Thanks to the forums at waxidermy for the link.
Accountability: Anonymous hacking Steubenville
Adrian Chen has a provocative essay on a hacker/Anonymous member who was instrumental in articulating the digital actions to challenge rape culture in Steubenville Ohio.
Chen not only describes the mistakes made by Lostutter and Anonymous hackers, but also outlines the cultural impact of this kind of hacktivism. Here Chen describes the impact of the video released of the football player enthusiastically cheering on the rapes.
The video wasn’t forensic evidence of a crime, but of the attitude that could allow something like the rape to happen over and over again. When people talk about how Anonymous “exposed” Steubenville, they can’t mean the facts of this case, which were utterly botched by KnightSec and its allies. What they mean is that Anonymous exposed how sexual assault is a bigger issue than bad people doing bad things. That it is enabled and even celebrated by a culture that tells young men it’s OK to laugh off a horrific rape as harmless late-night debauchery, to be instagrammed and tweeted about, then expects the rest of us to feel bad for the perpetrators when they’re punished. That’s the valuable lesson of this video, and KYAnonymous alone had uncovered it.
via “Weaponize the Media”: An Anonymous Rapper’s War on Steubenville.
Filed under communication, hacking, media, protest, resistance, sexual assault, technology
Felicia the ferret: animals and science
Felicia the ferret. Image taken from Fermilab.
Scientific knowledge comes from inquiry into the natural world. It is a valuable and important part of human existence. As we learn and invent, it is equally important that we constantly reflect on how we do science — it is just as important to refine — to do science better.
I believe that using animals for experimentation is unethical.
I have a brief pause, reading the old articles about Felicia the ferret, who helped to clean the tubes at the National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. There is something sweet about Felicia’s work that belies my understanding of animals in research laboratories. Here are a few examination of the 1971 newspaper descriptions of this ferret used for science.
1. Natural aptitude
It seems as though each article describes the natural skills that make Felicia the ferret particularly capable of the tasks she is given (running a string through 300 foot tubes). David Anderson’s article highlights the role of Robert Sheldon, the scientist who suggested that the lab try a ferret.
Being British, Sheldon remembered the use of ferrets by poachers who sent them into burrows after rabbits on English estates. Gamekeepers could hear the shooting of guns, but never the silent ferrets.
“Felicia is ideal for the work,” Pelczarski said. “The ferret is an animal filled with curiosity and seeks out holes and burrows. Its instinct is to find out what’s at the other end of a burrow, or, for that matter, a tube or a pipe.”
via Fermilab History and Archives Project | Natural History – Wildlife – Felicia Ferret.
2. Feminizing Felicia
Felicia the ferret is feminized at a number of points in the articles. Consider Peter Vaughn’s Minneapolis Star essay. The introduction begins:
It is one of those success stories you read about: A small-town girl fresh off the farm finds fame and fortune.
Well, Felicia, who spent her early years on the farm of Stan Fredin near Gaylord, Minn., isn’t the average Minnesota farm girl.
In the first place, her hair is three different colors – brown, white and black.
Also, she is small as Minnesota girls go, barely topping 4 inches when on all fours.
Felicia is a ferret and left Fredin’s farm early this summer for a job with the National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL.
via Fermilab History and Archives Project | Natural History – Wildlife – Felicia Ferret.
Several of the articles suggest that Felicia be rewarded with a mate — each time the suggestion was denied because if she became pregnant she might not fit through the small holes she was being trained to run through.
She has her own special set of weight watchers, including Sheldon, who just doesn’t intend to let her get too big for the job.
Asked why there was only one ferret, Sheldon laughed and said, “If you think she needs company, you’re not really thinking ahead. We have to. Motherhood might just put her out of a job. Her career depends on her size. She’s important to us, but one is enough.”
via Fermilab History and Archives Project | Natural History – Wildlife – Felicia Ferret.
3. Memorializing Felicia to justify the use of animals in science.
Many of representations in these four articles are justifications for breeding, enslaving and using an animal for someone’s gain.
