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silveradeptWorking out logistics with the interview that should be happening on Thursday. I’m probably paying a visit up to the school just to make sure that everything is in order and that all the right people have spoken to each other on getting the videoconference call set up. Spent most of my afternoon reading literature geared toward a teenage audience, as recommended to me by those with much more experience and wisdom than I, and their offerings have not been off the mark. My ability to string them into some sort of coherent narrative may be, but that’s my problem for the moment, and I should be able to work through it by the appointed hour of my destiny. Somebody’s got to hire me, right?
Oh, and as an aside, I’ve been shedding a bit, but I suspect that started about the time my hairline started receding. Might be stress-accelerated shedding these days, but the general result is that as each year passes, I manage to lose more hair. I think.
But, in addition to all of that material in my life, which, y’know, everyone is waiting for me to say “I got hired!” just so that they don’t have to hear me talk about it all the time, the Internet delivers on its promise to have all sorts of material freely available for perusal.
Some of it is about the triumphs of science, such as solar power making after-dark lighting and water purification possible in remote places of India. Or the demand for recycled paper to print Harry Potter Seven was sufficiently large that it pushed the publication of a biodiversity paper back at least a month while stocks were restored. And some details about an ambitious ESA planet-finding project that requires some technology we haven’t quite developed yet. Something that could be coming to us soon, however, is the Crowd Farm, flooring that uses the act of being stepped on by people to generate electricity. Or possibly, transforms a pogoing mosh crowd into extra decibels from the speakers.
Other parts of it are about the darkest parts of humanity, where a bookseller was investigated by the FBI because he was reading a document on how the media has been poisoned by corporate interests. Spy on your neighbors, citizens. You must be vigilant, or the thoughtcriminals will win. But how can you trust your government to tell you the truth, when the Attorney General says there was no dissent when he want to renew the spying program, yet two of those also there says there was quite the dissent? That’s on domestic matters. It doesn’t help them out any more when someone supposedly killed by a friendly-fire incident displays bullet wounds more like an deliberate execution. And that the general involved in the potential cover-up was only censured, with the possibility of losing a star. Or that voting machines are still easily compromised by security testing teams, admittedly in situations that more resembled inside jobs than an outside attack, but the extent to which the devices were hacked makes you wonder whether the numbers from any vote are accurate, and more so on the important ones. This kind of attitude, in addition to the problem of being a single entity in a country controlled by large groups, makes![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bladespark afraid. It's not the terrorists you should fear - it's what the government has done while distracting you with terrorists.
And then there's Bill O'Reilly, self-proclaimed "culture warrior" who routinely advocates hateful, false, and offensive positions, all the while claiming his opponents are the real enemy.
Parts of the things on the web sound familiar, although they claims to be new - an opinion in the New York Times that says that Iraq is stabilizing, and that's reason enough to keep supporting the war effort, even with larger questions about the eventual health of the country as yet unanswered and without major progress. There’s also the continued opposition ,like Lenin's Tomb on how much "the Iraqis have let the occupiers down" by not rolling over and providing record profits for American corporations after their country had been bombed and then bought.
Some of the material is new, but tinges of some familiar elements, like Herb London's opinion that the United Nations understands and uses Orwell's "newspeak" to the fullest.
Some of it will make people squeal and faint, like a kiss delivered to Neil Gaiman at Comic-Con. Others will make them curse and spit, like the economy that has sprung up to feed the wants of the super-rich, some of whom recognize that their continued super-richness is driving out the middle class and putting more and more people into poverty. Some might make them shake their heads in disbelief, like the couple, awarded $2, who wants to have their attorney fees paid as well. Or that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no plans on requiring objects to be labeled "contains nanotechnology". Or the revelation that Marshall Mathers has never licensed his music for download, despite it being available on iTunes. Speaking of music, if a patented gene appears in a song, who gets the royalties?
