Very grateful to Bobby Finger for reading and distilling Leah Remini’s Scientology book (obviously, I watched the special, and would immediately support her bid for President should she wish to run):
On finding baby Suri Cruise on the bathroom floor during a wedding:
When I opened the door, I found three women, including Tom’s sister and his assistant, standing over the baby, who was lying on the tile floor. I didn’t know if they were changing her diaper or what, but the three women were looking at her like they thought she was L. Ron Hubbard incarnate. Rather than talking to her in a soothing voice, they kept saying, “Suri! Suri!” in a tone that sounded like they were telling an adult to get her shit together.
What runners think about when they run:
The results make for entertaining, if not exactly convincing, reading. The (notably tiny) group of runners spent most of their time thinking about pace and distance—translated cynically, about how hard it was to move at their desired speed (“Come on, keep the stride going, bro”) and about how soon they could stop (“Come on, you have enough energy for a mile and a half”). But, after that, the runners mostly thought about how miserable it was to run. “While all the participants had periods during their run where they appeared to be comfortable and thinking about other things,” the researchers wrote, “pain and discomfort were never far from their thoughts.” Feet went numb, stomachs ached, lungs heaved, exhaustion loomed, hills hurt, heat sapped, vomit threatened; all told, fully a third of runners’ thoughts concerned the downsides of running. The remaining thoughts pertained to the runners’ immediate environment, which the researchers further subdivided: runners had mostly pleasant thoughts about terrain and wildlife, and mostly unpleasant thoughts about weather, traffic, and the other people around them.
Cherished Friend of The Toast Jaya Saxena on edible sex things:
Edible sex accessories began in the heady days of the sexual revolution of the ’60s. When they began, every sexual device was relegated to seedy sex stores, or billed as having more respectable uses (think “home massager” instead of “vibrator.”) Even the term “sex toy” is a coy dodge: “We displaced the awkwardness of using machines as sexual aids by turning these aids into novelty objects, or toys,” writes Hannah Smothers for Fusion. But a new crop of expertly engineered, elegantly designed vibrators and dildos is helping to elevate these products into something of a standard home appliance. Are edible sex products going in the same direction, or are they doomed to bachelorette party hell for eternity?
The Washington Post wrote about Cotard’s delusion and Esmé Weijun Wang (who wrote “Perdition Days” for The Toast):
As for Wang, she found herself in a place that looked just like her old life but evoked no emotion in her, which led to anxiety, fear and agitation. She frequently descended into catatonic psychosis, a condition marked by periods of not being able to move, interspersed with overactive movement.
“I began to believe I was in perdition, or some kind of hell,” said Wang, who wrote an essay, “Perdition Days,” during and after the experience. “I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong, what had condemned me to this afterlife that looked like my real life before I died but wasn’t real — that was the torment of it. I kind of described it once as feeling like I was on fire inside.”
Tyler Coates makes the case for Chasing Amy (I dated a guy who said it was his FAVORITE MOVIE so the fact that Tyler got me to read the whole thing, remember I kind of love parts of it, and make some decent points is impressive. Also, Mallory is going to FLIP HER SHIT when she saw I linked this bc she truly loathes Chasing Amy):
But Chasing Amy isn’t really a film about lesbians told through the male gaze, but rather a film that focuses more on the perils of straight male bravado and insecurity (or, as Billy Eichner put it in a recent segment of Billy on the Street, masculinity can be a prison, baby!!!).
Sexism in paleoanthropology (this one REALLY grinds my gears, bc if you come for the Rising Star Expedition, you’d best not miss):
McKie’s article is sloppy journalism. He gets the basic facts wrong, even though the entire story of the Rising Star Expedition is easily accessible to anyone who bothers to check. Hundreds of thousands have read the expedition blog from the beginning, and more than 230,000 have read the open access paper in eLife. The search for our excavation team and the subsequent analysis of the fossils has been well-documented in many public sources. Lots of journalists have covered this story without making stupid errors as McKie has done here.
The Awl on the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement:
For those with reservations about supporting the extinction of humanity, most concerns are addressed on the VHEMT’s incredibly helpful website. Built in 1996 with little design changes since, it’s structured like a long FAQ. It’s also available in twenty-five languages, so good news if you speak Occitan.
Here are a few: Don’t you like babies? (Yes.) Are we all supposed to kill ourselves? (No.) Is this another one of those suicide cults? (No.) Didn’t Hitler have the same ideas? (No.) If there were a magic button for extinction, would you press it? (No.) Why don’t you just kill yourself? (Whoa.)
That last one is the most Frequently Asked Q.
When queer and trans films are still about straight people:
“But at least Michael Shannon was good!” someone said, and we all nodded. As Dane Wells, the straight-but-not-narrow cop who partners with Hester and eventually becomes her greatest ally, Shannon gives the film’s lone terrific performance. In fact, by the end of Freeheld, Moore and Page have practically been relegated to background players so that the formerly reticent Shannon can rally the troops and deliver a final knockout monologue.
“It’s really his story,” said one of my colleagues, and when I heard that too-familiar line, I sighed. This year’s Toronto Film Festival lineup is full of movies that feature queer and trans characters, but why does it seem like deep down, these films are still about straight people?
Just watching a full 1982 Stevie Nicks concert, no big:
When I am playing video games or reading I very rarely think about discomfort or pain. I chose well in my hobbies.
Sometimes I drop my book on myself, and think about pain for just a second. It passes quickly though.
I don’t know how it works with labias but one of the downsides to testicles is that some times you drop a book, or a hand, or a large pen into your lap and it lands just wrong and you spend the next 15 minutes trying to maintain your dignity as you wimper quietly to yourself.
Labias, is addition to being less sensitive, are generally nicely tucked away while sitting.
Mostly I drop my book on my face while laying down though.
This is why sensible people keep their genitals safely tucked away on the inside.
Same…well, except for the time I tried to play Dark Souls.
Yeah, or all those times I played Bioware games and went through a box of kleenex…
“Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong”
That hurts more than most of my runs, tbh
I feel like all of the Bioware pain is alleviated by playing Saints Row 4 and how gleefully ridiculous it is. Glowing dildo bat!
I’m starting to get pain in my hands from scrolling too much on Twitter. 🙁
I can’t stop reading even with restasis-resistent dry eye so. . .that’s kinda like running maybe? (Or not.) At least mine I can do while petting a cat.
That article on runners pretty much proved my theory that “runner’s high” is just brain death.
THANK YOU. I have attempted running on and off throughout my brief life and all I feel afterwards is pain, lung pain, and more pain. It doesn’t help that I have FB friends who post their running stats(?) and brag about “that great runner’s high!”
Also, if there are any Toasties that swim, as I do- what do you find yourself thinking about?
The lack of music makes the endless laps ripe for…well, if you are me, rapping sections of Hamilton in your head. But I’m curious about the group at large. If there are swimmers around!
I’ve done a sprint triathlon in the summer for the last couple of years. I’m not a great swimmer, so most of my time in the pool is full of “don’t drown, keep your head up, oh, shit, it’s time to inhale, this shit sucks, how about a nice 10k instead, damn this water is cold”.
So… the spirit of the thing is roughly the same.
In both running and swimming I tend to thing of basically nothing most of the time, like with swimming I’ll start off thinking just of balance and twisting side to side in the water, keeping a count for breathing – it’s so fucking peaceful! – and then I pretty much zone out for big stretches of time.
I love this because if I try to sit still and meditate traditionally, or do yoga or some such crap, I pretty much think about how much I want to punch people or kick a hole thru my drywall.
If I’m trying to push myself a lot it’s different and form and discomfort will preoccupy me, but slow steady cardio outdoors or in the pool is how I clear my head.
I can’t think when I’m running. Like thoughts just float by but nothing stays. I think that’s why I like it. I didn’t realize until I took a meditation course this summer that running was meditative for me.
Thirded. I just started swimming regularly recently but I really enjoy the meditative feeling I get from it. Like you said, nothing stays- it’s like the background noise in my head gets turned way, way down.
I find the opposite, annoyingly – I like swimming, but with no distractions I find that I end up obsessing over any background stuff I’ve been worrying about.
i was really stoked the other week when I realized that I was no longer thinking about discomfort or trying to goad myself into keeping on while riding my bike. (I didn’t think of it at the time, but this would have been a great reason to upgrade from a Walmart cheapie to the pricier Electra Townie, which I did mere days after the realization.)
I rode 14 miles this weekend, which was 3 miles longer than my previous longest distance, and I noticed how much I enjoyed it, didn’t want to stop and didn’t even really think about how far I had ridden, and yeah, it was probably the closest thing to a meditative state. No thinking about anything in particular, just watching the woods go by (my best bike-rides take me alongside a National Park! it’s amazing) and listening to my music – especially enjoying the instrumentation and stuff, so I listen to a lot of bluegrass, blues, jazz, etc. when biking. There’s just so many little things you have to pay attention to while biking (or running or swimming or) but that don’t take up your full attention. I think maybe this is also why I enjoy early morning interstate driving, when the sun is just coming up but there’s very little traffic yet.
Focusing on breathing is a good one! I’m trying to get better about breathing on both sides. It’s soooo hard for me?
