There are some crazy motherfuckers out there

Everyone involved with Campaign for Children and Families has some serious thinking to do. How ghastly.

Where's the love, man?

****UPDATE: The email I sent (discussed below) got an immediate response, and the horrid examples have been taken down. Hooray for Dict.cc - and hooray for the positive impact of a polite letter of complaint!****

J took German in high school. Because he's a crazy genius, and he remembers nearly everything he's ever read or been taught, he's carrying a lot of high school German around in his brain (along with the ingredients of a cereal he ate once in 8th grade, the win-loss record of the Savannah Sand Gnats, the circumference of the moon, the temperature at which sugar reaches the hard ball stage and the dialog to every Star Wars movie). So as I struggle with what feels like a cumbersome language, which is so very unlike Spanish :-( , I ask him for clarification. He often has an answer for me.

The other day, I asked him what the German word for woman is. Apparently this is one of the few words that actually got put in the dump file (which is where most of what I learned in high school went, to be fair), so he went off into the internets to find an answer. The following is what he found:


Go ahead and click on it - the examples are really disturbing. The verbs and short verb phrases are horrid, and just below, there are a couple of terms that make one wonder what the hell is wrong with the person who put this page together. Just for fun, I headed over to Dict.cc (and found that it's a wiki, so someone or a group of someones really did deliberately put the verbs abduct, annoy, deflower, play and rape with woman), to see what short verb phrases were used for "girl". And...more of the same. To seduce a girl, to betray a girl, and, somewhat innocuously, to approach a girl.

Ah, the mixed blessing of the wiki. On the one hand, an amazing way to share knowledge, and on the other, a forum where someone who hates women gets to provide us all with handy phrases like "woman-hating" and "abandoned woman", and a much-needed translation of "to abduct a woman". Fabulous. And before someone tells me that these phrases, however unpleasant, are part of both languages, what I am saying is that they are lousy additions to a very short list of examples.

So anyway, I sent Dict.cc an email suggesting a change, because I am a big-mouthed woman who doesn't like being defined as a punching bag.

Teach the children to endure friendships

This passage from a textbook made me laugh out loud:

"School is a place not only for academic learning, but also for building positive relationships with teachers and enduring friendships with peers."

Your brain is about to be full.

For much, much more, go to TED.com.

Get your sex on in Afghanistan

Thanks to Wonkette, where I have decided to get all of my news, forever, I now know that doing the grownup in (parts of) Afghanistan is a-ok with the military. What a relief! Of course, you need to be unmarried and of opposite genders (sorry, gays and lesbians, but you probably shouldn't complain, because gay sex is still yucky according to the UCMJ).

Everyone stationed elsewhere - too bad for you.

Favorite comment: If it's OK for the government to fuck them, I guess I'm OK if they want to screw each other.

HRC, the DNC, MI and FL

Here's an interesting read about the current clusterfuck that is the Democratic party. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the author, Zuzu: she is an attorney and a self-described rules junkie, she is a frequent (and new) contributor at Shakesville, and has her own blog here. Although I take issue with a couple of her points, I am smarter for having read her take on this Michigan/Florida issue.

Bring coffee - it's a long post. The comments are worth a read as well.

Wake the fuck up.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with Geraldine Ferraro, or why she is doing her level best to swing this election toward a McCain victory, but I agree with a commenter over at Wonkette:

Not everyone who voted against her is sexist. Geraldine needs to think hard about whether or not a man who calls his wife a cunt is a better option for women than the man who beat her first choice.

I like Hillary Clinton fine, but it's likely not gonna happen, folks, and opposing her in the campaign isn't inherently sexist. She had a fantastic showing, she has every right to stay in the campaign until the convention, and I have an enormous amount of respect for her. She has been forced to put up with a lot of sexist bullshit, to be sure, and frankly, until the generation old enough to remember the scary "women's libbers" in the 1960's/70's leaves the planet, that's going to continue to be a problem*. But I think 60% or more of the crap she's had to deal with has been the fact that the right despises her (and not just for being a woman, but for lots of other equally stupid reasons), she plays an old, tired, Clinton style of smarmy comments and dirty politics, and she has repeatedly overstated her experience and qualifications. The last of these is hugely disappointing, because she is perfectly well qualified without equating being the First Lady with a congressional seat or the vice presidency. It saddens me that such a bright, well-educated, successful woman with such a big brain and so much to recommend her resorted to such nonsense when describing her abilities and background.

I truly believe that this campaign has opened the doors to many legitimate non-white, non-male candidates in the very near future. I refuse to stop reminding myself that despite the many lingering, frustrating, unfair and ugly problems this country has regarding race and gender, this Democratic primary season would have been impossible, even unimaginable, 30 years ago. I was just a kid in the 1970's, but I remember. This is what progress looks like, even if it is still not anything like good enough.

If the stories I keep reading about some women (particularly those of a certain age group) refusing to vote for Obama turn out to be true, then I will cease to refer to myself as a feminist. These are the same women who've been telling every generation younger than themselves (nearly three, now) that we're bad feminists - and now this. If by taking their ball and going home, they stick us with an anti-choice, war-mongering, unethical, misogynist ghoul - just because they didn't get their first pick, then they have lost their way so badly that I will no longer associate with them. We are progressives, and we have a lot to lose in a McCain presidency. So, put on your big girl panties and fucking deal with it.

Of course, they have the right to vote (or not vote) exactly the way they want to. But I still get to call them assholes if they fuck us over in November.

A couple of other interesting discussions about this madness: Jezebel & The New Republic (I know, just read the article, I won't tell anyone.)

* I know there are young sexists - plenty of them. But once the boomers are out of the picture, they will no longer have such huge numbers, and will be regarded as merely stupid instead of a political force. (Sorry in advance to all you progressive boomers.)