Some of it is stuff that’s of interest to me professionally, like the Happiness Project's children's literature recommendation list (many of which I have read at least one). Some parts tickle my interest by being related to my other degree, like the Archeological Ministry of France's piece on Saint-Denis. (The translations from French are there for the main content, but some French has remained, so if you know a little, it helps, especially on map legends.) Other parts are more interesting on a personal level, like an opinion expressed regarding Ratzinger's wish to see the Latin mass restored - that’s the one that happened before Vatican II, when the priest and service turned around to see the people, put the service in the vernacular, and gave them responses to the prayers being offered. There’s probably a significant amount of philosophy behind this maneuver, perhaps a strong sign of Catholic fundamentalism of some sort. The Slacktivist skewers a certain popular theological rhyme in asking an important question - Who made Steve? - you know, the one mentioned in the phrase “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” What might be the best of the actual canonical responses is “God made both men, just not their blessed union, because, y’know, being a homosexual is a choice.” Something in the same sort of seriousness, especially for those who want to consider homosexuality a crime, is to look at the result of what happened when people start talking about what the penalty to a woman should be if she has an abortion. It was something that appeared to have slipped the minds of those who wanted them banned - they haven’t considered what the penalty should be, under law. Maybe some of them are thinking stoning, but I suspect that’s been established as cruel and unusual.
Of course, some of it is just weird, like a wearable USB keyboard that would put a new spin on touch-typing. Some aims for nostalgia, liek preserving and emulating Apple II disks, or DIY knitting kits for the headwear of a Firefly character. And some of it is just disturbing, like seeing just how much $80 a week in food stamps goes toward feeding a single mother with three children. Said mother works full-time, by the way, and still sometimes forgoes food for herself so that her children can eat when they are hungry. Similarly, The 9th Ward of New Orleans still appears to be pretty run down, even though it’s been nearly two years since the hurricane was there.
On occasion, though, it’s inspiring. Sometimes, really good messages come through. Like this one - You are Beautiful. Yes, you. Something to think on, anyway. Something to enjoy, though, would be the Fire-Breathing Dragon Cake, which is artistic and delicious, no doubt.
So, that whole bed thing sounds like an idea. Still have one more book to get through, a synopsis to write/memorize, and possibly to do a little practice on the storytelling part of the interview. By the time I’m hired, I’ll probably have a good repertoire of material to perform when I am doing it as part of my job, rather than just as a hope.
Oh, and as an aside, I’ve been shedding a bit, but I suspect that started about the time my hairline started receding. Might be stress-accelerated shedding these days, but the general result is that as each year passes, I manage to lose more hair. I think.
But, in addition to all of that material in my life, which, y’know, everyone is waiting for me to say “I got hired!” just so that they don’t have to hear me talk about it all the time, the Internet delivers on its promise to have all sorts of material freely available for perusal.
Some of it is about the triumphs of science, such as solar power making after-dark lighting and water purification possible in remote places of India. Or the demand for recycled paper to print Harry Potter Seven was sufficiently large that it pushed the publication of a biodiversity paper back at least a month while stocks were restored. And some details about an ambitious ESA planet-finding project that requires some technology we haven’t quite developed yet. Something that could be coming to us soon, however, is the Crowd Farm, flooring that uses the act of being stepped on by people to generate electricity. Or possibly, transforms a pogoing mosh crowd into extra decibels from the speakers.
Other parts of it are about the darkest parts of humanity, where a bookseller was investigated by the FBI because he was reading a document on how the media has been poisoned by corporate interests. Spy on your neighbors, citizens. You must be vigilant, or the thoughtcriminals will win. But how can you trust your government to tell you the truth, when the Attorney General says there was no dissent when he want to renew the spying program, yet two of those also there says there was quite the dissent? That’s on domestic matters. It doesn’t help them out any more when someone supposedly killed by a friendly-fire incident displays bullet wounds more like an deliberate execution. And that the general involved in the potential cover-up was only censured, with the possibility of losing a star. Or that voting machines are still easily compromised by security testing teams, admittedly in situations that more resembled inside jobs than an outside attack, but the extent to which the devices were hacked makes you wonder whether the numbers from any vote are accurate, and more so on the important ones. This kind of attitude, in addition to the problem of being a single entity in a country controlled by large groups, makes
bladespark afraid. It's not the terrorists you should fear - it's what the government has done while distracting you with terrorists. And then there's Bill O'Reilly, self-proclaimed "culture warrior" who routinely advocates hateful, false, and offensive positions, all the while claiming his opponents are the real enemy.
Parts of the things on the web sound familiar, although they claims to be new - an opinion in the New York Times that says that Iraq is stabilizing, and that's reason enough to keep supporting the war effort, even with larger questions about the eventual health of the country as yet unanswered and without major progress. There’s also the continued opposition ,like Lenin's Tomb on how much "the Iraqis have let the occupiers down" by not rolling over and providing record profits for American corporations after their country had been bombed and then bought.
