off the wagon
Last week or so, someone (astronomer Parke Kunkle) made headlines when he posited the existence of a thirteenth zodiac sign, known as Ophiuchus, whose presence on our Western zodiac wheel would accommodate for precession, or basically a massive miscalculation astrologers allegedly have been making for thousands of years. A few people felt the need to bring this matter to my attention because this blog is Stone-Cold Gemini, but now I am supposedly a Taurus.Ugh.
Well, enough astrologers have come forward to say that the Western astrological system accounts for the fluctuations Kunkle has pointed out. In the meantime, they're offended that an astronomer thinks so little of their ancient science. And I don't think we need to take science so seriously that astrology can't be one, too. Until we are dead certain how a little bitty atom works, what's at the bottom of the ocean, how to stop global warming (besides just feeling really bad about it), or how the universe was made, I don't think hard sciences are certain enough of the conclusions they reach that they can elbow the non-elect out of the ring. So huzzah for the astrologists.
Furthermore, I don't think it's entirely stupid to...
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Bunny killer goes viral
I am ambivalent about this post because it is about a video that is so horrible I couldn't finish watching it, but at the same time I think this horrible act needs to be brought to light and I hope the perpetrators are caught and punished.
In this video, a very attractive girl of the very cutesy type that really grates on my nerves is fondling an adorable baby bunny. Then she puts some plate glass on it, sits on it, smashes it flat, and tosses it on the ground.
A Taiwanese friend sent me this link yesterday. She stumbled upon it while reading the Chinese news and also couldn't finish the whole video. According to her, it was actually a promotional video created to attract more users to another website, but she couldn't tell me which. So in the name of increasing unique visitors and therefore ad revenue, this girl and her two smiling, well-dressed collaborators smash baby bunnies for RMB6000 (about US$1000) per bunny. For my friend, this was an example of the ways in which she thinks Chinese people (including Taiwanese) love money more than anything else.
It's complicated to call for a dialogue on animal rights...
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Taiwan's Eighth Annual Pride Parade
Taiwan's eight annual pride parade was held on October 30 in Taipei. I haven't seen the official numbers yet, but it was predicted that 30,000 activists and revelers would be in attendance, up from 500 in 2003.
According to the Taipei Times, "With this year’s theme of Out & Vote (投同志政策一票), the organizers of the event’s eighth edition are calling on supporters to come out, speak up, and demand the implementation of policies giving the country’s LGBT citizens the same rights that their heterosexual compatriots enjoy."
This year’s theme coincides with three openly gay candidates running in Taipei City Government’s legislative elections: Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association in Taiwan (台灣性別人權協會); Sung Chia-lun (宋佳倫), a member of BDSM Company (皮繩愉虐邦); and Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), who campaigns for the rights of homosexual deaf people. All three candidates will appear on-stage at the parade to discuss their political platforms.
I know in China efforts to hold such large-scale and public events celebrating homosexuality have been blocked by the government at the last minute for fear of causing social unrest, but it seems that in Taiwan at least homosexuals have a chance to air their grievances, even if there is still much more work to be done to provide for true equality under the law.
back in the saddle
It's been ages since I've posted anything, but that's because I have relocated back the US. Basically, if anyone is looking for an explanation, I felt very strongly that the path I was on while in Shanghai wasn't going anywhere I wanted to be, and realized that I had family stuff at home that needed to be dealt with. At the moment, I am working a very pointless office job while I prepare my applications for graduate school. I am looking at getting a PhD in cultural anthropology and returning to Taiwan and China to do fieldwork. Here's to the future!Basically, I was just gonna drop a quick line about divorce ceremonies in Japan. I first came across the topic in the South China Morning Post a couple of months ago and just never got around to posting on it. That, and I just checked the China Daily, and the only thing I came up with was an article on the death of Paul, the World Cup soccer psychic octopus...or psychic soccer octopus, whatever. I am obviously rusty.
Anyway, I kind of dig these divorce ceremonies. I don't necessarily want to celebrate people getting divorced or encourage others to conceive of...
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idiot gets published
Just based on my buddy’s description of Hill as a self-proclaimed “naughty feminist” who thinks men should be allowed to cheat on their wives because the brawnier sex is hardwired to be promiscuous, I assumed Hill was nursing a severe heartache. A little googling – cherchez l’homme! – and the truth came out.
A few years ago, Holly Hill left her job as a psychologist in Sydney, Australia, at the request of her married investment-firm-owner boyfriend, who wanted a full-time mistress. Everything was AmEx black cards, La Perla underwear, and hot sex, until her lover got the guilts and went home to his wife. Hill was left with a broken heart, a half-written novel, and a mortgage she couldn't afford…
So after a devastating breakup that left her an emotional wreck, this 35-year-old former psychologist posted an ad for herself as a mistress who would cook, clean, converse and put out for an allowance. A year later, and she’s gathered enough material...
