There is just one announcer comment at 0:38: "Button electrified the crowd with his phenomenal jumps. Just watch this!"
Button, who won the gold for that routine and will turn 81 in July, can still be found during the Winter Olympics providing figure skating commentary for NBC.
Saturday night, KBlogz was over and we had Chinese take-out for dinner. And he got another great fortune (he always gets them, because he's the only one of the three of us who eats fortune cookies, lol):
"How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?"
I think the more important question is: How much more difficult would someone's job be if they were forced to actually pay attention to what a "fortune" is?
This is the thread in which you may offer congratulations or admiration for a teaspoon or teaspooner. If you're posting with just congrats or admiration, though, do take a moment and check the thread to see whether other people have said so a number of times already. Remember that no one is required to read here just because they posted over there, so there's no guarantee you'll get a response to a given comment.
Time for another Teaspoon Report, brought to you by Shaxco, providers of only the finest hand-picked, mountain-grown Belgian pixels, harvested during the Winter Monsoons of the Bruxelles Mountains by Trappist monks riding mules.
Leave comments here that describe an act of teaspooning you encountered or committed. They don't have to be big, world-shaking acts; by definition, a teaspoon is a small thing, but enough of them together can empty the ocean.
If you would like to discuss the teaspoons here reported, or even offer congratulations or your admiration to a fellow Shaker, we ask that you do so over here in the Discussion Thread for today's NQDTR.
Shaker bgk has been kind enough to get a Twitter-pated version out there for you young twittersnappers (and by the way, get off my lawn, you meddling kids! *shakes cane*). You can find the details about the Tweetspoons project right here. That runs all the time, as far as I'm aware (*grumblenewtechnologygrumble*), and we encourage you to let other people know that there's at least one tweetstream talking about just going out and doing good things for the human species.
Emo Prince Robert Pattertoningson is doing the media rounds promoting his new film, and evidently decided to use his interview with Details to apply for the hotly-coveted apprentice douche position at John Mayer Industries.
There's a lot of whatthefuckery in the article, but perhaps none quite so eye-squinching as this, on the accompanying NSFW photo shoot in which naked women were used as props (again): "I really hate vaginas. I'm allergic to vagina. But I can't say I had no idea, because it was a 12-hour shoot, so you kind of get the picture that these women are going to stay naked after, like, five or six hours. But I wasn't exactly prepared. I had no idea what to say to these girls. Thank God I was hungover."
So...he had no idea what to say to the women who were being sexually objectified and exploited in his presence, but, after the fact, "I really hate vaginas. I'm allergic to vagina." seemed about right, because the best way to deal with the discomfort of women's bodies being used as props is to slut-shame the women involved. Okay.
One of my senators, Democrat Evan Bayh, has announced he will be retiring from the Senate at the end of his term: "The incumbent Hoosier had already raised $13 million for his re-election campaign, and while Republicans thought Bayh might be vulnerable this year, recent polls showed him with seemingly insurmountable leads over his GOP challengers. Indeed, less than a year ago, the National Republican Senatorial Committee conceded that it fully expected Bayh to run and win a third term."
Because he was expected to win reelection, his retirement is rather a surprise. Iain commented, "I wonder what pharmaceutical company board he's going to be a part of." Totes.
On the one hand, I'm cross, because it means that Indiana, which just went blue by the skin of its corn niblets last election, is likely to end up with two Republican senators. On the other hand, I agree with LeMew that "it's hard to be that upset about a quintessential centrist wanker leaving the World's Worst Deliberative Body."
In the 12 February 2010 issue, Science examines the obstacles to achieving global food security and some promising solutions. News articles introduce farmers and researchers who are finding ways to boost harvests, especially in the developing world. Reviews, Perspectives, and an audio interview provide a broader context for the causes and effects of food insecurity and point to paths to ending hunger. A special podcast includes interviews about measuring food insecurity, rethinking agriculture, and reducing meat consumption. And Science Careers looks at interdisciplinary careers associated with food security. Science is making access to this special section FREE (non-subscribers require a simple registration).
Shaker Maria sent along this article from the BBC about a small-scale online survey in Britain which found that "a majority of women believe some rape victims should take responsibility for what happened."
Almost three quarters of the women who believed this said if a victim got into bed with the assailant before an attack they should accept some responsibility.
One-third blamed victims who had dressed provocatively or gone back to the attacker's house for a drink.
The survey of more than 1,000 people in London marked the 10th anniversary of the Haven service for rape victims.
More than half of those of both sexes questioned said there were some circumstances when a rape victim should accept responsibility for an attack.
The study found that women were less forgiving of the victim than men.
Of the women who believed some victims should take responsibility, 71% thought a person should accept responsibility when getting into bed with someone, compared with 57% of men.
Although this was hardly a scientific survey, an Amnesty International report completed five years ago on British attitudes toward rape reported similar conclusions.
These results feel sensational, because ZOMG even women blame victims! But the reality is that when people disproportionately targeted by sexual target victim-blame, it is frequently, among women who have not been raped, an attempt to disassociate from the ugly reality that there's no magic strategy to insulate oneself from all possibility of sexual assault. Or, among victim-blaming survivors, a reflection of guilt and shame—a misplaced feeling of responsibility for one's own rape.
