A frustrated attempt at a funny Friday

Dinner with Epsilon is starting to become unpleasant. Motivating him to sit in his chair and eat before his food becomes ice cold and he is bored with the task of eating his risotto one grain of rice at a time is harder than I would have ever imagined. It usually ends in deadlines and warnings about watching his playtime disappear, and eventually threats about having to go to bed hungry. Not a pleasant sight. And then I read this about the sequester.

US transportation secretary Ray LaHood said sequestration “would force the FAA to undergo an immediate retrenchment of core functions.” He added that it “will be impossible to avoid significant employee furloughs” at the agency.

“The furlough of a large number of air traffic controllers and technicians will require a reduction in air traffic to a level that can be safely managed by the remaining staff,” LaHood wrote.

Aaah, lets add to the list of threats and warnings longer lines at airport security and fewer flights. It makes me wonder if Obama feels like he dealing with his daughters in their worst toddler years.

***

Emoticons. ... Sigh.  I'm old school. I remember getting to college and keeping in touch with high school friends via talk. Anyone else? I learned about emoticons pretty early, and like them in their text version. I really appreciate people who come up with clever ones. My thesis adviser, a bald man with a mustache and a beard often signs e-mails (:-{)} Brilliant! A friend's evil grin is >=]. A nice variation on the theme.

The animated emoticons strike me as .... unimaginative and restrictive.

And then I send the following bits of harmless mathematical expressions over skype to a colleague I keep a fairly formal relationship with.

(h)^2 = result




Nope... not hitting on you... just being stupid with the space bar.

Or how about

x=(\int (f) dy)




Right... I've completely lost it. Lets call it a day, shall we?

Four Years ago

The opening of Obama's speech last night had me going for a moment. Overall, it wasn't a great speech, in my completely unqualified opinion. But it had a great opening.

Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution.  We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.

Something fluttered inside me. This has been the sea change of this administration for me. All of a sudden, some very official government officials are talking about darker shades of beige and people for whom the god of the New Testament is not fundamental to their belief system and the beliefs of their ancestors as part of America.

It got me thinking about this moment 4 years ago. Friends of mine had gone to DC for the first inauguration. My partner and I were at a conference near my in-laws, where an unfortunate sequence of events caused us to realized that trying to adopt was just not going to work for us, we needed to try to conceive.....

It's been an eventful 4 years.

US Foreign policy in a nutshell

This occurred at the airport while coming home last week. I arrived to the airport early, so I treated myself to a cup of ice cream. Walking by a fast food counter with no counters, I hear:

Vendor: [Foreign words] helado [Foreign words]?
Me: I'm sorry, I don't speak the language.
Vendors colleague: Is the icecream good?
Me: Yes it is. Thanks.
Vendor (translated by his colleague): Where are you from?
Me: Originally? The US.
Vendor: US! OBAMA! (big smile as he pats his heart.)
Me: Yes, Obama.
Vendor (Realizing a possible faux pas): Is Obama good?
Me: Yes, I am very relieved.
Vendor's colleague: Iran just took down one of your planes.
Me: Oh?!
Vendor's colleague: It was on the TV five minutes ago. It wasn't manned. It was a ....
Me: A drone?


Well, that just about sums up the highs and lows of US foreign policy, doesn't it?

This is what America looks like

I've been listening to selected speeches from the DNC off of Politico's website all day. It struck me that there seem to be an overwhelming number of women and minorities speaking. So I decided to count.

I took my list of speakers from here. Not counting the Presentation of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, or the videos, and counting the Hispanic Caucus and the Women of the House of Representatives as one speaker each, I counted 54 separate speakers. Of which, 20 were female, 11 were African American, 13 were Asian, Hispanic or other, and 17 were white male.

So, actually, there were 37% female speakers (as opposed to 51% in the population), 20% African American (as opposed to 13 % nation wide), 24% Hispanic/Asian/Other (as opposed to 24.4% nationwide) and 31% white non-hispanic male (as opposed to 31.9% nation wide.) I'm not doing a count of gay speakers because that takes more effort than simple google searches of the names.

Wow. Okay, so women are a bit under represented and African Americans a bit over represented. But in general, this is what America looks like. A whole lot of women and minorities. Not so many white dudes. If every TV show and movie and book I read had a cast of characters that looked like this, I wouldn't feel like I somehow didn't belong in America. My darkness doesn't stand out in the crowd of speakers up there. Neither do my breasts.

