Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:56 PM

I just finished reading The Alchemist's Door by Lisa Goldstein (copyright 2002)

The preface provides the basic setup and summary:

This much is true: That in the 1580s King Rudolf of the Holy Roman Empire summoned astrologers and alchemists and magicians from all over Europe to his capital in Prague. That Doctor John Dee, the famous Elizabethan student of the occult, was one of the men summoned, along with his associate Edward Kelley. That Rabbi Judah Loew, the man who is credited with creating the golem, an artificial being made of clay, was already living in the Jewish Quarter of the city.

It is not recorded that Dee and Loew ever met. But it is not recorded that they didn't...

I'm sorely tempted to dig up my copy of The Queen's conjurer, a (nonfiction) biography of Dee which I began but never finished... I think I abandoned that shortly before Dee's trip to the Continent (where this book begins), and I'm curious to compare truth to fiction. Then again, I already have quite a backlog in my reading queue.

PS: Doctor Dee also appears in two other Elizabethan fantasy novels I'm aware of: Armor of light by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett, and Patricia Wrede's Snow White and Rose Red.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:25 PM

So, since the PLA Conference is in Boston and my company is exhibiting, they sprung for some free exhibit hall passes and gave us a half-day to scope out the competition.

Nowhere near as much time as I spent in the ALA Midwinter exhibit halls last year, so I wasn't able to do as much browsing as I'd've liked, but I did make a quick spin through the book publishers to see what freebies were available.

In maybe 25 minutes among the book vendors^*, I came away with the following freebies:

• H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, complete and unabridged
• Crystal Doors, a YA fantasy by Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson
• Escape! the story of the Great Houdini (another YA book)
• Access Boston
• Sex with the Queen: 900 years of vile kings, virile lovers, and passionate politics (sequel/companion to Sex with Kings: 500 years of adultery, power, rivalry, and revenge)
• Ping: a frog in search of a new pond ("in the tradition of Who moved my cheese?")
• Stop being your symptoms and start being yourself

And two advance uncorrected proofs, listed below as "best freebie score."

Note: these weren't the only free books I was offered; I turned down about the same number as I accepted, because those titles totally didn't interest me or I had no more room in my bag. I also got multiple pens (one of which lights up!) and entered several drawings for free books or Amazon gift certificates. And, though I checked with the publisher, they had no early copies of His Majesty's dragon. (Oh well, it only goes on sale next week)

Didn't have much time for browsing, though a few titles/publishers caught my eye. As usual, McFarland publishes the most interesting nonfiction... The one which most caught my eye was Monty Python, Shakespeare and English Renaissance Drama. And (also typical) the reference books of Greenwood Publishing are both intensely enticing and quite above my budget. Titles like: All Things Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Friends, Cooking with Jane Austen, Shakespeares after Shakespeare (a 2 volume set), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy (in 3 volumes, with an intro by Neil Gaiman), and too many other to list...

Lots of comic and GN and manga vendors in attendance. Saw the creators of Unshelved selling their gear...
BTW, the cover of the latest graphic novel catalog from DC Comics advertises DC Universe: the stories of Alan Moore. Given the way he rails against the company, I'm sure this will please him no end.

I did better at my corporate espionage competitive intelligence assignment this year than last year, I think in large part because I managed not to get my company name on my badge. [I never lied: when people asked if I was a librarian, I said that I have the degree but am not employed in a library.] But the fact that I wasn't obviously from the competition enabled me to relax a bit more, just be myself, and basically geek out. I'm into searching, I'm into interfaces, show me what cool stuff ya got! And, while I can be shy and awkward in some social situations, I have a contagious enthusiasm.

I so impressed one company's rep that she invited me to a focus group session they were having to get interface ideas. Alas, I had to get back to work in the afternoon (and besides, that seemed a bit more questionable ethically).

