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Lakeshore
An author of no particular popularity

Jay Lake
Date: 2008-07-22 04:31
Subject: [links] Link salad for a Midwestern Tuesday
Security: Public
Tags:culture, links, personal, politics, religion, science

SFFaudio with more links to Susan Palwick and me at SF in SF

The book cover poll

Nanoradio Tunes In to Atoms — More nanotube radio weirdness. Cool stuff.

Discovery Institute Takes on Gravity Myth — “Gravity is just a theory, and a poorly-supported one at that.” Hahahahahahaha. Astronomy is next — Genesis unambiguously states that the moon is a lesser light in the sky, yet so-called “scientists” have “theories” that moonlight is actually reflected sunlight. (Thanks to danjite.)

Bad Astronomy Blog on plate tectonics and Young Earth Creationism — Of course he’s falling into the same rhetorical fallacy which often captures me, which is the whismical notion that one can use logic in a discussion about articles of faith. Like me, Phil Plait seems to expect people to listen reason.

Feministing on Purity Balls — Ick. Just reading this made me ill.

WaPo: Young Republicans, Blue About the Prospects Ahead — And it couldn’t happen to a nicer party. Part of my allergy to the GOP stems from their incessant triumphalism which began in 1994 and didn’t really trail off until 2006 (remember the “Permanent Majority”?), so I confess to a certain amount of schadenfreude at stories like this, having been in the political wilderness myself most of my adult life.

More on Obama’s birth certificate — Because teh stoopid never dies in ConservativeLand, it just gets elected. (Snurched from Pandagon.)


7/22/08
Time in saddle: n/a (20 minute walk instead)
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: Green by Jay Lake

Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.

Post A Comment | 11 Comments | | Flag | Link



Brian Dolton
User: tchernabyelo
Date: 2008-07-22 12:45 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)
Sadly, it looks like the "Gravity" story is a spoof, although it seems to have been widely accepted as real.
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calendula_witch: Paris Catacombs
User: calendula_witch
Date: 2008-07-22 18:15 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)
Keyword:Paris Catacombs
Re purity balls: Ew. Deeply ew.
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dinogrl: http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc224
User: dinogrl
Date: 2008-07-22 19:53 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)
Keyword:http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc224
Wow, the Breeder in the purity ball story was enough to make me puke.

Wrong, just wrong. Yes, it's about integrity, but please don't perpetuate the Cinderella thing. It's bad enough they've taken the "father/daughter" banquet to a "'ho nutha level". Ickity, ick, ick!
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daveraines
User: daveraines
Date: 2008-07-22 23:28 (UTC)
Subject: Purity balls
OK, I'm mostly on the "ick" side of the fence myself, and I know my objections. But I wonder if you could unpack your "ick" for me. To what, exactly, do you object? Specifically, is it the concept (or the word) "purity"? And conversely, is there anything of value here that should be preserved?

As the father of a 14-year-old daughter, I have some sympathy with some of the motives here, despite the "ick" factor.
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Jay Lake
User: jaylake
Date: 2008-07-22 23:53 (UTC)
Subject: Re: Purity balls
I have a ten-year-old daughter, I grok the motives. But this seems very sexualized...or maybe fetishized...

I mean, they're celebrating their daughters' purity, but does any parent think a twelve year old should be *impure*?
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daveraines
User: daveraines
Date: 2008-07-23 01:22 (UTC)
Subject: Re: Purity balls
I grant the point. And not only the sexuality, but having two big swords for the processional is not only weird, but carries an implication of "purity or death" that I find... well, ick.

And the answer is yes, some parents do think twelve-year-olds should be impure, if you define impurity as sexually active, multiple partners, even to the extent of prostitution sometimes.

I was touched by some of the stories told in the original piece; that the guy dying of cancer (after leading an "impure" life himself) would want to protect his daughter, seems sad and proper. And I really believe that what we want to encourage, we ritualize. And there are no rituals that I'm aware of (in our culture) for making a clean transition from childhood into a mature sexuality. Not that I think this is the answer.

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daveraines
User: daveraines
Date: 2008-07-23 01:30 (UTC)
Subject: Re: Purity balls
There's also the very obscure difference between "protecting my daughter's virtue" and "treating my daughter like property."

I guess one of the things I waffle on is the father-daughter thing: I think it's very cool that the fathers are giving some guidance re sexuality; but there's just something kind of "off" in escorting your daughter to a ball that's about sexuality (even pure sexuality). I mean, it's like something from later Heinlein.

But maybe that's just me.
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paulcarp: pic#67230600
User: paulcarp
Date: 2008-07-23 03:28 (UTC)
Subject: paulcarp EXCLUSIVE! Link Salad a FORGERY!
Keyword:pic#67230600
Under digital analysis, if you compare Jay Lake's blog with my blog, the borders don't line up. The fonts are different. The writing style is completely different.
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Jay Lake
User: jaylake
Date: 2008-07-23 11:20 (UTC)
Subject: Re: paulcarp EXCLUSIVE! Link Salad a FORGERY!
Curses! Foiled again!
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farmgirl1146
User: farmgirl1146
Date: 2008-07-23 05:23 (UTC)
Subject: a cautionary (bad) example of "purity"
Didn't Britney Spears promise to "remain a virgin until marriage" ("BBC NEWS / Entertainment / Britney's boast busts virgin myth". Retrieved on 2008-03-04), which resulted in a 55 hour marriage? These things are abnormal and destructive. Again, I refer you to Britney Spears. (Most of this information comes from Wikipedia, and the rest from my fevered brain that couldn't open a web-news-site with out headlines I couldn't miss about here.)
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farmgirl1146
User: farmgirl1146
Date: 2008-07-23 05:29 (UTC)
Subject: birth certificates
My Oh My. Well, Atlas Shrugs certainly doesn't follow the philosophy of Ayn Rand. McCain's birth certificate reveals that he was born in Panama, and not in the US protectorate area (?) of the Panama Canal Zone. Is he or is he not eligible to be President. I read it on the antithesis of the Atlas Shrugs site, so it has to be right. Right?
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