I took up yoga a long time after I started swimming and trying to meditate while sitting still is still a challenge; meditation for me is a moving process. Sometimes thoughts get tangled up and that’s a sign to go back to focusing on technique, but generally I listen to something on the way over – classic deep house or atmospheric drum n’ bass work best – that’s a good prime for my stroke rhythm.
“I pretty much think about how much I want to punch people or kick a hole thru my drywall” – the best description I’ve ever heard of that terrible feeling when you’re supposed to sit still but you Don’t Want To.
I don’t have a lap counter (yet!) so probably a third of my mental space is spent on remember what lap I’m on. Another third is on swimming technique (am I kicking right? am I pulling efficiently?). The last third is just kind of pleasant white noise. It’ll be interesting to see how it changes when I do finally get a lap counter.
I do a great job thinking about technique when I’m doing pull sets & kick sets but I have such a hard time remembering to pull everything together when I’m swimming regular free sets. SIGH.
That’s about what my ratio is. The first ten minutes is usually me thinking about time (when I have to leave to catch the right bus/get back to work) and then running through to-do lists, and then that sloooowly winds down and it’s white noise. It’s why I like swimming, because it’s one of the few times when I can wind that down all the way.
It’s also why I haven’t gone for ages, because the only place I can access atm is really busy so instead I spend the whole time thinking about who is in my lane, and how come all the men are lane hogs and splash so much when they swim and sometimes actually whack me in the face as they go past, etc, and it’s too stressful and none of the things I like about swimming.
I have a Waterfi (waterproofed ipod shuffle), and it is wonderful. Alternate between podcasts and music… http://www.amazon.com/Waterfi-Waterproof-Apple-Sh…
Ohoho I’ve been wanting something like that but didn’t want to drop the $$ until I was sure I was going to stick to going to the pool. Glad to hear this one has a good recommendation!
One, two, three, four, breathe, mostly, underlaid with whatever earworm I’ve got currently. Background processes tracking lap number, pace, reach, rotation, hand position, head position, (lack of) kick effort. Annoyance at other people in the lane. Back when I was competing, every practice was overlaid with either ferocity or despair, depending on my energy levels that day.
Swimming is wonderful because when things are going well I can close my eyes and feel completely immersed in the experience, even if that’s not all the time. Running is terrible b/c it *never* goes well, and even if it miraculously did, closing my eyes would result in falling and breaking something.
ok, apparently i am doomed to not link photos. sorry!
OH YES annoyance at other people in the lane.
Why is there always that one Man who decides because he is a Man he will swim in the clearly marked “Fast” lane though he insists on doing a dramatic and slow sidestroke?
It is due to Man Magic that magically makes any Man Fast when he gets in the Fast Lane. Man Magic also gives him the power to ignore anyone fuming in his wake so he doesn’t have to let them pass. #wakespreading
And ALWAYS that Man who swims in the fast lane, does freestyle, and SMACKS his hands loudly into the water. As though the louder it is the better he is swimming, efficiency and stroke technique be damned!
And always a Man who decided to prove he is An Elite Swimmer by doing butterfly, causing a tsunami of water to wash over the rest of us poor people just trying to swim some goddamn laps!
I’ll be honest: I endlessly repeat “Chicken, Airplane, Rocket” when I swim. That’s how I learned breaststroke as a kid and now I use it as a pacing thing.
Since I am waking up before my alarm courtesy of daylights savings time, I went on a ‘run’ (I go slow, and not very far) this morning. I can confirm that my thoughts were 20% “wow the fall foliage looks so wonderful in the dawn mist,” and “jesus fucking Christ did my body turn into a corpse overnight that I am painfully dragging down a sidewalk without an energy source”
I am so physically unsuited to running that I just don’t do it anymore and instead stick to the cardio machines at the gym where I can also read, but even when I was running regularly nearly the entirety of my thought process was taken up by “this is so damn boring” just over and over again.
oh god every exercise is so damn boring. i can’t read on the cardio machines because i have trouble focusing my eyes when i’m moving around 🙁 so i went with music.
recently i got over the “biking is boring” hurdle which is EXCITING, but it only works if i have music. i tried biking around the block while my sd card got scanned by my player (which is dying which is VERY SAD because every time I turn it on, it has to remember the 32gb sd card is there and what’s on the card, but it’s the best damn DAP ever, a Clip+), and I thought i was going to die of boredom. Just going around the block!
It was the longest block-circling I have ever suffered, ever since I got enough endurance to finish the loop 24 months ago.
When I used to work out on machines at the gym, I listened to podcasts. It wasn’t quite as immersive as reading something, but it really helped pass the time. I also listen to podcasts on long car trips because oh my god driving is actually the most boring thing ever.
I walk/jog outdoors, and the only way I can make myself do it is to listen to audiobooks. I can walk for hours with an audiobook
I consider it one of the finest privileges of adult life that no one ever requires me to run “just because” anymore.
I swear every time the gym teachers in elementary/middle school didn’t have a plan for the day it was all, “hey kids let’s run a mile.”
I honestly think gym class is what turns people off exercise the most. Because when I was in school, it was always running and dodgeball. And that was about it. What if you don’t like either? What if you don’t like the other organized sports that were all I had access to outside school? It’d about turn you off any kind of activity as an adult.
This is VERY true! We had GRADED runs in high school, which always made me feel awful because I am a slow runner and I rarely ran enough laps to get an A. My gym teachers all really liked and encouraged me (they were all really kind men who saw something in me I didn’t see at the time, which is the opposite of most people’s gym teacher stories), but I think had I just been encouraged to run without a focus on number of laps or speed I would have discovered that I actually enjoyed it when I was a teen instead of waiting until my late 20s. I used to think I hated running when I really hated having people judge me on my running.
I had graded runs in middle school, sorta. We had to run a mile in 15 minutes (iirc) or else we’d have to do it again until we did. By 8th grade, one of the gym teachers took pity on me and pretended like I did….after half the class stood at the track and cheered for me, which is a whole kind of humiliating.
The thing is, I really like to dance but it never occurred to me that that was also exercise because we never did anything like that in gym class.
Gym class DEFINITELY turned me off exercise. I hate competition when there’s no chance of me winning (so basically anything physical), I hate when the other kids hate you because you suck, and I hate mean gym teachers. As an adult I only started to enjoy exercise when I found forms that involve no teamwork, no competition except with yourself, and encouraging instructors.
I was so lucky when I was a 7th grader our official gym teacher was in a horrible car accident (I mean, that was awful) so we had subs the whole year. Or actually, we were supposed to have subs but sometimes they just wouldn’t show up so we came up with our own classes- the 8th grade girls would lead us in a modern dance class- one of them was a budding choreographer and it was all just so relaxed and fun but still moving around and being active and learning about dance. All other gym classes were so much lesser after that.
I think I may have a disordered relationship with exercise, the way some people do with food. I will do almost anything to avoid doing physical things in front of other people, even people I know and trust. I know I enjoy a base level of activity and feel bad when I don’t get that, and yet I have trouble not either refusing to do it because I don’t HAVE to so I WON’T so THERE, or totally glutting out and making dumb rules and being hard on myself.
Realistically, I have a very active life. I walk a LOT and I do a lot of gardening and similar kinds of active life-things, and I sporadically do yoga, tai-chi, swimming, etc. And yet I still find myself minimising this like it doesn’t count, it only counts as exercise if it’s boring and humiliating. It’s dumb and I resent it.
I have long said that the problem with gym class is that it’s taught by people who liked gym!!
This, times a million. <3
I used to jog some, but yeah, it just wasn’t very fun. I’ve discovered the elliptical machine at my gym now (treadmill is tough on my knees and shins). I love it, I can just close my eyes and go into the music while working my thighs and glutes and arms. So satisfying. And I can do as much or as little cardio stress as feels good. I was intimidated by the machine at first but now it’s my friend.
Note: Be careful doing intervals on the elliptical while listening to “Guns and Ships.” going going going yeah I got this beat go LAFAYETTE! AH! wait what now my feet are going too fast! eek okay back into it AH! crazy legs happening no I got this let’s do this AH!
Here is a link about how Rupert Murdoch, after taking over National Geographic Magazine, laid off a bunch of people, including a lot of fact-checkers:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/na…
Also, now that it’s a for profit enterprise and dedicated to making someone rich: freezing pension benefits, switching to a 401(k), eliminating medical coverage for future retirees, &c.
D:
I grew up reading National Geographic and this makes me so angry-sad.
Than you for alerting us.
The magazine won’t need fact checkers now; Murdoch finds ‘facts’ inconvenient.
As a kid, I used to avidly read every issue, and cut out the most beautiful photos to hang on my wall. I guess I harbored some sort of hope that my kids would get to do the same, which is contributing to my heartbreak this morning.
Well, the good news is that you can probably get back issues dirt cheap.
My grandparents kept every issue of National Geographic they’d ever received, dating back to the 1940s. (Also they had piles of old Readers Digests, which were like time capsules.) I LOVED reading them so much, but never subscribed myself. Then I discovered their digital issues, which are so, so beautiful. They may no longer have very high journalistic standards but they do still present the world’s beauty and tragedy to those of us who can’t see all of it in person.
They also have the most beautiful Instagram account in the world. Just amazing photos of people and animals and landscapes around the world.
