otak linked to BoingBoing which in turn linked to the four parts of Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans Special on YouTube.

It's absolutely amazing. Mind-altering. The premis is: Canadian + camera goes to ask Americans questions about Canada. Americans prove how laughably dumb they are, even in places like Chicago which are pretty damn close to the ( Read more... )

The first of August is the Swiss National Day. This is a good thing and makes me happy. This year we went to watch the fireworks in Rolle.


( Read more... )

The BA list of items that can be taken on an airplane during the current crisis has been updated today.

It now includes tampons (sufficient for the flight, unboxed), sanitary towels (ditto) and tissues.

It didn't yesterday.

What is a priviledge? Well, in this context I mean "something you are fortunate enough to be blessed with by accident of birth, to the point where you probably don't realise it's not universal". Obviously, there are many sets of priviledges - for example, in comparison with people living in Sub-Saharan Africa I have a whole range of priviledges ( Read more... )

"If rapists were born that way, or became rapists because society made them that way, then it would be unfair to punish them." SourceNow, let's not talk about rape or advertising. There's plenty of that going on all over ( Read more... )

K has suggested some reading for the blokes on his flist ( Read more... )

A cat is the longest-lived thing most people get to name until - whoops! - they have a baby, so it is perhaps not too surprising that some of them apply the same rules to naming their kids as their cats, or just use their porn star nameKids can be cruel, often unintentionally, and a name which, however beautiful in your mother tongue, is pronounced ( Read more... )

OK, I'm gonna do it! Obviously, it's a fairly maleable proposition, but if anyone has any particular (and preferably well reasoned) objections to any of the following points, now would be a good time to yell.

- LJ community.
- Closed membership, flocked community.
- Members have to be recommended by a member.
- Not just Yorkwriter's alumni.

realrealgone has ( Read more... )

I miss Yorkwriters. I sharing my work (rarely though it was) with people I like of my own age. I miss hearing other people's work ( Read more... )

A while back someone on my flist posted a link to an article about the USA's new federal guidelines advising women - and the healthcare system - to treat nearly all women though they were pregnant, even if they aren't. Yet ( Read more... )