Good Reads

[lovetoread]

And you're yet posting on this awful American board.

Why don't you go and see if there's a British one you can annoy?

Dude, what are you on?

And can I have some?

 

[Sean]

We celebrate the FAILURE of that attack - by burning effigies of people we don't like at the moment.

Lewes is your neck of the woods, isn't it?

 

[oggbashan]

Lewes is your neck of the woods, isn't it?

Close enough to visit for November 5th. One of my youngest daughter's friends is a member of one of the Lewes Bonfire Societies.

 

[Sean]

Close enough to visit for November 5th. One of my youngest daughter's friends is a member of one of the Lewes Bonfire Societies.

I've only been once, it's fucking insane.

 

[neci]

Dude, what are you on?

And can I have some?

if he had a heart, he would deliver it to your door, but he has no heart.

 

[oggbashan]

I've only been once, it's fucking insane.

That's why my youngest goes. She's a St John Ambulance volunteer and qualified Doctor (although her current speciality is Palliative Care!).

 

[trysail]

I've read all of his articles, and I agree with him.

I don't understand why the man who died of idiocy has been made into a martyr.

That Chris McCandless was a pie-eyed idiot is part of the fascination. It's the same fascination in Darwin Award type behavior that made Timothy Treadwell an apt subject for Werner Herzog in Grizzly Man.


They're object lessons in Don't Do This.

 

[Laurel]

I like what Medred said: that the kid was a thief, poacher and scofflaw.

I've read all of his articles, and I agree with him.

I don't understand why the man who died of idiocy has been made into a martyr.

What's scary are the young people who see him as a hero and imitate his journey, all too often to the same end.

Like this guy:

http://media2.abc15.com//photo/2013/08/23/KNXV_Johnathan_Croom__20130823125012_320_240.JPG

Before he went missing, Johnathan Croom had developed an obsession with the movie "Into the Wild," in which a young man leaves society to go live off the land.

Unfortunately, both stories had tragic endings. The body of 18-year-old Croom turned up in rural Oregon on Monday, authorities say.

It was 1,000 feet from his abandoned car, which officers found last week.

They suspect no foul play and are investigating the death as a suicide, said Dwes Hutson, public information officer for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.​

- read the full article Missing teen, fascinated with 'Into the Wild,' found dead (from CNN)​

 

[Laurel]

Or these luckier guys

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_620/public/Bus142onStampedeTrail.jpg?itok=IBxpYqj9

The lure of a famous bus, abandoned in the woods near Healy, Alaska, and Denali National Park, has claimed another victim. On June 25, a military helicopter plucked a 25-year-old Floridian from the area around the bus made famous by a book and movie detailing the life of Christopher McCandless, a wanderer who starved to death at the bus in 1992. The group told rescuers that they had run out of food two days prior to signaling a passing aircraft.

Alaska State Troopers say Nichole Pickering was on a hike earlier this week with two other people retracing McCandless's steps when authorities say she possibly broke her ankle. The trio was on a trip to and from the abandoned bus 20 miles down the Stampede Trail.​

- read the full article Trio of rescued McCandless bus hikers went 2 days without food (from Alaska Dispatch)​

 

[Phelia]

That Chris McCandless was a pie-eyed idiot is part of the fascination. It's the same fascination in Darwin Award type behavior that made Timothy Treadwell an apt subject for Werner Herzog in Grizzly Man.


They're object lessons in Don't Do This.

I don't know if I agree. I loved Grizzly Man, but I knew I was watching a loony. I think Jon Krakaeur's treatment of his subject is decidedly more romanticized. The former felt like a cautionary tale and the latter felt like hagiography. I see your point, though. There is certainly a similarity.

 

[trysail]

The beatification of Chris McCandless: From thieving poacher into saint

That's the truth of it:

...It could leave many more than a little troubled that some schools in America actually encourage students to read Krakauer's eulogy to the bum, poacher and thief Chris McCandless as if his behaviors had redeeming value...

 

[thør]

Or these luckier guys

People think they can come to Alaska and walk into the bush and live off the land. The great thing is that they can walk into the bush, generally, without trespass. But intending to kill animals for food to live is NOT a survival situation and the taking of animals is strictly regulated. Plus, you can't just build a trespass cabin anywhere. The landowners will evict you and burn it down. There are laws.