Part of the problem is that Felicia is a particular case — her work didn’t involve being cut open or enduring a painful series of experimental drugs. Everyone can be sold the bogus particular story of a cute rodent running through the tubes bravely helping the scientists. Contrast that to the 13 million animals being used in research. The American Anti-Vivisection Society note that most of the test subjects are mice, rats and other rodents . . . like cute little Felicia!
Though the scientific value and ethics of animal research are increasingly being questioned, it is estimated that over 13 million animals are still being used in a wide variety of research projects every year in the United States. Purpose-bred birds, rats, and mice, as well as fish and other cold-blooded animals, make up the vast majority of the animals used in research (over 90 percent), yet are specifically excluded from the Animal Welfare Act. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not keep records of the use of these animals, nor is there any legal requirement to afford these animals even the minimal standards of care provided by the Animal Welfare Act.
via Animals Used in Research – The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS).
Which makes the particularizing and justifying of this individual animal’s story so worthy of amplification. Kathryn Winslow’s plaintive profile of the ferret is a pretty stark contrast to the usual life of a ferret in a research laboratory.
Felicia turned out to be a virtuoso at her work. She carried whatever was fastened to her harness for long distances, sometimes around many obstacles on the course. Those working with her were so pleased that they wanted to reward her at the open end of her journey, but they could not find a tidbit she particularly longed for. She was happy enough to see her cage at the end of the journey, the only lure that was ever used to bring her out at the other end.
She was soon famous. She has been talked about on radio, seen on television numerous times, and been written up in magazines and newspapers with national and international coverage. She stars in a television film to be released soon in Europe. Her personal “manager” at the laboratory is Walter Pelczarski, who lives in Clarendon Hills.
via Fermilab History and Archives Project | Natural History – Wildlife – Felicia Ferret.
This particular article notes that Felicia became famous for her participation in the cleaning of the tubes — an animal celebrity. Why would this ferret get it’s own movie? From an anthropocentric perspective this cute furry animal that solves a little problem in this giant scientific endeavor grounds the abstract science in a narrative that is comfortable.
Felicia didn’t want to go through those tubes, she was bred and raised particularly for this task. She was trained and rewarded, and of course kept in a cage for most of her life.
When Felicia’s job running a string down the particle accelerator tubes was given to a small robot, the romantic save-the-particular-animal trope becomes more visible. Again Kathryn Winslow in the Tribune:
This good life may soon end for Felicia. The laboratory scientists have designed and built a mechanical ferret, a device activated by compressed air and controlled by wires. They don’t need Felicia anymore. This was always the plan, with Felicia to be used only temporarily, while they built her robot.
But now Felicia is famous and she has a following of people concerned for her welfare; people who do not want to see her sent to a museum as an exhibit, which is what the laboratory may do with her two weeks from now.
They are thinking of sending her to Oak Ridge, Tenn., where there is a live museum of animals and creatures that have made a contribution to science. There are mice, guinea pigs, and snakes there, among other exhibits.
But it’s no place for Felicia, who is a pet and needs the affection of human beings. Will it take an act of Congress to save Felicia?
via Fermilab History and Archives Project | Natural History – Wildlife – Felicia Ferret.
Here is to an act of congress that frees all animals in captivity being used for experimentation. If it’s good enough for Felicia, I bet it’s good enough for the ferret getting injected with Influenza virus down the road.
(Thanks to Boing Boing for the link to the Fermilab history and Archives project!)
Filed under Animals, communication, juxtaposition, memorial, nature, representation, science
Juxtaposition: Nike
Artifact one: Cambodian Nike factory fires 300 striking workers.
Around 300 workers on strike for better pay at a Nike factory in Cambodia have lost their jobs. A union spokesperson said the fired workers’ dismissal letters cited their involvement in the strike, which seeks a wage hike of $14 a month. Although the vast majority of the factory’s 5,000 workers have taken part in the strike, many have begun returning to work after over three weeks off the job. It’s the 48th strike by Cambodian garment workers this year, more than in the entire years of 2010 or 2011.
via Headlines for June 12, 2013 | Democracy Now!.
