I have a job. (Thanks, Vicki! :)) Just a 6 week contract, mind you, but still. Madness.
So yeah. Maybe in a month or so I will be looking again, so keeping your ears open is much appreciated…
Be aware though that this was written of as a sign of the end of all things.
Also, the All Whites went undefeated at the World Cup.
Have interwebs at home again. It was down for a week, hence no posting, and comments taking a while to appear.
Gotta say I missed instant access to information, but I didn’t miss Facebook. 😛
Filed by billy at 8:29 pm under meta
Comments Off on back online
Random fact encountered last night:
Each year twice as many men are raped in jail in America than women who are raped on the outside. [Found this in Antero Alli’s new book. He cites Jim Hogshire (1994) You are going to prison.]
Now there are issues with reporting of rape of women, but hell, I imagine there are also issues with reporting of rape in prison, and I haven’t read the original, so let’s take the numbers at face value for the moment.
I guess what strikes me about them is that rape of females is regarded as a Big Deal, a thing that is Wrong and a bit Fucked. And that is fine. But, in contrast, male rape, and particularly prison rape, is pretty much a punchline. However, I wonder if it is any less damaging as an experience.
(Hmm… maybe the context of prison matters? Being in prison is already a separate reality, whereas being not safe in real life is more messed up? OTOH, in prison you are trapped, and may have less ability to protect yourself. And some idiots would probably start muttering that they deserve what they get.)
The sheer numbers are surprising to me, and I would guess not widely known. If they were, perhaps it would be perceived more as a problem rather than a sick joke? Also, the ratios involved are alarming – the male prison population, even in prison-loving America, must be a fraction of the female population outside jail…
And also, since prisons don’t seem to work in any useful way, a systemic clusterfuck of that scale seems another argument for finding a different way to deal with our social issues… especially since we are looking into US style privatisation of prisons in NZ at the moment…
Filed by billy at 12:11 pm under culture
7 Comments
Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities – the political, the religious, the educational authorities – who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing and forming our minds to their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability, to inform yourself.
– Timothy Leary
Filed by billy at 12:51 pm under consciousness,culture,quotes
Comments Off on on thinking for yourself
Yup.
Getting funded to do awesome positive things hasn’t worked out so far, and pragmatism and my travel plans now require that I get anything, now, to hit the savings goals in time.
I can read and write real good. I can do monkey work, or complex analysis. I can drive and carry heavy things. I can use computers pretty good. I learn new things real fast. I can organise large complex projects, and figure out hard stuff. Etc. I can probably do most things if given a shot, and am not that fussed what I do.
So yeah. If anyone knows of or hears of anything going… let me know.
Filed by billy at 2:17 pm under the moose
2 Comments
