and a coup of bourbon into a smalish pot. Start up the heat on it, and start it cooking, noticing the part of the recipe that says, "Be careful not to let the mixture boil."

Get distracted by something else in the kitchen. Turn around when you hear the familiar "FizzzWHUMPH" sound as the pot boils over, pours down the sides, and the whiskey ignites against the flame of the stove. Turn off the stove, and wait for the flames to subside. Remember that this happened LAST year when you made the recipe, too, and it all turned out fine, so don't stress about it -- they're just alcohol flames, which are relatively cool, and they on the stove, which is DESIGNED to handle fire pretty well.

I love my husband.

Funny and an excellent cook... among the many reasons I married him.

PS: as long as I'm passing along other people's posts, Natalie Bennett is looking for:

Any recommendations for sources on the (to use anachronistic terms) production, marketing, administrative, management practices of printers in London at the end of the 16th century? (No, I'm not asking much ...)

I'm trying, perhaps hopelessly, to create a chronology for four pamphlets published in 1594 - none of which unfortunately were entered in the register of the Company of Stationers ... (in case you were wondering.)

I thought some of my readers might be able to help her; there's more in her post.

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You can't take the song from me
Posted by Lis Riba at 3:45 PM  

This weekend, I've wasted a lot of time looking at fanvids.

And Firefly Friends just knocked my socks off.

The creator, Nicky, has come up with an alternate opening credits for the series -- using the music "I'll be there for you" by the Rembrandts.

Very clever and fun. It works so well; the right clips, and perfectly synched to the music. [The gunshots at the 11 second mark are a particularly effective touch.]

Download: Firefly Friends (2 MB zip of a WMV file).

More videos at her website, Obsessive24.net.

I wish I had those skills/tools/time...

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Doran Doran
Posted by Lis Riba at 12:24 PM  

One of the reasons for last week's paean to Outer Limits was my recent realization that I've been following the story of Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil for probably fifteen years now. I just bought the fourth graphic novel, and once again felt a need to plug the series, since it's not as well-known or well-read as my other favorite books, possibly because it's told in the comic book format, rather than straight prose.

Thankfully, the publisher is making my job a bit easier. You can read the first 32 pages of the story free, online.

[Although I just noticed they flipped a couple pages. I let Colleen know in her blog, so hopefully they can get it fixed. For now, read 1-13 in order, then 15, 16, back to 14 and continue on from 17.]

Once you've finished that, continue on through the books:

Vol 1: The Gathering
Vol 1: The Gathering
Vol 2: The Ascendant
Vol 2: The Ascendant
Vol 3: The Aria
Vol 3: The Aria
Vol 4: Coda
Vol 4: Coda

Like I said, I've been following this story avidly for about fifteen years (through three incarnations), which is probably the strongest endorsement I can offer.

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But she's got great personality!
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:31 AM  

A couple personality tests have been making the rounds recently, several quite long.

This is the first of three posts with my results, starting with some of the shorter and cutesier quizzes.

You Are 64% Open Minded
You are a very open minded person, but you're also well grounded.
Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints.
But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line.
You're open to considering every possibility - but in the end, you stand true to yourself.

Which Color Are You?...

You are BROWN, the color of stability. Practical and rational, you rely more on your head than your heart. Browns have probing minds and are very thorough in unraveling dilemmas. Always finding new ways to better yourself and mind, you are not one to get easily bored. Browns are able to remain objective and neutral by keeping an open mind.


Via Avedon Carol  

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian
You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead...
But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself.
You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place.
You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

And here are the summary graphics for my other two results, for those who don't feel like scrolling down through the verbiage:

Personal DNA
Enneagram
Enneagram Type 5

PS: One word of advice if you take these tests or other online quizzes. Edit the HTML before just copying them over to your blog or journal.

OKCupid in particular is notorious for hiding zillions of invisible images in their code which link back to their website and alt-text that bears no relation to that particular quiz: a googlebombing to associate their site with the phrase "free online dating." The Enneagram quiz I took had four such links:

<A href="http://www.okcupid.com/"><IMG src="http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border="0" alt="free online dating"/></A>

And every time you just reuse their test results, you're perpetuating the connection and skewing searches for the phrase.

It may be a small price to pay for the entertainment value, but if you're not using OKCupid for dating services, is it really right to make that link and raise their rank in this manner?

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But she's got great personality: Personal DNA
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:30 AM  

This is the second of three posts with personality test results, focusing solely on Personal DNA.

You are a Respectful Thinker

About You
You are a Thinker

Your cautiousness, appreciation of functionality, and imagination combine to make you a THINKER.

You have a vivid capacity for imagery that allows you to see beyond your present circumstances.