 

[trysail]

I don't know if I agree. I loved Grizzly Man, but I knew I was watching a loony. I think Jon Krakaeur's treatment of his subject is decidedly more romanticized. The former felt like a cautionary tale and the latter felt like hagiography. I see your point, though. There is certainly a similarity.

I'm glad you recognize that Krakauer romanticized McCandless. In his statements and autobiographical references, Krakauer has essentially repeatedly all but confessed, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

 

[lovetoread]

So the writer who made the poor dude into an icon got caught pooping and not cleaning it up.

Apropos.

 

[SeaDaddy1]

Compliments of LT: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing/201204/women-who-love-serial-killers

 

[Laurel]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/9/19/1379592668257/1997-ANNA-KARENINA-008.jpg

Forget condoms, contraceptive pills and chlamydia, and turn instead to Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gogol. That is the message from Russia's children's ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, who has opposed the introduction of sex education to schools and says young Russians can learn everything they need to know about love and sex from Russian literature.

"I am against any kind of sex education among children," said Astakhov in a television interview. "It is unacceptable to allow things that could corrupt children."

Despite having one of the world's fastest-growing HIV epidemics, Russia has no sex education in schools, owing to the influence of the Russian Orthodox church and conservative social forces.

Astakhov, a powerful official who reports directly to the president, Vladimir Putin, now wants legislation to ensure sex education does not sneak on to the curriculum. Instead, he suggests reading the classics.

"The best sex education that exists is Russian literature," said Astakhov. "In fact, literature in general. Everything is there, about love and about relationships between sexes. Schools should raise children chastely and with an understanding of family values."​

- read the full article Russian literature is best sex education for young people, says ombudsman (from The Guardian)​

 

[oggbashan]

Forget condoms, contraceptive pills and chlamydia, and turn instead to Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gogol. That is the message from Russia's children's ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, who has opposed the introduction of sex education to schools and says young Russians can learn everything they need to know about love and sex from Russian literature.

...

I beat Pavel to it! http://www.literotica.com/s/getting-nude-with-chairman-mao

 

[MonaLittle]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/9/19/1379592668257/1997-ANNA-KARENINA-008.jpg

Forget condoms, contraceptive pills and chlamydia, and turn instead to Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gogol. That is the message from Russia's children's ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, who has opposed the introduction of sex education to schools and says young Russians can learn everything they need to know about love and sex from Russian literature.

"I am against any kind of sex education among children," said Astakhov in a television interview. "It is unacceptable to allow things that could corrupt children."

Despite having one of the world's fastest-growing HIV epidemics, Russia has no sex education in schools, owing to the influence of the Russian Orthodox church and conservative social forces.

Astakhov, a powerful official who reports directly to the president, Vladimir Putin, now wants legislation to ensure sex education does not sneak on to the curriculum. Instead, he suggests reading the classics.

"The best sex education that exists is Russian literature," said Astakhov. "In fact, literature in general. Everything is there, about love and about relationships between sexes. Schools should raise children chastely and with an understanding of family values."​

- read the full article Russian literature is best sex education for young people, says ombudsman (from The Guardian)​

Wow. How very 18th Century.

"A closed mind is a prison from which no man can escape"

 

[Laurel]

someone really cool posted this elsewhere

For those who have suffered, are suffering, or simply want to learn more.

[Editor’s note: This is by no means a definitive list. The comics featured here can not and do not represent everyone’s experiences. But there are some things they do capture. Part of the difficulty of depression is that it is a pain that is unnameable. Sometimes, art is the best way to capture the things we do not know how to say.]

1. The dream of waking up and randomly finding the source of your depression.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/8/22/13/enhanced-buzz-7414-1377192648-46.jpg


2. The frustrating way people talk about mental illness versus other illnesses.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/8/22/14/enhanced-buzz-25313-1377194948-4.jpg

​

- read the full article 21 Comics That Capture The Frustrations Of Depression (from Buzzfeed)​

 

[Laurel]

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/18/130918_LV_wtf-sfw.png.CROP.article568-large.png

Anyone who has encountered WTF in the wild probably knows that its primary meaning is "what the fuck," but the W can also stand for various other question words. When I started trawling through early examples in the archive of Usenet newsgroups, I was surprised to discover that this inherent ambiguity has been present in WTF all along, since its first popularization in the mid- to late 1980s. Here are the earliest examples I've found for the different possible expansions:

WTF = "what the fuck"
May 18, 1985. "Ramblings 5/85" net.micro.mac. "I asked myself, 'W.T.F.?'"

