thoughts & clippings

"Regardless of the difficulties in defining the term ‘natural,’ it is clear that the..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:51:43 -0230

“Regardless of the difficulties in defining the term ‘natural,’ it is clear that the ecology of large portions of Arusha National Park was shaped by human activities. The gazetting of the park and the exclusion of humans, then, meant the removal of major ecological influences and subsequent changes in the park’s ecology. Changes in vegetation mean changes in wildlife habitat, and some species benefit while others may eventually be excluded. The general strategy has been to ‘let nature take its course,’ except in the ironic case of vegetation clearing by the park staff in order to maintain opportunities for tourists to view wildlife. It is ironic because the park staff is forced to clear brush once held in check with the help of livestock grazing and burning, two of the activities that the park administration has fought hard to exclude. Meru peasants living nearby are hired as casual labor by the park administration to cut and burn the glades that their parents and grandparents once maintained through their livestock-herding practices.”

- Roderick P. Neumann, Imposing Wilderness

kemendraugh: cthuluhair: When I finally watch Firefly, I’m...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:50:23 -0230

kemendraugh:

cthuluhair:

When I finally watch Firefly, I’m going to begin quoting this in hopes that my friend Logan will go along with it.

Wishful thinking.

I have that friend who goes along with it for me :D

Be careful when saying it to unwed men, though.

Report: Canada could see indigenous uprising

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:35:30 -0230

Report: Canada could see indigenous uprising:

Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an “insurgency” are ripe.

The report is not without its detractors, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. And by ‘worth keeping an eye on’ I don’t mean RCMP crackdowns and wire-taps. I mean a government re-thinking of the vilification and alienation of indigenous peoples, and genuine consultation on northern development, and not the current sham circus.

A boy can dream, can’t he?

As always, write your MP, and provincial representatives, if relevant.

synchronoise-ity: Calling it now Chef Ramsey is going to be the 12th Doctor “get in the fucking...

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:01:54 -0230

synchronoise-ity:

Calling it now Chef Ramsey is going to be the 12th Doctor

“get in the fucking tardis GOD”

“this planet is disgusting; bland, wet. it’s embarrassing”

doctor, where are we?

“in the shit.”

Another dooble, based off a girl I met in Kenya named Katia. As...

Wed, 15 May 2013 03:31:17 -0230

Another dooble, based off a girl I met in Kenya named Katia. As you may see, I press way too hard on my paper. http://bit.ly/103XGJF

More doodles. It occurred to me last night that I don’t...

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:24:39 -0230

More doodles. It occurred to me last night that I don’t know how to draw black features. http://bit.ly/180BGRI

Working out a new 5 second doodle of myself feels a bit self...

Tue, 14 May 2013 03:24:50 -0230

Working out a new 5 second doodle of myself feels a bit self indulgent, but therapeutic. http://bit.ly/15I12Go

jaunepois: In Portland, we don’t say “i love you”, we say “tree tREE RAIN recycle green put bIRd on...

Tue, 14 May 2013 03:24:18 -0230

jaunepois:

In Portland, we don’t say “i love you”, we say “tree tREE RAIN recycle green put bIRd on it LOCALLY gROWn toms shoes BEER” which roughly translates too “i dont know how to pump my own gas” i think that’s really beautiful

"Tanganyika’s minister of lands and survey once remarked that “it must, however, be said..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:16:35 -0230

“

Tanganyika’s minister of lands and survey once remarked that “it must, however, be said that the almost mystical and romantic regard for wild animals which some people have, has often puzzled the peoples of Africa.” punctuating Lusigi’s observation that of all the inherited colonial institutions, wildlife conservation was the least understood within African culture. There was much discussion at the Arusha conference and elsewhere of educating the masses about wildlife conservation to rectify what was neglected under colonialism. Conservationists were encouraged to “work among the masses with a missionary zeal” and “to awaken African public opinion to the economic and cultural value of their unique heritage of wildlife.” Beyond the obvious, these quotes inspire striking parallels with the efforts of early Christian missionaries, particularly their ideas about Africans as “natural Christians.” Likewise it appears that Africans were regarded as “natural conservationists,” possessing some latent capacity for appreciating European concepts of nature preservation that merely needed to be awakened. The implicit assumption was that Western values associated with “natural scenery” and “wildlife spectacle” were universal values.