You like to be sure of yourself before voicing your opinion.

A lot of your time is spent at home, or with the people you care about.

Although you may dream often, you're very aware of how things work, and you value things that work well.

You take comfort in the familiar, and value predictability—and others value those things in you.

Accordingly, you prefer a set routine, and although you often imagine how things can be different, you're hesitant to take risks to change things.

Sometimes you doubt whether you have the ability to face certain challenges, but your practical focus helps you solve most problems.

Because of this, you tend to be more reactive than proactive, thinking thoroughly about the challenges that you face.

You have a broad-based, theoretical understanding of the world that allows you to understand its workings.

You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.

You do your own thing when it comes to clothing, guided more by practical concerns than by other people's notions of style.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

If you want to be different:

Try indulging your imagination a bit more by experiencing new and different things.

Have a little more faith in your capacity to do things—turn your thoughts into actions!

How You Relate to Others
You are Respectful

Your reserved nature, understanding of the world, and faith in others make you RESPECTFUL.

You trust those around you to do the right thing, so you tend not to get involved in other people's affairs.

You have fewer friendships than some, but the relationships you do have are very meaningful and important to you.

Your careful and practical observation of your environment has led you to understand that others' situations can be very complex.

Because of this, you are slow to pass judgments on others, even if sometimes you can't see what it is about certain things that upsets them.

You tend to enjoy the world through ideas and reflection, which allows you to get a lot out of the time you spend alone.

Your friends would describe you as laid-back and easy-going.

As someone who is calm and centered, you aren't likely to rush into things—this patience allows you to see many different perspectives and options.

If you want to be different:

Try letting your insight into the world and trust of others allow you to understand the feelings of those around you.

While you know how much can be learned from observing your world, remember that much of life can be lived by experiencing it, not just understanding it.



Compared to Other Tests

On a Myers-Briggs® test, you might be classified as INFJ


FWIW, I haven't taken a serious Myers-Briggs test in about a decade, but when I did, they regularly came up as INFX (the last variable too close to 50% to count).

You can read the rest of my report here.

Intrigued? Take the test for yourself.

Alternately, if you think you know me better than I know myself (which is entirely possible), they've got a Psych You / Psych Me! feature.
I'd love to read your opinions! [The link is http://personaldna.com/psychyou-psychme.php?for=8d9f764f6921]

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But she's got great personality: Enneagrams
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:29 AM  

This is the third of three posts with personality test results, focusing solely on Enneagrams.

I also tried taking The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test, which described me as:

the Observer

you chose BZ - your Enneagram type is FIVE.

"I need to understand the world"

Observers have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical, and insightful.

How to Get Along with Me

  • Be independent, not clingy.
  • Speak in a straightforward and brief manner.
  • I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts.
  • Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable.
  • Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity.
  • If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place.
  • don't come on like a bulldozer.
  • Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy.

What I Like About Being a Five

  • standing back and viewing life objectively
  • coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects
  • my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure
  • not being caught up in material possessions and status
  • being calm in a crisis

What's Hard About Being a Five

  • being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world
  • feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all
  • being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be
  • watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally

Fives as Children Often

  • spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on
  • have a few special friends rather than many
  • are very bright and curious and do well in school
  • have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers
  • watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information
  • assume a poker face in order not to look afraid
  • are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict
  • feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected

Fives as Parents

  • are often kind, perceptive, and devoted
  • are sometimes authoritarian and demanding
  • may expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate
  • may be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

Of course, the reason why this test is so simple is that it only has two questions with long, involved, broad choices. It's like those four-question Myers Briggs quizzes which just outright ask if you're an introvert or extrovert.

So, I went looking for a better Enneagram quiz and stumbled onto the Enneagram Institute homepage.

First of all, I discovered the above two-variable OK Cupid quiz is actually a simplification of the Institute's own Quick Sorting Test. Same two questions with the same three choices apiece, but there you have to choose which is most and least like you. A little better, but not by much.

They also offer a more detailed 36-question test, which I also took.

And...

Based entirely on highest score, you appear to have Type 5 personality characteristics.

THE INVESTIGATOR
Enneagram Type Five

The Intense, Cerebral Type:
Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated

  • Basic Fear: Being useless, helpless, or incapable
  • Basic Desire: To be capable and competent
  • Enneagram Five with a Four-Wing: "The Iconoclast"
  • Enneagram Five with a Six-Wing: "The Problem Solver"

Key Motivations: Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.

Enneagram Type 5

Here's the Institute's description of Type Five, and their more detailed overview.

By the way, if anybody else knows their own Enneagram type, the Institute also offers compatibility charts.


