Livre d'Or

One thing I really love is people being geeky about topics they're knowledgeable about. So links gathered from this week:

rochvelleth, who has a professional interest in language and linguistics, actually hosts a round of linguistic prescriptivism debate

americanbeetles, a real entomologist, on insect irridescence and some recent science news stories (and the comment thread features an awesome macro). Obviously don't follow the link if you find insect pictures traumatic.

lilairen is not, AFAIK, a professional biologist, but she is both wittily scathing and informative on rhetorical misuses of evolutionary metaphors. The post is more hilarious if you hang out in poly and other unconventional sexuality subcultures, but yay for evolutionary cluefulness.

Also, redbird has a really touching response to the recent XKCD cartoon about spiritrover. I'm linking to the LJ version cos the comment clarification makes the post even more poignant.

( my weekend )

I was tangentially involved in a consultation between Staffordshire police and the local interfaith group regarding the police response to the EDL protest here at the weekend. Kudos to the police for even bothering to have such a consultation; admittedly the kind of people who attend interfaith groups set up for police-community liaison are not exactly representative of the general population of Muslims, but I definitely approve of a serious initiative to learn what affected communities want rather than imposing policing on them top-down. Plus, the police attitude was incredibly sensible: they knew that the EDL were looking for trouble, and were working hard to avoid being provoked into fights, but were prepared to intervene against any actual violent incidents.

They were operating from the standpoint that these people have a right to peaceful protest even about distasteful topics. (They very much don't have a right to vandalize mosques and other Muslim-owned property, much less to attack anyone.) But yeah, I can definitely support the philosophical position that free speech isn't much use if only warm fluffy liberal speech counts. I could only wish that the police were equally committed to peaceful protest rights when the protests in question are against corporate interests (cf environmental and anti-globalization demos) rather than vulnerable immigrant communities, but that's another thing. They did the right thing in Stoke on Saturday. Official numbers say 2500 protesters, apparently bussed in from all over the country and mostly not local, and to have a protest that size, by a group who are setting out to cause trouble, and end up with nothing worse than a handful of arrests for minor property damage and public order stuff, is a very positive outcome.

This isn't an abstract issue for me, by the way; I am absolutely terrified by a neo-fascist protest on that scale in my town. And not in the least reassured when they claim that they "only" hate Muslims and not "established" (ie white-skinned) immigrant groups. Neither am I reassured by the fact that it's "only" a few thousand extremists, which is a small proportion of the population of the UK. A few thousand people still outnumber me! Even so, I do think the police made the right decision in allowing the protest to go ahead and handling it with the lightest possible touch.

( about that free speech issue )

auntysarah makes a very similar point about the "free speech" rights of transphobic fuckwit Julie Bindel. She has the right to express transphobic views; she absolutely does not have the right to impose those views on a venue where trans and other Queer people gather to feel safe and comfortable. She doesn't have the right to use her freedom of speech to encourage violence against trans people. There is no free speech requirement for all organizations everywhere to invite her to speak in order to provide "balance" between her hatred and more tolerant attitudes. She doesn't have the right to a complete exemption from criticism when she says hateful things; calling her a bigot doesn't obstruct her freedom of speech. She doesn't have the right to receive awards for her contribution to society when her negative actions so much outweigh her positive achievements. And if I refuse to buy newspapers which publish her hateful, transphobic journalism, I am not restricting her free speech; she has the right to say whatever she likes, but she does not have the right to my money to support her having a prominent, national platform for her views.

I foolishly decided to have my housewarming just about the first possible weekend after moving in (leaving aside the Christmas period, which is useless for parties). The idea was that it would encourage me to be organized about getting the house sorted out, which only worked partly; I got more done than I would have without the deadline, but not everything, and it was more stressful. But the good thing was that lots of lovely people were helpful and supportive, and the party itself was everything I hoped for.

( I have the best friends )


Oh, and I have left over: a long black scarf which I think is doseybat's, and a washing bag that I think belongs to jack, and a small black umbrella with unidentified owner. If you want me to post stuff back to you, let me know an address and I'll do so.

Surprisingly enough, I don't yet have enough bookcases or storage systems generally. And there are still a few minor DIY jobs that I need to tackle, like putting up coat hooks and towel rails and such. But generally I have a working home that makes me feel relaxed and content when I walk in through the door after a day at work. Also, internet is supposed to be arriving on Monday; I'm a little peeved that TalkTalk's assurance of four working days turned into 21 after I'd already committed to them (while I could have cancelled the contract, at that point it would have taken even longer to find an alternative and get get things set up from scratch), but if it does get switched on seamlessly after only a month of dongle misery I shall be reasonably content.