I worked at National Geographic for almost six years, and this is very sad to see. However, what people don’t see reading the news is the unfortunate fact that the Society put itself in this position (of needing Murdoch money to continue operations) through decades of gross mismanagement and poor stewardship of the Society’s mission. If not for the strength of its brand, NGS would have gone under years ago.
For clarity I’ll note that the WaPo article states that the *channel* is laying off fact checkers, not the magazine. The primary reason for that is that the channel does not make its own programming anymore; it buys it from others, and (not defending this, just stating) it has been for-profit and owned 75% by Fox since its inception (that should partially explain shows like Doomsday Preppers, which clearly do not align with the Society’s mission). There is a new president of the Channel who’s trying to get back to the Society’s mission (she brought back Explorer), but if we’re being honest, the Channel hasn’t had much programming that is true to the society’s mission in…a long time.
Regarding pension costs, I agree with you in theory but the biggest problem is that the high earners in the organization have massive pension deals. Instead of cutting salaries or firing ineffective and often abusive managers, the Society has driven out talented young people who are truly invested in the Society’s mission (before they get totally jaded, anyway) by paying well-below market rates and making it a truly miserable place to work. I cannot count the number of people, including me, who had abusive bosses. Management’s attitude, which filters throughout the organization, is generally that “you should feel lucky to work here, and we are going to treat you like shit, and you will like it because you get to put National Geographic on your resume.” There are dozens of senior managers who make upwards of $500,000 (and several making seven figures) just because they’ve been there long enough–and their pensions allow them to collect 75-80% of that in retirement. Unfortunately, it’s probably the lower-earning employees whose pension and healthcare will see the biggest cuts, which is truly a shame.
There have been numerous re-organizations over the past 10 years, none of which worked and all of which ended up costing the Society millions because they brought in shiny new people who cost a lot but couldn’t do anything but watch it continue to flail. I can’t even count the number of “All Hands” meetings where the President announced some new re-org, to which we all rolled our eyes and wondered how each new person could make things any worse.
TL;DR – it was good for the first couple of years I was there, and then went into a downward spiral, and clearly I’m still disappointed and somewhat bitter about it. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few great things happening there (Pristine Seas is the best), but overall, it has been a horrifically managed organization and this all comes as no surprise to anyone who’s worked there in the past 10 years.
well, this makes it seem like the transition to a Murdoch enterprise is basically going to be seamless
I am, sadly, not very surprised at this.
Thank you for the inside scoop! I’m not surprised by most of that — I figured things had to be bad for them to be looking for a buyer at all, and of course they wouldn’t be exempt from the troubles plaguing print publications…I just wish Murdoch didn’t have to be the one to get its hands on it.
I would read 10,000 words more about insider problems with National Geographic, if you wanted to publish them anywhere.
SAME.
Management’s attitude, which filters throughout the organization, is generally that “you should feel lucky to work here, and we are going to treat you like shit, and you will like it because you get to put National Geographic on your resume.”
Ah, much like working at a university, then…
Sorry it turned into such a disillusioning job, but it’s good to hear about the background here from someone with actual experience.
Or a non-profit…
I have a friend who worked for NG for a few years and she left with very similar feelings and observations as yours. It makes me so sad, because I adore the magazine and–for so, so long–I considered working there as my Dream Job. *sigh*
I saw that yesterday, and uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh what a travesty NG is going to morph into. 🙁
Love the links today, will be back for discussion, but first HEY Hamiltoasts LMM is going to be on Jimmy Fallon this Friday. I had to look it up–Fallon airs 11:35 EST. wheeeeeee
Also earlier this year this happened:
Lin-Manuel Miranda Freestyles Voicemail for Jimmy Fallon
(with Phillipa Soo beatboxing!)
Y’all, yesterday sucked in Houston, election-wise. The HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordnance), passed a few months ago by city council and the mayor, was an ordnance that guaranteed equal treatment to LGBT persons. It was voted down by a fear-based campaign (led by an ecumenical coalition of local churches) that basically amounted to “there will be MEN in the women’s bathrooms!”
I hate low-turnout elections, because they let the assholes win, and that is definitely what happened here. I’m spending my morning arguing with bigots on social media. It won’t change their minds but at least they’ll maybe STFU if they get some pushback.
Edit: poor choice of words. Sorry.
Ugh that is so unfortunate. C’mon Houston.
The “there will be men in women’s bathrooms” campaign is so weird to me.
1) Transwomen are women, not men
2) social stigma still prevents most cismen from using women’s bathrooms
3) assault is still illegal
4) Even if the occasional cisman does opt to use the women’s bathroom, WHO CARES? I’m in a stall, the next person over is in a stall, I don’t care what parts they have! I am almost never naked in a public restroom, and even if I am, if you’re looking at me while I’m changing or using the toilet, that’s a boundary violation REGARDLESS of your gender.
I was listening to the local NPR station in Boston and the guest host was bloviating about how transgirls in high schools shouldn’t be allowed in women’s locker rooms because “girls see the penis as a weapon.” I could not process for a while after that. She was also very against non-discrimination ordinances being passed in MA because of the MEN in WOMEN’S BATHROOMS OH NOES. It was heartbreakingly ignorant and the cohost and the callers (several of them trans or with trans family members) were trying to explain why that was so awful, but she refused to listen. I was so angry.
I saw a photo from Houston yesterday with a sign in it that was cut off by the edge of the frame so that it seemed to say just “NO MEN,” and I looked at it wistfully and wished I could believe that were all it said.
Not totally on topic, but I am pro gender neutral bathrooms, but here in Toronto we had a setback because of cellphone voyeurism in them. I am sad and conflicted now! http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/10/05/univ…
This is just further proof to me that straight men are the problem with EVERYTHING.
My only problem is now that the single-toilet bathrooms at work, which the public also uses, are unisex, the toilet rim and seat is so gross I have to go up to the third floor for the private employee bathrooms. (There’s no urinal in the unisex public ones, btw.)
I mean it is TOTALLY WORTH IT to provide safety, comfort, and validation to trans* folks, and I was happy when my workplace moved to do this. Just why do male penis-havers have to ruin everything. Why.
That was a reason given for why MA shouldn’t pass an ordinance allowing equal access, because a straight man was creeping on his female coworkers in the women’s bathroom in an MA Burger King. The problem has nothing to do with anyone trans, but people just conflate out of bigotry and ignorance. :/
Not even just LGBT people! It was a vast equal rights ordinance that protected everything from race and religion to gender identity and veteran status! They also had REMOVED THE SECTION SPECIFICALLY ABOUT RESTROOMS before initial passage! (They were implicitly included under “public accommodation,” as the initial wording of the bathroom bit had issues.) Even the MAYORAL CAMPAIGN took 2nd place to the gross transphobic messaging leading up to election day.
I’ve never been more embarrassed to be a Houstonian.
SO UPSET ABOUT THIS. One of the few times I wish I were back there, to have participated in the fight (even with the same result), to spend last night with friends watching the results and commiserating, then figuring out what the hell to do next. it is not so easy living in a bluer state but feeling for the folks back home.
back home
Seems appropriate.
Lol, I’m not THAT sorry to move away. The draw of actual seasons is sufficient.
My high school best friend has always been a dedicated runner, and I just assumed that he loved it for some inscrutable reason. We were talking one day, recently, and I was shocked when he said that he pretty much hates running. Hates getting up, hates going out, wants to stop the whole time.
But then keeps doing it. For fun. I don’t get it.
FWIW, I have mostly stopped running because I’ve started doing forms of exercise I enjoy a great deal more while I’m doing them. BUT, for me, there is nothing as good as the feeling after you finish a run. The hour after a run feels way way better than the hour after any of the exercises I enjoy more. This may not be everyone’s experience, but that – and the ability to be outside when I spend most of my day indoors – was what kept me running for so long.
Totally agree! Also, my preferred form of exercise is soccer, but that’s not particularly enjoyable if I’m out of shape. Running is basically a tool that keeps my fun exercise fun (instead of painful and frustrating).
Yes – I actively despise running, but the sports I enjoy are expensive. Running keeps me fit enough to do them, and it’s free.
Yep, I run entirely because if I didn’t, I would suck (more) at soccer. I’m still never gonna be a distance runner (because it is boring and I hate it), but running a couple miles a few times a week means I’m more likely to beat that guy to the ball.
Yep! My REAL favorite hobby is Beating Men at Sports.
I know exactly what you mean. Running itself is not all that fun, especially for the first mile or two, but afterwards I always feel like Superwoman. I haven’t run as much this year because this summer I discovered biking in a serious way and I find that a lot more fun while I’m doing it, but I miss that post-run high.
I actually really enjoy running, despite having taken nearly a year off, and I basically loved every second of my marathon, but I also hate bananas so there’s some history of being in weird affiliations here
Wait, what part of hating bananas is supposed to be weird? Obviously they are super gross so hating them is the logical thing
See that’s what I thought too, but there is a massive pro-banana/pro-bannoffee movement in yesterday’s discussion of the GBBO and there are so, so few of us out there 🙁
Team Banana Hate forever!
I have yet to actually decide if I like running. I… think I like it? But am mostly miserable while doing it? The reason I run is because it is the cheapest and fastest way to get the most exercise in the shortest period of time.
May I join you all in your banana hate? I don’t know what I’ll do if I ever have kids, because from having observed my nieces, kids are all about bananas, and I refuse to allow that evil fruit into my house.
