I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Linkee-poo watches the dropouts making their own rules

MJ Locke talks a little about the conflict of going with a pseudonym to continue her writing career. It's not a problem for just writers who are female, but I can see where there are some special concerns when it is. Having already been won over to the side of feminism, I still have some blinders of privilege in this case (that is, what I take for granted or unspoken is not what others believe). Also, being married to a PhD, I've seen some of that pain up close.

Completely unusable stock photos. Since I had another link to a stock photo story. Yeah. There's plenty of these in the collections. However, you just never know what request you may get from a client. Seriously. The one that still stands out in my mind was to find an image of "A business consultant in casual clothes fighting a dragon with a briefcase that's actually a sword." Yeah. That was a real request. So while you might think these are crazy, there's someone out there that probably needs that exact photo. (pointed to by John)

Here's an NPR story on the FDA having hearings on food dyes and their possible link to kids behaviors. I'm pointing to it not so much because of the content or the actual argument, but to show some of the limitations of scientific thought I pointed out before, and that the food industry doesn't do what's best for you, but what's cheapest. Especially look at the comments around the Southampton study. One of the problems of that study is that you can't point any cause to a specific dye because the study mixed them all together. It's a blind spot caused by the process. With radiation exposure this translates to "you've have so much radiation exposure over your life, it's hard to draw a conclusion that this one higher than normal exposure was the event that caused your disease." So no direct cause and effect with isolation of other variables. Also see the comments about overseas manufacturers who switched to natural dyes and why US manufacturers haven't.

Also, as relevant to yesterdays links to the hypocrisy pointed out by the Daily Show, there's this. Yes, your GOP rep is struggling on $174,000 a year (from just the congressional pay), but those nasty teachers making $50,000 are sucking us dry and living like kings. Glad we had that clarified.

How not to apologize. Really conservative America, and especially the Republican Party of Dane County, Wisconsin? Really? I feel a little less guilty in my hard line stance against you all. (pointed to by Dan) But then, I don't' expect much when you espouse logic like this.

2 comments:

Elizabeth Shack said...

By "completely unusable stock photos" you seem to mean "bizarre story prompts". Also, I am surprised to see that pineapple is a popular option for heads.

That first link is very interesting, thanks.

Steve Buchheit said...

Yeah, fruit seems to be a theme throughout there. My favorite is the chipmunk photocopying it's butt.

And actually I could point a business need for a lot of these.

And yes, story prompts are a perfectly acceptable way to use these. That's really what they were created for (to tell a story).