^*Ian thinks that the number of freebies and books I was shlepping around may have helped put the vendors off-guard, making me look more like a typical attendee and less like a competitor whose only purpose in being there was to scope them out.

Coolest product seen: Big Cozy Books furniture: chairs and benches that look like books! They're upholstered and comfy, and you can choose which title appears on the spine, and Oh I want one!

Best schwag came from Greenwood/Praeger. For sitting through a demo of one of their latest interfaces, I got a very nice (reusable mesh) bag with a Geoffrey Chaucer bobblehead (a tie-in to their new All Things Chaucer book, and the perfect companion to the Jane Austen bobblehead I got from them last year, when they released All Things Austen -- they also have an All Things Shakespeare, but if that was associated with a bobblehead, I must've missed it), plus a booklight, a 2006 calendar, and a USB thumbdrive (60MB with about 3MB of PDF files). Nice!

Best freebie score: An uncorrected galley proof of Farthing by Jo Walton. Last one in the publisher's booth! All I had to do to get it was to add my name to their mailing list for Tor's upcoming releases. Ooh, twist my arm...
I also picked up an uncorrected proof of Charlie Stross' The Clan corporate, because I know Ian's been reading the series.

I did stop by the Elsevier booth: the "Never underestimate the importance of a librarian" canvas tote I got at last year's ALA is one of my favorites (and a frequent conversation spark). I had hoped they might have more schwag with that slogan, but alas, no.
Also, no sign of the bookflip people (which I reviewed here last year).

Oh, and I saw Nancy Pearl in passing. She looks just like her action figures and book covers. [She'll be signing both in the ALA store tomorrow morning.]

I'm sure there are more things I wanted to write, but I'm forgetting them now.

Bonus fortune cookie from lunch:

All-right...
Actually, it kinda reminds me of this week's Free Will Astrology horoscope:

Many of us who were born under the sign of Cancer have always felt trepidation about the fact that we're stuck with the same name as a disease. A while back I asked my readers to suggest alternate possibilities. One of the best ideas came from amateur astronomer Michael Bird. He said that within the constellation of Cancer the Crab there is a batch of 350 close-knit stars that are collectively known as the Beehive Cluster, and also as Praesepe, which is the Latin word for "manger." Either "Beehive" or "Manger" would serve our tribe well in the coming weeks. The astrological omens say it's time to give birth to and nurture a new brainchild, preferably with the support of an organized hive of our busy, buzzing allies.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:06 PM

1) Worst President Ever?

I used to be a regular, avid reader of Tom Spencer's blog when he was part of History News Network. He quit blogging for a while, but came back as part of the Corrente team.

Now he weighs in on the question Is George W. Bush the worst president ever?

His answer is "no" but he does list his Bottom Five, and Georgie makes that cut. [No, Ian, Andrew Jackson is not among them.]

Also, Dwight Meredith points out a delicious irony about one of the conservative critics trying to brand recent Democratic presidents as worst.

2) WATB^*

Back to the research that conservatives are whiny babies, Jonah Goldberg wrote a column attacking the study, and Amanda neatly eviscerates his logic, further showing him up as the immature whiner he is.

Quoting Amanda:

Interesting that Jonah thinks that being a bully and a whiner are somehow opposed to each other. That says a lot more about his state of mind than reality -- all grown-up, he's still confusing real strength with bullying, which is a pretend strength that involves finding someone weaker than yourself and beating up on them. It's been my experience that being a bully and being a whiner are strongly correlated personality traits

3) Zacarias Moussaoui

For those who are following the case, and trying to figure out how his actions (or inactions) are worthy of the death penalty, Dahlia Lithwick (one of my favorite Supreme Court reporters) recently explained the legal theory of his culpability prosecutors are trying to use, along with a nice background in conspiracy-law. Today, she follows up on that article, showing how the prosecutors' case has shifted to a more slippery legal ground.