Another reason to continue my personal boycott on gestation, huzzah. At least I no longer get nauseated by being in the same room as the smell.
Really? I, personally, love bananas but I can 100% see why you wouldn’t. They are truly a strange foodstuff.
The new guy at my work is, I swear, eating a banana every time I interact with him. I’m training him? Good time to eat a banana. We have an important meeting? Eating bananas during meetings is the thing to do, apparently. I don’t know what other qualities he has because this one blots out anything else.
I hate running. Haaate it. I’m slow and it hurts and the weather is never just right. However, I love having just run.
The closest analogy I can make would be to liken it to being a parent. Rarely do parents talk (in specifics) about how great it is to have kids. Mostly, we bellyache about it to the point where the childfree wonder why we have them.
If being a parent is at all like running, you are making me seriously reconsider everything my biological clock is telling me I want.
I encourage considering parenthood closely regardless.
Oh, I am. I just don’t want to consider it so closely that I run out of time or psych myself out of something that deep down, I know I want, you know?
I tried running—tried it for years!—and while I did enjoy having run, as someone else put it, the pleasure/boredom/pain nexus never quite lined up for me. When I switched to weight lifting, which required me to in the moment and attuned to my body in a whole other way, plus offered visible results in my physical body, there was an almost audible click in my life. I think we all have something that makes us feel great, but wading through all the other, “so close yet so far” activities first is kind of a drag.
I’m SHOCKED by how much I love weight lifting. I’ve done Zumba and water aerobics and they were reasonably enjoyable, and I did this ballet aerobics thing which was terrible, but then I tried weight lifting and it just clicked, like you said.
I love it! I love that I can see my muscles after a few weeks, and that I feel strong, and that it makes me sweat just as hard as any cardio. I also occasionally do Nia and yoga, but my baseline is pretty much: “does this make me love my body?” and if it doesn’t then PASS.
I love weight lifting but between doing the math required to get the right plates on and the constant trying to negotiate space with the guys in the weight room (“is someone using this machine? Oh, he is. Should I try to work in? Wait for him to finish? He looks like maybe he’s close to finishing…oh wait no, he’s just decided to do chin ups in the squat rack now”) is just too much for me at 6 in the morning. I miss feeling strong like I did when I lifted, though.
I despise running. I love hiking or just walking.
I was a cross-country runner in high school, and for me I loved and hated running at the same time. It hurt a lot of time, but I liked knowing I could push through the pain. It made me feel tough and accomplished. I’m also a masochist, so.
Some good news, though is that in Pennsylvania, Democrats picked up all three vacant Supreme Court seats. I’m not a party-line kind of person, and it’s not like Democrats are notably less vulnerable to corruption than Republicans, but it’s been the Supreme Court that deadlocks in Harrisburg go to the past couple of times — including deadlocks on pension reform and redistricting. A Dem majority on the court might mean Pennsylvanians could see fair redistricting in our lifetimes!
In BAD news, I read an article about how babies can get Krabbe’s disease and some doctors aren’t screening for it and now I’ve got anxiety.
Ohio passed an anti-gerrymandering amendment as well, which is great. Texas needs one badly; one of the main reasons our purple state remains solidly red is because of super-extreme gerrymandering. 🙁
Yeah, Pennsylvania is particularly ludicrous, too. Here’s the district I live in:
My representative, Sheila Jackson Lee, has a similar district map.
Hahaha, amazing!
I always feel a kind of confusion when I look at maps like this; the GOP has all this rhetoric about strict fairness, it baffles me that anyone can look at these districts and think that this is a fair way to conduct democracy.
Hey! I think that’s my district! If it’s not in the red, it’s the tiny strips of no-color right around Norristown. Sigh.
My garbage voting district voted the opposite way of the state, but I voted so at least I tried.
I hope PA addresses gerrymandering, oh, within my lifetime, but I don’t know if that’s a realistic hope.
Good news for my local elections: both school bonds passed! Also, both of the candidates for mayor seemed pretty decent, so I’m okay that the one I didn’t vote for one. Not so happy about the city commissioner, but so be it.
I hadn’t seen the election results! Hurrah!
As a runner, this is true. But you focus on the pain of your legs and in your lungs and how your heart is gonna burst. Other pain, emotional or physical is briefly forgotten BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE IS TERRIBLE.
Evidence: I ran last night for the first time after a really hard 15k and briefly forgot that I pulled a rib muscle a few weeks ago. I didn’t notice until i stopped, could barely breathe without wanting to throw up and instead of finishing my workout, spent the rest of the night on the couch popping aspirin and Ibuprofen.
Also, I am still in ridiculous amounts of pain but I am covering reference for someone and teaching two classes and i can’t get a suuuub.
I tried concord grapes for the first time this year, and it was a revelation! Finally I understand why grape-flavored candy tastes the way it does! This sent me down a concord grape research spiral, which you’ll probably find inherently interesting BECAUSE IT IS, but also because a bunch of you are mystified how PB and grape jelly is a thing.
Short version? In the mid-19th century, Dr. Welch wanted to find a way for people to take communion without having to drink alcohol. He picked concord grapes from some vines around his house, made juice, and pasturized it. During WWI Welch’s made its first run of concord grape jelly, and it all got sent overseas to be included in servicemembers’ rations. They liked it so much that they wanted to keep eating it when they got home. During WWII the military started including peanutbutter in ration packs as a cheap source of protein. Some people, probably looking for a change of pace, combined the peanutbutter and jelly rations. They developed a taste for it, and the rest is history.
Shorter version? Blame it on the war.
I am very curious as to how this intersects with Manischewitz!
Here’s a great article about the history of Manischewitz http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/04…
Briefly: Concord grapes are native to the northeast, and concord grape wine started as a DIY kosher wine for recent Jewish immigrants from E. Europe, where previously they had made “wine” out of re-hydrated raisins, Poland and Lithuania not being great places to grow grapes.
I make my own concord grape jelly almost every fall and it is SO GOOD. There are so many fantastic grapes in the world and it makes me sad that most supermarkets carry only ‘green’ and ‘red’ and ‘purple,’ with their generic sweet flavor. I you ever have the opportunity to go to France in the fall, taste as many grape varieties as you can. Delicious!
Oooh! I’ve been hungrily monitering the grape section of my local supermarkets ever since my friend bagged some delicious muscat grapes from a random farmer’s market. So far I have not met with much joy. I would love to expand my grape universe.
Oh, so this is the perfect place to share the best thing I’ve done with Concord grapes recently: pie. It’s kind of fiddly but the results are worth it!
I’ve heard amazing things about grape pie. One of these days, I’m going to have to try it. Thanks for sharing that!
The only thing I’ve really ever done with them was a very simple drink of concord grape puree, simple syrup, and vodka. It’s pretty delicious.
I did something similar as well! Bryant Terry’s Afro-Vegan has a grape-tarragon spritzer that’s super delicious. It calls for red grapes, but I think Concords would also work.
There’s an annual grape festival in Naples, NY (a lovely spot in the Finger Lakes) where grape pie features prominently. It’s good stuff!!
Grape Pie! It’s the best!! My coworker’s wife makes grape pie for our office and it is AMAZING! it has become legendary around here.
We had concord grapes growing on our property when I was a kid and my mom often made this pie from them. Yeah, it’s fiddly with all the steps to separate out skins, pulp, and seeds, but OMG is it worth it!
Concord grapes are the best and it makes me sad that they’re only available for a brief window of time 🙁
I planted a seedless Concord vine in my yard and it is awesome.
Those exist?! Why are they all not seedless?! The ones I got from the supermarket were filled with GRAVEL and the novelty of eating grape-flavored grapes quickly wore off due to that.
99% Invisible just did a really interesting episode about how the military is responsible for developing basically all of the preservation techniques that make most modern food possible: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-and-piz…
there’s a lot to be haunted by in that VHEMT article but I think Bonobo Baby is going to haunt me the most. There are too many unanswered questions there and I can’t tell what’s a joke/exaggeration and what’s totally dead serious.
I will for sure not be sleeping tonight.
I’m all for alternative families, but a lady birthing a bonobo… I think I’ve found my line guys.
yeah the ape dad panel, where they look like two humans attracted to each other…no. If I was sure that was done for comic effect, I might be ok with it, but I’m not 100% sure on that. Not even 50%.
Tom stood there [at his wedding] with that everything-is-great look plastered on his face even as the crowd grew uncomfortable. Finally Jennifer [Lopez] leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Do you think Katie’s coming?”
YOU GUYS
Never have I wanted so much to be friends with Jennifer Lopez.
I work with a guy who is running an extreme marathon this weekend. 100 miles on a beach. I asked him once what he thought about when he does those runs. He said he mostly looks at the scenery.
There’s only so much scenery to look at, man.
A lot of my friends run ultras, and to a person their favorite thing about them is the aid stations, because they are apparently just endless buffets of peanut butter sandwiches, pizzas, pretzels, fruit, various beverages, soup, anything you can think of.
I did ask him what he ate during this business and his response was: “Whatever I can keep down.” Then he thought about it and said, “Mostly pizza.”
I can get behind that kind of running. Particularly since he’s about 110 lbs, soaking wet.
but… i can have “endless buffets of peanut butter sandwiches, pizzas, pretzels, fruit, various beverages, soup, anything you can think of” and “Mostly pizza” whilst sitiing on my couch at home. do these people know they can have these foods at home? without running 100 miles.