Artifact two: Nike Air Foamposite One
Nike’s showing no signs of slowing down with Foam releases, but why should they? The Foamposite One’s received a ton of love at retail for the past year with even the most absurd color schemes ending up selling well. And when this sport royal-game royal-wolf grey colorway hits retail – especially in a hue that’s Orlando-themed – they’re likely to join the ranks of this year’s most wanted footwear.
via Coming Attractions: Nike Air Foamposite One “Sport Royal” | The Smoking Section.
Filed under colonialism, fashion, human rights, juxtaposition, propaganda, resistance
Seitan: refined
Swiss chard, mashed potatoes, fried seitan and vegetarian gravy. Everything is Humboldt locally grown except the flour.
The life of refinement is about making things better. It takes practice for most of us to get good at the things we want to do. It requires that we try and try again in order to achieve our goals.
So I’m back in the flour aisle of the health food store looking for vital wheat gluten to make seitan. There are thousands of flours that have the gluten removed, but only one brand of wheat gluten. Casual evidence that the anti-gluten side is winning in the gluten vs. non-gluten wars.
For the second time around I pick up up some Bob’s Red Mill vital wheat gluten. I don’t usually promote any brands on this website, but I think Bob’s is a fairly positive corporation, and the dude gave his flour factory to the workers. Not to mention if you are out in the boonies and don’t have access to a local health food store to buy vital wheat gluten, Bob’s will mail you a bag.
STOCK
The basis of my stock is usually a browned fond — onions, oil and flour. Cook the three on a lowish heat with regular stirring to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
As I added vegetables for the stock, I cooked it down with a little white wine each time, reducing and then browning each time.
Thinly sliced carrots, cooked down until the pan was browning and then douse with white wine. Then I added a couple local potatoes (chopped with skins!), browned and then added more wine. Repeat with chard stalks, and then I added oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, chili powder (personal preference), and some chili flakes.
What you get is a thick goo — a seasoned foundation for a vegetable stock.
I added water to almost an inch of the pot. Dropped a giant frozen nub of ginger into the soup, and added some soy sauce and a spoon of miso to taste. I let it sit for a while, just simmering while I made the seitan.
SEITAN
Last time I felt like the dough came together too quickly and not all the flour got moist at the same time. The seitan was tough, and I knew I wanted a more loose dough. I wasn’t sure if the broth I added to the seitan was too hot or if didn’t add enough broth at one time.
So this time I put the flour in a wide bowl, added recommended herbs from the package and stirred the whole thing gently with a whisk. Concerned that the stock might have been too hot last time (potentially cooking the dough strands into seitan before kneading), I chilled two cups of stock.
This time when I added the cool broth, the seitan was a joyous mass of juicy chewy-ness within seconds. I made sure everything was moist and stirred together and let it rest for ten minutes.
I’ll acknowledge my chief conspirator in this experiment, my sweetie who happens to be an artisan bread baker. With decades of dough experience, I asked her to knead the seitan.
I strained the stock and after a quick rest (another ten minutes), I chopped up the dough into slices and slipped it into the simmering broth.
I let it cook for an hour or so, and then shut it off.
The result was pretty tasty. The seitan is tasty by itself, rich with the broth and a little taste of flour. This seitan is wonderful to fry, staying moist inside while getting a crispy exterior. Next experiment is to try to bread and deep fry seitan — make a nugget so good that I don’t want to share it with other people.
Filed under do-it-yourself, food, learning, vegetarian
50 worst charities
The Tampa Bay Tribune has a bone-chilling series of investigative reports on sketchy charities. Salute to primary researchers Kris Hundley and Kendall Taggart for the year-long project. A little stomach-churning taste:
Collectively the 50 worst charities raised more than $1.3 billion over the past decade and paid nearly $1 billion of that directly to the companies that raise their donations.
If that money had gone to charity, it would have been enough to build 20,000 Habitat for Humanity homes, buy 7 million wheelchairs or pay for mammograms for nearly 10 million uninsured women.
Instead it funded charities like Youth Development Fund.
The Tennessee charity, which came in at No. 12, has been around for 30 years. Over the past decade it has raised nearly $30 million from donors by promising to educate children about drug abuse, health and fitness.
