May 08 2022
A Jury of One’s Peers?
May 01 2022
Leafblowers bad for the environment. Duh.
“According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1997), as people across the United States re-fuel their leaf
blowers and lawnmowers, they slop approximately 17 million gallons of gasoline onto the ground each summer, gas that seeps into the water we drink and evaporates into the air we breathe. To put that number in perspective, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 dumped 10.9 million gallons of Prudhoe Bay crude into Prince William Sound, Alaska (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1989).
“On top of that, leaf blowers discharge a cocktail of contaminants into the air, from hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide*which combine with other greenhouse gases to form ozone*to the carcinogens benzene, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde. The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Resources Board (2000, 50, 3) estimates that the average commercial, gas-powered leaf blower manufactured in 1999 emits the same amount of hydrocarbons in one-half hour as a car traveling 7,700 miles at 30 miles per hour. Over that half hour, the same leaf blower pumps out as much carbon monoxide as a car driving 440 miles at 30 miles per hour.
“An inconvenient truth about leaf blowers is that it is not uncommon for people who use them to relocate leaves, dirt, and weeds into their neighbor’s yard or out onto the street for the city or municipality to deal with rather than
collecting, bagging, and disposing of the leaves themselves. This is not only an antisocial manifestation of out-of-sight-out-of-mind mental processes, but also an unequivocal passing of the social buck that relates to what social psychologists have called ‘‘diffusion of responsibility.’’ [That’s putting it mildly.] [I’d call it ‘I-don’t-give-a- FUCK-about-you-ness.’ Or ‘ME-ME-ME-ness.’] [Or ‘I’m-too-stupid-to-understand-the-long-term-consequences-of-my-behavior-ness.’]
from “The Leaf Blower, Capitalism, and the Atomization of Everyday Life,” Jules Boykoff
And they’re not cheaper to use than a rake, nor does it get the job done faster. So WTF? Men and noise? Men and power tools?
Apr 30 2022
Great scene from Shriver’s novel … disciplinary charges for threatening behavior…
Apr 30 2022
How to be Successful without Hurting Men’s Feelings, Sarah Cooper
Apr 30 2022
Archive of feminist activism 70s-90s
Apr 29 2022
When someone tells you transwomen aren’t really a problem…
Apr 27 2022
excerpt from Pornography and Civil Rights, MacKinnon/Dworkin
Pornography [also] engenders sex discrimination. By making a public spectacle and a public celebration of the worthlessness of women, by valuing women as sluts, by defining women according to our availability for sexual use, pornography makes all women’s social worthlessness into a public standard. Do you think such a being is likely to become Chairman of the Board? Vice President of the United States? Would you hire a “cunt” to represent you? Perform surgery on you? Run your university? Edit your broadcast? (p.48, emphasis mine)
Apr 25 2022
Postscript to 13 Reasons Why
In case anyone’s still watching 13 Reasons Why (and see my lengthy post at https://www.hellyeahimafeminist.com/13-reasons-make-movie-maybe-write-novel-without-acknowledging-elephant-room/) … Tyler’s getting raped is presented as SO MUCH WORSE than either Jessica or Hannah getting raped. OF COURSE.
Apr 21 2022
Internet access inequality
Sent this letter to Rogers, don’t expect a reply, but thought it worth posting here .as well ..
Hello Rogers:
I have just discovered your Internet 25 plan whereby people can get 450GB/month for a mere $70. I live three hours north of Toronto; the only plan available to me is 7GB/month for pretty much the same $70 ($60, actually). I pay $20 for every additional 10GB, which is to say I’d pay almost $1000 for the same 450GB. Not only that, my 7GB comes at a snail’s pace of 0.1-2.4mbps, compared to, probably, something closer to 50mbps.
I understand the difference in speed; I access through space, not fibre. And I understand that due to the low population density where I live, fibre’s not gonna happen. (Pity you can’t piggyback on the electrical or phone lines that already exist.)
What I don’t understand is the difference in GBage. It doesn’t cost you any more whether I get/use 7GB or 100GB, does it? The tower is the same; you don’t pay for more air for the GB to travel through.
So, could you please explain the rationale for this gross inequality of service?