That doesn't make the victim-blaming any more justified (or less depressing), but it does provide a context that most media coverage will lack.
Also absent will be accountability: The British media engages in huge amounts of public victim-blaming especially surrounding (female) drinking.
Britain continues to have one of the lowest rape conviction rates in the industrialized world. That is not unrelated to endemic attitudes, narratives, and publicly-endorsed victim-blaming.
Yesterday afternoon, my inbox started lighting up wildly with emails about writer, director, and actor Kevin Smith being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat. Smith, who's got 1.6 million followers on Twitter, began tweeting furiously about the incident (right fucking on):
The Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back director said he was booted by the captain after he was seated because he was considered a "safety risk."
"I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?" he wrote, maintaining, "I broke no regulation, offered no 'safety risk' (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?).
"Thank God I don't embarrass easily (bless you, Jersey Girl training)," he continued. "But I don't sulk off either ..." So he promised more tweets zinging the airline in the coming days for telling him "I'm too wide for the sky."
Smith said he refused a $100 voucher offered by Southwest and eventually got on another Southwest flight. He then tweeted a photo of himself on the plane with his cheeks puffed out, writing, "Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off!"
Kate Harding says, quite rightly, "I am so sorry that Kevin Smith, human being, had to go through that. But quite frankly, a part of me is really happy that Kevin Smith, Famous Person With 1.6 Million Twitter Followers, is holding an airline's feet to the fire over this bullshit." And Smith is keenly aware of his dual role, too:
(1/2) Hey @SouthwestAir? Fuck making it right for me just 'cause I have a platform. I sat next to a big girl who was chastised for not buy-
(2/2) ing an extra ticket because "all passengers deserve their space." Fucking flight wasn't even full! Fuck your size-ist policy.
Smith bought two seats, but flew home in one, "with the armrests down," just to prove a point.
Which, let's be honest, is not something everyone can afford to do. I am terrified to fly anywhere these days, in fear that the same thing will happen. Embarrassment would be the least of my worries if I get stuck in another city and told out of nowhere I've got to buy a second seat just to get home.
(Sorry Spudsy and I got our wires crossed with the Open Thread this morning, Shakers! I'm posting this back up for him, because he's on his way to work now. My apologies if anyone's comment got lost in our dueling Open Thread "Who's on First?" this morning, lol.)
ANOTHER UPDATE: Google plans to change what it calls the "buzz start-up experience" to remove automatic opt-in and auto-follow. Read their post about it. (H/T to ajoye and car and Scott Madin in comments.)
Like a lot of folks, I use Gmail. A few days ago, Gmail sent me to a screen when I logged in. The screen offered to let me "try" Google Buzz. I clicked "Skip" and went on about my business. However, it turned out that Google Buzz activated automatically, and I actively had to turn it off. This automatic opt-in has caused some trouble for users. Dr. Isis warns her pseudonymous readers that she can see their real names, and Harriet Jacobs of Fugitivus is pretty angry about getting automatically opted-in to Google Buzz. Her blog is now under password protection (I don't know if that change is a coincidence or not), but according to Shane Richmond at The Telegraph,
Harriet Jacobs, who blogs at Fugitivus, is furious about having been opted-in to Google Buzz by default: “I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother. There’s a BIG drop-off between them and my other ‘most frequent’ contacts. You know who my third most frequent contact is? My abusive ex-husband.”
She adds: “My privacy concerns are not trite. They are linked to my actual physical safety, and I will now have to spend the next few days maintaining that safety by continually knocking down followers as they pop up.”
Such cases are, it is to be hoped, rare but they are illustrative of the dangers of the new trend in web services to ‘default to public’.
UPDATE: see also today's open thread for discussion of this issue. The "default to public" trend is dangerous. No matter how pseudonymous your gmail address is, if your real name appears on the account, it will be visible to "followers". Please be aware if you aren't already.
UPDATE: It looks like my helpful instructions below are not enough to turn off Google buzz for real. Check out these instructions from cnet: Buzz off: Disabling Google Buzz. Thanks to BrookeA and Scott Madin in comments on this thread.
The good news is that it's pretty easy to turn off buzz. Just scroll down to the very bottom of your Gmail message page and click "turn off buzz" on the tiny-print, well-hidden "View as" menu:
Mine says "turn on buzz" because I have already turned it off. But when I first looked, the link read "turn off buzz", in spite of the fact that I did not activate it and instead told Gmail to "skip" it.
Third Riddick Pic Is Officially On: "While Vin Diesel and David Twohy have been banging the Riddick drum constantly in the years since The Chronicles Of Riddick, the idea of a third film had largely existed as plans and rumours, with no firm commitment from Universal. But following Diesel's cryptic hints about scouting trips last December, the studio has now announced that it will back a new outing for the gruff anti-hero."
Awesome. I can't wait to not watch this one as hard as I didn't watch the first two!
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Yesterday afternoon, my inbox started lighting up wildly with emails about writer, director, and actor Kevin Smith being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat. Smith, who's got 1.6 million followers 