This is not the Vagina Monologues. This is America. A representative sample. This is how (threateningly? joyously?) diverse we look like if we all stand up and get counted visibly. I feel like for the first time in my life I am actually seeing it in front of me. It makes me so happy, and almost proud.

I was going to write about the genderness of some of the speaches, and complain about why female speakers feel like they must identify with their roles as mothers/grandmothers/care-takers. On the flip side, I was going to laud Polis for opening with his role as a father. But you know... this realization has taken the wind out of whatever complaints I may have. I am going to bed a happy woman today.

On women and ducks

I just have to chime in on the Ted Atkins issue. Yesterday he said

"From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," said Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."

This story of legitimate rape is not new. The fact that some men cannot grasp the idea that the physcal discomfort of pregnancy, let alone the emotional trauma of carrying a fetus resulting from rape could possibly be viewed as a punishment for the woman carrying the fetus is not new. For instance, this 1988 quote from Stepen Freind, Pennsylvania state representative at the time*:

"Rape obviously is a traumatic experience. When that traumatic experience is undergone, a woman secretes a certain secretion, which has a tendency to kill sperm."

This is new. Well, no. Its a 14 year old quote. Its just new to me, and a novel concept to human biology.

I'm not an evolutionary biologist, zoologist, or anyone who knows a lot about the animal kingdom. Experts, please correct me if I am wrong, but I only know of one species where the female has evolved any sort of protection against  forcible sexual encounters, once penetration has occurred. Ducks. Quack Quack. Specifically studied were Muscovy Ducks, at Yale in 2009.**

To gain the edge in these conflicts, drakes have evolved large corkscrew phalluses, lined with ridges and backward-pointing spines, which allow them to deposit their sperm further into a female than their rivals. ... [Female ducks'] vaginas are equally long and twisting, lined with dead-end pockets and spirals that curve in the opposite direction.

Fascinating. TMFI. Fascinating. After some duck erections and test tubes, the group at Yale concluded that

[T]he shape of the female duck’s vagina is a physical barrier that prevents the male from launching forth his ballistic penis to its fullest extent. It won’t stop a drake from ejaculating (and those in Brennan’s trials always did), but it does limit how far the semen is deposited along the vaginal tract.

Thus decreasing the likelihood of  zygote formation in the case of non-consenting sex. This is similar to what was claimed at the start of this post. This leaves me with one thing to say.

 

*Thanks to Rachel Maddow for making me aware of this quote.
** Quotes taken from Ed Yong.

Wisconsin Recalls

Several months ago, I took part in collecting signatures for a recalling a Wisconsin state senator. Now, the effort to recall the governor, Scott Walker, is underway.

From the news reports I'm reading about the effort, progress on collecting signatures seems to be proceeding at a fast pace. When I was up helping collect signatures, we were warned not to give a clipboard to someone in a car, as they had several clipboards stolen from them by people who would stop under the pretense of signing, and drive off with the signatures. We heard stories of people who drove by and took banners out of petition collector's hands. While I was there, people drove by with all sorts of racial slurs for me. (The most surprising were the ones that were correctly identified my race.) It seems that this time around, that type of activity, and worse, is still occurring, but at least the police seem to take it seriously.

In August, Wisconsin failed in its attempt to recall enough state senators to go from a democratic minority to a majority. To be fair, the general political wisdom seems to be that it is very difficult to recall anyone from office, and the two state senators recalled in Wisconsin are 2 of the 6 state senators ever recalled in US history. And now, they are trying for governor Walker. The only other successful gubernatorial recall ever was of Governor Davis in California in 2003.

I have a huge amount of respect for the women I was out collecting signatures with last time. They hit the pavement every day in a very conservative district, exposing themselves to significant disdain and hatred from their neighbors and townspeople, and not an insignificant amount of danger. I can't be with them in their efforts this time around, but my thoughts and best wishes are with them.

To her credit

Okay, I can't resist.

Yes, that is Michele Bachman standing, and the other GOP candidates sitting.

The headline on Daily Kos?

"Republicans Pander to American Taliban"

Which is a bit extreme, but funny. Reminds me of my time with hard core communist comrades who would ask that I serve the food at meetings over a meal because "women are naturally better at these things."

Whatever else I have to say about her (none of which is nice) I have to give her credit for being able to function and put up with this shit at the same time.

Now I'm just confused

This came out of Herman Cain's mouth yesterday:

“I believe that life begins at conception and abortion, under no circumstances,” Cain told Morgan.  Pressed on if he would apply this same directive to his grandchildren, Cain candidly responded.

“It comes down to, it’s not the government’s role or anybody’s role to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you’re not talking about that number. What I’m saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that the family or that mother has to make. Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide. I shouldn’t have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue.”