As for the question somebody posed whether Moussaoui deserves to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, I get the impression that there's a method to his madness. He doesn't care whether he lives or dies, but is more interested in making a fool of the U.S. legal system and showing up the whole thing as a big sham. Something like (what I remember learning about) the Chicago Seven trial.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:45 PM

Cats are nocturnal creatures.

I am not.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:15 AM

I cannot find my wristwatch. There's one of about three places it could be (on or around my desk, on or around my nightstand, or in one of my bags) but I can't find it and I'll definitely need it tomorrow.

9am update: I found my wristwatch in my purse. Now if I only knew where my work badge was...

5 minutes later: Found my badge at the bottom of my other bag.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 AM

For all the times I write about truth stranger than fiction, the rare counterexample proves the point:

Via Avedon Carol:

...they were talking about a Batman story that everyone thought had just too ludicrous a premise at the time it came out - No Man's Land, about what happens to Gotham after a major disaster hits it and the government just doesn't bother with rescue operations, and people with guns stand on the bridges preventing folks from evacuating. Readers just couldn't accept the premise - no one believed the United States government would ever abandon an American city to lawlessness.

Count me among those who considered the storyline utterly implausible at the time.

Or, as H. L. Mencken put it:

"Truth would quickly cease to become stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it."

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:42 PM

I know that dumping a lot of links in one post is a surefire way to ensure none of them get read, but I don't have time to make lengthy entries for each:

• I'll start with the story everybody's been blogging, which I first saw on Suburban Guerrilla. In a decades-long longitudinal study, researchers discovered "[t]he whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity." Majikthise has further links on the researcher and study.

• Bitch PhD explains why college professors are "liberal".

Crime and the criminals in charge

• Bush operatives are impersonating the press... and the Secret Service

• Hilzoy points to increasing evidence this administration conducted warrantless physical searches on American citizens.

At least one defense attorney representing a subject of a terrorism investigation believes he was the target of warrantless clandestine searches. On Sept. 23, 2005--nearly three months before the Times broke the NSA story--Thomas Nelson wrote to U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut in Oregon that in the previous nine months, "I and others have seen strong indications that my office and my home have been the target of clandestine searches." [...] The searches, if they occurred, were anything but deft. Late at night on two occasions, Nelson's colleague Jonathan Norling noticed a heavyset, middle-aged, non-Hispanic white man claiming to be a member of an otherwise all-Hispanic cleaning crew, wearing an apron and a badge and toting a vacuum. But, says Norling, "it was clear the vacuum was not moving." Three months later, the same man, waving a brillo pad, spent some time trying to open Nelson's locked office door, Norling says. Nelson's wife and son, meanwhile, repeatedly called their home security company asking why their alarm system seemed to keep malfunctioning. The company could find no fault with the system.

• Radley Balko's back on the Cory Maye beat. He went to Mississippi for some on-the-scene investigative research, and he's got an eyeful.

Iraq

• Helen Thomas has been giving people whatfor today. She all but called the President a liar, pointing out "Every reason given [for invading Iraq], publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war?" [video with commentary by Cafferty; and Josh Marshall points out the obvious -- Bush lied in his answer] Helen Thomas followed that up by taking on Wolf Blitzer.

• But now, Bush's former ghostwriter is speaking out:

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. "It was on his mind. He said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade·.if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow.

Katrina

• The Katrina death toll is now over 1500, more than half the number killed in the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks. The death toll increased "177 deaths in a mere 15 day period, or almost 12 new deaths every single day for the past two weeks, seven months after the storm." Why the sudden surge?

