harassment

Here's something that leaves a really unpleasant taste in the mouth: the harassment of Kathy Sierra. The comments that were posted about her were not only of an extreme nature, but seemed to hinge especially on the fact that she is a woman in the world of information technology. As a female web developer, this scares me. It's bad enough being hassled for being a geek, without people hassling us for being girl-geeks as well. The comments and threats made against her were completely unacceptable.

I don't know if the answer is a code of conduct for internet use - the problem is, it should be completely obvious how to behave on the internet (hint: it's the same rules as face-to-face interaction) but despite all the rules and guidelines you see on forums and mailing lists and the obviousness of how to behave, you still get the occasional troll who cannot write civil posts and fails to show any consideration for others' feelings.

1984 anyone?

Has anyone else noticed a disturbing echo of the world of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in the title of the new Ministry of Justice?

After all, we already have Newspeak. Look how Bush and Blair have managed to turn "Freedom" and "Democracy" into dirty words. And we already have Doublethink - remember the sexed-up dossier?

"War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength"

chastity

Mrs Morrison (yes, the Mrs Morrison) has a very scary story about purity balls and people not being allowed to say "vagina" (even though they were performing The Vagina Monologues at the time - er well what did they do about the "cunt" monologue then??? or don't Americans know what that word means?). Isn't the whole point of The Vagina Monologues to remove the taboo surrounding the word, so that we can all celebrate our vaginas?

A purity ball, apparently, is where you get all dolled up like a third-rate bridesmaid and pledge to your dad that you will keep your virginity until you are married. Eeeeuuuwwwww!!!! As Patricia says, that is so Freudian! I mean, okay, underage sex is bad, because of the power issues and the fact that you haven't got the wherewithal or the knowhow to achieve orgasm at that age, but pre-marital sex is good. To co-opt the "goods" analogy, it's a case of "try before you buy"...

There's another excellent blog post about the concept by a dad, who, I am glad to say, echoes Patricia's and my feelings on this.

I am horrified that this kind of medieval nonsense exists in the 21st century. They'll be bringing back chastity belts next.

mwahahaha

At last, conservative Christians can relax - their children will no longer have to use that dreadful, biased, obviously Wiccan Wikipedia (the clue's in the name, folks!) to do their homeschool projects. Now they can use Conservapedia instead. It contains everything you ever wanted to know about creationism, including baramins (sounds like some kind of indigestion pill to me, but there you go). The entry on kangaroos reveals the little known fact that they are actually from the Middle East. There's also some wonderful entries on American presidents (none of your unpatriotic or unchristian Wikipedia-style entries of course). And none of that nasty unAmerican spelling (like Habsburg or colour). I wonder if they have an entry on Freedom Fries?

I mean, it's one thing having a special-interest wiki for people of various religious and spiritual traditions (and other special interest groups) - it's quite another having one specially to peddle idiotic nonsense about creationism. Ah well, I suppose it provides the rest of us with a laugh.

I like the idea that Wikipedia is a Wiccan production (mwahahaha! we are everywhere, you cannot escape our tentacles of power) - never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

However, as wiki is a Hawaiian word, and the Feri and Reclaiming traditions of witchcraft are in part based upon Hawaiian traditions, maybe there is a connection.....

In other news, it has been revealed that Jesus is actually God's nephew.

illusory

We went to see The Illusionist the other day, and it was brilliant. Whilst there were a few superficial similarities to The Prestige (both films involve stage magic), The Illusionist is a much nicer film, and the surprise twist at the end leaves you feeling good about humanity instead of despairing (which was the effect of the surprise twist at the end of The Prestige).

The Illusionist has a fairy-tale quality: boy meets beautiful princess and they pledge undying love, then she gets engaged to a prince she doesn't love.... (I can't of course tell you the outcome as that would spoil the surprise). The production values and the acting were excellent, and a lot of it was filmed in Prague (even though it's set in Vienna), and as I love Prague, this was good. I recognised several locations as places I had visited. All in all, highly recommended. (Unless you are one of those people with not an ounce of romance in your shrivelled soul.)

57% sinful

Your Deadly Sins

Gluttony: 80%

Lust: 80%

Sloth: 80%

Greed: 60%

Envy: 40%

Wrath: 40%

Pride: 20%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 57%

You'll die from food poisoning - and then the natives will feast on your fatty limbs.

How Sinful Are You?

(Found via Sionnach, who only got 28% - lightweight...

China girl

I just finished reading A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, by Xiaolu Guo. I hate writing book reviews, but I have to tell you how brilliant this book is. It is by turns hilarious, poignant, observant and witty. Each chapter is headed by a new word learnt by the heroine, Zhuang, and the chapter tells of the experience relating to the new word. Experiences range from mystification at the weird stuff English people eat, to failures of communication with her noncommittal English lover (who thinks equality and freedom are excuses for not committing to anything, especially relationships). There's lots of philosophical musings in it as well as food, sex, plants and vocabulary. It's like a cross between Bridget Jones and Bill Bryson, but written from the point of view of a 24-year-old Chinese woman who is abroad for the first time.

photos and privacy

Owing to concerns about privacy, I have made all the photos on my Flickr account friends and family only. If you want to view them, you'll have to get a Flickr account and add me (yewtree) as a contact. Then, if I know you, I will add you as a contact.

new photos

• Llanthony Priory
• Longtown Castle
• Vowchurch
• Peterchurch
• Arthur's Stone (long barrow)
• Hay-on-Wye
• Twmpa and Hay Bluff
• Nant Honddu
• Llangors
• Peterborough Cathedral
• Norfolk

Photos taken over two successive weekends, one visiting the Black Mountains and the other visiting north Norfolk.

heroes

American army objectors to the Iraq War:

• Aidan Delgado
  
• Jeremy Hinzman
  
• Pablo Paredes
  
• Ehren Watada
  
• Camilo Mejía
  
• Katherine Jashinski
  
• Kevin Benderman
  
• Don Larsen
• Stephen Funk
• Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key, Ryan Johnson, Ivan Brobeck
  

UK military objectors to the Iraq War:

• Malcolm Kendall-Smith
• How to become a conscientious objector

Anyone who stands up to the might of the army and the government to say that they will not fight in an unjust and illegal war has my deepest respect. Some of these people joined the army because they thought it would be a good career, until they realised it involved killing civilians and blowing up their homes and destroying their culture.

