Plucky little pony

Not sure I can really justify why this tickles me so, it just does. One of life's mysteries.

Peta: Not the good guys, then...

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Clever primates! Miming failure to get man to do all the work...

The difficulties of taxomomy: categories are not so easy to proscribe.

When moving my emails to my Gmail account from Hotmail, I wanted to replicate the folders in the new labelling system. It proved tricky as the system allows multi-labelling and it lead to me wanting to describe things more fully than the previous folder system had allowed. This made me want to then limit myself as too much explanation was becoming worse than too little. So, I voted for Gmail to move to a folder system in their suggestions box, along with asking for a better sorting system for labels/folders (sent date, read date, sender, subject, etc.) - a more advanced search function would also be helpful - I want to search for certain words within labels but that isn't currently possible.

Foucault's Order of Things has a preface that describes his reading of "a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of my thought - our thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography - breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things, and continuing long afterwards to disturb and threaten with collapse our age-old distinction between the Same and the Other. This passage quotes a 'certain Chinese encyclopaedia' in which it is written that 'animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off 'look like flies'."

Well, it would seem from item (h) that this is really just an appendix to the 'real' list and travels from ownership (a, g), physical attributes (b, e-f, j, n), others (h, l), to how one renders their physical attributes (k) and their habits (c, d, i, m). There isn't even a system within the design and order of the system.

Heart-rate

I'm not a big exercise fan. Swimming - great (love it, used to teach it). Yoga/pilates - good, too (done it occasionally; I like the clothes - sleek and tidy, not baggy shorts and other nonsense; I also like the ethos - slow, strong movements building control and strength) - I have some DVDs which I hardly ever watch - and I also subscribe to YogaToday on YouTube, which is actually fun but, again, I don't do them regularly.

However, the one activity I do practice regularly, so much so that it has become second-nature, is fussing. To the uninitiated, fussing, is the manner of being whereby you undertake many pointless actions, burning calories and raising other people's heart-rates as you go. Has your partner just popped his cup down on the floor next to his chair? Then next time you are up (and you wont find yourself on the sofa much once you embrace the fussing life-style), pointedly grab it and place it on the nearest sturdy surface (table, mantelpiece, etc.) - if you really want to push yourself, take it through to the kitchen, next to the draining board to await washing. Even if he protests and says he hadn't finished, or that he was about to do that himself, do not desist - you wont always have support for your new health regime, but don't worry the benefits will outweigh these negative moments.

Later when the freshly washed cup is ready to be put away (perhaps you've decided to wash it, the three spoons and a buttery knife that were sitting, taunting you), the cupboard may reveal mug handles not in alignment - you know what to do. Swivelling them all to be nicely-OCD in arrangement may not be enough; take down the entire collection, wipe the shelf with bleach and re-stack, maybe on top of some drawer liner you happened to have bought on sale a few years' back.

Ready for a rest? Sit on the sofa and reach for a magazine - make sure the pile contains them in an orderly fashion, spines together, cover uppermost, maybe even in date order. Do you espy some laundry ready for folding? Then head upstairs with armfuls! Note that the bathroom bin is full? Then take it down! Remember that the letter that needs mailing is on the study desk? Go up and grab it! Then do the folding you meant to do ten minutes ago!

Ready to crack on with the day and do some work? Read the news headlines? Posted a quick blog entry? Sent a tweet? Checked Facebook and saw that your news feed is filled with comments and 'likes' about the trailer for that new movie? So, you've got to watch the trailer now, too! Then the other recommended clips that seem to feature cute baby animals being unspeakably cute. Then you remember that magazine had an article on puppy fostering...should you sign up? Maybe you should ask your dog-loving friend for advice...Thirty minute catch-up chat later and it is time for lunch.

What a morning!

You too can fill your day with inane activities that do little to improve your life and sure as heckfire annoy your family and friends.

Sweeeeeeeeet!

Litterbugs to ladybugs - M&S are selling Mother's Day confectionery wrapped in paper impregnated with flower seed - eat the candy, plant the paper, enjoy the flowers! Marvellous!

The little Dutch boy...

Having been disgustingly unproductive academically for two months, but having managed to find the love of my life and move him in, I feel the romantic productivity has sky-rocketed.

Still, no excuse for not blogging.

PhD demands more time that I care to give... c'est la vie!

Hoping that the next wee whiley improves my efficiency - but somehow I feel the slothful creep again.

Talking of sloths, here's a FU,P link to brighten the post.

Laters.

Something for Summer...

So there are fears over blondes dying out (our recessive genes are going to be useless if we don't starting breeding with other blondes to ensure our luxurious locks live on! Ayrian race reinvention?). However, to give us courage, there are friends in the animal kingdom willing to show us the way.

Big Brother's queerest year yet! All sorts of gender and sexuality explorations are anticipated - shame that it is such an appalling show, but at least there is more visibility, even if the context is not entirely positive...

The Day after Tomorrow comes true! Summer snow - what else...

So exciting! Sue and Giles are back for more gastronomic greatness!

Thursday Thrills...

Celebrities looking normal? Never! Well, actually, yes, sometimes:

• Barefaced cheek of celebrities to 'bravely' appear in French vogue sans fard et maquillage
• Normal-looking celebrities turn out con kiddies to study boss and founder of CAC for Easter egg hunt
• Sadly, there seems to be an expectation for women to be frightening un-hirsute - hair-free as a pre-teen - how paedophilic! Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman had hairy arms - did you fancy her less? The Muffia feminist artists explore society's disapproval of female body hair. Recently, Sienna Miller's latest movie has been panned because... she apparently needs an upper-lip wax.
• More stereotypes of accepted female personas: spinster librarians, bimbo footballer wives, etc.
  