At the time this felt too horrific to blog here, which I commented on Making Light. They're still finding new bodies in homes this week, because for the past 3 1/2 months, FEMA red tape wouldn't pay for the dog teams. And they're finding bodies in houses previously searched by local officials. March 6, on CNN:

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: [I]t's been six months since Katrina hit and they're just now using cadaver dogs?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it...
COSTELLO: I mean why hasn't this been done before? Why wasn't that like the top priority, to find these bodies in these homes?
CALLEBS: It's a great question and it is a sensitive issue for people who live here. They were using cadaver dogs from October until December. Then the city simply ran out of money. And they asked FEMA for more money to fund this research -- or this rescue operation, search and rescue recovery operation. And somehow, through red tape, through bureaucratic mess, the funding just came through last week. So they've only been doing this -- well, think, December, January, February, March -- about three-and-a-half months until they were able to resume.

Incidentally, the context of that Making Light post is that the next Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1st. Do you feel ready?

Feminist issues

• Barry at Ampersand created a table comparing current anti-abortion policies with two consistent frameworks, revealing that "leaders of the abortion criminalization movement have consistently put their political weight behind policies which make little or no sense if they genuinely think that abortion is identical to child murder. And those same leaders routinely endorse policies that make a lot of sense if their goal is to penalize women who have sex."

• Lauren compiles info on the relative safety of RU-486 to counter the scaremongers. Ema has more on what the news stories got wrong.

• Kevin Drum points out the value of diversity on the Court.

• Huge dust-up last week among some of the major feminist blogs. [No direct pointers; the flames have died down enough I'd rather not reignite them.] Lucky White Girl sums up one of the outcomes in her Impromptu Carnival: Privilege in the blogosphere.

• The Ferrett made a good point about switches, which I think relates to how things got so badly out of hand:

The switch is not a physical thing, but a mental thing. It's the point where you find that someone believes in something so vile that no one in their right minds could possibly be okay with it. If this person believes in X, then nothing else they believe can have any significance whatsoever. You pull the switch, and from that point onwards you never listen to them again.

That's not to say that you cut them out of your life entirely. You may hear their words. But whatever they say from that point onwards can be handwaved as the thoughts of someone who doesn't matter, because they believe in something so crazy that obviously they're full of shit from scalp to tootsies. Once you pull the switch, you can ignore every single opinion they possess without bothering to look at what they're saying.

IP, but not free

• Marvel and DC are trying to jointly trademark the word "superhero" The earliest reference found by the OED SF Citation Project was in 1942, in Supersnipe Comics, which is a product of neither company.

Ian doesn't think they'll win, because Disney used the word "superhero" in last summer's Sky High and they've got those kids on contract for sequels or a possible TV spinoff, so they won't let go so easily. We could be facing a battle of the titans -- and IP advocates may be rooting for Disney in this case...

• Meanwhile, via Larry Lessig, The Comedy of IP Overkill.

Closing jokes

• Avram Grumer proves the singularity is nine years away

• Parallels Between My Living Through Two Years of Middle School and the Two Terms of the Bush Presidency: a great McSWeeney's list, via Arthur D. Hlavaty

These are just some of the stories we've been following...

PS (added 11:15 pm): Oh yeah, one last thing. Have you been following the farce the Moussaoui case has turned into? TalkLeft has all the details As a Washington Post editorial put it,

This case nevertheless joins a line of big terrorism prosecutions marred by government misconduct, overzealousness, hyping of charges or just plain ineffectiveness.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 PM

After seeing it on Bitch | Lab's, I decided to take The Nerd? Geek? Or Dork? Test

I'm not sure I agree with their definitions, but:

Outcast Genius 65 % Nerd, 52% Geek, 56% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius. Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject). Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius. Congratulations!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 62% on nerdiness You scored higher than 74% on geekosity You scored higher than 93% on dork points Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Last October, I made a great big post about geek, including links to my favorite comic strips on the subject, etymology and definitions.

PS/Reminder: OKCupid hides zillions of invisible images in their code which link back to their website using alt-text that bears no relation to that particular quiz: a googlebombing to associate their site with the phrase "free online dating." They're hidden in the age/gender comparison. This quiz had six such links:

<A href="http://www.okcupid.com/"><IMG src="http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border="0" alt="free online dating"/></A>

And every time you just reuse their test results, you're perpetuating the connection and skewing searches for the phrase.

