Sitting in the auto glass waiting room while my windshield is replaced. Nat Geo is on and they just ran a short segment on Chrones Disease. The medical guy they are interviewing is talking about how the uptick in Chrones coincides with our changing exposure to parasites. Further he talks of how many Chrones patients have been helped by having worms added to their guts.
This is an old idea and helminthic therapy has been a thing for awhile. There's still a lot of controversy as I understand, and I think the popular idea these days is that "Crohn's Disease" is probably a catch all that describes multiple pathologies with similar symptoms. It's hard to say because of many factors which probably include the fact that if you have one form of IBD you may have two or three. Differential diagnosis of Crohn's is a bitch.
I just reactivated my account on arstechnica, it has been YEARS since I posted anything. I see that they added some new titles based on Roman society.
I found a post detailing the ranks here. My rank is not on the list. I am a "Seniorius Lurkius."
After some reading it appears that once you pass 50 posts you get demoted to the new ranking system.
EDIT: Started looking at my server stats for my one remaining blog. Why did 1,700+ people read my review of Inkheart (the movie) last month? That is about 10% of my pageviews for the month.
The whole video is a great example of showmanship but no real application. I will also argue to the grave the idea that shoulder quivers are practical.
Y'know what annoys me? Whenever people are talking about the Westboro Baptist Church, they lead with "they have these signs that say 'God Hates Fags,'" which is kinda like saying "Alex Jones is a Kennedy conspiracy theorist" -- it's true, but it buries the lead. Here's my favorite example: one question on their FAQ is "You say "You'll Eat Your Babies" and you have a beautiful, eye-catching sign with a baby on a hamburger bun that says "Bitch Burger." What does that mean?" the answer is a link to this page, which features this gem:
If you spend just a few minutes looking at the food network you will see that they can doctor things up with weird flavoring and make anything edible – and do – early and often. There is nothing too weird or exotic for these people to try; and they pay people serious money to be really good at preparing these items so they are most delectable. It will be no thing for these iron chefs of this doomed land to make newborn baby quite appealing and truly it will be all the rage, especially among the wealthy and powerful. When one of Beast Obama’s daughters (who are being raised to be absolute whores!) gets pregnant –“makes a mistake” in that evil fork-tongued Son of Perdition’s words – since he won’t want her “punished” with his grandchild (these are his words uttered out of his Pashur-mouth on March 29, 2008, at a town hall meeting in Johnstown, PA) – that baby will only reach the moment of birth if it’s marketable as a commodity. Just think what the Antichrist President’s grandbaby’s body will fetch on the market! By then he might be world leader – the rich and powerful of the world will line up! [emphasis added by me.]
There's your fucking lead. To call them "anti-gay" as the headlines always do gives them too much credit. It lumps them in with the religious right, which they describe as "lukewarm cowards. Modern day Pharisees. People who have gone a whoring after strange gods. Self-righteous hypocrites. They spend more time harassing people who are preaching the Gospel than anything else, just like the Pharisees did to Jesus."
And while we're on the topic, why do their music parodies get no attention? They're trying to be the Weird Al of hate groups, and nobody's giving them recognition for it.
The funny thing is, they get peeved about this too. They have another section in their FAQ about why the focus on homosexuality, which concludes with "Finally, you should realize that the full scope of our ministry is broader than the homosexual movement. If you read all of our fliers and signs, and heard the preaching in our church week in and out, you would realize that we have a full doctrinal scope in all our activities." They don't want to be pegged as a specific hate group -- they spread hate to a wide variety of people, and want recognition for that.
The point is they are beneath contempt. They are a group of petulant children whose mother is ignoring them throwing a hissy because they're not being given enough attention. They do not deserve recognition.
Here's my favorite example: one question on their FAQ is "You say "You'll Eat Your Babies" and you have a beautiful, eye-catching sign with a baby on a hamburger bun that says "Bitch Burger." What does that mean?"
