My scrap of dirt

I can't find this information on google for the life of me. I'm looking to get a new scratching post and there's one I like but it's all carpet - my scratching posts have always had a corded component, which seems to be where the cats like to scratch best. So - does it matter or no if the scratching post is all carpet?

#most-uninteresting-question-ever

"...Spain, Portugal, Bosnia, Tokyo." Um, so Japan doesn't get to be a country in Torchwood-land?

( More random TW comments )

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I feel like I wasn't productive today but I actually did get stuff done. I've been handling the kittens a fair bit, too, and it's going really well considering how freaked out they were yesterday. The two boys, Sonny and Quisha, are a lot less nervous and napping on the top of their cardboard hideout in the bathroom. The girl (officially Echo I think :) is more skittish but she's slowly coming around. She still cowers a little but she's been purring when we pet her (Quisha, too, he's so cute). And MeiMei's not hissing anymore, she likes to lick them and has even started playing with them, and I think that's really going to help them relax, too.

I'm still trying to get over my doubts from yesterday and the nervousness I feel because I think the project is turning into something very different from what I'd originally imagined in my head. I just need to convince myself that it's ok and I'll figure out the lit review and everything later. Basically originally I was interested broadly in how teachers teach, and I'm realizing that especially since I need to make the interview shorter, I'm really more interested in how the teachers teach and handle diversity and difference in the classroom.

Basically I'm still not sure what I'm doing. :/

So instead of freaking out, let me share a couple of funny links.
Cats can really sleep anywhere.
Cats fail and grad students.
( (Funny but Dollhouse spoiler!) )

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Now a few links stolen from le_canard.
The documentary Girl Like Me touches on how racism intersect with beauty standards. It's mostly bits of interviews with black girls who talk about how they've been made feel about their appearance. We often think that tastes are personal - so what if I like blonde better than brunette? It's a good reminder that tastes are also embedded in cultural bias and in Western nations, that means a certain racial bias, too.
The experiment featured at about 4 minutes is pretty heart-breaking and disheartening. It was reproduced recently and I don't know if I'd put quite the same positive spin on the story. I would love to try the experiment in France, but also to have white children do it, because I'm pretty certain patterns would differ.

And finally, in French, Mr. Haïdari who works at the City Hall in Marseille (he's assistant to the Mayor), talking about why he thinks it's important that we have racial statistics in France. The usual argument against such statistics - that they create racial categories that don't exist - is true in the sense that race is a social construct, but it blatantly ignores that this social construct has very real (psychological and material) consequences today in France (and beyond). Racial categories will never be perfect, but it's a better alternative (in my opinion) to pretending that there isn't a racial problem in France. These categories, we made them up, but today they influence the lives of people of color, and we have to stop ignoring that because it makes us uncomfortable.


That reminds me that this morning I was in a school and asked the head of the school (because he was showing me what kind of information students fill out every year) if he had any same-sex household that had a kid in his school. His first reaction was, "you know, it's none of my business" ("ça ne me regarde pas"). Which struck me as odd. Why would we want these families to be invisible? Is it that strange to imagine that teachers would know if their kids have a mom and a dad, one parent, two of the same sex? Under the excuse of giving people privacy, aren't we really playing into a system that assumes and favors heterosexuality? That's a rhetorical question, obviously. It's very telling that we ask kids to fill out information about their mother and father, but to ask if they have two moms or two dads is a breach of privacy.

when brown can stick around
when yellow can be mellow
when red can get ahead
when white can do what is right.
- Rev Lowery at the Obama inauguration

So. Bush is actually GONE. Can you believe that? I still can't. I think it's going to take a while to realize we're just not going to be seeing his face anymore. YAY. And obviously YAY for the guy replacing him being Obama. I didn't get very emotional watching the inauguration, and I wasn't all that convinced by his speech, but the massive crowd of people, that was amazing. I so wish I could have been in the middle of that, taking photos.

Now, we'll see. Where he takes the U.S. and what decisions he makes and what he achieves. I do have faith he can make a difference within a certain framework, and I really hope he will do just that. I'm glad that I'll be here to witness this and cheer and complain and all that stuff. I want him to do great things. And to keep being an endearing human being, like how he and the Chief Justice mixed up lines for the oath. That was awesome.

I'm really curious to see what Michelle Obama is going to do and stuff, too. I instinctively want to like her, just like Barack.

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On the pets front, we have
1) a mommy cat in heat (thankfully she only rubs up against everything she can and offers herself to anyone who'll pass her by, no spraying or loud yodeling or anything). It's... interesting. I'd never seen an animal in heat before.
2) a new kitten who's been diagnosed with cerebellar hypoplasia. It's really mild compared to MeiMei Chloe, but it's definitely there. Little Fiona can still jump and get up on the back of the couch so I don't think it'll be a big problem in her life.

OMG NEW KITTENS! Made of fluffy adorableness!! See for yourself:



And this is Mommy Willow:



So yes, apparently we're specializing in black and white foster cats. ^^

Our babies are now grouchy teenagers (I'm kidding, they're still adorable) and I figured it was time for an update so you can see how well MeiMei Chloe's doing!

First, a video where she's walking so you can see she's gotten much more stable when she's walking calmly. She just looks a little wobbly. (Sorry the orientation of the video is screwed up, I forgot when I was recording her... >.>)


( More cat adorableness under the cut! )

I think the best part is Palin going "I believe marriage is supposed to be a sacred institution between two nwilling teenagers".