It may be a small price to pay for the entertainment value, but if you're not using OKCupid for dating services, is it really right to make that link and raise their rank in this manner?

So, how do you rate?

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:05 PM

Lots of discussion around the blogosphere about V for Vendetta, particularly comparing the movie to the comic books (and GN).

In the order that I've seen them:

• The Ferrett provides a detailed comic-to-movie comparison.

• Cija hosts a lengthy discussion with feminist analysis.

• Steven Barnes addresses racial aspects in the movie.

All three contain major spoilers for the film, but fascinating learning opportunities all around, as people debate the nature of film adaptations.

There's really not much I can add to all that.

But I have to agree with this comment from Peter David's blog:

PS: Seen recently in a bookstore: a novelization based on the screenplay adapted from the graphic novel compiled from the comic books. To add one further level of abstraction, there's also an audiobook of the novelization based on the screenplay adapted from the graphic novel compiled from the comic books...

PPS: Okay, one final nit about the film. The movie concluded with the standard disclaimer that all people and events depicted in the film were fictitious. Yet the movie began with a quick history lesson on the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes. Which were real events and real people (even if the filmmakers did get some details wrong).

The official movie website includes some further Guy Fawkes information, including a timeline, image gallery, and hangman game. Unfortunately, the site is flash-based, so I can't provide direct links to the informational pages.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 PM

Three stories in the week's news:

Many blogs have linked to this Washington Post article that describes Americans as "a nation of culinary illiterates."

The most annoying thing about this story, however, is that this was a solved problem!

This time last year, I read Perfection salad: women and cooking at the turn of the century. The subtitle is misleading, because the true subject of the book is the origins of home economics as a field of study. [Fascinating topic; fascinating book.]

One of the primary purposes behind putting home ec classes into the schools was to compensate for skills not learned at home. This is hardly the first time in history when a significant number of mothers worked outside the home in places where grandmothers couldn't pick up the slack in teaching these household skills.

Now, there certainly was a fair bit of classism involved in these advocacy efforts, but there was also an unmet need that clearly hasn't gone away.

Cooking, sewing/mending, budgeting, basic housekeeping, minor household repairs... who doesn't need at least some grounding in these skills?

I may have resented them at the time, but I had mandatory home ec classes when I was in school. I get the impression that these courses have disappeared in the past twenty years (along with recess, PE, art and music classes, and other "nonessentials")

Which means we've fallen, just one century later, back to the same situation that necessitated these classes in the first place.

Also, pulling something out of comments a few weeks ago, a reader expressed concern over public schools teaching comparative religion, saying "There's way too much opportunity for manipulation and error."

Given how politicized school curriculum and textbook selection have become, there are certainly a lot of risks and far too many ways comparative religion classes could be taught poorly and actually increase ignorance.

But I started wondering, what if comparative religion were taught as an etiquette class? Instead of getting into the nitty gritty of what people believe (which may be fraught with misunderstanding), use as a textbook How to be a perfect stranger, which describes how to behave when a guest at somebody else's service. How to dress, traditional form of address for clergy, expectations... What are the major holidays? How are lifecycle events (births, weddings, deaths) celebrated?

It may seem superficial, but teaching respect in this manner may be more useful in everyday life and less prone to bias than trying to explain the teachings of other faiths.

What do you think?

Story making the rounds about Fulton High School drama teacher Wendy DeVore, who is resigning rather than risking being fired.

DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.

But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.

DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a classic romantic comedy with its own dicey subject matter, including suicide, rape and losing one's virginity.

Most of the blog posts seem to imply that she's leaving because would-be censors found Midsummer Night's Dream unsuitable.

But the hometown newspaper gave a rave review to Dream with no indications anyone objected to this play.

Attendance at opening weekend was significantly lower than usual, only 134 at Friday's premier performance and approximately 100 on Saturday.