I'm sick of the whitewashing that happens in mefia. I also wish there was more originality and diversity in fiction. I do believe this can only be achieved from people of 'alternative' backgrounds.
Unless race is integral to the character it shouldn't matter.
I somewhat disagree. I agree that roles themselves, purely in the context of the work, may not be changed by the race of the actor portraying them if race isn't an integral part of it. Nick Fury, for example, is a badass no matter if he's white or black.
However, while that shouldn't matter, it does. To be honest, the biggest problems with whitewashing characters in most cases is due to factors outside of the work itself - the enormous lack of diversity in Hollywood, for one.
There's hundreds of white actors, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, there's maybe three Asian women at best(which rotates between whichever one has been in the most popular movie lately, at the moment Rinko Kekuchi then Lucy Liu and Joan Chen), a dozen black dudes(who are all African-american, no other nationalities exist), about a dozen black women(same), five Asian guys(Who end up playing any Asian role regardless of nationality), and that's about it.
Maybe in the future, it will be totally okay because of that reasoning, but we're not there yet.
Thing is, I can't think of a single "white" character that has to be white. We had a black Captain America and the story around the character made perfect sense. You could have a character based on some super secret Nazi super soldier project and while the publicly recognized character would have to be of Aryan stock (otherwise the Nazis would never support it) any number of other ethnicities could be used to portray the earlier attempts or even a character created by mistake.
The point Michelle Rodriguez was making is that, to address the problem of inclusivity, Hollywood shouldn't just be transposing one race for the other, we should create something entirely new.
"I want to create a superhero story, and they're gonna be Ethiopian" instead of
"Where are all the Ethiopian superheroes?? Why can't Ironman be Ethiopian??"
Thing is, I can't think of a single "white" character that has to be white. We had a black Captain America and the story around the character made perfect sense. You could have a character based on some super secret Nazi super soldier project and while the publicly recognized character would have to be of Aryan stock (otherwise the Nazis would never support it) any number of other ethnicities could be used to portray the earlier attempts or even a character created by mistake.
I think the problem with this is that you're taking two different things - one is a character or moniker being a different race. There's a bunch of examples, Captain America(twice), Spiderman, Nick Fury(not just in the movies) Wasp, Tony Stark was hispanic for a while, The Vision, The Question(both race and gender), Wonder Woman, and while not strictly a racial change, Kraven being Australian in the Ultimate universe is too hilarious not to mention.
In short, I'm okay with characters or mantles traditionally taken up by white characters being taken up by people of different ethnicities. And vice versa - I'm not against characters and mantles who are traditionally one ethnicity becoming white if that character's race isn't an important to that character or mantle(Again, like Captain America).
I'm not okay with two things - Having white actors portray those characters in film as that ethnicity, or changing them to white characters in film to cast white actors, for the issue I mentioned above, and as dazzle said, along with the point that Michelle Rodriguez makes.
I am beginning to wonder how much of an impact military service had on the country as a whole after the war. The unit you were in had people from all over the country so when the war was over you probably knew at least one person from every state. That must have had a huge unifying effect on the entire country.
The last such incident of shared national sacrifice/unity would have been Vietnam.
I don't think "national unity" and "Vietnam" (in reference the war) should ever be in the same sentence.
Point taken. I am referring to those who served not those who did not. We still had a draft at the time and many people were removed from their localities and forced to interact with people different than them.
I don't think "national unity" and "Vietnam" (in reference the war) should ever be in the same sentence.
You would be stunned and/or horrified at the number of older Vietnamese dudes I saw over the weekend at the Tet Festival wearing "Vietnam thanks the world" and listing off the flags and names the nations that fought with or supported the anti-communist side in Vietnam on the back.
Since Amazon no longer allows me to download videos I have purchased (supposedly owned) I am switching to the Google Play store for video purchases and redeeming digital copy codes when able.