They do know these things and, from what I understand, indulge freely! But doing so in the middle of the night on a trail adds a sense of solidarity.
A friend is really into trail running and is starting to do ultras. 30 miles through the woods is only, in my opinion, worth it with some hot chocolate and festive music in a gd vehicle, NOT muddy and running.
I loved Chasing Amy – I haven’t see it for about 10 years, but I still have generally warm feelings about it. It takes Alyssa’s sexuality seriously! There is no a het-couple happy ending! It is very clear that Holden is a prat! These are still surprising and unusual things in a film!
You know what I have a lot of love for Kevin Smith movies and Chasing Amy. Yes its not perfect, but its a nice play on the ‘Man is so loving he turns a lesbian straight trope’.
I think it has a very clear message that Alyssa is not the problem in that relationship, Holden is a very common type of guy and is attracted to the idea/fantasy of turning a lesbian and being the only guy she’s been with. And when that fantasy turns out not to be real, he’s the one that is blamed for having the fantasy and making assumptions, the film doesn’t blame Alyssa for not living up to a male fantasy.
Plus Banky is super dooper gay and that messes with every Kevin Smith fanboy out there.
yes yes yes exactly!
yeah, it’s been a while since I saw Chasing Amy, but I remember it fitting in perfectly with other Smith movies – people are being awful, to each other and in general, but in a genuine dirtbaggy way you can’t help but feel some affection for, because you know and love at least one person like that. I know there’s plenty of things in his movies that are offensive or hurtful to some people, but…the thought of social justice warrior overthinking of his movies just feels ridiculous. And that’s refreshing, in a weird way, because I usually love me some SJW overthinking! I’m not quite sure how to articulate this, maybe like you can’t call him out for being non-PC because he knows the concept of “PC” is bullshit just as much as you do.
It always surprises me a little to hear how extreme the language in Clerks was at the time it came out…I didn’t see it til I was 18 or 19 and it had been out for years, and it was not shocking at all.
I think there’s also just something weirdly humble about Smith’s films. It never feels like “this is a film about a white man because white men are the only people films can be about, and everyone else is just a side issue compared to the important white man”, so much as “this film happens to be about a white man but this is just one perspective and a totally different film could be happening over there if you were following that character and their worldview instead.”
I mean, I don’t think it is a coincidence that Kevin Smith is a white man and gets funding to make films about white men, like many other white men, but I feel like he does in fact know that he is making films about white men and their experiences, rather than Default Human Films (which, o! just happen to star white men!)
yeah, I think that’s it! when his movies are hurtful it’s not because he’s screwing up or being ignorant or pandering to assholes like so many other media white guys are, he’s showing us a culture that is often hurtful.
Yuss. I have finally orchastrated the Toast into discussing my favorite subject*.
*Yes Kevin Smith movies are my favorite subject to discuss. Don’t judge me. They’re deeper than they look.
Let me grab my drink and join you, for I worship at the Jersy Trilogy and will always love him for being like “duh, rape is obviously terrible and should be an automatic R rating”. Which I know is like “here’s a cookie for being a decent human being”, but it’s still a sadly rare thing to say!
I think there was a general humbleness to his movies for a long time, he always had an attitude of ‘hey I’m going to make a silly movie about silly things, don’t mind me, its barely a movie anyway’, not the ‘white man’ arrogance of a lot of male film makers. And because he made silly little low budget movies. he was able to make the movies they way he wanted without studios leaning on him to make the main character ‘more likable’ or ‘more approachable’ or whatever.
Part of the reason Chasing Amy is so honest, I think, was because it was made for almost no money. and the studio didn’t really care about it, so didn’t interfere to make it a more appealing movie.
I think his characters are just real people; he writes about people he knows and about subjects he knows (And he happens to be a white man, so his stories are usually about white men, but it always feels like that’s just a coincidence).
His characters aren’t meant to be role models, or representative of a whole type of people, they just are who they are. Which is often douche-baggy, completely misguided assholes, just like the realworld. I like the idea that a lot of these kinds of guys will watch his movies and see themselves and then have a bit of a shock, he knows the demographic that he attracts, and I think he likes to fuck with them a bit.
I love the whole ‘Evening with Kevin Smith’ series too, you don’t normally get ‘Hollywood’ people being that honest (and I think now, with the podcasts, he doesn’t encounter the same ridiculous people like Bruce Willis and such, so we don’t get the same crazy stories. Plus weed.), not only about the whole movie business, but he was very honest about his own sexuality and struggles in life, which I think is cool.
This is just a question, because I am an old, but is SJW a neutral term?
I’ve only seen it used by questionable reddit commenters, so I was under the impression that it’s insulting, but I really don’t know. (And now I feel I might be acting like an SJW myself, sooooo)
It’s definitely meant to be denigrating… but hey, who wouldn’t want to be a warrior (or wizard, or whatever W-word you prefer) for social justice? In other words: I don’t know if other people feel the same way, but I’m planning on (re)claiming it, and I’ll only roll my eyes if anyone calls me a SJW meaning it to be an insult.
Yeah, this. If somebody wants to suggest that my flaw is that I am too adamant about social justice, I’m pretty ok with that.
Banky and his latent gayness that no one comments on is easily the highlight of the movie*, Jason Lee is the MVP of the Askewniverse.
*Followed immediately by the Silent Bob monologue. I don’t know why, it just works perfectly for once.
Banky is such a wonderful illustration of “the patriarchy oppresses us all”. There’s a lot about the movie that irritates me, but I always feel so sad for him. Like, will he ever find happiness? (I still want to punch Holden in the face, ugh.)
I think in one of the other Jersey movies, they mention he’s dating Hooper X.
I had such a thing for Jason Lee for most of my youth, largely because of these movies.
However recently I’ve become more intrigued by Silent Bob, I know he’s just supposed to be this silly character that doesn’t talk, but I think there’s more beneath the surface. I’d really love to hear Kevin deliver one of his diatribes on Silent Bob, I bet he has an insane back story.
I feel like the greatest moment of my high school years was my senior year boyfriend telling me his favorite movie was Scarface, so we watched it and I fell asleep during it. The next night I made him watch Chasing Amy because it was my favorite movie at the time and he fell asleep. We were never meant to be. I love Banky, I love Alyssa, I loooove Matt Damon’s “snootchy bootchies!” douchebag delivery.
Oh, also, I guess the Daniel Holzclaw trial began yesterday:
http://www.koco.com/news/trial-against-former-okl…
He is facing an all white, mostly male jury, and his victims were black women, and he is a police officer, so who knows who this will go.
*angry sad*
*worried face*
The scientology article is not as juicy as I had hoped, but it does have an anecdote about Tom Cruise wanting to play hide and seek in his 7,000 sq ft home, which actually sounds fantastic.
The thing that bugs me about the hide & seek thing is, it doesn’t matter who is asking you – if you’re in a SEVEN THOUSAND square foot mansion and someone asks you to play hide and seek, you should ALWAYS say yes! So many nooks and crannies to find! Maybe you’ll find a magic wardrobe! Take off your damn 5 inch stilettos and have some FUN, for L. Ron’s sake!
Anyone up for a Toast Hide-and-Seek party? If we all pool our money, maybe we can rent a 7,000 sq ft mansion for a night!
Could we also play reverse-H&S, aka Sardines? I love that gave. Some of my favorite memories of my college years were playing Sardines in a cemetery after midnight with friends…
… yeah I realize how weird that sounds as I type it, lol.
Sardines is the BEST, it’s one of the few things I loved equally as both a camper and a camp counselor. (although, I ran the “harry potter” activity, so I usually called it ‘golden snitch’.)
We used to play Sardines in big box stores as dirtbag teens!
I had never heard of Sardines until watching the relevant episode of Inside No. 9, which will make you never want to play that game.
That was hilarious. (And the cookie dough thing– yikes).
And FINALLY pursuant to that running article, have you guys heard of the Kaihōgyō? The “marathon monks” of Mount Hiei in Japan? They practice an ascetic discipline where they walk 30km a day for a hundred days in a row, keeping their eyes focused 100ft ahead at all times and, presumably, thinking only about the merits of the Eightfold Path.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D
Still not as badass as the self-mummifying austerity of the Sokushinbutsu monks, who lacquered themselves from the inside out: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sokushinbutsu-…
they just stole that from the Tang dynasty Chinese though
Music to my ears: “Rideau Hall has just issued the following statement: The Governor General has met with the Right Honourable Stephen Harper at Rideau Hall, who has officially resigned as Prime Minister of Canada.”
Harper is now officially consigned to the dustbins of history! Are any Ottawa Toasties attending Justin Trudeau’s swearing-in? Any hopes and dreams for the (half-female!) cabinet?
Holiday! Celebrate!
I would like a Minister of Aboriginal Affairs who is First Nations! A Minister of Immigration who is not a racist! A Minister for the Status of Women who is pro-choice! NO BILL BLAIR.
This seems so logical! (Which is why there’s only, like, a 30% chance of it ever happening.)
But instead we have a Minister of Justice who is First Nations! So grateful!!!!
I knooow, I got a big grin on my face when I heard that!