A lot of people have objected to the decade meme on the grounds that the new decade should begin in 2011, not 2010. I like pedantry as much as the next person, but this feels a little gratuitous. Fair enough, the Third Millennium really began on January 1^st 2001 (or some time in March 1997, if we're going to take things to extremes). But in my lexicon, a decade is simply a period of ten years. There's no good reason to restrict its meaning to the specific period from Jan 1^st --x1 to December 31^st --y0. But numbers ending in zero feel significant to our pattern recognizing brains, so the beginning of 2010 seems like a good time for a little reflection.

The other objection is to do with decades in the sociological sense. Does 2010 belong to the aughts or the teens? Well, for one thing it's too soon to tell, and for another, decade in that sense is a completely arbitrary division anyway. There's no specific date when we can definitely say, this is when the sixties began, it was a gradual transition some time between 1959 and 1961. Maybe the date of some significant cultural event, but those tend not to coincide with days when we switch over calendars. I feel, for fairly obvious reasons, that the world changed a lot more in 2001 than it did in 2000, but on a simple linguistic level, calling 2000 part of the "nineties" feels slightly off.

In conclusion, I say it's a decade, and I say fie on all the spurious objections.

I tried to keep this brief, since after all I have hundreds of thousands of words about the last 7 years of the decade in question already! Feel free to ask for details if you are in fact interested, though.

( I really am amazingly lucky )

I've really enjoyed reading all of yours, both people I know quite well and people I've barely met.

I had a really great weekend: Friday night dinner with AF and parents, who asked me to stay over so that they could give me a lift to the synagogue in South Manchester in the morning, where I enjoyed a moving service and exciting discussion group. Then I took the train to London and spent the evening at doseybat's birthday party, staying over with khalinche and ewtikins. And I had a lovely relaxed day on Sunday just hanging out with people I really like.

( namechecking and slightly anxious ramblings )

I think the conclusion is that efficiency is not the answer when it comes to socializing. I need to make a whole chunk of several hours to see people individually, and since I live in the right country this should even be practically achievable. And one of these days I will learn how adults do social skills *sigh*

Author: Geraldine McCaughrean

Details: (c) 2006 Geraldine McCaughrean; Pub Oxford University Press 2006; ISBN 0-19-272603-X

Verdict: Cyrano is a sweet, characterful retelling of the play.

Reasons for reading it: I have a not-so-secret and not-so-guilty passion for the Rostand play. And I think very highly of McCaughrean, so her retelling of the story seemed like a wonderful treat.

How it came into my hands: McCaughrean writes some of the best childrens books I've ever read, and some decent, but slightly rambly, adult historicals. Given its packaging and placement in the library, I thought this was going to be one of the latter, but actually it is not a romance targetted to middle-aged women at all, it's a very direct, almost literal retelling of Rostand's version of Cyrano de Bergerac aimed at teenagers. But anyway, I borrowed it from the library and after I read it, pointed out to them that it might find more friends shelved with the YA books.

( detailed review )

Separate post so I can do screened comments: I finally have a Google Wave account (thanks, afuna)! My username is rachelgb. If you want to connect to me on it, comment with your Google Wave username if you have an account, or your email address if you would like an invite. I probably won't be around on the system all that much until I have the aforementioned new computer and preferably a home internet connection.

My life is generally going ok; I'm slightly less busy in the sense that I don't have anything urgent that must be done in the next few weeks, but that means that I have a huge heap of long-term stuff that needs doing towards setting up my research group. My research group, let me just repeat those words! But a lot of them are things that are hard to get started on, or run into annoying Catch-22s like not being able to have money for equipment until I have lab space, and not being entitled to lab space until I'm actually up and running and doing experiments, which require equipment, which I can't acquire because I have nowhere to put it...

( stuff that's kept me interested recently )

This has been rather a full week, with six half-day practicals, a two-day work shop, a concert and leading a service.

( notes )

Anyway, I was pretty tired by the end of all that, so I'm enjoying a quiet weekend hanging out at the library and cooking and tidying. And parents are due any minute, as they are stopping off en route to Liverpool.