Personality tests, in conclusion:

So there you have it. Several tests, several results. What do you think?

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Saturday, March 11, 2006
Happiness is a warm cat
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:35 AM  

I am lying in bed with my laptop on my stomach. Boopsie is curled up resting against my hip, where I can comfortably rest my hand and feel the faint rumble of her purr. [Normally, she sleeps at the foot of the bed, just out of reach, although she does like to lie atop or across our ankles...]

It's not the most comfortable position for typing, but I don't want to risk disturbing her by moving. She's just lifted her head to look out the window. It's warm enough outside that we have the window open, so I'm getting a cool breeze, though not strong enough to rustle papers.

And just for this moment, all feels right in the world.

Current Music: street noises, the occasional chirping bird, Ian in the kitchen making hamentashen
Mood: content

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All that remained for Pandora was Hope
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:26 AM  

Given all the bad news which have at their roots insensitivity to the needs of others, I was heartened to read what Jeanne found about humanity's innate altruism:

I love this story:

Oops, the scientist dropped his clothespin. Not to worry - a wobbly toddler raced to help, eagerly handing it back. The simple experiment shows the capacity for altruism emerges as early as 18 months of age.

Toddlers' endearing desire to help out actually signals fairly sophisticated brain development, and is a trait of interest to anthropologists trying to tease out the evolutionary roots of altruism and cooperation.

Psychology researcher Felix Warneken performed a series of ordinary tasks in front of toddlers, such as hanging towels with clothespins or stacking books. Sometimes he "struggled" with the tasks; sometimes he deliberately messed up.

Over and over, whether Warneken dropped clothespins or knocked over his books, each of 24 toddlers offered help within seconds - but only if he appeared to need it. Video shows how one overall-clad baby glanced between Warneken's face and the dropped clothespin before quickly crawling over, grabbing the object, pushing up to his feet and eagerly handing back the pin.

Warneken never asked for the help and didn't even say "thank you," so as not to taint the research by training youngsters to expect praise if they helped. After all, altruism means helping with no expectation of anything in return.

And - this is key - the toddlers didn't bother to offer help when he deliberately pulled a book off the stack or threw a pin to the floor, Warneken, of Germany's Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, reports Thursday in the journal Science.

To be altruistic, babies must have the cognitive ability to understand other people's goals plus possess what Warneken calls "pro-social motivation," a desire to be part of their community.

"When those two things come together - they obviously do so at 18 months of age and maybe earlier - they are able to help," Warneken explained.

I think the same thing that is true for children is true for a society. This is something we need to know about ourselves -- that it is in our nature to help. This is a story we need to keep telling ourselves until it's so ingrained that we have no choice but to live up to it.

Read the rest of her post; there are some very interesting observations in the comments...

Although the article itself is behind a subscription wall, here's the lead author's website. Look! He's got videoclips from the study.

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I have no words
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:24 AM  

Abortion and birth control are in the news yet again.

Echidne has started to wonder:

...to ask whether the whole South Dakota abortion outrage isn't actually helping the wingnuts, too. Do you notice how we now talk about what kind of a raped woman would deserve an abortion? We should be saying that these radical religious critics are nutcases and not worth talking about, but their framing is catching on, like a bird flu virus, and suddenly we are all quite voluntarily inventing ways of defining the women who are worthy of reproductive choice, and all these definitions are narrower than the current federal law.

For those who missed the reason why this has been up for discussion, Think Progress has some of the odious statements by South Dakota state reps about scenarios in which they think abortion might be okay...


Dr. Hilde Lindemann's essay, To Be a Mother (Shakespeare's Sister and on the Bioethics Forum) really spoke to me about the contrast between what's being required of women and what men are demanding. An excerpt:

...As I write this, my daughter is thirty-two weeks pregnant with her very much wanted first child. Like any human pregnancy, hers is not simply a biological process but a purposeful activity in which she is creatively engaged. For starters, she's had to manage some pretty unrelenting nausea by learning, through trial and error, what foods she can tolerate and how often she needs to eat; this requires her to take packets of cheese, crackers, almonds, and so on to work with her so that food will be available right when she needs it. In her twentieth week she developed high blood pressure, so she bought an exercise machine and has been forcing herself to use it regularly. In her twenty-first week, she also developed gestational diabetes, requiring her to revamp her already restricted diet, prick her finger four times a day to check her glucose levels, and give herself a shot of insulin every night before bedtime. She goes to her doctor every two weeks to be monitored for these and other possible complications.