I'm sure he's not pro-choice. Or, if he is, he will remove it from his platform soon. But this was just hilarious. His summary of the pro-life movement's stand in this country is so spot on!

Update (10/21 12:20 pm):

ROFL!!!!!

CAIN: It would be an illegal abortion. Look, abortion should not be legal, that is clear, but if that family made a decision to break the law, that is that family’s decision, that’s all I’m trying to stay.

The liberal I wish I was

I read this on Daily Kos the other day, and I can't get it out of my head.

The person I hope to become when I grow up does not greet political arguments with ire or emotional responses. She greets them with facts and counterarguments that hold in the starting domain of the person arguing with me. She seeks to find common ground with the arguer, and attempts to find who is correct.

Correct is a muddier issue when dealing with political arguments, but for now, I use the definition that if a person starts with a set of axioms, and then is consistent within those axioms (even when it works against their own interests), then conclusions that can be drawn from those axioms are, in some sense, correct.

This response to a 53%er does that. And it reminds me why I am a liberal.

The letter in response to the following:

I am a former Marine.
I work two jobs.
I don’t have health insurance.
I worked 60-70 hours a week for 8 years to pay my way through college.
I haven’t had 4 consecutive days off in over 4 years.
But I don’t blame Wall Street.
Suck it up you whiners.
I am the 53%.
God bless the USA!

 The responder writes:

Look, you’re a tough kid.  And you have a right to be proud of that.  But not everybody is as tough as you, or as strong, or as young.  Does pride in what you’ve accomplish mean that you have contempt for anybody who can’t keep up with you?  Does it mean that the single mother who can’t work on her feet longer than 50 hours a week doesn’t deserve a good life?  Does it mean the older man who struggles with modern technology and can’t seem to keep up with the pace set by younger workers should just go throw himself off a cliff?

And, believe it or not, there are people out there even tougher than you.  Why don’t we let them set the bar, instead of you?  Are you ready to work 80 hours a week?  100 hours?  Can you hold down four jobs?  Can you do it when you’re 40?  When you’re 50?  When you’re 60?  Can you do it with arthritis?  Can you do it with one arm?  Can you do it when you’re being treated for prostate cancer?

I've lived in a place where 50 year olds work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, no sick days with pay. Where illness mean loosing one's job and depending on family for food. These 50 year olds looked like 80 year olds do in this county due to the back breaking work they've undertaken for the last 30 years. They lived in slums in a developing country.

And is this really your idea of what life should be like in the greatest country on Earth?

I know what my answer is. The author continues to describe his understanding of the "American dream".

Look kid, I don’t want you to “get by” working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week.  If you’re willing to put in that kind of effort, I want you to get rich.  I want you to have a comprehensive healthcare plan.  I want you vacationing in the Bahamas every couple of years, with your beautiful wife and healthy, happy kids.  I want you rewarded for your hard work, and I want your exceptional effort to reap exceptional rewards.  I want you to accumulate wealth and invest it in Wall Street.  And I want you to make more money from those investments.

  I wish I had the grace to write this letter.

What have you done, Massachussetts

A post by FunkDoctorX the other day got me started thinking about some problems with academic jobs, something I've been thinking about a lot anyway. I just want to point out three states, and their bills:

Wisconsin: passed a bill eliminating collective bargaining rights for everything except salaries, and prohibits striking.
Ohio: Senate Bill 5 eliminating collective bargaining for benefits, and prohibits striking
Massachussetts: The state house of representatives passed a bill eliminating collective bargaining rights on health care.

Wait What? Massachussetts? That tiny state with gay marriage and state mandated health care? That great bastion of blue?

I got interested in this issue when I first heard coverage of the Wisconsin bill that mentioned that University of Wisconsin could no longer form unions.

Let me just present a case study as to why I think this is important, with the standard caveat that anecdote is not the singular of data.

I went to a non-unionized university. My partner's had a union.

I did not have dental insurance. My partner did.

I did not have the option of maternity leave. I could pay the school to take a term off. My partner had access to a full semester.

We considered it a victory when we were able to convince our department to stop using discriminatory pay scales for foreign students, or when they agreed to pay summer school TAs the amount they verbally told the students (no paper contract had been issued that year). My partner's school? They had lawyers to deal with this type of negotiation, so that untrained students who should really be focusing on their theses didn't have to figure out which dean would be most sympathetic.

At the risk of starting a flame war, where do people come down on the issue of unions (in general, or in your university)?

