Feminism and other serious thoughts

Recently, I jumped midstream into a Twitter “discussion” (as much as a discussion is possible on Twitter – which it isn’t, which is why I prefer Friendfeed, but that’s a totally different topic than the one at hand…). The topic seemed to be about whether a stay at home mom could be a “real” feminist.

Okay, so I don’t know what the official definition of feminism is (and yes, I’m feeling way too lazy this morning to type my way to it) but here’s the AmyGeek definition: "Feminism means that women’s options are not limited due to their gender.” That’s it. It’s not about the choices people make – as long as their choices are their own – and that they have options.

I have several friends who have made the choice to stay home and raise their kids. First of all, this is a major family decision – obviously, by choosing to limit their income to one wage-earner, this affects a family’s financial ability and choices. This is not a light decision for many/most people. In many situations, it’s not an option at all – people cannot support their families without two salaries. That’s just wrong. I could go on a whole rant just about that, but I’m doing my best to stay focused for the moment…

These friends who have decided to stay home with their kids do so because they feel it’s best for their children. Period. In some cases they have advanced degrees and had been out-earning their spouse prior to their pregnancy. These are not women who are lacking in opportunities – these are women who have weighed their options and made a decision that they feel is best for their family.

To me, this is feminism in action. They are not staying at home because they aren’t capable of working, because they’re pressured by others, because of some social stigma or because of some lack of intellectual curiosity.

Of course, this is obviously a middle class issue – many many women just don’t have the financial ability to make this choice. Of course, for most single moms (who don’t have some sort of trust fund), this just isn’t an option. Shame on our country for not taking better care of our women and children. (See, I really am a big ole liberal. Even though I respect stay at home moms.)

So for my stay at home mommy friends: I salute and respect you and your (feminist) choices. And if you need a break, I’m available for movie watching and comic relief.

Good morning!

And watch those claws!

Got Microsoft off my back

I was getting yelled at earlier this week because I hadn’t authorized my copy of Windows 7 so as punishment, Microsoft took away my desktop background and said that my copy of Windows wasn’t genuine (see link for evidence).

I was insulted. And a little irked cause my screen wasn’t pretty any more. Just cause I hadn’t done anything to prove that I was legally using their product. Whiners.

Got it straightened out now and am back to my pretty desktop:

Here’s my desktop (pretty, right?):

Just cause it’s ridiculously cute

Look at that face.

I love when science makes me look less crazy

UCSB brain researcher Jonathan Schooler has an intriguing theory about why our minds wander:

The regions of the brain that become active during mind wandering belong to two important networks. One is known as the executive control system. Located mainly in the front of the brain, these regions exert a top-down influence on our conscious and unconscious thought, directing the brain's activity toward important goals. The other regions belong to another network called the default network. In 2001 a group led by neuroscientist Marcus Raichle at Washington University discovered that this network was more active when people were simply sitting idly in a brain scanner than when they were asked to perform a particular task. The default network also becomes active during certain kinds of self-referential thinking, such as reflecting on personal experiences or picturing yourself in the future.

The fact that both of these important brain networks become active together suggests that mind wandering is not useless mental static. Instead, Schooler proposes, mind wandering allows us to work through some important thinking. Our brains process information to reach goals, but some of those goals are immediate while others are distant. Somehow we have evolved a way to switch between handling the here and now and contemplating long-term objectives. It may be no coincidence that most of the thoughts that people have during mind wandering have to do with the future.

Thank you science.And Boingboing.

This crow is smarter than the chick in the last post

Everyone needs enough oxygen

Click on the pic so that you can read the nuttiness.

Disquieting Bedtime Stories

Esquire is starting a series of videos starring Mary-Louise Parker called “Disquieting Bedtime Stories”. She’s a great actress and not so hard on the eyes. And if you aren’t watching Weeds (or catching up on the series on DVD if you don’t have Showtime), you’re missing out on some seriously amusing entertainment.

Oscar Meyer

Dead.

Have you seen this one?

Definitely amusing.