And then there is the ongoing work, which she shares with her husband and intimate others, of calling her fetus into personhood, weaving love and welcome around it, making a place in the social world for it to occupy as soon as it is born. My daughter does not think she was a mother the moment she conceived. She believes she is making herself into a mother as she brings her baby to term, and doesn't expect to feel completely like a mother until a good month or two after the baby is born. Her view may be wrong, but there are no publicly available means of showing that it is wrong. Certainly, the South Dakota legislature is in no position to prove that it is wrong.

My daughter and her husband wanted this baby and conceived it intentionally. The hard work they are doing to bring their child into the world is a labor of love. But suppose her husband had walked out on her when he learned she was pregnant? Or suppose he was abusive and her contraception failed? Or she had an illness whose treatment involved powerful drugs that would cross the placental barrier and damage the fetus? For that matter, what if the fetus were anencephalic or had some other serious deformity? And what if my daughter had no health insurance, no family or friends to help her, no education to speak of, and no money? It's pure happenstance that she is glad to be pregnant and is in a position to care for the child when it comes. Yet the State of South Dakota proposes to treat all pregnant women as if they were as lucky as she is. The thought that the state could force my child, irrespective of happenstance, to manage her food intake, exercise daily, self-administer insulin, and take up an attitude of hospitality and love toward her fetus revolts and angers me.

Significantly, what antiabortion legislation requires of women is quite different from what child-support legislation requires of delinquent fathers. To be sure, such fathers must pay child support, but they are never forced to what lawyers call "specific performance." They aren't required by law to change diapers, give baths, prepare and serve meals, help with homework, or take their children to soccer practice. All unwilling fathers have to do is pay up every month. Specific performance, in fact, is seen as a form of servitude that may lawfully be required only of conscripts when there is a clear and present danger to the state. It may not be imposed even on convicted felons. If a drunk driver smashes into your house, he might have to go to prison or (under certain victim compensation laws) pay for damages, but he doesn't have to repair your brickwork or replace your broken door with his own hands. If your architect breaks her contract with you by failing to produce the agreed-upon blueprints, the court can impose a fine, but it can't make her sit down at her drafting table and do the promised work.

And that, when all is said and done, is the difference the South Dakota legislators want to draw between actual fathers and expectant mothers. They want to hold pregnant women -- who are innocent of any wrongdoing -- to a punitive standard of specific performance, sentencing them against their will to the many kinds of hard work, physical discomfort, and outright danger that my daughter has undertaken to bring her wanted child into the world. No other class of people is held to this standard in peacetime. No woman should be held to it either...


Meanwhile, have y'all heard about the food labelling standardization bill going through Congress this week? It already passed the House, where Republicans with ties to food-industry lobbyists are going to overturn any state food-safety or food-labelling laws that are stronger than the federal standard. We'll all be wallowing along at the lowest common denominator. [More from Consumers Union]

Anyway, they're now trying to do the same thing to health insurance, and it looks like birth control and women's health are on the chopping block. Quoting a Planned Parenthood press release:

The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (HIMMAA), introduced by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) would allow insurance companies to ignore nearly all state laws that require insurance coverage for certain treatments or conditions, such as laws that require them to include contraceptives in their prescription plans.

"We need to move forward, not backward in expanding access to quality health care, including birth control," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards. "Congress should work to protect patients, not undermine them."

This federal legislation would raze hundreds of state laws that ensure patients can get the medical care they need and would

  • not allow women to designate their ob/gyns as primary care providers
  • not allow women to seek care directly from their ob/gyns, but would force them to be screened by their primary care doctors first
  • dismantle coverage for contraception
  • dismantle coverage for annual cervical cancer exams
  • not allow women to stay with the same doctor throughout a pregnancy, if that doctor was dropped from the insurance provider

For years, many insurance plans covered prescription drugs, but refused to cover birth control pills and other prescription contraceptives for women. In the past decade lawmakers in 23 states have remedied this inequity and enacted contraceptive coverage laws. Under HIMMAA women will lose contraceptive-equity protections currently guaranteed by state law.

In other words, as a commenter in Salon wrote, if this passes, we won't be "allowed to end an unwanted pregnancy nor can we prevent one from occuring."

The world feels so much smaller -- and smaller-minded -- than when I was growing up.

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Friday, March 10, 2006
Friday Cat Blogging: You don't say!
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:54 PM  

Video of cats who meow in what sounds like English.

Really weird.

I played it near Boopsie, who was puzzled, but didn't quite recognize the sounds as coming from other cats...

Via Elynne

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Thursday, March 09, 2006
One moment
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:25 PM  

I just realized that for all the times I've told the story, I've never actually blogged why I buy my comics at Outer Limits in Waltham.

It was probably May 1988. I gained a burgeoning interest in comic books during my freshman year in college, but somehow it wasn't until the end of the schoolyear that I first set foot in Waltham's premier comic shop.