And I take back my earlier claim to want an FN Minister of (now called) Indigenous Affairs! Further research has concluded that that is not what FN activists want and it’s a bad bad idea, and here’s a good explanation of why from the great Pam Palmater: http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2015/11/t…
Thank goodness no Bill Blair!!!!
I wanted to attend but I settled for livestreaming the ceremony on CPAC. And I want to report for the official Toast record that CPAC interviewed a little old lady who said of Justin that “He’s a very nice young man.” Adorable.
My MP is now the Environment minister, so I anticipate a lot of calling/emailing/trying to talk with her in my future. I’m not seeing Bill Blair in any of the lists, and finally a female Justice minister! About time. (Still only 1/4 of the big cabinet posts went to women.)
Loving that she’s the Minister of Environment AND Climate Change!
They’re officially recognizing that climate change is real! (PS you have the best username ever. “I get it.” “Get what?”)
Female and first nations! I’m feeling an MMIW Inquiry coming on.
Jody Wilson-Raybould as Justice is great! I will be interested to hear what First Nations peoples think of the choice of Carolyn Bennett as Indigenous
Affairs Minister.
So: a Sikh man as Defence minister, an Aboriginal woman in Justice, Environment is now Environment and Climate Change, Science is held by someone who actually taught science…. holy crap, you guys!
The new Minister for Democratic Institutions is only 3 years older than me and immigrated to Canada the same year my family did, so now I am haunted by a sense of comparative inadequacy even though I want a Cabinet posting like I want a hole in the head.
yes yes yes yes yes
SO JEALOUS.
GOOD JOB, GUYS.
-from a US-ian
Right? I am reading this list transitioning from total joy to utter depression. MY country is fuuuuucked hey guys remember when we had a minister for the environment who thought climate change was real uuuuggggh
– An Australian
Aboriginal Affairs renamed to Indigenous, which is great. no FN Minister for that but they have FN for fisheries and – this is huge! – Justice!
Yeah, an Aboriginal woman as Justice minister is massive.
I hated that it was called Indian Affairs, so pleased they made the change.
I regret to inform you that it was actually Stephen Harper who changed it from Indian Affairs, in 2011. But he changed it to Aboriginal Affairs. This new change to Indigenous is much better! Maybe eventually we can actually call it First Nations, as would be well and good and right.
The problem with calling it First Nations is that there are aboriginal peoples who are not First Nations (Inuit, Metis), so I think they pretty much have to use “indigenous” or “aboriginal”.
Yup. Indigenous is the more inclusive term, in my understanding.
Ah, I thought that Inuit were one of the First Nations, but it looks like not – and of course Métis wouldn’t be, that hadn’t occurred to me. Thanks!
Oh thanks, I didn’t know that.
Thanks, The Beaverton:
50% female cabinet appointments lead to 5000% increase in guys who suddenly care about merit in cabinet
Along those lines, Oh Janice McKinnon No:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/janice…
A throwback to an era of equal representation in Canadian government, that era which existed never. It should reflect regional diversity, and ethnic diversity, but gender equality GOES TOO FAR.
Clearly, in a *true* meritocracy, the best cabinet ministers just happen to all be white men … from every province.
Andrew Coyne and Jon Kay have been so obnoxious on this topic this week.
That was marvelous.
HAHAHAHA…. unnnggggdghhh
I am a bit confused by some of the Cabinet positions because it seems to me like they lump together portfolios that aren’t necessarily an obvious fit? Like “Minister of International Development and La Francophonie” or “Minister of Small Businesses and Tourism” – is there a particular connection between tourism and small business?
I think small business and tourism are somewhat connected as small/medium industries, and assume they were left together when dividing up prior responsibilities of the Industry Minister? La Francophonie is an international organization so that seems like a natural fit; I assume it’s in that context rather than a more “official languages” one? (…this comment *might* serve as a confession that I’ve spent most of my morning on this rather than my to-do list)
Could be worse. Australia has a Minister for Sport and Aged Care. I am not even kidding.
A science minister with a science PhD who was involved in the work the IPCC won a Nobel Prize for! The minister of International Trade speaks five languages! A health minister who was a practicing physician with a Master’s in Public Health! I would like some of the men whining about the 50/50 gender ratio to explain to me again why the last cabinet was soooo much more qualified than this one with its attention to gender and race.
SERIOUSLY.
I’m sure I’ll be angry with the government eventually, but holy crap I am actually excited about this cabinet.
They released the committee lists as well, and the Committee Climate Change not only exists, but consists of the ministers of:
Environment and Climate Change
Science
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development
Fisheries and Oceans
Agriculture
Indigenous Affairs
Infrastructure
Natural Resources
And is chaired by Foreign Affairs, with Trade as vice chair.
That is exactly the people who should be on that committee! What is this sensible madness?!
It’s so sad that I nearly swooned reading that list.
I know, right? After almost a decade of Harper even the faintest whiff of progressive action is cause for celebration.
I am a Dipper who is really critical of the Liberals and direly warned “remember, they always campaign left and govern right’ after the election but this cabinet (and commitees) is so dreamy that I am hopeful! and happy!
Me toooooo. 🙂
I don’t know anything about Canadian politics but I work with a lot of (older, white) Canadians and you’d think this was the apocalypse. A few days after the election I was at an event and a Canadian diplomat gave a short speech. It was supposed to be about Canada Week in Arizona becoming an official annual event but instead he talked about how he remembers when Justin Trudeau was a child and the whole thing was very paternalistic, a lot of ‘well, isn’t it cute that the little kid thinks he can run the whole big government.’ Luckily there was an open bar.
Good thing that Canada isn’t all old white men, then 😉
And this right here:
Asked why he wanted gender parity in his cabinet, @JustinTrudeau just said “Because it’s 2015.” *
Oh my hearts and stars.
*eta Stolen from Tabatha Southey’s tweet
ALL THE YESES TO THAT
Seriously, he gets so much flak for being young and pretty and apparently not a towering intellect, but goddamn, I will trade you ten Rhodes scholars for someone who exhibits basic common awareness like that.
Right before the election I read an article by a journalist about his impressions of all the leaders (in-person meetings, not from media) and he said that he met Trudeau shortly after he became the Immigration critic. The journalist had just finished a project on immigration and said he was very impressed by Trudeau’s knowledge on the subject as well as his passion for it; he said Trudeau wouldn’t have had much time to learn all of that, but he did, even knew some things the journalist didn’t. So far I neither like nor dislike him but it does seem unfair to assume he’s dumb because he’s young and pretty.
Plus someone who exhibits basic awareness like that is *much* more likely to consider what those ten Rhodes scholars AND people who know things but aren’t Rhodes scholars have to say about specific issues.
Exactly, it’s like an anti-Dunning-Kruger.
I just actually flinched because our last Prime Minister, possibly the most awful Prime Minister of every country ever, was a Rhodes scholar. Not for being smart, for being rich and knowing people. SO.
I read somewhere an old friend of Pierre Trudeau’s said he felt Justin is unfairly compared to his father. He basically said something like “People say he’s not as smart as his father, but who is? And his dad could be really acerbic. He’s better at the people stuff.” I’m here for a PM who is smart enough to know when he needs experts.
I just came here to post that. Here’s the link if you want to watch (his delivery of that response is pretty funny) : https://www.facebook.com/GlobalNews/videos/917485…
I am excited to read that article about running later. Mainly because on reading the summary here, I was like, “HAHA YEP SOUNDS RIGHT!” But then on further reflection, I realized I willingly ran an extra mile earlier this week because I felt so great and the evening and woods were so beautiful, and also earlier last month I was disappointed my 10K stretch of the marathon relay wasn’t longer. Yeah, sometimes I think about pain if I’m really really pushing myself pace- or distance-wise, but generally I truly enjoy it.
Life is a rich tapestry and all that, I guess.
For me I tend to only think about the pain for the first mile and then after that I’m able to focus on how pretty the day is, all the happy quails and roadrunners I see on my path (I live in the dessert so while we don’t have pretty foliage our animals are A+), and whatever podcast I’ve chosen for the day. I usually give myself a minimum distance and when I am about at that point I ask myself if I actually hurt or I’m actually exhausted or if I can go a half to a full mile more, and more often than not I realize I am just fine and keep going. It is one of the few exercises that I genuinely enjoy!
Yeah, everything picks up after my minimum distance. Before that it feels like a chore and nothing seems to work properly. Once I feel like I don’t have to run anymore it becomes a lot more enjoyable
(I still kind of hate it though)
I never saw Chasing Amy. When it came out, I was, well, coming out too, and I really didn’t want to deal with what I assumed would be more straight dudes wanting to fuck lesbians because lesbians. And I just never got around to seeing it, even though friends have recommended it.
Plus I have always fucking hated Ben Afleck. I am not sure why, he just screams ‘douche’ to me.
I tired to watch is a few years ago knowing just the basics of the story and I don’t think I made it more than twenty minutes. Holden has just met Amy and didn’t know she was a lesbian yet. I just couldn’t stand Affleck.
Ben Affleck is indeed a thing made of evil that has ruined everything he has ever been in. You are correct.
Not just you, Ben Affleck has the worst face ever.
IS CANON NOW.
exploding hearts
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
***deep breath***
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, god. I don’t wanna mislead anyone. Not really, really canon, but unfortunately probably the closest thing to it we will get.
WHATTTTT FOR REALLLL?!?!?!?!!