"Usually on opening weekend, we sell out. With 'Seussical' we were turning people away the first couple nights, and 'Grease' was sold out opening night and came close the second," DeVore said. "I don't know if it's because of the controversy or because it's Shakespeare."

The article about DeVore's resignation makes no mention of Dream -- just continued ramifications over the earlier plays:

DeVore said the move was not a direct reaction to Superintendent Mark Enderle's December decision to cancel "The Crucible," nor to the scrutiny created by media reports in The New York Times and other outlets.

Rather, she said it was spurred primarily by students' questions about Miller's play and the extent of administrative oversight of the drama department.

"They asked: 'Why is it something we can read in class but we can't perform?' and 'What kinds of shows can we perform in the future?'," Devore said. "They deserved explanations, and there were things I couldn't give them.

"It just kind of wore me down."

Another source of concern for DeVore was her belief that the school, the district and local media avoided open dialogue on the issue.

"Nobody wanted to talk about it and have open debates," she said. "It just kind of saddened me."

So, before everybody starts making analogies to Connie Willis' short story "Ado," the fault may lie not in the Bard, but in ourselves.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:30 PM

...is a cool single-topic blog about the Bard.

And two of his recent posts seem the kind of thing to interest my readership:

Quotes Mistakenly Attributed to Shakespeare is somewhat interesting. Nothing most of you should have trouble with, but it may be a useful reference to pass along to others. -- permalink

But more interesting is today's post:

A Shakespeare Pun Contest? Nice.

The First Post is holding a contest to find "your best Shakespeare pun to create an advertising slogan for a well-known brand or product". Prizes include a bottle of champagne and a genuine Ye Olde Feather Quill from Stratford-upon-Avon...

Sounds like a fun idea (the deadline is March 30), but I don't think anything can surpass this one that made the rounds late 2004:

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:50 PM

This morning's Salon includes an article on The battle to ban birth control.

It documents how activists have “pressured insurance companies to refuse coverage of contraception, lobbied for 'conscience clause' laws to protect pharmacists from having to dispense birth control, and are redefining the very meaning of pregnancy to classify certain contraceptive methods as abortion.”

Scary stuff.

For those who are pro-choice, the idea of fighting to ban both abortion and contraception seems contradictory: Contraception, after all, lessens the number of abortions. But once one understands what the true social and moral agenda of activists like [Mary, founder of No Room for Contraception,] Worthington is, and their attitude toward sexuality, the contradictions vanish. For them, sex should always be about procreation; since contraception prevents conception, it is immoral. At a deeper level, they believe that women's biological destiny is to be mothers.

[Former president of Planned Parenthood, Mary] Feldt says, "When you peel back the layers of the anti-choice motivation, it always comes back to two things: What is the nature and purpose of human sexuality? And second, what is the role of women in the world?" Sex and the role of women are inextricably linked, because "if you can separate sex from procreation, you have given women the ability to participate in society on an equal basis with men."

[... Author and vice president of the Institute for Reproductive Health Access at NARAL Pro-Choice New York, Cristina] Page says she has noticed, too, that some anti-choice groups tend not only to oppose birth control, they also oppose child care. In her book she points to some troubling statistics and anecdotes [...] "The trifecta is ban contraception, ban abortion, make child care impossible," says Page.

The movement has been laying the groundwork for years and is finally starting to move their rhetoric into the mainstream, just as abortion rights are under attack.

One issue I feel I need to address:

In order to support the idea that contraception is dangerous, Worthington publishes articles on the site that take qualified language from scientific studies and distort their conclusions. [...] Finding these inconsistencies requires digging below the surface of the site -- on the face of it, Worthington presents her cases persuasively, and couches her arguments in the rhetoric of women's empowerment rather than that of morality. In another piece, titled "Chemical contraceptives kill her sex drive," she takes as her starting point a January 2006 study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine about the relationship between the birth-control pill and sexual desire. Worthington notes that "the conclusion of the study states that while there is a link between chemical contraceptives and a decreased sex drive, more evidence is needed for an accurate correlation to be seen." But then she blithely continues: "If The Pill is causing such trauma and stress in the lives of women, why is it promoted as the be-all, end-all for worry-free sexual relations?"