Conservations attempted this “awakening” of African values in contradictory ways—that is, through the use of symbols and media that were layered with meanings and values specific to European culture. One particularly imaginative, if not bizarre, project involved the production of a documentary film, Safari to America, which depicted a Maasai schoolboy’s visit to Yellowstone National Park. Park advocates “hoped that the people of Tanganyika would find a record of this visit both interesting and instructive, and that it would bring out to them the cultural and economi importance attached to a National Park by even the most highly-developed nations in the world.” As another example, a poster captioned “Our National Parks are the envy of the world—be proud of them” was developed for mass circulation in 1961. This single project embodies layer upon layer of unintended irony, beginning with the fact that a French artist was commissioned to produce the poster. It is equally ironic to use the theme of “national pride” to promote conservation among a population that had been exposed to the concept of African nationalism for less than a generation. It seems especially dubious if we recall that TANU organizers adopted an anticonservationist platform in the rural areas to drum up support for their nationalist cause less than a decade before.

”

- Roderick P. Neumann - Imposing Wilderness

"The issue of human rights ultimately had to be resolved, however. Conservationists’ original..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:05:00 -0230

“The issue of human rights ultimately had to be resolved, however. Conservationists’ original basis for accepting a human presence within the park, collateral with political expediency, was their belief that the Maasai would not detrimentally affect nature preservation efforts. Like the “Pygmies” of Pare National Albert, the Maasai were imagined to be living more or less harmoniously with nature because they were nomadic, did not hunt, and generally did not cultivate. When Africans did not live up to European stereotypes, attempts were made to make them conform and, in the context of Serengeti, these attempts generated more conflict. For instance, some Maasai did in fact cultivate, though the national parks director tried to explain the presence of cultivators in Ngorongoro Crater as the result of Maasai having become “much adulterated with extra-tribal blood.” Based on British interpretations of African culture, the legal logic by which these cultivators could be evicted ran as follows: since we know that Maasai do not cultivate, any cultivators in the crater must be non-Maasai, and since no non-Maasai may live in Maasailand without a permit from the Native Authority, they are therefore without legal rights.”

- Roderick P. Neumann - Imposing Wilderness

"The British were attempting to implement a mythical vision of Africa as an unspoiled wilderness,..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:00:56 -0230

“The British were attempting to implement a mythical vision of Africa as an unspoiled wilderness, where nature existed undisturbed by destructive human intervention. It was necessary to dehumanize the Africans who lived and worked in this virgin landscape so that reality would fit within the vision. “Primitive” Africans were often simply regarded as fauna, particularly by the class of military officers from which the colonial resource institutions initially drew their personell.””

- Roderick P. Neumann - Imposing Wilderness

Loading … http://bit.ly/17YgyLM

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:24:31 -0230

Loading … http://bit.ly/17YgyLM

@meganforsey at the culmination of a successful BurgerQuest....

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:25:10 -0230

@meganforsey at the culmination of a successful BurgerQuest. http://bit.ly/13rbY7S

So one time recently I observed to myself that I haven’t really made an attempt at a love poem...

Sat, 11 May 2013 04:27:55 -0230

So one time recently I observed to myself that I haven’t really made an attempt at a love poem since I was very young and woefully unqualified for such things.

Then I sort of remembered that I am not in love, I don’t think I’ve been in love, don’t anticipate being so in the near future, and I honestly don’t spend too much time thinking about it anyway.

Then I thought, “I spend a lot more time thinking about sex. Why not just write a sex poem?”