Colourful clothes cheer up the economically depressed?

• First there were the boys in candy-coloured underwear
• Then, Su Pollard from Hi-De-Hi appeared in her usual fabulous garb
• Now, Primark are selling their Barbie-esque courts like hot little Easter pancakes
• Plus, Katy Perry is spotted again and again in tremendously cheery clobber - hooray!

(Thanks to DailyMail website for the photographs)

• Reasonable response from a transsexual woman: Calpernia Addams' informative video tells nosy-parkers all they need to know about how not to ask the wrong questions!
• This was a link from a fantastic article by a transitioning woman who had been back and forth across the transitioning spectrum: the link to her article is here (@Feministe)
  
• From HuffPo, an environmental reason not to support the ban on same-sex marriage - save trees!

Now, I know EVERYONE is posting about Susan Boyle, but I cannot help but join - she is a marvel: check out the video of her astonishing performance here. And, yes, like Kathie Lee Gifford, I cried, too.

You also have to love these cute kissing anteaters and Cat on the Prowl from AfterEllen starring Riese/Autostraddle.com's gal-pal, Haviland Stillwell.

Women taking over the world? I've written about female domination before, but now there is scientific proof via nature itself - a colony of female only ants. These Amazonian insects (well, it had to be Amazonian, didn't it?) are asexual, breeding through clones of the Queen.

Female takeover might not come quick enough for Afghan women struggling under new law that permits marital rape if wives fail to submit to new legal demands by husbands that they have sex every four days. Protesters were pelted with stones for having the temerity to object.

For those who don't know enough about queer theorist and activist, Eve Sedgwick, click on this link to see articles since her death to breast cancer.

Finally, a game of which I was only partially aware 'no homo' has been deconstructed on Feministe. Click this link to check out the useful and funny video about it.

Friday Follow-through

Gay elephant disappoints its owners! Politicians in Poland are complaining that the breeding programme is an expensive failure after Ninio has shown little interest in females, preferring boy time! (@DailyMail)

Librarians fumble classification of famous archaeology text: Prof Stringer's important book, Homo Britannicus was incorrectly shelved in the LGBT/queer section! (@DailyMail)

Queerty has a fascinating article on Jesus as a Gay Man based on a new book by Kittredge Cherry - what a fabulous name for an author, and she is a lesbian, too!

Bilerico moves the debate towards racism after the writer remembered being called someone's 'perfect little geisha boy', meant as an affectionate term, but brought up the wrong sort of feelings in Jason Tseng.

Women are finding less satisfaction with their career than men - they are preferring to have a happy home life, whereas their male counterparts are prioritising their employment prospects. (@DailyMail)

Happily childfree woman has had to reconsider her opinion now that she has a puppy in her life messing up her hormones! (@DailyMail)

Google founder's wife has produced a product (with the help of her organisations) that allows a person to be genetically tested for tell-tale mutated genes, etc. that might signal a predisposition to getting certain diseases. Both Sergey Brin and his wife, Ann Wojcicki, and their child have been tested; they are especially concerned about Parkinson's Disease, since there is history of it in the family.

I think this development is wonderful and I suspect that eventually it will be common practice for those wanting to procreate to ask the other person involved in the matter (that is the other person providing the genetic material) to provide their testing results before they decide to make babies together. If you have a higher risk of creating children with dreadful painful diseases, you might decide against producing offspring together. This does conflict with my distaste for abortion and euthanasia; I think all life has value and afflicted people can teach those around them so much about patience, compassion and love. However, if the choice was available before procreating (as in the movie Gattacca) then I, and I would think countless others, would want to know what they face beforehand. Not that you can ever really prepare to parent a severely disabled child. Plus, those scientists in the article are right, chance and environmental factors are not taken into account in the testing.

Would the testing go too far... with only tall, athletic, non-disabled children being created in the ideal world? I'm not sure we can avoid selection - you might not want to marry a bald fat man with coronary disease to prevent your babies being afflicted. Mothers choosing sperm donor candidates choose ones with 'best' qualities. I surely want intelligent, healthy, blonde babies...but that might say more about my ego than my desire for the 'best' children.

You win some...

Surprisingly enough, some sporting stories to begin:
Ladies' Day was a typical affair ("They came in all the colours of the rainbow - but particularly orange. So once again, the aroma of fresh fake tan at Aintree must have been as heady as the thunder of hooves": Jaya Narain @DailyMail) then the Grand National race had a surprise winner - how exciting - 100/1! Mon Mome coming home! However, the side was seriously let down by celesbian, Clare Balding. Twitter was a flutter over it.

Sadly the three-day event was marred by the deaths of five horses, including Hear the Echo, a favourite, yards from the finish line. No, I am not normally an eco-warrior, vegan-loon, I think that takes it a bit far (see Facebook group PETA - People for the Eating of Tasty Animals), yet Animal Aid have it pretty accurately described. The shocking thing is that they are seen as routine and receive little media attention.

They also mention that whipping is cruel (and I think I have some BDSM pals who would agree - animals are unlikely to be so sexually complex as to get gratification from pain administration).

Scotland football captain Barry Ferguson and team mate Allan McGregor have been banned from representing their country for life (and are likely to be sacked from their club teams to boot) as a result of a series of disrespectful shenanigans. HOWEVER, am I the only one to think these signs were not just "v signs" (rude British insult, similar to giving someone the bird, but a little less serious - popular in 1970s) but meant to reflect and jeer the Iceland team since their Prime Minister is a lesbian (the first ever!)?