Instead of just ranting about the US budget

Okay, I've written my lecture notes for the day, and I have some time before class. Instead of being depressed about the news, here are a few useful links, both US budget related, I guess.

An online petition to tax oil companies.

A resolution at for the US conference of Mayors to curb war spending, and a link to contact your own mayor.

American renga and race

I was listening to a story on NPR this morning about a new poetry book Crossing State Lines: An American Renga. A renga is a collaborative style of oral poetry from the ancient far east. Think poetry duals during Renaissance Europe. Or, and this is my point, rap duals in modern day America.

My problem is partially with the book title "American Renga," but I see a point in that... A lot of the poets in this book are poet laureats from different states from across the country। My larger problem is with the spin given on this story, the lack of discussion of other collaborative poetry that occurs on a regular basis in this country. Linked poetry that circulates in the daily lives of people who may not be the target audience of NPR's listenership.

If this story was done because April is poetry month, as it claims, then does there not need to be a discussion of the context of the poetic form, or for the modern evolution of the form that has brought this project about? (The story was more than 7 minutes long, after all.)

Maybe I should stop listening to NPR.

To anonymous @4/15/2011 10:41:00 AM

I'm not getting work done today anyway. Something I read in the comments late last night has been bothering me all day today. I wish I could reach out to the poster and tell him that there is a time and a place, and that his complaints (or what I think is _actually_ underlying his complaints) is legitimate, but that it belonged in a different forum. Just because he faces discrimination doesn't mean that other groups that also face discrimination are to blame. That there are other places that will support him through his pain. But I chose not to post on the stream last night because the angry comment stream had slowed down by the time I noticed it, and I didn't want to accidentally restart anything. So here's my response.


Easy yar,
There's hate enough everywhere
To start bashing and thrashing and calling the shots
Cause you didn't get the job even though your hot.
You call discrimination
Demand an explanation
from the feminazis that keep you down
because you KNOW we rule the town
in academia

We have our equal rights bill,
We're on the committees to kill
the aspirations of brilliant PHD's like you.
Too true. It must be true.
What else could there be as an explanation
For the difficulties you, and my father
and so many other immigrants find on these shores
of opportunity and luxury and big box stores?
Have I watched my father,
a partition refugee falter?
Be passed by for promotion and honor and raise
by younger, whiter more aggressive men more eager to claim praise
for not only their own work but his?
Truly, at a university? What is this?

The halls of academe are not a meritocracy,
as the halls of DC aren't strictly a democracy,
But it's close. No it's not.
But it's better than a lot
of other options. Otherwise, why are we all here?
I don't mean to appear
to be making fun of your anger
But if we replaced
words gender with those race, or religion
You'd be in the cross-hairs of a schism
that is tearing this country or yours apart.
Maybe that doesn't matter to you, that in your heart
you believe that any attempt at equal opportunity
deserves an eternity
of criticism.

I hope that you don't.

Raci, Sexi Wisconsin Recall

Since I'm spending so much time in Chicago now, I decided to go up to Wisconsin to help collect some votes for the recall effort against Mary Lazich.

I don't think I've been part of something so sincerely grass-roots in a very long time. The women who were there, were by and large housewives who were honestly fed up. They had never been involved in politics before, but they couldn't stand by and and see their state go the direction it was going. Also, this is one of the more strongly republican districts, and therefore the powers that be that are helping out in organizing and signature collecting, in other recall efforts are not spending as many resources on this one.

There were women there who have been out every single day, collecting signatures at village halls and street corners, and any way they can, often alone. This is courage I have not found in myself, no matter how mad I've been about something. I am truly impressed.

The part I found the most, shall we say, entertaining, about this all, is the response I elicited from the people we were trying to get signatures from. Comments included "white power", which I attribute to layer of fuzz on my head in place of hair, and a ramble about whether Lazich was some sort of Pakistani name (well, at least this person knows that I am South Asian?!?), various attempts at being lewd, and being followed in a car while canvasing.

Its been a long time since I've spent time in a public setting in a very conservative part of this country. And this is why. The women I was with were surprised by my reaction (rather lack thereof) to these comments. I'm not sure where that comes from. Partially, I suppose, from the fact that it is much easier to take things on the chin when something like this happens in a place one does not have an emotional investment in. Partially, ironically, I suppose this comes from 7 years of training in academia (I won't name names).

I've talked about how I feel much more comfortable (at least when I had hair) to go to a conservative village in India than to a conservative part of this country. There is a huge level of perceived safety in being able to blend into a crowd, even though the former situation is probably, in actuality more dangerous.