Worthington goes on to conclude: "Because of the use of hormonal contraceptives, men are equipped with the means to abuse women."

When asked to clarify that statement, she replied, "Chemical contraceptives are promoted as a means by which a couple can have sex all the time with no worries, but how can you expect a woman to have sex if the man is making her take a pill that decreases her sex drive?"

Chip Berlet [of Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank that tracks campaigns meant to curb human rights] calls this kind of explanation "faux feminist rhetoric": "It ... changes the appearance of what side you're on." Indeed, if you ignore their ultimate conclusion that birth control should be eradicated altogether, many of Worthington's arguments look a lot like feminist arguments. Concerns about the correlation between sex drive and the pill have been raised by pro-choicers, too, and on Worthington's blog is a startling post railing about how unfair it is that a male birth-control pill will probably never exist because men don't want to risk impotence, and women are expected to handle their side effects in stride. Take out the phrase "morally offensive" in relation to contraception in general, and there's not much in the argument for a pro-choice feminist to disagree with.

Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, points out that there is a conscious effort to appeal to that "segment of the women's health movement who are suspicious of chemicals and IUDs and want to lead a natural life."

Speaking as someone who does blame oral contraceptives for my sexual dysfunctions^*, I totally disagree with Worthington's assertions that the Pill somehow subjugates women, and I most adamantly do not advocate further restrictions on hormonal contraception.

Personally, I believe that we should not reduce current oversight -- I do not want to see oral contraceptives available over-the-counter until more research has done. We need more education of patients and doctors, but I see no reason for these kinds of scare tactics.

Women obtaining hormonal contraceptions should be warned to monitor their libido and to see their doctors if they notice any changes, so they can switch prescriptions to a brand with fewer side effects. Ideally, I'd like to see women on hormonal contraception receive regular hormonal blood tests to make sure nothing's going sour.

Meanwhile, I want more research, so we can understand what's really going on physiologically. And hopefully that will lead to new contraceptive formulations, possibly with supplemental testosterone or other compensatory factors to forestall problems in those who may be prone to them.

Anyway, during during the Roberts and Alito hearings, many people pointed out that this isn't just about Roe v. Wade, but also Griswold v. Connecticut. So now that they've won that Court battle, they're coming out of the woodwork.

And I just don't recognize the world they're advocating as American.

^* Other posts about female sexual dyfunction:

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:45 PM

My fortune cookie from today's lunch (leftovers):

Ian, do you want to check our insurance coverage against hail, sleet, meteorites, and other solid precipitation?

I mean, we don't have a Netflix subscription, and even if we did, we probably wouldn't request those DVDs anyway...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:35 AM

Just my luck in timing.

Last week, CafePress announced:

Click to enlarge

Baby Bibs: "temporarily out of stock"

The Baby Bibs are "temporarily out of stock". We are currently experiencing a supplier issue and expect a shipment in mid-March. We'll post an update as soon as they come in. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Since it's already mid-March, hopefully that means any day now.

I apologize for the inconvenience as well, and will make an announcement here as soon as bibs are available again.

For folks who would rather receive personal notification when bibs are available, sign up to receive the store newsletter...

...and I will let y'all know as soon as bibs are available again (I have never used the newsletter before, and promise not to spam you, but this seems the easiest way to inform folks directly).

Meanwhile, there are still one-pieces and infant/toddler t-shirts for sale, if anyone's interested in those...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:54 PM

This week's Somerville Journal has an article about local Purim celebrations.

