Foucault without the footnotes

Well, wouldn't this be nice? Academic work without the toil of references! Here is a long quotation found on Claire O'Farrell's blog - to her insight and superior research skills, I am indebted.

"No-one is forced to write books, or to spend years elaborating them or to claim to be doing this kind of work. There is no reason to make it obligatory to include footnotes, bibliographies and references. No reason not to choose free reflection on the work of others. It is sufficient to indicate well and clearly what relation one is establishing between one’s own work and the work of others."

"Nul n’est forcé d’écrire des livres, ni de passer des années à les élaborer, ni de se réclamer de ce genre de travail. Il n’y a aucune raison d’obliger à mettre des notes, à faire des bibliographies, à poser des references. Aucune raison de ne pas choisir la libre réflexion sur le travail des autres. Il suffit de bien marquer, et clairement, quel rapport on établit entre son travail et le travail des autres."

    Michel Foucault, (1994) [1983] ‘A propos des faiseurs d’histoire’. In Dits et Ecrits vol. IV. Paris: Gallimard, p. 413. This passage translated by Clare O’Farrell

Hermann Zapf: His art, his legend

The Art of Hermann Zapf from Johnny Dib on Vimeo.

The transformative nature of writing according to Michel Foucault

'(J)’écris pour me changer moi-même et ne plus penser la même chose qu’auparavant.’

Michel Foucault, (1994) [1980]. Entretien avec Michel Foucault. In Dits et écrits, t. 4. Paris: Gallimard. #281, p. 42.

I write in order to change myself and in order not to think the same thing as before.’

Michel Foucault, “Interview with Michel Foucault” J. Faubion, ed., Power (New York: New Press, 2000), p. 240.

This quotation from an interview with Foucault expresses how he is not a theorist who writes to analyse the world better. Foucault is writer whose purpose is to change himself - a sort of self-actualisation, if you will.

How many of us are changed by our writing but are too busy to notice?

Unexpected geekery: 1££75?£4X

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I don't use coded language much, but when I do I use capitals and lowercase to change the phonetics of letter pronunciation:
hA how R U? cN U hLp mE?
Hey how are you? Can you help me?

A = ay
B = be
C = see
D = dee
E = ee
F = ef
G = gee
H = aitch
I = eye
J = jay
K = kay
L = el
M = em
N = en
O = oh
P = pea
Q = queue
R = are
S = ess
T = tea
U = you
V = vee
W = double you {NB not often used in conversation, I have to admit}
X = ex
Y = why
Z = zee

wE nEd 2 gO 2 hLp mI frNd, Qpid. NE1 cN come!
We need to go help my friend, Cupid. Anyone can come!

See, this is how my morning starts... I read Wikipedia and I cannot help but fall down the rabbit hole...

Weekend Supplements: Why the Daily Mail is the only one to get it right

Today is Sunday...and in all traditional British households this means one thing - a session with the newspapers. It might be the Sunday version of your regular read, it might be that you don't get a paper until Sunday (they are SO much bigger - more bang for your buck!), it might be that your other newspaper is replaced by a special, higher-quality version on Sunday (it is the Sabbath, you know! Only the best will doodle-doo!)...or you might be one of the lucky families where this HQ version is in addition to the normal one - so you have two papers to share between you all! The lavishness! [If you live alone, you can wallow/luxuriate in all that ink and knowledge solo - then feel extra smug that your recycling efforts are more impressive than the couple downstairs who spend all their time cycling - No time to read? Bah - just look at my stack of old print! These are going to be toilet paper soon!]

Now, I have been fortunate in that I never have to buy a newspaper - I always have lived where someone else footed the bill. This means I sometimes have no say in the reading material - but that only makes it more exciting for me. Staying in a posh hotel? The Financial Times may be coming your way! Waiting for a bus in a municipal station? There's bound to be a well-thumbed Daily Star somewhere...

If I am travelling, not having news makes me feel a bit sea-sick. I worry that something colossal has happened and I will return and make a frightful faux-pas in mentioning the wrong celeb or maybe the next big entrepreneurial opportunity is slipping me by because the bazillionaire who is looking for a wing man with my exact skill-set is only taking CV submission via YouTube and I hadn't heard a thing about it.

