This is the last link encyclopedia of 2012. Enjoy!
“I’m reminded of that when I hear natural childbirth advocates crowing about their “achievement” and insisting that everyone in the world is either impressed with them or incredulous and dismissive about their choice. They are so desperate for attention, positive or negative, and so relentlessly self-referential, that they cannot see what is right in front of their faces: no one cares whether anyone else had an unmedicated birth.” Leaving aside the issues of unmedicated birth, I wanted to draw everybody’s attention to the underlined words because they contain an important insight. People obsess so much over what others would think of them and forget that most folks pay very little attention to anybody but themselves. So if you feel that everybody is watching you and criticizing you, that’s all your own projection.”
The tragic and unhealthy reality of ultra-religious, traditional families.
A botanist discusses the really green way to have a Christmas tree.
“Dozens of progressive Egyptian women cut their hair in Tahrir Square on Tuesday to protest the passage of Egypt’s new, fundamentalist constitution.” Any women’s rights movement only gets a hope of being successful where it stops using self-mutilation – even the symbolic kind – to achieve its goals.
“Idle No More” and what it means for Canada. Fascinating post, folks, I highly recommend.
And here is another great post on Idle No More.
Do people get discriminated during job searches because of names that sound foreign?
““One of the party’s biggest challenges going forward is the perception that Republicans don’t care about people, about minorities, about gays, about poor people,” Fleischer said. “President Bush regularly made a push to send welcoming messages, and one of the lessons of 2012 is that we have to demonstrate that we are an inclusive party.”” Welcoming messages?? Does anybody know why this obviously unhealthy Fleischer individual is not receiving urgent psychiatric care right now?
“Feminism is not and must not be simply a women’s movement. Instead, it’s a movement dedicated to destroying patriarchy, including both the aspects that benefit men and the aspects that benefit women. And so this afternoon, as I shoveled a driveway alongside my husband’s relatives, I saw the work as just one more step toward truly dismantling patriarchy in all of its forms.” I love this blogger but she makes the mistake of believing that everybody suffers when their right to make decisions for themselves is taken away. Tragically, that’s nothing but a projection. Many people go to enormous lengths to achieve what to her (and me, of course) looks like suffering.
Why agricultural subsidies should go.
Why a job recruiter finds extreme weather conditions to be very helpful in her work.
A very good post: “Objectification means treating people like things. Self-objectification, therefore, means treating yourself like a thing. The first example I can think of is actually not sexual, which makes me happy, because I am the one-person Objectification Means More Than Sexual Objectification brigade. I think everyone’s had a time when they feel like they ought to work on this project– whether it’s keeping the house clean, writing a book, working on their thesis, or whatever– but they can’t. Maybe their mom just died. Maybe they have Spoons Issues. Maybe they’re stressed about an upcoming layoff at work. It happens. And yet I always get pissed at myself when this happens. I’m supposed to be a robot, dammit! I’m supposed to produce results regardless of any silly ‘things’ that are happening in my ‘life.’ So I end up on Tumblr for six hours straight being angry at myself for not working instead of doing the self-care things that will actually put me in a better state to work.”
Clarissa's Blog 
Compassionate “conservatism” is what gave this country George W. Bush in the first place and look how that worked out. The last thing anyone really wants is another Bush clone, especially one that will be trigger happy with Iran. I think the GOP will have to come up with another strategy and simultaneously still show that they have minorities in their best interests. Do you read The American Conservative by any chance? I found that website and the articles David Frum has been writing on The Daily Beast to be the best websites criticizing and pointing out what’s wrong with the modern GOP. Check out this excellent article praising Chuck Hagel and explaining why so many Republicans are going insane over his nomination.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-the-war-party-fears-chuck-hagel/
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Self-promotion: I recently helped my brother write an e-book, A Smoker’s Guide to Health and Fitness, aimed at improving the physical and mental health of smokers even if they don’t intend to quit or are struggling to. It addresses their total health and doesn’t try to make them feel like slime for any poor health habits. It also emphasizes self-care in areas that contribute to smoking, like having high chronic stress. Anyway, here’s the site for the book, which came out a little over a week ago; you can find the link to Amazon through there: http://www.smokersfitness.com/
We’re also calling on people to contribute to the blog by writing about their own experiences with any of the topics covered in the book (why they smoke, whether or not they’ve tried quitting, their exercise and eating choices, their thoughts about their own health, mental health, etc.) It’s pretty open, and you can write as anonymously or openly as you wish.
(Thanks for this opportunity to shamelessly self-promote, Clarissa.)
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This is a great idea and I’m sure the book will be very useful. I will definitely check it out.
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Ooo… Is the job recruiter blog written by your sister?
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So, what brings you here? — The search terms that bring people to my blog. (As always, thanks for the original idea for this, Clarissa!)
Not Playing — When other people expect me to participate in their food issues.
Finally, my 2012 Blog Year in Review, which is also open for self-promotion from others.
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Thank you for the link.
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Thanks for linking information about Idle No More, Clarissa! I haven’t written anything on it yet, because I’m actually really busy organizing Idle No More protests, but I plan on adding my own contribution soon.
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Thank you very much! Or, in Afrikaans, “Buy a donkey!” 😉
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I’ll pass on the donkey but you are welcome. 🙂
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http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baie_dankie
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I am very skeptikcal about the link concerning not rescheduling cancelled appointments. It often happens in my state that the governor declares a state of emergency during extreme weather and drivers are forbidden to be on the road at all. It would serve this recruiter right if she were herself arrested on the way to her office on a day when there was four feet of snow and fifty knot winds.
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@David Bellamy: it is important to pay attention before lashing out. The post started by saying that we almost never re-schedule appointments, not never. The ‘almost’ is reserved for extreme situations, of course.
The snow storm in montreal last week was managed very well & there were no major accidents as a result of it. Which arrests are you referring to?? Daycares remained open, offices remained open, and 8 out of 9 appointments we had that day all came early or on time. The only one that cancelled lived the closest to our office and was the least impressive candidate of them all. Considering that the mediocre candidates always turn out to be unreliable (and vice versa) we were not surprised.
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I was referring to what would happen in Delaware. I have no knowledge of what happens in Montreal.
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I was interested to see the Phytophactor’s post, because he affirmed what I had thought was the case: that real trees are more environmentally friendly than fake ones, if you are going to have a Christmas tree.
I left this comment on his post:
Here’s a project I’m excited about, from near where I live. They’re trying to revert a tract of land where red cedars are currently growing back to prairie, so anyone who wants a free Christmas tree can go out there, and either cut their own tree or haul away one that’s already been cut.
I thought I would mention it to you because I’m not a plant biologist or an ecologist, so I don’t have an informed opinion on the whole prairie-restoration thing. But it looks like a win/win from this greenie’s perspective.
(I noticed this before Christmas, but didn’t get on the ball fast enough for my family to take advantage of it. Oh well. Maybe next year, if they’re restoring any other sites.)
And yes, always good to point out that objectification is not just sexual, and that different people — even women, whose objectification most people seem to think is all sexual, all the time — experience different kinds of objectification.
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Thanks for the shout-out! Also, your blog is amazing, and I am wondering why the hell I haven’t been following it before now 🙂
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Thank you so much for the kind words! 🙂
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Here is a story on one of the themes of this blog. I think you should post about it… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/27/aubrey-ireland-restraining-order-parents_n_2372043.html
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The NRA’s war on gun science
In addition to fighting gun laws, the gun lobby has spent the past 20 years fighting research into gun safety
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/25/the_nras_war_on_gun_science/
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