About 80 percent of what’s donated each year goes directly to solicitation companies.
Most of what’s left pays for one thing: scuba-diving videos starring the charity’s founder and president, Rick Bowen.
Bowen’s charity pays his own for-profit production company about $200,000 a year to make the videos. Then the charity pays to air Rick Bowen Deep-Sea Diving on a local Knoxville station. The program makes no mention of Youth Development Fund.
Filed under capitalism, health, learning, media, propaganda, representation
Bad Brains: this band is obviously better than any other band
Totally grooving on the un-embeddable Bad Brains documentary: A Band in D.C. Click the link. Watch the video. Learn and get inspired.
Thanks to Gwarizm for the link.
Filed under do-it-yourself, documentary, funk & soul, music, punk, race, representation
Military and toxic waste: ghost fleet
Don’t forget that the most significant polluter in United States history is the nation’s armed services. Scott Haefner and some colleagues snuck aboard decommissioned boats in the Navy fleet near San Francisco. Haefner notes:
The ships have shed more than 20 tons of toxic paint debris that have settled into bay sediments, where they will cause problems long after the ships are gone. Even though Congress and the State of California ordered MARAD to address the situation, nothing was done for most of the past decade. Lawsuits filed by environmental groups were also unsuccessful in forcing MARAD to remove the ships. However, after Barack Obama took the Oval Office in 2008, the tide shifted and MARAD began working diligently to clean up and remove the ships.
via Inside the Ghost Ships of the Mothball Fleet | Beyond the Photos.
Filed under colonialism, disaster, health, learning
Mandrill live in 1971
I guess I see why they describe these guys as multi-instrumentalists.
Filed under funk & soul, music
Cannibal capitalism poker edition
Cannibal capitalism is the performance of bodily suffering amplified by mass media.
It is cannibalistic because humans consume humans. Viewers watch human beings exchange of their well-being for our entertainment. Put another way, some people find it profitable to harm themselves in the name of their work, which happens to be televised. And some people make money on the whole exchange.
I don’t think the concept is all that new or inventive, it just happens to be useful to describe a pattern 0f commonly repeated media tropes. Consider an athlete who picks themselves up after an exceptionally hard crash. Television highlight films, complete with expert commentary will fill our lives with the painful exchange. “She really took a bruising, bone crushing hit there . . . what a soldier getting back in the game.”
Re-reading a Grantland series on the 2003 World Series of Poker I noticed a paragraph about the impact the long-hours of playing poker had on the participants. Farha is the runner-up and Harrington came in third place in 2003.
Farha: For five days, I had no sleep. None. I did not sleep. And the last day, the reason I lasted, I drank 20 Red Bulls, about 20 cups of coffee. I could not function.
Harrington: I’ve played a lot of different games, chess, backgammon, whatever, where you had to put in long, grueling hours. If you get down near the end, where victory depends on you being alert, I could dig down and get something out of myself to give that final push. Well, at that final table, I dug down, and there was nothing there. I hit the wall. Here’s how bad it was: When it got down to me, Sammy, and Chris, I wanted to bet 75,000, which was the right bet for that situation. I sat there and I couldn’t calculate how to make the bet. I had a whole bunch of 25,000 chips in front of me, and I could not figure out how to get to 75,000. It was an insurmountable problem.
Cannibal capitalism is often accompanied with mediated commentary — either praise or blame about how the person who experienced the suffering took it. In the case of Farha, the runner-up in 2003, it seemed his many hours of extra poker play became a justification for his ultimate loss.
Later Harrington gives this insight:
Harrington: After I busted in third place, ESPN asked me for a prediction, and I told them, “No one over 40 is ever going to win this tournament again.” It’s become an endurance contest. The next year, I was at the final table again. I was sitting next to a younger player. He nudged me and said: “I know you tell everyone how brutal it is on you to get down to this point in the tournament, you don’t have the energy. Well I’m 28, and it’s brutal on me, too.”
Filed under capitalism, communication, gambling, media, representation
Life of refinement 