My friends and I rarely shopped in downtown Waltham; we were more likely to go into Harvard Square or Newbury Street.

But I wandered in with a few friends and we browsed around the store.

I wasn't yet heavily into comics at that time (amusingly enough, it was the ST:TNG tie-in that brought me into the fold).

On the shelves, I noticed somebody was publishing a miniseries based on Robert Aspirin's Myth Adventures (not the Phil Foglio, but a lesser-known sequel inspired by the second book in the series). Excited, I quickly scooped up all the issues released to date.

I remember commenting to my friends how I hoped I'd be able to find the new issues when I went home for the summer. I wasn't terribly concerned, though. There were enough comic shops around Boston that I could always pick up any missing issues from the back issue bins when I came back for sophomore year.

Anyway, summer came and went. As it happened, I wasn't able to find this particular comic around my parents' home.

So fall rolled around and I returned to school. Eventually, my schedule settled down and I wandered back into Outer Limits.

And as I walked in the door, the man behind the counter handed me a stack of comics: all the missing issues of Myth Adventures!

Now keep in mind, Steve didn't know me from Adam. I didn't ask him to set these comics aside for me. In fact, I barely talked to him at all. This had been my first visit to his store. He had no way of knowing whether I'd ever return, or if I'd already bought the book someplace else. It was a total leap of faith on his part.


What more do I have to say? He just totally won me over with that gesture.

It's now eighteen years later, and I still buy most of my comics from Outer Limits. Shit! I've been Steve's customer for about half my life! That's one hell of a relationship, predating my introduction to Ian by four years...

This isn't the only time Steve has gone above and beyond the call of duty for me, but it's probably the most dramatic.


And I've heard comparable stories from other customers. One friend described seeing Steve spend 45 minutes helping someone pick out a selection of comic books for her grandon's birthday gift. Not a particularly large sale, not someone likely to become a repeat customer, but Steve spent the time, asking after the kids interests to pinpoint just the right titles to make sure she came away with a positive experience.

[My friend contrasted this with another scene he witnessed, where a giftgiver left to fend for hirself picked a gift based on the most wholesome-looking cover... and gave a minor child the issue of Miracleman containing a graphic childbirth scene. Which family do you think is more likely to have a favorable attitude towards comics?]

When I've attended panels on the state of the comic industry at Boston-area SF conventions, the discussion often turns to comic retailers, good and bad. And invariably, someone in the audience will raise their hand and plug Outer Limits as a positive example. And when they do, a half-dozen others will nod their agreement (many of them lowering their hands, as they were planning to make a similar point).


Anyway, I've probably rambled enough.

Outer Limits
463 Moody Street, Waltham MA

I couldn't recommend it more highly.

If you've never been before, tell Steve that Lis sent you... :)

And if you have shopped there and know other good anecdotes, please share them in the comments.

“There's always one moment in childhood, when the door opens and lets in the future.”
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A Progressive discovery
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:10 PM  

My little New Testament quote last night reminded me of another subject I've been meaning to post.

Courtesy of Teresa Nielsen Hayden,

The Arizona Senate's Committee on Higher Education has voted to let university and community-college students opt out of required reading assignments they consider personally offensive or pornographic.
[...]
Addendum: Via John Price writing in Pharyngula, the text of the proposed law, and the Senate fact sheet on it.

And, to quote the rule itself:

Objection to a course, coursework, learning material or activity on the basis that it is personally offensive includes objections that the course, coursework, learning material or activity conflicts with the student's beliefs or practices in sex, morality or religion.

I haven't followed the discussion in Making Light (306 comments at present count) but instead want to respond with a personal anecdote:

I am Jewish.

I went to college at Brandeis University. For those unfamiliar with the school, it is nonsectarian, but Jewish-sponsored. At the time I was there, the student body was estimated to be about 67% Jewish.

So imagine my surprise as an incoming freshman when I discovered that one of the few mandatory readings for all sections of the mandatory freshman humanities classes was the Book of Matthew.

I was appalled and outraged. How dare they! We're (mostly) Jews here; why force us to read Christian doctrine!?

Had a law like Arizona's been in effect, I probably would've been a conscientous objector to the text. [As it was, I scrupulously avoided buying the Xian Bible translation they used, and just read from a borrowed copy.]

But, after having read the book, I realized that I was wrong, and Brandeis was right to require it.

It didn't challenge my faith at all -- not even the slightest temptation to convert.

What it did do was open my eyes to something I never gleaned through years of advanced history and literature classes.

A great deal of the Western canon references the Bible in ways that are expected to resonate with the audience. I didn't even know what I was missing until Brandeis exposed me to the source material.