Crazy man

This is (nutcase) Minister Leroy Swailes testifying before the Board of Elections and Ethics.

He makes up his own definitions of pedophilia, sadism and bestiality. In a way, this is good for free thinking (and educated) people because it illustrates just how ridiculous the arguments against gay marriage truly are.

"A beast has four legs and one gender. If you put two men together, you have four legs and two penises...that's one gender -- that's a form of bestiality."

Slapping my hand

Sigh. Microsoft is punishing me by taking away my background and generating errors saying my Win7 is not real. But it is! I swear!

Must straighten this out, eh? Who knows what they’ll take away next – copy & paste?

The way my mind works

Here’s what I notice about this picture:

Three men wearing sparkly gloves on their right hand and two men wearing sparkly gloves on their left hand. Which means they bought three pairs of sparkly gloves (to save some dough) and split them up.

Amsterdam pix are up

on my smugmug site. Here’s a few to whet your appetite:

 

Wha? Rational analysis on Fox News?

Liz Trotta (a conservative analyst often featured on Fox News) was interviewed about SarahP and said that she brought the media ridicule upon herself.

..a flashy person who gets into a lot of trouble and really has no credentials for any job…

Robert McNamara

Dead.

Hmmm….something’s wrong with this picture

can’t quite put my finger on it.

My souvenir from Amsterdam

Adorable, right?

Palin’s a big ole quitter

So, conventional political wisdom is that if you want a story to slip by the public, you release it late on Friday afternoon. That means it misses the Friday evening tv news and slips into the weekend news when folks aren’t paying attention.

Unfortunately for politicians, the interwebs do not have a “news cycle” as such. They’re all over news whenever and wherever it happens. We’ve removed the limitations of time and space.

So, SarahP in her infinite wisdom, decided to announce that she was stepping down as Governor of Alaska on a Friday afternoon – on a holiday weekend. Obviously, she was hoping to minimize the story.

Yeah, how’s that working out? Seems that the interwebs and the 24 hour news channels are all over it. I was just watching Fox “News” to try to see how they were spinning it but they were busy talking about other items, oddly enough. Everyone else is discussing it like crazy – it’s a good 4th of July conversation starter, doncha think?

Everyone seems to be taking a wait and let’s see what really motivated this particular decision attitude (although I’m all about making up rumors and spreading them – such as her affair with DICK Cheney, her Michael Jackson lovechild, the fact that she’s an alien, the fact that she’s a man, and so on…). The usual suspects are defending her (I’m talking YOU Bill Kristol) and everyone is trying to figure out if it’s because she’s about to be indicted, if she is just overwhelmed by the press attention, if she has a health issue, if she’s prepping to run for President (and the whole Governor thing just interferes with it) or what.

The funniest comment I saw was on Andrew Sullivan’s blog. He’s been all over her being a moron for a long time now. (BTW, he’s been doing an outstanding job of following and discussing the Iran situation lately.) Here’s the quote from Ezra Klein:

The main thing I'd point out about Sarah Palin's dazzlingly incoherent farewell is that it's pretty clear she wrote it herself. The proof is in the punctuation. The transcript was posted to her official Web site earlier today. The style is closer to a high schooler's angry diary entry than to an official speech. I've read a lot of speech transcripts. They tend to have fewer words in all capital letters. And fewer things in quotation marks that aren't actually, you know, quotes.

hahahahahahahaha! She would definitely be a president in the GWB mode, eh?

Happy 4th of July!

Culture, morality & patriotism brought to you by Sam the American Eagle and the rest of the muppets.

Um. Yum.

The right responds to Al Franken becoming senator

“Who’s safe now that Al Franken is going to be in the Senate?”

Time capsule

New Jersey in the 1992. From Jezebel:

From a documentary about the women of Wildwood, New Jersey, a popular summer spot.

Oh Joisey.

More dead

Wow. If you’re famous, keep your head down.

Karl Mulden:

Dead.

One of these things is not like the others

I love how the birds on either side are staring down at him. Her.