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Also, anyone who is remotely interested in what's happening right now with the American economy should read this article by Joseph Stiglitz.

A couple of excerpts:

"We’re looking at a new form of public-private partnership, one in which the public shoulders all the risk, and the private sector gets all the profit. While the Bush administration preaches responsibility, the words are addressed only to the less well-off. The administration talks about the impact of “moral hazard” on the poor “speculator” who borrowed money and bought a house beyond his ability to pay. But moral hazard somehow isn’t an issue when it comes to the high-stakes speculators in corporate boardrooms."

"On energy: conservation and research into new technologies will make us less dependent on foreign oil, reduce our trade imbalance, and help the environment. Expanding drilling into environmentally fragile areas, as some propose, would have a negligible effect on the price we pay for oil. Moreover, a policy of “drain America first” will make us more dependent on foreigners in the future. It is shortsighted in every dimension."

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On a personal note, we are down to three cats! :( Today two women came to adopt Lily (mommy) and one of the kittens... they ended up taking Maxxie, who got the charm on when they were there by being snuggly and not leaving their shoulders. Aw. I'm a little sad and the kittens here are a little disoriented, but I'm so glad Mommy and Maxxie have found a good home. :)

I am officially a cat owner now!

I didn't really want to make a post before I signed the papers even though it's been pretty sure for a while now. So that's it! Meimei Chloe is officially my cat now and I still think it's a little scary to think about in terms of commitment but we'll be fine.

I should be taking her to the vet for a checkup and her first shot soon but Karen (from VOKRA) wants her to keep going to the naturopath (the Healing Place Vet Clinc) and not do the shot? Which I'm unsure about... I'm going to call Healing Place tomorrow and ask more questions. I'm not against treating Meimei with holistic medicine (at least as long as VOKRA foots the bill because that place is very expensive) but I don't want to take risks, either.

Anyway! I "celebrated" by buying her a litter box that hopefully will be easy for her to use, and we're going to try different foods. Based on price, I think I'm going to move her to Friskies because it seems to be okay quality and I don't think I can afford the better food for now. And I'm keeping her on wet food only as long as we have all the kittens, otherwise they'll be the ones eating the kibbles. ;)

Let me picspam you in celebration. :D



( Meimei Chloe, 10 weeks )

Linus is NOT Windows.

So very valid and interesting points made in that post (especially about user friendliness). Despite the slight video issue I'm still having and tiny things I haven't figured out yet, I am satisfied of my switch to Ubuntu. It's maybe a little more code-oriented than I'd like it to be, but that's mostly because I'm still unfamiliar with the system. Overall, I've managed to resolve several issues in the past few days and there's great satisfaction that comes from doing that. I just like all the ways in which I can customize the system.

A lot of the stuff that I'm enjoying would be available on Macs, but ultimately for me the BIG "seller" for Linux is the fact that it's open source. Yes, it's a little more complex to get around than either a Microsoft or Apple OS, but . That's really always been my main problem with Apple - especially since their computer are systematically more expensive than PCs for equivalent hardware - they're out to make money just like any other company and I don't really see a reason to support their business much more than Microsoft except they're the hip underdog.

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Joss about faith. I love these quotes, especially the longer one about America not recognizing atheism and assuming that not having faith means not having a belief system and thinking 'anything goes', which couldn't be further from the truth. It's just that there are no foundations upon which to build, but to me it also means that it's a change to strive for a coherent belief system that can evolve and challenge itself as we grow and learn.

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In more personal news:

- I cooked myself curry (thanks to Brad's recipe!) on Friday and it was really nice to have a 'real' dinner that didn't involve pasta. On Saturday I went to Brad's for games and had an awesome time again (DungeonQuest is an hilarious game) and he'd made delicious chocolate cupcake that came with peanut butter icing and chocolate glaze. All veagan and thus inherently healthier, of course. :p

- All the cats are up for adoption: Billy, Zoe, Maddy, Maxxie (hit previous to see the girls) and Lily. Not Meimei Chloe because I am officially trying to adopt her, even though it still scares me because it's a big commtiment and I'm afraid to not do right by her. I hope being aware that this is a serious thing to do means I will be a better owner, but truth is this is unchartered territory for me. I mean, Caramel was never primarily my responsibility, but my parents'... Meimei Chloe's life would be entirely in my hands. For 15 years, maybe more. That's a long time, I think I have to acknowledge that. More when the adoption becomes official.

- Kenda (Roomie #2) witnessed a robbery at the bakery next door last night. o_O It was really interesting to see the whole process, the police came for a statement and everything, they managed to catch the guys.

- I have finally gotten around buying all 7 seasons of Buffy in one beautiful, beautiful boxset. (Bought from .com instead of .ca because companies continuously try to screw over Canadians - this boxset is $187 USD and $240 CAD, wtf.) I've also acquired Battlestar Galactica Season 1 through 3 for a really reasonable price considering how expensive they try to sell you every single season. So basically today was my Day of Supporting the Quality Entertainment Industry. :D

His name is Marcus and he's apparently very very cuddly. He had bladder problems which is why his last owner let go of him even though he's better now (he had problems because he was being fed crappy food) but apparenly he's doing better now. We're going to watch a movie together tonight, I'm pretty sure he'll demand constant attention. :)