Let's put it this way. I had been an avid fan of the Narnia series since I was a small child. People told me it was Christian allegory (I even owned Paul Ford's Companion to Narnia). I believed them, but in that abstract way one accepts statements from people who know better. I never could recognize it for myself.

Only after I read the Book of Matthew did it finally click. Like one of those Magic Eye pictures...

To paraphrase the famous hymn, I once was blind, but now could see.

I would've gotten a much poorer education had I not deferred to the wisdom of the school's requirement.

So there you have it. A personal account of how I benefitted from the very educational practice this law wishes to deter.

This law places the whims of ignorant teenagers above the expertise of tenured professors. Under what kind of bass-ackwards logic does that make sense?

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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Health update
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:49 PM  

Just to keep folks posted, I saw the doctor this morning about possible whiplash from Monday morning's car accident.

After putting me through my paces, I have no numbness or tingling, no muscle weakness, tremors or mental impairment (at least, nothing that didn't predate the accident <grin>), just a strained my neck extensors and trapezius muscles.

The pain should go away within 4 - 6 weeks, and meanwhile they gave me four pages on neck strain from the Sports Medicine Patient Advisor with some stretching exercises I should do, and instructions to apply heat or take ibuprofen if the pain's a problem.

And, while I was there, I took the opportunity to finally get my flu shot for the season.


On the subject of health care in general, I think Malcolm Gladwell's essay on moral hazards is a must-read. Although this skips much of the setup and the laying-down of evidence, I'll quote the section which resonated most with me:

[To certain people], insurance is meant to help equalize financial risk between the healthy and the sick. In the insurance business, this model of coverage is known as "social insurance," and historically it was the way health coverage was conceived. If you were sixty and had heart disease and diabetes, you didn't pay substantially more for coverage than a perfectly healthy twenty-five-year-old. Under social insurance, the twenty-five-year-old agrees to pay thousands of dollars in premiums even though he didn't go to the doctor at all in the previous year, because he wants to make sure that someone else will subsidize his health care if he ever comes down with heart disease or diabetes. ...

There is another way to organize insurance, however, and that is to make it actuarial. Car insurance, for instance, is actuarial. How much you pay is in large part a function of your individual situation and history: someone who drives a sports car and has received twenty speeding tickets in the past two years pays a much higher annual premium than a soccer mom with a minivan. In recent years, the private insurance industry in the United States has been moving toward the actuarial model, with profound consequences. The triumph of the actuarial model over the social-insurance model is the reason that companies unlucky enough to employ older, high-cost employees--like United Airlines--have run into such financial difficulty. It's the reason that automakers are increasingly moving their operations to Canada. It's the reason that small businesses that have one or two employees with serious illnesses suddenly face unmanageably high health-insurance premiums, and it's the reason that, in many states, people suffering from a potentially high-cost medical condition can't get anyone to insure them at all.

[...]

The issue about what to do with the health-care system is sometimes presented as a technical argument about the merits of one kind of coverage over another or as an ideological argument about socialized versus private medicine. It is, instead, about a few very simple questions.

  • Do you think that this kind of redistribution of risk is a good idea?
  • Do you think that people whose genes predispose them to depression or cancer, or whose poverty complicates asthma or diabetes, or who get hit by a drunk driver, or who have to keep their mouths closed because their teeth are rotting ought to bear a greater share of the costs of their health care than those of us who are lucky enough to escape such misfortunes?

In the rest of the industrialized world, it is assumed that the more equally and widely the burdens of illness are shared, the better off the population as a whole is likely to be. The reason the United States has forty-five million people without coverage is that its health-care policy is in the hands of people who disagree, and who regard health insurance not as the solution but as the problem.

If you've stuck with me through all of this, I'd be interested in your answers to those two questions.

Please notice in the second that Gladwell says "a greater share of the costs of their health care" -- that doesn't mean merely paying the additional expense for additional treatments received, but being charged a higher rate.

Food for thought.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to do a bit more reading about healthcare policy to educate myself further in the subject. Recommendations (for books or online material) most welcome.

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Secret rewards
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:56 PM  

Ain't it a great feeling when you have the perfect rebuttal right on the tip of your tongue?

Pam Spaulding at Pandagon just posted:

A bill that would let public school students leave school for one hour each week for religious instruction has been approved by the Oklahoma House. The legislation stirred impassioned debate in which supporters said removing prayer from public schools has driven Christians into the closet.

My gut reaction to this phrase?

Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."

  Excerpt taken from ReligiousTolerance.org

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Oh, cramp!
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:59 PM  

Guess what time of month this is!