For whatever reason Google is the only source that let's me download HD copies of my purchases. UV/Vudu only let's me put SD copies on my phone. Amazon only allows downloads to kindle tablets, fire phones and iOS devices. I can't even download the videos to my PC. Yes, unbox goes away at the end of March.
Since Amazon no longer allows me to download videos I have purchased (supposedly owned) I am switching to the Google Play store for video purchases and redeeming digital copy codes when able.
For whatever reason Google is the only source that let's me download HD copies of my purchases. UV/Vudu only let's me put SD copies on my phone. Amazon only allows downloads to kindle tablets, fire phones and iOS devices. I can't even download the videos to my PC. Yes, unbox goes away at the end of March.
Amazon's fire devices were literally the only reason I haven't bought digital goods from Amazon.
However with the Play store apps to stream the media in HD you have to do it via Chromecast or any other gadget which has Play support (everything except a PC, but if you've downloaded it then you can just copy it over.
Comments
I found a post detailing the ranks here. My rank is not on the list. I am a "Seniorius Lurkius."
After some reading it appears that once you pass 50 posts you get demoted to the new ranking system.
EDIT: Started looking at my server stats for my one remaining blog. Why did 1,700+ people read my review of Inkheart (the movie) last month? That is about 10% of my pageviews for the month.
And while we're on the topic, why do their music parodies get no attention? They're trying to be the Weird Al of hate groups, and nobody's giving them recognition for it.
The funny thing is, they get peeved about this too. They have another section in their FAQ about why the focus on homosexuality, which concludes with "Finally, you should realize that the full scope of our ministry is broader than the homosexual movement. If you read all of our fliers and signs, and heard the preaching in our church week in and out, you would realize that we have a full doctrinal scope in all our activities." They don't want to be pegged as a specific hate group -- they spread hate to a wide variety of people, and want recognition for that.
They do not deserve recognition.
I'm sick of the whitewashing that happens in mefia. I also wish there was more originality and diversity in fiction. I do believe this can only be achieved from people of 'alternative' backgrounds.
However, while that shouldn't matter, it does. To be honest, the biggest problems with whitewashing characters in most cases is due to factors outside of the work itself - the enormous lack of diversity in Hollywood, for one.
There's hundreds of white actors, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, there's maybe three Asian women at best(which rotates between whichever one has been in the most popular movie lately, at the moment Rinko Kekuchi then Lucy Liu and Joan Chen), a dozen black dudes(who are all African-american, no other nationalities exist), about a dozen black women(same), five Asian guys(Who end up playing any Asian role regardless of nationality), and that's about it.
Maybe in the future, it will be totally okay because of that reasoning, but we're not there yet.
"I want to create a superhero story, and they're gonna be Ethiopian" instead of
"Where are all the Ethiopian superheroes?? Why can't Ironman be Ethiopian??"
In short, I'm okay with characters or mantles traditionally taken up by white characters being taken up by people of different ethnicities. And vice versa - I'm not against characters and mantles who are traditionally one ethnicity becoming white if that character's race isn't an important to that character or mantle(Again, like Captain America).
I'm not okay with two things - Having white actors portray those characters in film as that ethnicity, or changing them to white characters in film to cast white actors, for the issue I mentioned above, and as dazzle said, along with the point that Michelle Rodriguez makes.
I am beginning to wonder how much of an impact military service had on the country as a whole after the war. The unit you were in had people from all over the country so when the war was over you probably knew at least one person from every state. That must have had a huge unifying effect on the entire country.
The last such incident of shared national sacrifice/unity would have been Vietnam.
For whatever reason Google is the only source that let's me download HD copies of my purchases. UV/Vudu only let's me put SD copies on my phone. Amazon only allows downloads to kindle tablets, fire phones and iOS devices. I can't even download the videos to my PC. Yes, unbox goes away at the end of March.
However with the Play store apps to stream the media in HD you have to do it via Chromecast or any other gadget which has Play support (everything except a PC, but if you've downloaded it then you can just copy it over.