quoththeraven

I just saw a tweet from a real live history professor that it's reasonableness and how it fits with other evidence, rather than bias, that is the most important way of evaluating evidence. Put another way, bias is something to look out for, but not all evidence from people on one side or another is biased. And there are sometimes documents that originate from sources that don't have a particular alliance or axe to grind.

The police had their hands full responding to the attack and they don't have the capacity to monitor or chase down planes. (And they're already too militarized.) You really want to rely on a patchwork of state volunteer militias (which is what the National Guard is) rather than a central force for this type of emergency response? I can't take such unsound and unworkable ideas seriously.

None of that is what happened, so your interest in history seems more a product of a love of knowledge than critical thinking with present-day applications. Also the idea of no standing army is absurd. What would we have done to secure airports and protect, say, the Capitol and White House on 9/11?

Define "hard work." It can mean intellectually challenging, physically challenging or exhausting, effortful, long hours (which could mean rewarding inefficiency), or of great consequence.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Peter Rabbit, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, Half-Magic and Magic or Not? by Edgar Eager, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Jennifer, Hecate, William Mc Kinley and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Konigsberg, Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes. (Based on books I know I read before junior high.)

I watched that yesterday! I thought about posting it but didn't. A Canadian reminiscing about the differences between South Korea now and when he moved there ten years ago cited the widespread belief that there were no gay/queer people there at the time he arrived versus 40% support for same-sex marriage now. Also relevant: the second and third songs released by openly gay singer Holland. He's not the first, but he's the first to make his sexuality central to his art. I've heard rumors that he's now signed to a music agency (he released his first song on his own) that is giving him help and support behind the scenes. (Yes, that's a ten-second long kiss starting at about 2:30. And the video implies it's all a dream.) The next video is a continuation of the first.

Actually queer is the inclusive choice, and the choice of the younger generation. Also the term for the associated academic field, queer studies. Food for thought: the Seoul Pride parade is officially called the Seoul Queer Culture Festival. In English. The most common term used in South Korea is sexual minorities. And homosexuality/queerness is more frowned on in North Korea than South Korea.

Not as different as you think.

I'm queer but not gay, which even on a generous interpretation only covers same-sex attraction. Also gay originally applied to men only and expanded. We already use "men" generically, and "he" is used as a universal pronoun. Sorry, I'm not willing to go along with a male-associated term as a community descriptor for people who aren't heterosexual or cisgender. It's fine to use more specific descriptors for yourself, but it's not fine to make them blanket terms. Besides, some of us prefer not to have to explain exactly what we are, as in trans, nonbinary or bisexual/pansexual, especially since I've been involved in metaphorical shouting matches over whether there is any difference between pansexual and bisexual. I think pansexual is clearer and that bisexual didn't originally mean the same thing (and for some still doesn't), but fewer people know what it means. Use of the term queer solves that problem.

Which is why "queer" is the majority choice. It's inclusive, short and not another acronym.

Talking Heads wasn't all-male. The radio choices in the NY metro area suck. Upstate NY has more variety. K-pop has lots of upbeat and boppy songs. Also angsty, swaggy, rock, etc. (Also best supporting performance by a duck in a music video.)

She agrees, which is why she quit singing when she hit 60.

Hopefully not literally; I picked a subtitled version over a performance I liked better for that very reason. Musically, they're most influenced by J-rock. Should be interesting when they debut in Japan later this year. I don't read Hangul and mostly don't understand spoken Korean, but I've picked up a few words and phrases: love, follow, make some noise, yes, you, I, bulletproof, brown, burning up, I am the best.

Catch? Nah. https://twitter.com/CuteEmergency/status/1016901181946425345?s=09

It's not just the direct rescuers who were responsible for this. Thai society and its ability to look at this from a communal rather than a selfish or self-aggrandizing point of view helped too. (Looking at you, Elon Musk.) https://twitter.com/duduang2/status/1016301667380224000?s=09 Note the statement of the President of the Thai groundwater association: "All I want is the kids' life. It's a reward for me drilling water. I don't want any money." Rice farmers who let their fields be flooded by water pumped from the cave: "Rice being flooded for 7-10 days doesn't matter. We care more about the kids than rice." And so on and so forth. And Westerners think Western values are superior? Hah! Also illustrates what I mean about true personal responsibility only being possible in a society that has a communal rather than an individualistic culture. In an individualistic culture, calls for personal responsibility devolve into victim-blaming.

This is from a tweet from a couple of days ago, but still applicable: "I hope everyone takes a moment today to remember Saman Gunan, the Thai Navy Seal that died making sure the kids stuck in the cave had enough oxygen so that today's rescue would even be possible. #ThaiCaveRescue" source

I've never been panhandled for anything more than change. Very occasionally I give, but never in captive audience situations. In one case to someone who was lying on a cold sidewalk in DC and hadn't asked but clearly could use a warm drink, and in another case to someone at a public transit hub. Ironically, I got more aggressively panhandled by someone at the other end of the trip. I didn't bother to explain I'd already given away what change I had to give. Not her business.

I can't choose because K-pop is inherently earwormy! But here, have one.

Elon Musk has more money (and a desire for self-glorification) than sense.

How do you pronounce that?

Grace Slick, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, although as a group The Doors would be a close competitor. They're from my teens. However, I listen almost exclusively to K-pop these days. The most recent Western anything I've been excited about is Janelle Monae's album Dirty Computer, but I haven't made the time to listen to all of it yet.

Ugh. The idea that a white man truly understands the experience of people of color is repugnant to anyone who values truth and sincerity. Or that a straight man understands what it's like to be gay. Or that someone mistakes writing about history for either of these. P.S. By story, I meant fiction, not history. And history has to be honest, unlike, say, some Civil War history that aims at justifying the South.

Except the purpose of that would be to delegitimize those words, whereas there are plenty of people today only too happy to get the goahead to use "ni**er" for its intended purpose. Also elementary and possibly even secondary school kids are still not the right audience for slurs.

They're the least prepared. It's similar to the concept of getting someone in good condition with normal test results before operating.

You can report slurs without using them or use them, but it wouldn't be a book appropriate for school below college level. Also what is the story and what is the goal of the book? Gone With the Wind may not include racial slurs, but it accepts slavery as a given, romanticizes the South, and has the reader rooting against the Union army because it's written from the point of view of white plantation owners. If, as I suspect, you are white, you may not be the right person to write such a story anyway, especially if it focuses on black pain. That's considered by blacks to be whites exploiting and monetizing their pain. That's also true of other forms of appropriation. British soldiers in Caribbean colonies had orders to shoot men wearing dreadlocks on sight, so a white guy rocking dreadlocks causes a lot of anger because what for them is a symbol of defiance becomes another white hairdo disconnected from its past.