I have rectified this on most occasions where I am able to access a computer as my GoogleReader has subscriptions to all the places I could possibly need:

1. Actual news: Daily Mail Online
2. Science news:
1. New Scientist - Online News
2. Wired Top Stories
3. Queer news:
1. - Gay news daily: Towleroad.com - "Hot blog"--Newsweek
2. automatic straddle
3. be yr own queero
4. Bi-Furious!
5. BiNet USA News and Opinions
6. Bisexual news & opinion from BiMedia.org
7. Bisexuality and beyond
8. Bliss Warrior
9. Blogging for Truth
10. Dorothy Surrenders
11. Dyke Republic
12. Either / And
13. eric mathew's world.
14. Gay UK News
15. Haviland Stillwell
16. HOMELESS YOUTH PRIDE WALK 2009
17. Jess I Am
18. Julie & Brandy In Your Box Office by Autostraddle.com
19. Mohra's Memoir
20. Queer's soup
21. Queers United
22. The Bilerico Project
23. The Lesbian Agenda
24. the lesbiblog
25. this girl called automatic win
4. Women's news:
1. Feminist Daily News
2. Feministing
3. The Pleasure Project
4. WIMN's Voices: A Group Blog on Women, Media, AND…
5. Woman-Stirred
6. Women's eNews
5. Random sites of interest:
1. Blogger Sentral
2. Dave Gorman
3. First Guns
4. Foucauldian Reflections
5. Foucault blog
6. Obsolete Word of the Day
7. philosophy bites
8. Quipsologies | From the Authors
9. Sleep Talkin' Man
6. ...and, of course, the requisite PICTURES:
1. A Collection a Day, 2010
2. Artistaday.com - New art... everyday.    
3. Biblical Art of the Day
4. Cute Overload
5. Daily Squee    
6. Dilbert Daily Strip
7. Fail Dogs
8. Fuck You, Penguin
9. Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
10. Loldogs, Dogs 'n' Puppy Dog Pictures - I Has A Hotdog!
11. Look at this fucking hipster    
12. Missed Connections    
13. My First Fail    
14. PHD Comics
15. The Map Scroll    
16. Tots and Crafts - Funny Kids' Drawings

Hmm, I feel this is quite telling... I have more interest in funny photos of babies and pets, than about actual world events. I'm not sure how I should feel about that...

Anyway, the point of this post is to say that to supplant my Sunday morning magazine-a-palooza, I have been trying to find the articles online. There are sections of the weekend supplements of various newspapers that I enjoy but buying ten papers to read twenty articles is silly. So I have been trying to scour the web for their links...NOT EASY!

Firstly, there is no list of weekend supplements that I can find - NOT EVEN ON WIKIPEDIA! I might rectify this...

The best I could do was find this marketing company that assesses readership, etc. of UK newspapers. They provide a list of all the newspapers and their supplements:

3 am    The Mirror
Celebd on Sunday     Sunday Mirror
Culture     The Sunday Times
The Daily Express Saturday    The Daily Express
Entertainment Mail     Sunday Mail, Scotland
ES Magazine     The Evening Standard
The Eye    The Times
Financial Times Magazine     Financial Times (there's this Arts section, but what you want is FT Weekend)
The Guide     The Guardian
The Herald Magazine     The Herald
How to spend it     Financial Times
The Independent Magazine     The Independent Newspaper
The Information     The Independent
Live     The Mail on Sunday
Mailsport Weekly     Sunday Mail
Observer Food Monthly     The Observer
Observer Music Monthly     The Observer
Observer Sport Monthly     The Observer
Observer Travel Magazine     The Observer
OM The Observer Magazine     The Observer (there is also this excellent eViewer - fee to pay)

S Sunday Express Magazine    The Sunday Express
S:2     The Sunday Express
Seven Days     Sunday Mail
Spectrum     Scotland on Sunday
Starmag     Daily Star
Style     The Sunday Times (fee to pay)

Sunday     News of The World
Sunday Herald Magazine     The Herald Sunday (free three day trial - per email address!)