I wasn't planning on doing anything for Blog Against Sexism Day, but I'll just point out how stupid it is that a medical issue that affects half the human population for most of their adult lives is such a taboo and secretive topic. It's a normal part of everyday life and yet it's a subject nobody dare discuss in mixed company. That ain't right.

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Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Tonight's headache - medical insurance
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:54 PM  

No, this has nothing to do with my car accident.


So, I have this ongoing chronic medical condition, relatively minor, which is managed with medication. I've been taking this particular medication for about five years now, without problem.

But my health insurance doesn't want to recognize this condition.

When I first got this job and tried to fill my prescription, I was told that I needed annual authorization in order to have my medication covered.

So my primary care physician (PCP) and I jumped through those hoops to get my prescription.

Then I discovered that insurance refused to pay for my appointments with my PCP for med-checks (and thus to renew my prescription).

The insurance company insisted that I shouldn't be getting this prescriptions from my primary care physician. I had to have an evaluation from a specialist of their choosing.

[Stupid them: these appointments are probably more expensive for them than just letting my PCP continue to handle this, but apparently that's the way they want to play it.]

So, I just got the prescription from this doctor and went to have it filled. They won't cover the medication because it wasn't authorized. Their handpicked specialist forgot the authorization.

Sigh...


So America's broken health care system is being discussed around the blogosphere.

Kevin Drum is among those leading the charge:

The liberal blogosphere disagrees about gun control, disagrees about the war in Iraq, disagrees about the role of labor, disagrees about nearly everything. But as near as I can tell, support for national healthcare is so unanimous and well accepted in the left blogosphere that it barely even merits discussion. Mostly it's just taken for granted. Hell, even Mickey Kaus supports universal healthcare.

This is a little odd, isn't it? Can you think of any other major policy issue that's (a) universally supported by liberal bloggers but (b) almost universally feared by major Democratic politicians? There are plenty of disconnects between the activist blogosphere and mainstream liberal politicians, but is there any other disconnect quite this deep and this clear?

I can't think of one. And while I'm not naive about the recent history of national healthcare plans, it still strikes me as a bit mysterious that virtually no major Democratic politician supports full-on, unapologetic universal healthcare. If there's any single big progressive policy that I think the blogosphere is a genuine bellwether for, this is probably it.

As he writes today,

It's true that Hillarycare failed in 1994, but incrementalism has failed too. [...] The historic failure of incrementalism is not just a coincidence, either. Rather, I think it's basic politics: conservatives fight against it as hard as they fight against big reforms, but because the benefits are small there's no constituency to fight hard for it. Because of this, incrementalism doesn't work. What's more, it sounds mushy, it's not very good policy, and it doesn't make Democrats sound like they're standing up for something important.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Gladwell, who argued in 2000 that the US health care system was superior to Canada's, announced he's changed his mind and now agrees the Canadian system is better. Gladwell explained his decision (in part) with this:

[T]he idea of employer-based health care is just plain stupid--and only our familiarity with it and sheer inertia prevent us from rising up in rebellion. I always try to think of a suitable analogy and fail. The closest I can come is to imagine if we had employer-based subways in New York. You could ride the subway if you had a job. But if you lost your job, you would either have to walk or pay a prohibitively expensive subway surcharge. Of course, if you lost your job you would need the subway more than ever, because you couldn't afford taxis and you would need to travel around looking for work. Right? In any case, what logical connection is there between employment and transporation? If you can answer that question, you can solve the riddle of the U.S. health care system. And maybe I'll change my mind back.

On March 4, he provided further detail (emphasis mine):

In the comments on my about-face on health care, a number of people make the familiar criticisms of the Canadian system. Care is rationed. You wait a lot longer for certain elective procedures than in the United States. Technology is not as up to date, etc. etc. These arguments are, to some extent, entirely accurate. But I'm not sure they are relevant. They aren't criticisms of the system, after all. They are reflections of the how well the system is funded--and that's an important distinction. On a per capita basis, Canadians now spend on health care--and I"m not sure of the exact figure here--something like 60 percent of what Americans spend. If that were increased to, say, 65 percent, many of the rationing and wait-time problems would be alleviated. The problem with American health care, by contrast, is systemic. No simple increase in funding fixes the problem. In fact, we already spend far and more the most on health care than anyone else in the world. This was the mistake I made in my original debate with Adam Gopnik. I confused funding problems with structural problems.

I'm not a policy wonk. I don't know what the solution is.

But I can say quite emphatically that our current system isn't working and we have to find something better.

PS: I'm not sure this matters, but while I've been writing this, House is on TV in the background...

