The Great Stink

Laurie Penny has some advice for men in the current cultural moment, and it is good advice. This passage, near the end, caught me right where it was aimed:

Suck it up and let go. Let go of your resentment at women’s lack of patience, let go of your wounded pride, let go of your useless shame, and let go of the idea of being a “good guy.” “Good” is not a thing you are, it’s a thing you do, or don’t do. The world is not neatly divided into good and bad men. It never was, and we need to let go of the idea that it ever was, so that we can finally be better to one another, finally learn to deal with our shit like grown-ups in this strange new cityscape we’re crawling through together, trying to find our way to the light. That’s the only way we’re going to move from a place of holding abusers to account, into a future where abuse is less likely to happen.

Suck it up and let go.

“The Next Steve Jobs Will Totally Be A Chick”

Comedian Louis C.K.:

The next Steve Jobs will totally be a chick, because girls are No. 2–and No. 2 always wins in America. Apple was a No. 2 company for years, and Apple embodies a lot of what have been defined as feminine traits: an emphasis on intuitive design, intellect, a strong sense of creativity, and that striving to always make the greatest version of something. Traditionally, men are more like Microsoft, where they’ll just make a fake version of what that chick made, then beat the shit out of her and try to intimidate everybody into using their product.

I agree, except she won’t be the next Steve Jobs. She’ll be the first and only whoever she is. via Daring Fireball.

Bruce Sterling’s State of the World 2010

Sterling is, as always, a funny-but-teriffying doom-prophet, but without the thin hope for mankind that Bill had in his heart.

Okay, you’ve treated your future as an “unpredictable lurching thing…” and now you’re all morose about that… You and your generation CREATED that situation! Ever heard of “disruptive innovation,” “disintermediation,” “offshoring,” “small pieces loosely joined,” “de-monetization,” “plug and play,” “the network as a platform”? Of course you’ve heard of all that crap, because you’ve been tub-thumping it your entire adult life, but what the hell did you think that was all about?

There is much more at the link.

TONIGHT: Dancing Bear Benefit for Lorraine in #Sweatshop

Eliza Gauger:

The nose is all wrong, but this graceful creature is nonetheless my
friend Lorraine, who has just suffered a grievous accident in which
she fractured her spine. She is a dancer and a model and is now
bedridden, totally unable to support herself. Tomorrow I will be
running a tipjar marathon in which I paint portraits of her all day,
and collect donations on PayPal for her medical bills.

“Dancing Bear” means Eliza paints as long as people keep money in the tip jar. Seriously, she will paint forever if you keep giving her money. Once it’s going, you’ll be able to watch/interact on USTREAM.

Top tippers will get one the paintings themselves, or one of two $50 gift cards to Clockwork Couture, purveyors of fine Steampunk wearables.

Graffiti from Pompeii

This is, apparently, not a joke. Recall that these must all have been written before AD 79, when Pompeii was covered by molten rock from Mt. Vesuvius. It is simply humanity doing what we do. Personal favorites include:

II.2.3 (Bar of Athictus; right of the door); 8442: I screwed the barmaid

and

If anyone sits here, let him read this first of all: if anyone wants a screw, he should look for Attice; she costs 4 sestertii.

I could go on, but I’ll leave the rest for you.