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Baby girls develop breasts; hormones in formula blamed
Medical tests on three infant girls who were developing breasts revealed the hormones estradiol and prolactin in the babies exceeded those of the average adult woman, state media reported. The parents of the little girls, aged four-15 months, blamed the infant formula.When one parent requested that the formula be tested, the local administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine refused on the grounds that it only conducts tests for organizations, not individuals.
Meanwhile, hospitals, usually do not have the facilities or trained staff to perform such tests, according to the report.
One official noted it was entirely possible for the hormones to be present in the milk, but that they likely weren't added by the producer, Syrutra, a Qingdao-based company.
"It's not likely for the manufacturers to add hormones to their products, because it won't help them sell or pass any tests at all," Wang told China Daily on Sunday.
That does not mean the formula did not contain any hormones, he said, adding that the substance might have entered the food chain when the cattle were reared by farmers.
"Since a regulation forbidding the use of hormones to cultivate livestock has yet to be drawn up in China, it would be lying to say that nobody uses it," he said.
As my colleague said, "WTF is wrong with this place?" What the hell are people doing wrong that little baby girls end up with breasts, that they end up with more hormones in their little bodies than adult women have? Even in the US, where people who know better are in constant fear of what's in their food, little girls who eat too much McDonald's might experience early onset puberty at seven years old, NOT FOUR MONTHS!
At least part of the problem is with parents who think giving their babies the formula that is marketed as the magic stuff that will make their little one smarter and develop faster than all his or her peers is better than breastfeeding. Some folks are on the right track: In honor of World Breastfeeding Week (which was last week), hospitals in Henan province distributed medical care subsidy cards worth RMB300 (roughly US$50) to breastfeeding mothers.
Women holding these cards can check in to Shaoling District Maternity and Child Health Hospital, which treats lactating breast disease in a specialized out-patient reception area. Experts offer free medical treatment to women suffering from breast engorgement, oligogalactia, agalactosis, acute mastitis, etc. The activity, held from Aug 1 to Aug 14, has been welcomed by local women. It has contributed to public understanding of the importance of breastfeeding, and encouraged all of society to encourage and support breastfeeding in efforts to create a caring social environment for new mothers and their infants.
love and marriage
There was an enjoyable survey of the evolution of the marriage law and the effect it's had on Chinese people's lives and relationships in the China Daily the other day.
I also looked up an English version the marriage law, if you are interested.
"But here in China, and all over the world, men's dominance has not been threatened."
A recent poll of 6,021 men revealed that 80% believe they are under so much stress that a Men's Day is essential, state media reported, citing the results of a nationwide poll. Respondents proposed August 3 (the third day of the eighth month) as the date of Men's Day as it echoes the date of International Women's Day on March 8 (however, March 8 is 3.8, and three-eight, or san ba, means stupid woman in Chinese). Men typically have more physically demanding jobs and a shorter life expectancy, so some feel they deserve the extra day off to relieve stress.Arguably, one extra day off a year isn't going to really drive down the stress of a gainfully employed person, male or female. For example, I didn't even realize it was Women's Day this year until I got an e-mail from HR at noon notifying us we could go home at 2:00. At that point, I already had so many things underway that I didn't go home until 5:00, anyway. All that meant was that I got to cook dinner an hour earlier than usual.
However, the article also mentions a "'2010 international men's day' co-organized by the four major men's magazines...
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Starter husbands
People get upset because they would like to pretend that they're relationships are based purely and solely on love. That's right, Mr. Paunchy Middle-aged Selfish Man who has heretofore been a repellent to women and many respectable men and looks like a waterlogged carcass, that hot 20-year-old Chinese chick totally digs how you have no butt and your nose hair is getting kinda bushy. She was totally not sold when you bought her that designer handbag. Nope, she fell in love for the first time when your drunk ass pushed her onto the bed and passed out on top of her.
The point is that if some people want to run their game likes it an economic transaction -- and it's at least partly an economic transaction in every case that one partner doesn't have or doesn't exercise his or her ability to generate a personal income -- then let them. And...
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seriously why?
I have been holding off on writing this post for a few weeks now, but since my recent diet of articles about the shitty circumstances of Chinese women isn't doing much for me, I am gonna have to go ahead and let this pot boil over.Why, when I post a link to an article on slate.com about "omega males" on my Facebook page (and it's my fucking Facebook page, you jerks, not even this blog, which is arguably more public) do my male "friends" leave asinine comments like "retool this" (the runt of the litter); "yeah well you show me a woman who wouldn't be happy if her man stood up for her" (you illiterate ass that's what the article was about, men who have basically thrown in the towel -- and picked up the because the "traditional" masculinity isn't working for them anymore); and some ridiculous, puerile rant: "the image of the american woman has changed 50 times? oh yeah? that's cause american women change their clothes 50 times before they go out only to realize they're still fat in no matter what they wear"? Why? WHY?
It's my Facebook page, where we go through the stupid formalities...
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