The difficulty for a lot of these guys is that they don't actually object to war, just to the Iraq war, which makes it hard to register as a conscientious objector; though they should be allowed to present a defence under the Nuremberg Principles, the principle that soldiers should refuse to obey an illegal order.

ambivalent symbols

I have just been sent the following item from Multicultural Matters newsletter, Feb 07.

European Hindus urge EU not to ban swastika
The Hindu Forum of Britain has joined with its counterparts throughout Europe in asking European governments not to heed Germany's plans to use its presidency of the EU to launch an initiative which could ban any display of Nazi symbols. The symbols are already banned in Germany and following the rise of the far right the government there would like to see the swastika banned by all member states.

The issue last came under the spot light two years ago in February 2005 when the HFB, an umbrella organisation of 250 groups of Hindus up and down Britain said that it would fight any European ban on the swastika, which was being called for after Prince Harry's party costume. At the time Secretary General Ramesh Kallidai said: "No one in the West now associates the symbol with Hindu ideology and as a positive symbol of the cosmos."

Although Mr Kallidai acknowledges that German plans are well meaning he said: "The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. This is exactly the opposite of how it was used by Hitler. It is almost like saying that the Ku Klux Klan used burning crosses to terrorise black men, so therefore let us ban the cross. How does that sound to you? Every time we see a swastika symbol in a Jewish cemetery, that of course must be condemned. But when the symbol is used in a Hindu wedding, people should learn to respect that. In Sanskrit it means May Goodness Prevail. Just because Hitler misused the symbol, abused it and used it to propagate a reign of terror and racism and discrimination, it does not mean that its peaceful use should be banned."

Well, the ways of displaying it are different - the Hindu way is in a square shape, usually with the arms going clockwise (in the direction of the sun) whereas the Nazi form of the symbol was usually at an angle, and was known as the Hakenkreuz, not the swastika, which is derived from the Sanskrit word for well-being, Svasti, according to the Wikipedia article.

A friend brought back a good-luck banner from India with golden swastikas on it (obviously there as a good-luck symbol) and Rudyard Kipling used to put them on his books, alluding to the Indian meaning. Indeed, 2nd century Jewish synagogues had them in their décor. I think it is difficult for the West to reclaim the original meaning of the symbol, which was representing the movement of the sun through the heavens, but as Hindus have been using it for centuries as a good luck symbol, I don't see why they should be prevented from doing so.

Llanthony Priory

We stayed at Llanthony Priory Hotel at the weekend, in the top room of the tower. I have wanted to stay there ever since visiting the place as a kid, and it lived up to expectations. The room was at the top of a flight of spiral stairs, and had a fourposter bed (which must have been taken up there in bits and reassembled at the top). You had to lie on the floor to look out of the window, but it looked out over the ruins of the priory. I read Hilary Llewellyn-Williams' poem about it as we lay looking out over it. The priory is situated in the Honddu valley, which can be reached by turning off the A465 at Llanfihangel Crucornau. The road twists and turns along the valley, with the hills lifting ever higher either side, until eventually you reach the priory. I had booked the weekend as a Valentine surprise for my husband, so he didn't know where he was going until he saw the sign for the priory (I may have mentioned it once or twice...)

On the Friday it was slattering it down with rain, so after walking round the priory in the rain, we drove into Hay-on-Wye (rather an exciting drive over Gospel Pass in the fog and the rain) and found the very splendid Nepal Bazaar, where we spent lots of money on new clothes, which are fair-trade and very attractive. Then we went to Marijana Dworski bookshop, which specialises in language, travel, and folklore, and I bought a book of Jewish folktales and a dictionary of slang (this appears to be the new definitive slang dictionary). On Friday evening we got chatting to a charming couple over dinner; the conversation (which continued on Saturday evening) ranged over everything from boar spears to science fiction. The food in the Llanthony Priory Hotel is excellent.

On the Saturday we explored Golden Valley; we went to Longtown Castle, Vowchurch, Peterchurch and Dorstone, and the remains of the Arthur's Stone long-barrow. Lewis Carroll's brother (Skeffington Hume Dodgson) used to be vicar of Vowchurch, and there was quite a good exhibition about it in the church. Then we went into Hay-on-Wye again, as it was cold and the cloud still hadn't lifted off the hills, and visited more bookshops. Nick got a book on performance theory, and I got the collected poems of CS Lewis, Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, and Sun Circle by Neil M Gunn.

On the Sunday, the cloud finally lifted, and we drove up to Gospel Pass and climbed up to the top of Twmpa (also known as Lord Hereford's Knob). The view from the top was fantastic; even though Hay Bluff was only intermittently visible between veils of scudding cloud. After that we had lunch and then went to Llangorse to see the remains of the crannog in the lake there. On the way down, we saw a greater-spotted woodpecker. The weather was closing in by this time, so we headed home again.

Happy Lupercalia

A merry Lupercalia to all!

shadow of the wolf
falls across the turning year;
Romans run amok

stray winds of winter
whipping through high narrow streets
- laughing naked youth

no hearts and flowers
only howling at the moon
and waiting for spring.