WTF = "why the fuck"
May 26, 1985. "Proline C preliminary review" net.micro.cbm. "WTF do I need a C primer if I am buying the compiler for the language?"

WTF = "where the fuck"
Aug. 28, 1988. "sgipie.ps (file 2 of 5)" comp.windows.news. "wtf did all that junk on the stack come from?"

WTF = "whatever the fuck"
March 15, 1990. "Ageism, Lookism, straightism, Eeekism[tm]" soc.motss. "i don't believe the 'gay community' (wtf that is…) has formal input in this process."

WTF = "who the fuck"
Nov. 28, 1990. Jargon File, Version 2.1.5. "WTF: The universal interrogative particle. WTF knows what it means?"​

- read the full article WTF Is Older and More Flexible Than You Think (from Slate)​

 

[Laurel]

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2013/09/ff_gangsocialmedia3_f.jpg
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2013/09/ff_gangsocialmedia4_f.jpg

We naturally associate criminal activity with secrecy, with conspiracies hatched in alleyways or back rooms. Today, though, foolish as it may be in practice, street gangs have adopted a level of transparency that might impress even the most fervent Silicon Valley futurist. Every day on Facebook and Twitter, on Instagram and YouTube, you can find unabashed teens flashing hand signs, brandishing guns, splaying out drugs and wads of cash. If we live in an era of openness, no segment of the population is more surprisingly open than 21st-century gang members, as they simultaneously document and roil the streets of America’s toughest neighborhoods.

There’s a term sometimes used for a gangbanger who stirs up trouble online: Facebook driller. He rolls out of bed in the morning, rubs his eyes, picks up his phone. Then he gets on Facebook and starts insulting some person he barely knows, someone in a rival crew. It’s so much easier to do online than face-to-face. Soon someone else takes a screenshot of the post and starts passing it around. It’s one thing to get cursed out in front of four or five guys, but online the whole neighborhood can see it—the whole city, even. So the target has to retaliate just to save face. And at that point, the quarrel might be with not just the Facebook driller a few blocks away but also haters 10 miles north or west who responded to the post. What started as a provocation online winds up with someone getting drilled in real life.​

- read the full article Public Enemies: Social Media Is Fueling Gang Wars in Chicago (from Wired)​

 

[Balladeer08]

Wow. How very 18th Century.

"A closed mind is a prison from which no man can escape"

You're generous.

I was thinking 13th.

What was the darkest part of the Dark Ages?

 

[Laurel]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70021000/jpg/_70021250_spinachpie_foteini.jpg

Office workers, students and busy parents are connecting online with local cooks - anybody who loves cooking and can do it well - who provide them with a meal for less than they would be likely to pay anywhere else. In Athens, the price is usually between three and four euros (£2.50 to £3.40).

"I just could never calculate the correct portion amounts for my family," Zachou says. "We don't have a dog or a cat. I was throwing away so much. I guess making too much food is embedded in my Greek genes."

That was what led her to Cookisto, an online community of amateur cooks and hungry city dwellers.

She is now a Cookista, with a profile on the Cookisto website, and her meals are rated every day. Apparently her moussaka has "no excess oil, is always made with the highest quality products, and tastes just perfect". She is, according to those who eat her food, not just a housewife, but a five-star chef.

The site has attracted 12,000 cooks in Athens in the last few months. What began as a master's degree thesis (in the form of a business plan) for entrepreneurship student Michalis Gkontas has now become a reality in crisis-stricken Greece, and is due to launch in London next month.​

- read the full article Cookisto: A new Greek way of getting dinner (from the BBC)​

 

[MonaLittle]

You're generous.

I was thinking 13th.

What was the darkest part of the Dark Ages?

As far as I know, Sex Ed has only been taught in schools in the past 50 years or so. Perhaps I'm off, tho.

The darkest part? The economic setback and decline.

 

[oggbashan]

As far as I know, Sex Ed has only been taught in schools in the past 50 years or so. Perhaps I'm off, tho.

The darkest part? The economic setback and decline.

During the French Revolution at the end of the 18th Century, the revolutionary government proposed equal education for boys and girls. They were to be taught exactly the same curriculum, including sex education for both sexes including conception. But while the girls were to be given special teaching on managing pregnancy and childbirth, the boys were to be taught surveying.

It didn't happen. The government didn't have enough money because they were constantly fighting wars with the neighbouring countries.