Sunshine, lollipops and linkspams everywhere

I spend a lot of time reading about Serious Bizniss. But, you know what? Right now my life has been far too full of Serious Bizness. It’s time to kick back with something a little more silly. Here’s some stuff that’s on my RSS that isn’t always super serious:

Dr Grumpy is a cranky neurologist who blogs about the ridiculous things that happen to a person when they’re a cranky neurologist. It turns out that that’s an awful lot of things.

My favourite ever advice column is Captain Awkward! As the Cap’n’s tagline goes: “Advice. Staircase Wit. Faux Pas. Movies.” Geeky, smart advice for all your most perplexing social situations.

Smart Ass Cripple has been ‘expressing pain through sarcasm since 2010’.  In case you haven’t noticed by now, I have a serious thing for snarky side of life. This guy appears to be composed entirely of pure snark gold. If ever there were an impending apocalypse that could only be averted through application of ALL THE SNARK, you now know who you gonna call.

Speaking of snark, you absolutely want to check out White Whine. Cause middle-class first world white people have problems too. Massive problems. Mostly, it seems, involving Starbucks? (Which is news to me and makes me worry that I’m missing out on some serious first-world whitepersoning. Then again, as a broke-ass first world white person, I have to make my own damn rooibos soy chai lattes. MY LIFE.)

Tasha at Voracious Eats is an awesome feminist who absolutely does talk about Serious Business. However, she also posts loads about delicious food and her adorable animals, and the places she goes to and people she sees.

Broccoli Morality is a somewhat serious post from the Pervocracy about how things don’t have to be un-fun to be good for you. I couldn’t resist!

It’s a pervasive message in our society, one that goes way beyond dinner: virtue is the opposite of pleasure. Sexual morality is the restriction of sexual pleasure; healthy living is uncomfortable; honest work is grueling; polite living is self-suppressing. If it feels good, it must be illegal, immoral, or fattening.

This is not only important because of morality and happiness. It’s also important because of broccoli. Delicious, crunchy broccoli which has for centuries been tortured, boiled into oblivion and tastelessness by uncountable millions of cookers. Won’t somebody please, please think of the steamers?

And here’s your Awesome Person (on video) Of The Week: the story of Jesus as you’ve (probably) never heard it before.

Hope you enjoyed! Where do you go for something a little more lighthearted online?

A Linkspam To The Past

Since I disappeared from the internet for a while, the first few links here are going to be ancient history. Things which are multiple weeks old. Several decades, in internet time.

I still think they’re worth sharing. And want to do so before everything in this post becomes truly paleolithic, so it’s going up today instead of on schedule, next Wednesday. Because it’s my blog, and I can.

 

Geekery and the Humanities: A defense of the humanities, of subjectivity, and why they’re as much a part of geek culture as the STEM fields. Also, why Sheldon is a dick.

I’m not anti-logic or anti-science; I do think these things are valuable, but they can only be convincing and powerful when they take into account emotion and the humanities (for lack of a better term). None of these things work best on their own. Which brings me to my real argument: the idea that the humanities are less important than STEM is an idea that geeks need to drop, because the humanities are constitutive to geek culture, just as much as science, technology, and math are.

Why Does She Stay With That Jerk? TW for domestic violence. Holly Pervocracy looks at reasons why people she met through her work in the ER stayed in abusive relationships. I’m not going to quote anything specifically, so I can keep the TW at the other side of the link. It’s essential reading, though, if you’ve ever wondered why people stick out relationship abuse. On a similar note is autumn whitefield-madrano’s post over on Feministe,  “I Can Handle It”: On Relationship Violence, Independence, and Capability. This post is a lot more personal- it was a lot more difficult for me to read, because of this. It’s her story of what it felt like for her, from the inside of an abusive relationship.

Cisgender News is the best. If you’ve ever facepalmed at how trans people are discussed in the media, you’ll love it. If you haven’t, then you should probably read it anyway to get a snarky, snarky feel for how messed-up it is. Then you too can facepalm!

Rebekah Wade – a cisgender woman who has now quit as News International chief executive – not only conquered the macho cis world of tabloid journalism to become its queen but did so with astonishing speed. What was behind her rise to power?

Rebekah Brooks – as she started to call herself following a second marriage – courted power but avoided publicity.  She started receiving female hormones via her ovaries during her first puberty, and intends to continue with them.

And now for something a little more current.

I’m an atheist. Is that a problem? Kate Hilpern writes about being an atheist godparent. What does being a godparent really mean? Is it as much a purely religious role as the church would have you believe? Is it okay for atheists to participate in religious baptisms?

some will say I have no integrity. As its name suggests, a spokesperson from the Church of England points out, at the heart of the role is a commitment to support someone in the journey of faith. An atheist can be a wonderful influence in a child’s life, but being a godparent is to be a representative of the religious community and an example of godly living (which is why they should be baptised and preferably confirmed), in addition to supporting them socially.

I’m an atheist. I’m a godparent as well. When I was asked to be a godparent I was still technically a member of the Catholic Church, not having yet registered my apostasy, but was a nonbeliever. The reasons why I happily went into a church, crossed my fingers behind my back and took part in that ceremony? Because I was incredibly honoured to be asked. Because my own relationship with my godparents has always been about love, not doctrine. Because there are very few people who I’ll engage in Catholic ceremonies for- and my godkid’s dad is one of them. Am I entirely happy with that decision? I have no idea.

Finally, today’s Awesome Person Of The Week is Sally. Who has a thing or two to say about being described as a precious pearl. Or a lollipop. And also a few things to say about preventing sexual assault. (Hint: not assaulting people is a good start).

Enjoy!