What a GOOD day.
I literally just gave a presentation on pronoun usage and queer writing and Im on a high of social justice and inclusion.
It’s so great when your professor is like “none of this he or she or one business, just use she to subvert the patriarchy”. We aren’t allowed to use a singular they in writing just yet, but we’re working on it. I’m still using it on my papers on queerness.
We need to just accept the singular use of they and get on with it. In my first few years writing professionally I would always try to awkwardly re-work sentences to avoid using the super awkward “he or she” that bogs down writing. The day a client said “I’m ok with using the singular they” it was like all the permission I needed for all future clients and writing I do and I haven’t looked back. The world is better from over here.
I had a priest who, during his sermons, would alternate between referring to God as “he” and “she,” while always referring to the Holy Spirit as “she.” It was amazing. I really miss that guy.
Go you! I for real had an anxiety dream last night that someone official came to observe one of my English 100 classes and screamed at me in front of my students how wrong I was to tell them the singular they is increasingly accepted.
Singular they all the way! It reminds me of how, as often comes up in conferences/discussions/etc about accessibility, that it ends up helping everyone. There’s the story (possibly apocryphal) that curb cuts came into existence because of advocacy from wheelchair users but turned out to benefit people with baby strollers, bundle buggies (and these days, suitcases), etc. So yeah, it’s good for non-binary folks to normalize a singular “they” but really it benefits anyone who ever writes about an abstract third party.
Right? It’s super useful!
I am involved with talks with the higher ups about using ‘Gender X’ in the new database we’re developing (we bought it so we’re limited in a lot of things and this might be one of them), and why I think ‘intersex/indeterminite/other’ is NOT a good option for the ‘gender’ checklist. It’s stressing me outtttt.
“Hey have you heard of ‘othering’? Because this is quite literally doing that!”
No, they have not.
Everyone is being kind and thoughtful but also not really sure why it’s such a big deal, I think. I have only had to cry about it in the bathroom once, though, so… good?!
I work with patents, and “the skilled person” is the reference person. Just to see what would happen, I referred back to “the skilled person” a few times as “she” instead of “he” or “he/she”. My boss? Surprised, but grudgingly accepted (“well, okay, sure”). The other dude who occasionally checks my work? “No. The skilled person is a he. Fix it.”
Guess who I prefer working for?
Ok, I’m a cyclist, and I have never felt that much misery even on a challenging ride. It’s always fun, and there’s parts that feel like flying, and it’s outside. Just, running is the worst you guys.
Also, my spouse has informed me, to great despair, that there is already a heavy metal band named Cotard Syndrome.
Yes! I think this is probably my problem with running too. Cycling has spoiled me so there’s no way I will ever get to the point where running feels fast enough to be pointful.
Cycling just hurts so much less than running! I have tried running, and cannot keep it up for any length of time because it’s so awful, whereas cycling is actually pleasant.
I’m bad at cycling and it hurts for me. My back hurts, my legs hurt, whenever I am not going downhill.
I realize it’s probably a combination of my posture and equipment, but I’d rather run 10 miles than bike 10 miles.
It sounds like your bike is the wrong size for you (I have worked in bike shops off and on since like, 2001). Your back should definitely not hurt 🙁
if I ever try to seriously cycle, I will definitely be addressing that. My back does not hurt on my normal 3 mile commute to and from work.
I’ve been considering taking up cycling after not having biked in years, but how do you avoid awkward crotch bruises? I generally find that bike seats seem to be engineered to stab my nethers in uncomfortable places rather than to support my butt.
There’s a lot of things that can be affecting your saddle and how it feels when you ride. The first, most obvious, thing I’d look at would be the age and design of your saddle. Older saddles, especially inexpensive ones, tended to have a convex shape to them. That’s….not so good! Modern saddles are flatter and more targeted to your sit bones.
Second, I’d take a look at the angle of your saddle, and its position on the rails underneath it. You should be able to adjust that yourself with an allen wrench (usually 5mm). Try tipping it down, or moving it forward or back, and see how that feels.
One of the more surprising things that many people learn about bicycle saddles is that bigger and squishier isn’t always better. A big, squishy saddle often creates more pressure spots than is necessary. A good bike saddle fits your body, supports your sit bones, and causes minimal pressure to other tissues or bones.
A good way to figure out what is causing your problems is to take your bike into a local bike shop that advertises bike fits. They’ll be able to take a look at your body geometry and may recommend a new saddle, or just an adjustment to your handlebars or saddle positioning. They may measure your sit bone width to get a sense for what saddles will work for you; this involves basically sitting on a squishy memory foam thing and using a doohickey to measure the distance between your main sit bones.
Another thing to look out for are bike shops that offer saddle try out programs, where you pay a small deposit (say, $20) to try out different saddles, and if you find one you like, you can put that amount towards the new saddle.
That’s a lot of info, but from years and years of working in bike shops, I have lots and lots of opinions 😀 Feel free to ask any further questions!
Even after reading about their agenda, the logo for VHEMT looks like a COBRA-style supervillian organisation. It’s somewhere between the imagery of V For Vendetta and the Terran Empire in Mirror Universe Star Trek.
What I think about when I run varies a lot depending on so many factors. Is it a hard day and I’m feeling good? I’m thinking “Go fast, keep your form!” Is it a slow day, and I’m feeling bad? “Why do I run, this is silly. I really enjoy Dragon Age 2 the most, I can’t wait to play as a mage and make Fenris a rival.”
A 5k race it’s “I hope I can keep this pace/ Let’s go!” If it’s a Marathon with less than 5 miles it’s “Ow Ow Ow Ow Just finish Ow Ow Ow Ow”
Jeb Bush’s sloganeers, guys. Incompetents or saboteurs?
I don’t know, but it’s bad. My first thought was Jimmy Saville. Not a good thing.
Yeah, mine too.
And also
I’m going for saboteurs. Just because I prefer to think the world has some sense. Where I’m uncertain is what kind of saboteurs.
I suspect the saboteurs are trolling the incompetents.
Freeheld‘s negative reception makes me so sad, because it was apparently Ellen Page’s dream project and she spent years trying to get it made . . . and then she finally did, and it flopped. [sad trombone noise]
I am sad too! The trailer looked so good (if completely heartbreaking). And how could Steve Carell been bad in that role???
You guys have all seen this, right? (The bloggess posting a bunch of twitter screenshots of people talking about their most awkward moments). I made the mistake of reading it at work yesterday and got teary eyed trying to keep my laughter silent.
Yes! I was kinda losing my shit reading these on the train yesterday. Wonderful.
Me too!
I am one of those people who got retweeted! It was heartening to know that other people had worse awkward moments than I did.
I so needed this today. Thank you.
I do the thing where I drive up to the gas pump on the wrong side, turn around and do it again, and then leave ALL THE TIME.
My favorite was the woman who was talking to a super-cute guy at a party, and took a casual sip of her fancy cocktail (which was actually a vase full of flowers).
I read a bunch of those on Sunday night to my husband. The one where the guy couldn’t remember the word “foal” and so shouted “horse kittens!” had us ugly-crying from laughter.
My good friend and coworker calls calves cow kittens all the time. It’s become the running joke in our friend group.
I read that one to my wife and we were both like “yep, sounds right. they are horse kittens.”
Having conniptions at coffeehouse. So awkward but it feels so good. Man.
ETA: Okay now same thing happening only with Hamiltumblr. Fuck it. Life is good.
I tried reading it at work a few times and had to give up because of the noises I was making.
Also, Vulture article, why can’t we have trans people playing trans characters? Since OINTB and Sense8 there’s no argument that it’s not possible. So, get on with that, film industry.
I joined a pool recently, because swimming is one of the few physical activities I enjoy doing (doesn’t hurt, doesn’t trigger my asthma, etc etc), and I realized last night I’m going back almost entirely for the post-exercise high. Jesus, it’s great. I was growly and unhappy yesterday and the I swam for half an hour and came out soooo chilllllll. Spent the rest of the evening just smiling gently at everything I saw or thought of.
I hate running, but do it occasionally (like once every 2 months maybe) in my random bursts of “omg gotta get healthier.” One time, I came home and was firing off emails while I was waiting for dinner to cook, and my coworkers were like “wow, you’re really in a good mood!!” Whoooooops should probably (1) exercise more and (2) try to be less of a crank in general.
Swimming is awesome. Last night I felt like I was breathing through concrete because I’m fighting off a cold and I still went home from the pool in a sweet mood.
Oooh, yeah. I got sun-drunk yesterday on the last glimpse of warm fall sun in these parts, but I have vague memories of being able to do that via swimming pool.
Swimming is delightful. I do my best thinking underwater. It combines cardio and resistance work without the impact that you get from traditional cardio or resistance training.
Plus if you do it in cold water, it can trigger the mammalian dive reflex which is also useful.
I swim 2 swimmers miles four times a week, and it keeps me sane.
Running, on the other hand, is hell. This I learned after a brief flirtation with becoming a triathlete.
Wait, so I’m familiar with the mammalian dive reflex in terms of people sometimes not dying when they are underwater in freezing water for 40 minutes, but in less extreme examples (I hope!), what are it’s health benefits? I swim, so this intrigues me…
It calms you down instantly, and can take you out of panic mode. I have GAD, so this is a blessing for me, and why I often swim at 5AM.