Edit, Thursday am: I know, I know. It's horrible. I read this every day. But still.

IOIYAR

Brilliant at Breakfast thinks Republicans have a double standard when it comes to passing judgment on the behavior of Democrats.

Say it isn't so.

Republicans also seem to think "associating" with prostitutes is a far bigger sin when it's committed by someone with a "D" after their name. Huh. How about that?

*grumble*

Hot old broads at Jezebel

From my daily Jezebel perusal - tell me this chick isn't still hot as shit at 63:


Even her hands are beautiful. And what about this hottie?

Plastic surgery? Genetic giftedness? Both? These women are in their 60's - are they magic? Or do they just have fantastic plastic surgeons? I'm going to have to hope I have magic anti-aging genes, because even medically necessary surgery scares the crap out of me.

Imagine the sound of a sigh of relief here

This is what my life feels like right now: uncluttered, small, without conflict. Like this:

I have been such a slack, blog-wise. It's just that nothing particularly interesting has been happening, unless doing truckloads of homework and going to endless doctor's appointments could in any way be considered interesting. Everything's fine, health-wise, I'm just trying to get all the maintenance stuff caught up - teeth, ladybits, bad wrist and such. I'll be going to military doctors (and Army doctors, no less) in Germany, for the first time since I was a kid, so I figure I'll stock up on civilian health care while I can, and go to Germany needing as little as possible. I'm having my first mammogram on Saturday, too - good times. So you see, I am living such a quiet life this week that there's very little to say.

Our moving plans just got a little more solid, actually - that's news. Like Anchored Away, I waited for the 05 list with interest. J is way below zone, but if he had been on that list, our moving plans would have changed, as he's going to an 04 billet. I operate under the assumption that if the nay vee can change our plans, then they will do so, so until I saw that list, I was unwilling to assume that this Germany thing was really happening. J gets promoted early, always, but this would have been ridiculously early. Anyway, as (mostly) expected, J is not on the list, so - on to Europe. It's as real as it gets without orders.

Otherwise --- well, nothing! I'm loving being at home all day, strangely enough. My new work-from-home job starts next month sometime. Meanwhile, I can focus on school (there will be a post about how dopey that is in the near future), read books, run errands and basically chill out and have a long stretches of time to think. I could get used to this.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: life, right now, is good.

A gift!

Because I have been neglecting my posting duties recently, I have a gift for you all.

Please click this link to enjoy the flying helicopter penis.

You're welcome.

If you don't know what the hell you're talking about, then STFU

Late to the pile-on party as usual, I am, but let me just go on record here and say I am thrilled that someone in the mainstream media called an ignorant, ill-informed, right-wing asshat out on being exactly that. Chris Matthews, please stick to this, and give us WAY less of this.

NSFW bonus of the day, just for Kevin James - and the only song Babs has ever written (haha) or performed that I actually adore:

In other news...

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

And from my inbox:

Today I am proud to be a Californian. Keep at it, Virginia!

Goddamn, this shit just stays irritating

I get all of my teevee and gossip from the internet, including news via Jezebel about stuff that I wish I just didn't even know existed. One of these things is America's Next Top Model, about which I have dutifully ignored many, many posts, until this one popped into Google Reader this morning.

To save you the trouble of following the link and being made stupider by reading about what's there, here's the shorter version: apparently this person is considered a "plus size" model*:


Give me a fucking break.

This woman in no more plus size than she is the Queen of England. Just because she doesn't look like she could benefit from a feeding tube doesn't make her plus size, unless there's been another redefinition of the term - I'll admit to being several years behind on realizing that "woman" is the new code word for "more than a size 14", so I may have missed this. Apparently this plus size woman wears a size 10. Yeah, that's HUGE, people. Using that yardstick, at a size 6 I had better start starving myself, pronto. Message received.

I don't know what kind of crap this is, reworking the scale of what's considered big (more than a size 8?) and what's small (no bigger than a size 0, or maybe 2?) - but it leaves almost no one in the range of "acceptable". And what does this say to women who actually are actually plus size? Are they even less "acceptable" now? Is this is just another weird attempt at redefining women's sizes, moving the goalposts yet again, making women larger than a size 10, what, plus+plus size, I guess??

And while I'm ranting, is anyone else sick to death of vanity sizing?? Same shit, different strategy.

Ugh. Maybe I'm reading too much into this.

I don't know what the hell I'm talking about here, but this woman does, as do the people on her blogroll. I look forward to reading their opinions on this irritating pile of piffle.

* Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images, via Us Magazine

Practice makes perfect - oops! Audio NSFW

I don't watch this show, but I ran across this little gem online this morning. Ok, it's a little bit trite, but overall, how refreshing!

I have exactly 4 days.

This weekend is the Bay Bridge Run, that same run I pounded through last year while J was away the first time. It's a big, fun 4-mile run that goes from downtown San Diego to Coronado, over this big-ass bridge (left).







J is really excited to be here for this year's run, and we are both registered to participate. I am not in any way a natural runner, so when I took off for a run yesterday with a feeling like I could go for a long, reasonably effortless run, I was excited and in a groove. I was a mile in when this happened:



There was a hole in the pavement. My right foot found it. That's the outside of my right ankle. Luckily (relatively speaking), I was running on a path on the bay that, at the point where I stepped in the hole, has a handrail on the right side. So I didn't fall completely down - only this much:















Walking a mile home was a treat, let me tell you.

I'm hoping that somehow this won't keep me from running this weekend. As you can see, there isn't a lot of bruising, which seems good, but it's pretty swollen. Any hints on treating a sprained ankle, other than ice and keeping it elevated?