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Because PhD students want books
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:30 PM  

For some reason, Blackwell Publishing sent me these e-mails about the Compass Graduate Essay Prize. While I don't qualify (these are for students in the thesis stage of their PhD programs), I think a few of my regular readers might be interested:

Win $200/£100 of free Blackwell books and have your article published in Literature Compass Journal!

The editors of Literature Compass invite submissions for the 2006 Graduate Essay Prize.

Entries for the 2006 Graduate Essay Prize should contain a survey element which ensures the essay remains accessible to the non-specialist. The incorporation of advanced graduate work is strongly encouraged.

Those entering can choose their own topic within each of the 9 sections on Literature Compass and there will be a prize awarded for each section:

Compass logo

Deadline: 1 September, 2006.

The winners will be announced at the 2006 MLA Convention.

Guidelines

The style of submitted articles should be consistent with other published articles on the site.

Essays should be submitted by email as a Word document to: LICOeditorial@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com.

Graduates must specify:

  • which section they are entering their essay for
  • provide the details of their affiliation
  • provide their supervisor's name and email address

The Review Panel for each section will comprise the relevant Section Editor(s) and three Editorial Board members. All submissions will be read ‘blind’. The upper word limit is 5000 words, including endnotes and bibliography.

For further details on this and other Compass sites visit www.blackwell-compass.com

Win $200/£100 of free Blackwell books and have your article published in History Compass Journal!

The editors of History Compass invite submissions for the 2006 Graduate Essay Prize.

There will be a prize-winning graduate essay for each of the 9 sections on History Compass:

Compass logo

Deadline: 1 September, 2006.

Submissions

The competition is open to students in the thesis stage of their PhD programs.

Those entering can choose their own topic, though this should be fairly broad. The style of submitted articles should be consistent with other published articles on the site, that is: they should have a wide scope, be written for non-specialists to acquire an introduction into new fields, and adopt a review or historiographical approach.

The upper word limit is 5000 words, including footnotes and Bibliography.

Essays should be submitted by email as a Word document to:
Keren Oertly, History Compass Associate Managing Editor
keren.oertly@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com.

Graduates must specify:

  • which section they are entering their essay for
  • provide the details of their affiliation
  • provide their supervisor's name and email address

The winners will be announced at the 2007 AHA conference in Atlanta, GA.

For further details on this and other Compass sites visit www.blackwell-compass.com

If any of you do apply, let me know!


Disclaimer: The text in the table above is copied verbatim from e-mails sent to me by Blackwell Publishing, although I have altered their formatting. They did not request I republish this, and I have received no renumeration for doing so (although I wouldn't say no to some free books or journal subscriptions, if offered ;} ).
*Context for disclaimer

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Glorious summer?
Posted by Lis Riba at 12:56 PM  

I just found out that the Searching for Shakespeare exhibit at London's National Portrait Gallery which I was whining about yesterday (and first blogged eighteen months ago)

will tour to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven from 24 June-17 September 2006

And the museum's website confirms those dates (well, they actually say from June 23, but close enough):

The exhibition includes nearly 150 works on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Museum of London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and a number of private collections, with fifty additional works selected from collections at Yale. It will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

It may not be everything I could get from travelling to London, but it's within driving distance (~150 miles or about three hours according to online mapping services) and actually feasible on my budget.

Opens the weekend after my birthday, so my gut reaction is to make the trip as a present to myself.

On the other hand, there may be some other special events or lectures scheduled to tie in to the exhibit that may influence my plans towards a different time. [Any summer Shakespeare productions in New Haven?]

Or, perhaps some of you fellow Shakespeare-aficionados among my readers would care to schedule a group outing to the exhibit? If you might possibly be interested, speak up now just to make preliminary estimates whether this is workable and/or desirable...


But I don't need specifics yet. Suffice it to say, I will go there and see it. [Possibly even more than once.]

Meanwhile, my thoughts are best expressed by this quote from As You Like It:

O wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful wonderful, and yet
again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!

[Or maybe not. I'm hardly out of whooping for this news. In fact, I have not yet begun to whoop in earnest about this exhibit, now that I know I can attend.]

And now my lunch is over and I must back to work.

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De nick, madame
Posted by Lis Riba at 12:20 PM  

Just to appraise those of you who've expressed concern (and those of you who've felt concern but haven't commented yet), I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to look at my neck, shoulders and upper-back to see whether I've suffered any whiplash from yesterday's car accident.

Considering my eyeglasses flew off my face and landed near my feet (unbroken, thank gd -- and the airbag did not go off), I probably should've done that yesterday just in case, but I was a bit shook up.

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Whiplash(?) update
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:41 AM  

Yeah, my neck and shoulders are a bit more sore than normal this morning.

I suppose that means I should call the doctor.

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