Some of the material is new, but tinges of some familiar elements, like Herb London's opinion that the United Nations understands and uses Orwell's "newspeak" to the fullest.
Some of it will make people squeal and faint, like a kiss delivered to Neil Gaiman at Comic-Con. Others will make them curse and spit, like the economy that has sprung up to feed the wants of the super-rich, some of whom recognize that their continued super-richness is driving out the middle class and putting more and more people into poverty. Some might make them shake their heads in disbelief, like the couple, awarded $2, who wants to have their attorney fees paid as well. Or that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no plans on requiring objects to be labeled "contains nanotechnology". Or the revelation that Marshall Mathers has never licensed his music for download, despite it being available on iTunes. Speaking of music, if a patented gene appears in a song, who gets the royalties?
Some of it is stuff that’s of interest to me professionally, like the Happiness Project's children's literature recommendation list (many of which I have read at least one). Some parts tickle my interest by being related to my other degree, like the Archeological Ministry of France's piece on Saint-Denis. (The translations from French are there for the main content, but some French has remained, so if you know a little, it helps, especially on map legends.) Other parts are more interesting on a personal level, like an opinion expressed regarding Ratzinger's wish to see the Latin mass restored - that’s the one that happened before Vatican II, when the priest and service turned around to see the people, put the service in the vernacular, and gave them responses to the prayers being offered. There’s probably a significant amount of philosophy behind this maneuver, perhaps a strong sign of Catholic fundamentalism of some sort. The Slacktivist skewers a certain popular theological rhyme in asking an important question - Who made Steve? - you know, the one mentioned in the phrase “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” What might be the best of the actual canonical responses is “God made both men, just not their blessed union, because, y’know, being a homosexual is a choice.” Something in the same sort of seriousness, especially for those who want to consider homosexuality a crime, is to look at the result of what happened when people start talking about what the penalty to a woman should be if she has an abortion. It was something that appeared to have slipped the minds of those who wanted them banned - they haven’t considered what the penalty should be, under law. Maybe some of them are thinking stoning, but I suspect that’s been established as cruel and unusual.
Of course, some of it is just weird, like a wearable USB keyboard that would put a new spin on touch-typing. Some aims for nostalgia, liek preserving and emulating Apple II disks, or DIY knitting kits for the headwear of a Firefly character. And some of it is just disturbing, like seeing just how much $80 a week in food stamps goes toward feeding a single mother with three children. Said mother works full-time, by the way, and still sometimes forgoes food for herself so that her children can eat when they are hungry. Similarly, The 9th Ward of New Orleans still appears to be pretty run down, even though it’s been nearly two years since the hurricane was there.
On occasion, though, it’s inspiring. Sometimes, really good messages come through. Like this one - You are Beautiful. Yes, you. Something to think on, anyway. Something to enjoy, though, would be the Fire-Breathing Dragon Cake, which is artistic and delicious, no doubt.
So, that whole bed thing sounds like an idea. Still have one more book to get through, a synopsis to write/memorize, and possibly to do a little practice on the storytelling part of the interview. By the time I’m hired, I’ll probably have a good repertoire of material to perform when I am doing it as part of my job, rather than just as a hope.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 03:37 pm (UTC)Why would the state even award $2 to the parents? If they had won nothing, and their lawyer was pro-bono, they wouldn't have to pay the legal fees. I'm not saying the state should pay thier legal fees, I just question the reasoning behind rewarding $2 over nothing at all. Then again, they WERE offered settlements before this trial, so really, they're sort of the idiots for not just taking the 100k when it was offered.
I've read most of those children's books too, but I don't get where the happiness centered part comes in? Where the Red Fern Grows is kind of sad, and so is a good portion of Little Women. The Little House books aren't sad, but there's a lot of not-happy stuff that goes on in them. I wouldn't not recommend them to people based on the non-happy factor, but I thought the list was books that make you happy?
I have very different views on Food Stamps and WIC. I see people abusing the system. I know a woman, she has two kids and another one the way (when she didn't want the second child. go figure), she's engaged, and has been engaged since the first kid (who's now 5), but doesn't get married. BECAUSE -- if she gets married and has to report both her and her husband's income to WIC, they won't give her anymore assistance. One of the girls I used to work for used her WIC money to buy lunch for the office every once in a while, because if she didn't use the money by a certain date, it got taken away (no rollover), and she felt that since she was given x amount of dollars, she was obligated to spend x amount of dollars. My old roommate was on WIC, too. she had a son, but she only had custody of him 2 weeks out of each month. She used to buy OUR groceries with the WIC money, and told WIC she had her son full-time.