Although he's not mentioned in the article text, get a load of the accompanying photo:

In royal style, teacher Ian Osmond shares liquor with Rafi Esterson. (David Gordon photo)

Yup. That's my husband!

Update: Ian pointed out that he was mentioned in the article, although not by name (which is why I missed it). Second paragraph:

The jarring grind of noisemakers is heard along with hoots and hollers from a crowd sporting wigs, devil horns, fake mustaches and all manner of silly, mismatched clothes. There?s a man with artificial flowers covering his pants and scattered throughout his hair and beard, and another man dressed as the Biblical Queen Esther is offering booze and cookies to the crowd.

Yup. That's my husband!

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:10 PM

So, the new Hamakor Judaica catalog arrived in the mail.

And I've got a halachic question about one of the items.

I can't find it online (it's K on page 31 of the Passover 2006 print catalog), but here's the description:

This matzah tray is a true one-of-a-kind. Embedded in this square acrylic tray is a real piece of matzah surrounded by small, brightly colored, actual Israeli wildflowers. Sure to be a conversation starter when the Seder begins to run out of steam.

The conversation it inspired between Ian and me was -- isn't that inherently chametz? Or, at least, wouldn't it be after the first year?

So, I put that question to the rest of you.

PS: I found the item online, so y'all can see it for yourself! [I think the use of a machine-made square matza makes it look particularly tacky, although I rather like the similar washing cup.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:00 PM

I think this is probably the oddest fortune cookie advice I've ever received*:

Never smell the inside of a hat.

*And I'm including force multiplier in that (which I received at a subsequent visit to the same restaurant). Come to think of it, this comes from the same place, too...

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:55 PM

This time last year I had an idea...

Part of the Passover ritual involves the youngest person at the seder asking Four Questions, which is supposed to instigate the retelling of the Passover story. [For more information on this, see JewFaq.]

In too many families, the actual youngest participant is too young to actually recite the Questions. Usually, in these situations, the onus falls upon the youngest child actually articulate, but what if there were another way?

Click to enlarge

With this in mind, I've created a bib with the words written upon it. When it's the baby's turn in the spotlight, somebody can just hold the kid up for everybody to read!

Problem solved! And here's my CafePress shop!!!

Baby bibs for everyone!

And, since it's no more trouble for me, I've created infant/toddler t-shirts and one-pieces, although given it's really only for two days of the year and kids grow so fast, the bib is probably the most practical.

Anyways, if you know anybody expecting a small child at the seder, send 'em my way.

[Also, if you happen to notice any typos on the Hebrew, please let me know, so I can correct them as soon as possible! Thanks!]

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:50 PM

I still hate my hair.

It's been three months since I wrote my last rant on this subject

I've been letting my hair grow out.

Forgive me Larry, but it's been about six months since my last haircut.

Disturbingly enough, I am getting compliments for the way it feathers back (nothing I'm doing on purpose; in fact I hate the feathers because I feel it looks 1970sish).

My hair not only regularly gets in my eyes, but it's long enough to tangle and snarl. Unfortunately, it still hasn't reached a length in which I can ponytail it back out of the way. [I can (and do) use a barette at times, which Ian thinks is adorably cute, but I think is too girlish a look for the workplace.]

PS: Remember what I've said about how thick my hair is? I showered over three hours ago, let my hair air-dry, and it's still damp...

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:00 PM

• Along our commute, there's a new sign which advertises a facility's suitability for "Birthday Party's"

• Yesterday, we saw a billboard for some car dealership, trumpetting the fact that "Your Approved!" (I wondered if this might be a new term of endearment: he's my beloved, and I'm his approved)

• And in the closing credits for V for Vendetta we saw somebody listed as "extra's casting" (like the oompaloompas, they had only one and used digital effects to duplicate it across the screen)

Now we know what became of those folks who never mastered spelling and grammar. They're now running the sign industry.

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:20 PM

Anybody know what's going on with Feministe? I haven't been able to connect to the site all weekend.