Oh my gosh. This explains SO MUCH.
This was my reaction when my brother the biochemist explained it to me.
Maybe I’ll go for a swim tonight. (In the spring, just-off-the-antarctic, sea)
I love swimming so much but I have a lot of anxiety about navigating shared swimming spaces so I don’t have any way of doing it regularly.
In addition to it being a great low impact workout that helps give me buff arms, as someone prone to getting overstimulated I find swimming blocks sensory input in a very helpful way.
Yes THIS. I find I am way less stimmed after swimming. To the point where I notice my boyfriend can touch me lightly without me flipping out (sigh. It’s a thing). I just feel… properly inside my own skin. And it’s a great way to work out the specific shoulder muscles that help with my bung shoulder/general sitting-at-a-desk bad posture. AND it helps my asthma.
But a lot of that is negated if there’s a busy shared swimming space. I could handle the fancy gym i went to before because everyone knew the rules and kept to themselves and was polite and chose the correct-speed lanes. I stopped going there because it was very expensive, but the other places I can go are so crowded and full of rude and oblivious people. Now I just wait till summer so I can swim at the beach for free. I’m considering getting a wetsuit.
Cotard’s!! Reminds me of Georgia Madchen from those couple eps of Hannibal.
*shivers remembering the events of that episode*
Ok, so two of my favorite books are Country Matters and Horse People, both written by Michael Korda when he was still editor in chief of Simon & Schuster. Imagine my surprise when I went to look him up on his wikipedia page and found out that his son is the Church of Euthanasia dude! Understandably he doesn’t write about his son at all except to mention that they took horseback riding lessons together when Chris was a kid…
WHOA, leave home and go offline for a few days and this is what happens…pretty cool! Now off to enjoy LR!
so it’s my birthday. i’ve been on the toast for more than a year now which means i’ve grown far far FAR more in this past year than probably any other year before. THANK YOU, TOAST AND TOASTIES!
happy birthday! cheers!
Happy birthday!
Happy happy birthday!!! <3 I hope your day is amazing!
Happy birthday!!
happy birthday!!! wishing you a beautiful day and a beautiful year to come!
Happy birthday!
Cool, it’s my birthday, too! *high five*
HIGH FIVE, BIRTHDAY BUDDY!
i hope you have a super awesome fantabluous birthday 😀
(scorpios FTW)
I’ve decided that the pink hearts on twitter just means they’re playing the Lucky Charms long game, and next we’re getting blue moons and green clovers.
Now that I’m many years out of school (and compulsory gym class), I’m hoping to never have to run again. For any reason.
#lifegoals
I like this goal. Adopting it as my own.
my rules for running are, “away from zombies or towards food”. otherwise: NOPE.
I really loved running until the bosoms came in, and now there are not enough sports bras in the world. So jouncy.
Considering how I went from running into rugby as my primary form of exercise, I’m pretty sure I’m becoming an expert in the Pain and Discomfort area of conversation that article mentions.
Rugby and large aggressive predators are the only reasons to run, ever.
And technically rugby involves the latter too.
Abby Wambach, G.O.A.T.
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/abby-wambach-ret…
I read this earlier today and had feelings. That story about when she broke her leg! I just. Don’t leave us, Abby. 🙁
I got to go to a Q&A with her yesterday and I’m not over it and I might never be over it
god Wambach is so cool
http://entertainment.ie/life/Women-are-tweeting-E…
The Toast will love this. The Irish government are very concerned about womens reproductive systems, so women are keeping them well informed with their downstairs goings on via twitter.
GODDESS BLESS THOSE WOMEN.
I know I’m gonna come off like Lezbenezer Scrooge here, but I just have to say, Coates published his essay in a series called “Was It Good for the Gays?” which is significantly different from asking “Was it Good for the Lesbians?” His perspective is interesting, but also definitively — it should be noted — male.
Lezbenezer Scrooge <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
– The thing about Tom Cruise doesn’t really surprise me. Bronson Pinchot, in his AV Club “Random Roles” interview, talked about how Cruise would make these completely unsolicited and (needless to say) grossly inappropriate homophobic comments on the set of Risky Business: “He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, ‘You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?’ I mean, his lingo was larded with the most… There was no basis for it. It was like, ‘It’s a nice day, I’m glad there are no gay people standing here.’ Very, very strange…If someone’s 20 years old and every third line out of their mouth is anti-something specific, then draw your own conclusion.”
– When I’m long-distance cycling, I do look at the scenery, and it’s especially rewarding if it’s a new route or there’s been a dramatic change in the seasons. But I also use that time to work through whatever’s in my head that needs working through, or to simply zone out. It’s all good, except when it’s not, and when it’s not I pat myself on the back for getting through it rather than quitting, so it’s still all good.
– I always imagined that edible panties were a form of fruit leather. Mmm, fruit leather.
– VHEMT’s website is, oddly, blocked at work, so I can’t see if this is in their FAQ, but I’m left wondering why they don’t advocate for population reduction. The linked article makes a good point: if humans are really so selfish and destructive that they can’t co-exist on Earth with other species, why does VHEMT think that they would be willing to self-extinct?
– The thing about queer/trans films being about straight people primarily reminds me of Cry Freedom, which is about a white family that emigrated from South Africa and, incidentally, also about Steven Biko; that led me in turn to remember this SNL sketch.
Here’s a link to a blog called the Hairpin (which I think some of you may remember) which many and many a year ago used to be edited by someone named Edith (who, if you remember the Hairpin, you probably also remember).
This may mean nothing to many of you, but for the rest of you:
EDITH IS BACK AT THE HAIRPIN
EDITH IS BACK AT THE HAIRPIN
EDITH. IS BACK. AT THE HAIRPIN.
http://thehairpin.com/2015/11/mold/
(also, sorry if I’m not the first person to point this out, I suffer from selective internet blindness)
Oh. My. God. I had no idea either!
I’m sort of in love with how weird/unexplained the transition has been so far. Like, on Friday the old editorial team just lol byes the fuck outta there and Monday Edith shows up all “BATS motherfuckers!” It gives me that off-kilter feeling that I remember from the really good Hairpin days. I both want and don’t want to know what exactly went down there.
(fingers crossed she’s not just there temporarily as they search for new editors)
Can’t agree with you enough!!!
GUYS I just had THE VERY WORST MEETING that I probably made worse for myself by scowling all the way through but this is the ONLY THING ON THIS GREEN EARTH that maybe has the power to move my feels to focus on something different.
Come sit by us
In our tiny house
As we find again
More intense than Proust
The dream that is,
And the Qream that was
For that which lives
In each of us:
A battered pin
So long forgot
That slipped from its place
But never dropped.
There still is pain
There are still juiceboxes,
But today there’s a smile
And GIFS of foxes.
It will not be
Like days of old,
But I, for one, welcome
This post on mold.
It helps us bear
All other things:
That pin more dear
Than DEAREST rings
Or Robyn singing
Or bleach being near
For so long lost
Now, unasked, near.
If that old hope
You’ll newly dare,
Then come with us:
We’ll pin our hair.
I regret that I have but one thumb to up for this comment.
oh
It’s a shame that this, the greatest comment in the history of the internet, is buried so far down (and in two layers of replies). You are truly an underappreciated genius.
I saw it because, on one of my worst days at work, someone wrote a poem for me! I mean, obviously this is a poem of joy for all the peoples of the earth and beyond, but also it was kinda an extra delightful kindness for where I was in the @ chain. There was squee!
GOD BLESS YOU FOR ALERTING US TO THIS DEVELOPMENT
Re VHEMT: there’s a Rachel Swirsky story about the last two humans to die on Earth, and it gave me the kind of shudders where I had to physically move the book of my bedside table so I could sleep. Once when I was a kid I read something about the world ending in 2024 that freaked me out so much, but I can mentally cope with cataclysm more than slow die off.
http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2007…
(but buy the book! it’s pretty great! there’s a story I’m still mulling over about what happens to non-exceptional girls in dystopias.)
Thanks for the recommendation! The VHEM people I’ve met have been mostly like me: they don’t mean it literally, they mean that we should reduce our population.
Oh, man. Talk about getting pulled out of a story! I was fully enthralled until the water-eyed girl’s mother started speaking te reo Maori. Why that instead of an Australian Aboriginal language? Is this author error, or backstory that doesn’t fit in the front-story? In a world where literacy is abandoned, how did te reo – a language still clawing back from extinction in our time – become still conversationally spoken and one of the last languages on earth?
I want THAT story now, dangit. And I feel uncharitable that my first thought was “Oh, American author, she probs just thought ‘native language from down south Pacific somewhere’ and picked the word at random.”
Toasties! The cats made it, safe and kind of stinky but otherwise okay! Thank you for the kind wishes.
Hooray!
I work with patents, and "the skilled person" is the reference person. Just to see what would happen, I referred back to "the skilled person" a few times as "she" instead of "he" or "he/she". My boss? Surprised, but grudgingly accepted ("well, okay, sure"). The other dude who occasionally checks my work? "No. The skilled person is a he. Fix it."
Guess who I prefer working for?
"Hey have you heard of 'othering'? Because this is quite literally doing that!"
Ah, I thought that Inuit were one of the First Nations, but it looks like not – and of course Métis wouldn't be, that hadn't occurred to me. Thanks!