The Sunday Review    The Independent on Sunday
Sunday Telegraph Magazine    The Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Times Magazine     The Sunday Times (fee to pay)
The Sunday Times Rich List     The Sunday Times
Take 5     Daily Star
Take it Easy     Sunday People
Telegraph Magazine    The Telegraph
Television & Radio     The Daily Telegraph
Times Magazine     The Times (fee to pay)
The Times Special Supplement    The Times
TV Mag     The Sun
We Love Telly!     The Mirror
Weekend (The Daily Mail)     The Daily Mail
Weekend (The Guardian)     The Guardian (there is also this excellent eViewer)

You Magazine     The Mail on Sunday


Out of these there are a few that I really like (emboldened) - these I have provided weblinks where possible. They are a mix of magazines published on various days.

There are others I have thought of that aren't in the list:
Stella by The Telegraph, which has a terrible website - it gives links to all the fashion things and leaves out the bits loved best by me! Lucy Cavendish writes a column about her family, next to Bryony Gordon who writes about her single life - together they make up the last page called 'How the other half lives'. There are no links allowing me to read previous articles, as there are for Liz Jones from the Daily Mail; I had to do a search for them and both writers' entries are variously linked under Fashion, News or Family categories - no consistency. Plus Vicki and Octavia are a mother and daughter Agony Aunt pairing but the links are to each advice bit separately - with no link in between to take you to the other dose of advice being dished out on the same day (there are always two).

The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday are my favourite source - easy to navigate and free. The only real downside in the journalism (apart from the right wing stance which some may dislike) is that they are trying to do more trashy, celebrity exposé stories - they are even starting an office on the West coast of USA to be first in line with the gossip - which makes me sad. :(

The other thing I don't like is the Daily Mail's supplements being so fiercely gender-identified. Live is supposed to be for the men, whilst ladies can enjoy You. I like both and I don't think designating one for a particular gender is useful.

For some this post will be a valuable resource to minimise time-wasting searches, for others it will be anathema to your beliefs since you value the printed page rather than online content and you worry that the websites will bankrupt the printing presses.


Bonus of the day... stocious or stotious - to be very drunk! Thanks, Lucy Cavendish!

I'm on a cart

Like Towleroad, I don't want to support Mormon enterprises (mostly because I don't know enough about them to decide one way or another), but like Towleroad I do want to share this awesome Old Spice copycat, which is much better than Alyssa Milano's:

Who'da thunk it?

I write like
Edgar Allan Poe

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

You've really got to try the writing analyser http://iwl.me/ Who are you like?

@OldSpice #OldSpice: why I began to lose the love...

For those that follow me on Twitter you'll know that I spent a tonne of time the last two days watching and commenting on the genius advertising campaign that Old Spice produced using their frontman, Isaiah Mustafa. It was a comprehensive web-based project, using YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, whilst also trolling reddit, diggit, YahooAnswers, yedda.com and by keeping a weather eye on posts/articles on various websites. There must have been a band of industrious search engine machinists keeping track of the references and picking the best for comedic writing opportunities. The popularity of the whole enterprise even made other organisations join in: Starbucks, Gillette, Twitter, EW, biz, Huffington Post, G4TV, NHLBlackhawks, GQ, etc. Lots of celebrities joined in: Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, etc. Then there were the thousands of ordinary folks who commented on the three main sites. Plus Isaiah himself got a video response and his daughter, Hayley, too! Reddit helped build an answer machine message maker using Isaiah's contributions.


I was going to write a quick post about how these were all brilliant. That they were helping to produce a new masculinity, a new male identity. One that recognises the cultural power of the patriarchy and the stereotypes of strong, slightly dim, bragging men being the preferred partner for legions of women. They were playing it so tongue-in-cheek. Deliberately using nonsensical/incorrect language constructions to show that OSMan wasn't too nerdy/knowledgeable. Recounting all the heroic tales of extreme endurance activities. Reminding everyone that the main purpose of the product, the Old Spice body wash range, was to attract ladies, obviously.


I thought it clever that whilst superficially supporting these stereotypes (who doesn't want to have a ripped, charming man offer to bake you cakes and ride horses with you? Even the most stalwart of lesbians can appreciate toned abs and the promise of apple or peach pies), it was also subverting them by deliberately making a mockery of them. Just as the other television adverts had done. If it had been too serious, it would have come off badly. Just as P.Diddy has managed to keep just this side of obnoxious in his Ciroc advertisements based on his smoothness, there was a fresh take on a hackneyed trope.