However, on the flip side, you have to think about the prices of some things. fresh vegetables at a grocery store can run $20-30. From a farmer's market? less than half that. But, the farmer's market doesn't take food stamps or WIC. Where does the woman who actually NEEDS that assistance to get her kids healthy food get the money to make sure they eat their 5/day?
I guess what I'm saying is that food assistance needs a huge overhaul. They need to take into account EVERYONE's income who lives in the house, whether it's a grandparent of the kid who gets SSN but contributes to household expenses, or a parent who's not married to the other parent, so that people aren't abusing the situation. I think they need to take a look at how much things like produce, lean meat, and milk cost before giving out allotments.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 04:40 pm (UTC)They're not necessarily happy books, but they are generally well-written ones that you will read later on in life - and perhaps some nostalgia and good writing will make you happy.
There are abuses of the system. There are also people who, even with the system and a full-time job, are one hospital bill away from ruination. Or, should they lose that full-time job, they won't be able to make ends meet at all. As things are, many of them are, as we know, buying the cheap, unhealthy stuff because that's what they can afford and because they can buy enough of it in quantity for people to stave off hunger.
Regarding allotments and assistance programs, those amounts, I suspect, are set by whatever is considered the Federal Poverty Level and some formula of what prices for goods should be. The amount that someone needs to "break out" of a situation where there could be food insecurity and such is usually about three times the FPL. So, people who could earn better jobs might end up being worse off because the amount of their assistance would be reduced further than the increased wage could make up. From what Dr. Gershoff said, generally, the a large amount of people who are considered poor or in poverty are only there temporarily and can bounce back. There's still a percentage, however, who remain in the cycle and have trouble getting out.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 06:58 pm (UTC)I also don't think you can use food stamps at a wholesale club like Sam's, and that would really also probably benefit larger families if they could take advantage of that.
I don't know how the allotment amounts are determined, but I think what really gets you, is that the amount they use as your base pay is your salary, pre-tax, pre-insurance. so if you're paying out $200/mo out of your paycheck to have health insurance for you and the kiddies, that doesn't matter, the agency assumes you have that $200. And when they go based on your household bills, theonly bills they count are electricity and gas. Maybe a land line for phone. they don't consider the cell phone you own in case you get attacked while out on the street, they don't consider the cost of the renters insurance you have to pay for living in such a bad area, they don't consider the cost of internet so that your kids can keep up with their classmates in school....it's ridiculous.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 07:46 pm (UTC)Well, health insurance is a luxury item, in that you don't really have to have it to survive, even though it's going to bankrupt you if you don't have it and actually do need medical care. Electricity and heat are considered essentials because without heat in places like Michigan, people tend to die, and with too much heat in places like Arizona, they tend to die. The rest are luxuries, and if you spend your money on those things, well, that's your decision. You could have used it to buy more food.
Not that I agree with that reasoning at all, but that's probably where it spawns from, because many conservatives would raise hell at the prospect of some "welfare queen" having her internet and telephone bills paid for by the government, even if they were vital in ensuring that she has a job, can contact city services, and the like.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 08:03 pm (UTC)And saying "for the child's benefit" opens up possibilities of abuses, which people who aren't fond of government assistance will be waiting for to happen so they can say "See! They're all scamming us! Get rid of it!"
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 08:12 pm (UTC)How could you abuse it if you have to bring in your bills to an office for someone to determine your eligibility?
If someone asks me what my bills are monthly, I'd probably include my internet and phone in my personal calculation, because it's money that comes out of my pocket for a bill.
I can see say, not covering cable service, because well, that really is a luxury. However, I can see that leading to problems, too. "well, I have a cable modem". or "so and so has DSL and you include that in their phone bill, so why not my cable modem?".
At the very least, the agency ought to ask "okay, what are your other bills?" and then mom can produce her cell phone bill, cable bill, phone bill, whatever and the agency can tally those up and accept a percentage of it's total as "other bills" or something. *something* to show that mom is paying that extra money out for things and doesn't have that to buy her kids food with.
There's jsut got to be a better system to give people what they need. Obviously, a monetary based system isn't working. So maybe they need to go on a "piece by piece" system. Say - you can get 4 gallons of milk/month, 4 loaves of bread/month, x pounds of fresh fruit/veggies/month, etc. etc. and base those numbers off the number of people in the house and their developmental needs.