Then I thought about it more and thought “No, no, better make it a series. Maybe a dozen sex poems. I think about it a lot.”

So I’ve had this outline in my head for “Poems about sex: sex had, sex dreamed, and sex wished for.” And I finally sat down with one outline tonight and went to work at it. Two hours later and … huh.

Those are a lot more thoughts and feelings than I realized I had. I don’t feel like what I’ve written (at least in it’s unedited state) is very good, but it came with some very intense feels which I’m glad I’m realizing are there. Except that I haven’t seen my therapist in over a month, I think he would be pleased at the time of self-reflection this has become.

In the meantime I will sit white-knuckled and heavy-breathing in my kitchen, consumed with lust until it comes to pass that I am able to blink again and go to sleep. ETA: July.

My favorite midnight diner in Corner Brook: any car parked by...

Fri, 10 May 2013 01:04:11 -0230

My favorite midnight diner in Corner Brook: any car parked by the water. http://bit.ly/10vJPIz

Mom saw this on Facebook so we thought we’d try it: orange...

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:24:45 -0230

Mom saw this on Facebook so we thought we’d try it: orange peel plus vegetable oil using the stem for a wick. http://bit.ly/12ePowT

jayg4tsby: On a scale of one to Chris Brown’s Twitter account, how embarrassing is it that I’m...

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:32:49 -0230

jayg4tsby:

On a scale of one to Chris Brown’s Twitter account, how embarrassing is it that I’m going to have to be at community college for an extra year?

Zero.

I’m in year seven of a four year degree, with one year left to go. The prescribed life-path is there for people who need it, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but the people I like best and the people who mean the most to me are the people who did things their way* in their time because they were too busy living to care what institutions, enemies, acquaintances and even (to some extent) friends had to say about it.

I worked six months as a janitor. For eighteen months I worked at a food bank. I slaved in a call center. I got fired from a resturaunt where my entire job interview was a single question (“Is your mom hot?”). I’ve delayed my degree for years because I was more interested in other things at the time, and while I might make different decisions if I had my time back, I can’t say I regret it either.

Heck, it might take me another five to finish my undergrad. I would be lying if I said that didn’t make me feel a little embarrassed some days, to be a 24 year old undergraduate while my friends are professionals and med school and graduate students, and some of my ‘peers’ are too young to buy their own alcohol, but it shouldn’t. Because even though I’ve done some awesome stuff that very few people can even TRY to shame me for (4 months in Nepal, 3 months Tanzania) the less flashy stuff is indicative of a life lived my way as well.

So don’t be embarassed. Own it and make the most of it.

And also forgive me for this rant. I’ve just been thinking about this for a bit and your post sort of opened the floodways I guess.

* - within reason of course, although sometimes also without it

Meet Muffin, aka ‘Muffy.’ Evidence suggests that if...

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:24:53 -0230

Meet Muffin, aka ‘Muffy.’ Evidence suggests that if you name your dog after food, your dog will end up roughly cylindrical. See also: the puddin’. http://bit.ly/12Nj7vu

medusasstory: Just a reminder that when I, a girl, crossed an international border with an extra...

Sat, 04 May 2013 16:18:27 -0230

medusasstory:

Just a reminder that when I, a girl, crossed an international border with an extra suitcase of books and comic merchandise, the guards didn’t ask if I was carrying it for my boyfriend. They asked where I’d bought it. And when I said comic-con, they waved me through without more questions.

When border guards are less skeptical of female fans than the fandom is, then the fandom could probably dial back the skepticism.

I don’t get the anti girl-geek thing, and I don’t see much of it, but occasionally I do and I can’t get over how incredibly juvenile it is.

The kinds of geeks who put down female fans of the same shit are the kinds of geeks that make me wish jocks still prowled the halls in great numbers, shoving trekkies into lockers and dunking D&D players into toilets.

Lance. http://bit.ly/168gwD1

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:58:50 -0230

Lance. http://bit.ly/168gwD1