However, there were a few too many references to things that I was starting to think were a bit sexist and homophobic. Either the writers were getting tired, or they weren't being as careful with their language as they should have been. Eye on the ball, people. Engage your audience; don't alienate a market segment that just may spend a tonne of money on your products (clean-cut gay men, holla! Ladies who buy soap for their men because if they didn't they'd just use water and never be clean!). Singing happy birthday isn't within the range of a studmuffin, it would not work for the theme, and who knows, maybe Isaiah can't sing. But don't say that other men would laugh at male singers and say it is a lady thing to do. Plus the producers took their own sweet time to acknowledge that women might want to use the products, too. Did they embrace a butch army and welcome them? Saying that the more mighty warriors available for protection of Mount Olympus, the better? Or that Old Spice Man would be running recruitment sessions for all those that believed they had the tenacity to withstand a lion pride? No, they warned that ladies would get man-hair...and if they ever did smell like Old Spice it would be from rolling around with said-fragranced men.


Maybe I've had a sense of humour bypass. I watched all the videos - there were 96 according to the Twitter log - maybe all that overt masculinity was getting a bit much and I forgot it was meant to be wry irony. It was a drip-drip feed of over-the-top testosterone and it had me floored.


Now, I'd love CollegeHumour.com to copycat the style and have a bunch of dykes talking about the benefits of using Old Spice. No, there is no need to have them topless in just a towel... Maybe they can recruit the ladies who were in the Lez Chat clip: "recycling and cuddling are important to me"!

Final thoughts for the day

1. Caffeine might be the only thing to get me through the last of my thesis writing.
2. Promissory estoppel and laches are words I read in a post and immediately assumed that the writer hadn't used spell-check, but it turns out that they are real words and despite me looking up their legal definitions I still think they look too fake to be taken seriously in any lawyerly settings.

Visual thesaurus

How have I not heard of this awesomeness until now?

A VISUAL THESAURUS!

Here on this website a word map helps you understand the links within language to neighbouring terms and their etymology.

Marvellous.

Loving Language Lessons!

I've been searching for a while for comprehensive, free language lessons online. I've signed up to lots of RSS feeds for my GoogleReader but none were useful apart from those that involved video - those were excellent. I've found two so far I would recommend so here they are.

SpanishDict.com has an awesome provision for language learners. Clear, concise and accessible. The lessons aren't too slow or repeat first-year Spanish; these are for keen people to learn a language properly. You really should try them out:

SpanishDict.com | Spanish to English Dictionary and Translation

This one seems a bit old school but is well-intentioned and professional.

The other one is DailyFrenchPod which provides videos, too.

Now all I need are the same resources in German, Italian, Japanese and Welsh.

Another thing!

Now I have something else to worry about. Not only does the content of my thesis have to be top-notch, the actual font I choose is going to have an impact, too.

This article from 2006 highlights my concerns. Phil Renaud notes that academic success may depend on the presentation of your work.

I wonder if this means that books published in certain fonts generally get better reviews? Will theses and essays get better grades?

Maybe this can be my next research topic...

Sticks and stones

Ever wanted to name your child after the first light? Then here are some options.

Where do we come from?

Check out this longish academic article on the earliest occupants of our landmass: First humans on the British Isles

My question now is what was the first language on the British Isles?

Historical sentiment...

...can mean revivalist or remembrance events for some, or the resurrection of lost languages to others, such as Anglish. This little know 'language' is a return to use of words of Germanic origin rather than the later imported Romance languages, of Latin and then French.

Baby talk

And another thing... parents trying to boost baby's language with DVDs might be better not bothering as new research shows. However, there is little understanding of why this might be. I think a baby/tot can tell when those speaking with them are actively listening and seeking a response (ie for the baby to speak, repeat words, etc.). A flat screen with images speaking are clearly not interactive and thus don't encourage participation by the child. Whereas when speaking with actual human beings, there is a response, a facial reaction, a raised eyebrow seeking an answer, etc. There are reinforcing events that ensure the child is engage in the speaking activity. The DVDs do not provide this.