I also noticed that the article said the kids "go without soda"....well, they're kids, they shouldn't be drinking a lot of soda anyway!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 08:39 pm (UTC)The piece-by-piece system has been attempted many times, generally in times of war. Scarcities result, and a market for additional cards/stamps/rations appears. And while you can tune it to developmental needs as much as you like, who wants to eat healthy-yet-bland noodles and sauce for seven days a week because it's what was accorded to them by the government? Even Victory Gin wouldn't be enough to wash that down. And the month that the growth spurt begins, heaven help us all on trying to survive on the same amount of food as last month. Dobuly so if there are more kids growing.
Regarding soda, it's cheaper than bottled water by a long shot, and somewhat more portable than the several gallons' worth of store-brand water you could get for the same price. Remember, more often than not, the junk is cheaper and easier to carry around.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 08:44 pm (UTC)I suppose it would be harder to do a piece-by-piece, but then if it's not piece-by-piece, grocery stores should lower their costs of things like fruits/veggies to comare to farmer stands. or even offer a lower price for WIC people, like they have their bonus cards.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:02 pm (UTC)You also want a grocery to say, "Here, people on assistance! We're going to give you a lower price, take pity on you, and show off to all the world just how poor you really are and how generous we are that we're giving you this discount!" Even if that's not the intent, I can hear people bristling were they to see "$1.29 for those who can afford it, $.99 for those who are too poor to even pay that." on prices.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:06 pm (UTC)As for the pricing, it wouldn't be a "you can't afford this so pay this", it would only apply if you had the access card or whatever they call it, and you would have to pay with that card.
but i suppose it might cause animosity. Atthe same time though, the grocery store can't afford to charge everyone farmer's stand prices, wheras the people with more money COULD go down to the farmer's stand and get their veggies for cheap becaise they had the money to spend on food.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:17 pm (UTC)Regardless of how you want to go about it, people have real funny ideas about "takin' charity" from others, and others have even weirder ideas about "paying taxes so that some bum can sit around all day.", and they're not referring to their legislators. Recall that a strongly prevalent attitude about the homeless and the poor is that they're lazy, and that with hard work, even at minimum wage, they'd make it into a proper life. All they have to do is want it, y'know. Even the single mother, who never went to college because she had children, who had her husband leave her and their four children, she can take care of all of them, she just has to want to work hard, that's all, and in no time she'll be pulling in plenty of money to pay for everything.
All she has to do is work eighty-hour weeks and starve herself. That's not so bad, is it?
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:26 pm (UTC)sure, sure. I totally get the "not taking charity" thing, but you know...sometimes, it's just needed. I also honestly don't think that anyone who is homeless or on assistance is lazy. it's just that they don't have as large of a support system as the single parent you know who's raising her three kids on her own and has a cushy job. That's what it comes down to, I think. People see a single parent "making it" and then think that the single parent in poverty must be doing somethig wrong, but what they don't see is that the single parent "making it" migh thave a stronger support network. I'd like to make all those folks who say you can live of minimum wage DO IT for afew weeks. No outside help allowed. They have to pay rent, gas, electricity, and food out of their minimum wage job - and oh yeah, they have to raise the children at the same time. Let them see how "easy" it is.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:36 pm (UTC)What we haven't mentioned so far is the network of religious and nonreligious organizations that exist to give people a support network, in addition to or because of the amount of family support someone gets. Woefully, a lot of people who could use their help don't know they exist. And some of them may be a bit heavy on the "Come to Jeezis if you want to sup at our table" bits, which could very well grate on people after a while if they're not already of the appropriate Jeezis sect. Even more woefully, sometimes even knowing where to go and having a good support network isn't enough. All it takes is one cavity and no dental insurance...
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:43 pm (UTC)As for caveties, there are traveling dentist busses that can take care of that in a child for free, but if you're an adult, forget it.
Yes, I'd actually like the government to, you know, take care of the people that live in it every once in a while.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:58 pm (UTC)Government? Take care of the people? That's communism, miss, and I'll tell you right now, we red-blooded American patriots will have no truck with terrorists! Besides, if we wait long enough, all the lazy poor will die out like how that wave smashed all those sinners, and especially those degenerate black and brown people for their misdeeds, praise God. And then, all we have to do is wait for God to come and take us up to heaven, while everyone else in the world suffers.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-01 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-02 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-02 02:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-02 02:29 am (UTC)