I have to be honest; others have it much worse...

Imagine the scene with Tom Hanks in The Green Mile when he is in so much pain that he falls on his face and has to beg John Coffey to stop calling him (but he doesn't and ends up taking the pain away).

It was like that today; I had to leave the dining hall as I was in so much pain when I swallowed even water I didn't want to freak the students out, nor faint/cry in front of them, so slowly made it back to my office where I have been ever since.

I love eating and to be denied that pleasure because I took bad doctor's advice, damaged my oesophagus, and now am reduced to a liquid diet for goodness knows how long, is just a damn shame. But, I could have it much worse and I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and do some bloody work.

However, even the smallest mouthful is causing me grief.

Too much liquid and I might burst the tiny tear or burgeoning aperture that my mind's eye can see in my gullet.

Too little and the chance increases of swallowing air with the bolus and thus causing indigestion and gas which throws up stomach acid onto the abraded tissue and again causes pain.

No win situation.

However, on the bright side I finished Norah Vincent's excellent 'Self-made Man' - I recommend it to everyone with an interest in gender diversity.

Cooped up on the sofa, I have also managed to find, repair and hand wash my only piece of truly queer clothing - a black t.shirt with DYKE written on the front in purple sequins! Huzzah!

Finally, I was pondering in the shower whether I could write a piece about the development of queer stereotypes and queer-empathy in North American popular media (as a commentary on the same within popular culture) by mapping the LGBTQ storyies, jokes and lines in the entire Friends television series. Having grown up watching it, I can think of no other show that is as long running and influential as that show - wide audience, constant repeats.

When I have time from the rest of my responsibilities that will be the next task: 'I'm right on top of that, Rose'

Lurgy alert!

Whilst suffering from something approximating a bad cold (and suffering twice over with hilarious swine flu jokes...) I thought a genuine aid to tackling the disease might be useful. Hence the link to a nifty map (updated many times a day) of swine flu cases.

Moving onto motherhood, a useful article from Bilerico about genderqueer mommies

Matrix director has transitioned to become a woman, according to Perez Hilton and gaywired.com. Larry Wachowski became Lana. NB Bound and Matrix rocked!

Helpfully, another label for those who love people, not specific gender expressions: Anthrosexual - thanks to Queers United.

If you are silent, are you still there?

Speak out, be heard, be visible. Here are how others have done it:

Jeanette Winterson "I had relationships with men as well as women. I wasn't choosing I didn't think I had to. I think heterosexuality and homosexuality are a kind of psychosis, and the truth is somewhere in the middle."

Rita Mae Brown "My lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share."

Dorothy Parker “Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common.”

Sam Austin "Homosexuality is god's way of insuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children."

Lynn Lavner “The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision.”

Gore Vidal “What I am preaching is: don’t be ghettoized, don’t be categorized. Every state tries to categorize its citizens in order to assert control over them.”

George Orwell "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

More and more I am wondering if it is me...

Just to start us off in a helpful manner, autostraddle.com has hotness on tap in Cobie Smulders

My claim to fame! Dear old love used my sentence!

The power of the interwebs for LGBT organising is growing! According to Bilerico

Egyptian evidence of early homosexuality puts new spin on historical homos

Perez Hilton does not speak for the LGBT community at large and Miss Cali Carrie Prejean is entitled to her views and to express them, even if they are wrong. (@Bilerico) The only problem with free speech is when a person tries to whip up violence and hatred in others - you can be a berk as much as you like, but don't try to make everyone else be as much of a loser as you are...

Make do and mend mentality was always going to be a winner for me: cheap as chips meal plans from thekitchn.com and even Wiki has a great article on Really Really Free Markets.

Titan jail warehouses plans are shelved by Jack Straw

GoogleEarth alphabet from Victoria, Australia

Printing out books in 5mins flat: how Amazon and Tesco might have met their match in Blackwell's new revolution in book supply. Out of date books (10p per page, about £30 on average); the rest are the price you would pay from the shelf except shelving costs reduced, no more carbon footprint in transporting desired books from warehouses to the shops or direct to your home.