Using #language to counter bias favoring masculine-specific representations:
• gender-unmarked forms (neutralization strategy, e.g., “l'enfant”) are not fully effective in neutralizing the masculine bias.
• contracted double forms (re-feminization strategy, e.g., “un·e enfant”) are more effective in promoting gender balance compared to gender-unmarked forms.
Love is not supposed to be beautiful. It’s supposed to be a raw, gritty struggle that forces you to face the most vulnerable parts of yourself, so that when the good times come, you can savor and enjoy them, fully appreciate what they’re worth. Otherwise, you take it all for granted. —Lana Myers
The Cairo Geniza is a collection of 400,000 documents found in a synagogue in Egypt that span the Middle-Eastern, North African, and Andalusian Jewish history between the 6th and 19th centuries CE, and comprise the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world.
@baruch and you can access over 18.000, 4.000 of which have keywords 🤩
"Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, over 4000 documentary Genizah manuscripts (e.g. letters and legal documents) have been associated with key terms - such as ‘cheese’, ‘pirates’, or ‘ gambling’ - as well as names, dates and places drawn from over 100 years of published scholarship on the Collection." https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/genizah/1 #JewishHistory@histodons
It's 4 January, the anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. Every year at this time, I like to reflect on a man who was a teacher in his lifetime, and who in the years after his death has taught us lessons of empowerment, resilience, and self-determination.
Every day, I am grateful for the gift of literacy he gave me and millions like me who are blind. In the last year, I have benefited from that gift by labelling and identifying items.
I have referred to copious notes in meetings as part of my job as a CEO. Also in that role, I know that if I take the time to proof a document with Braille, it will be accurate all the way down to picking up extraneous punctuation that I might miss with text-to-speech.
It has helped the global community of blind podcast listeners as I read aloud with fluency the many contributions that come into my Living Blindfully podcast. One of the most wonderful things about that podcast is when I hear from people who were denied Braille as a child, or who became blind later in life, who have told me that my reading Braille on the podcast has encouraged them to embark on their own Braille reading journey.
I've delivered presentations to audiences around the world, some of those were large audiences, and read my speech notes in Braille.
Best of all, Braille allows me to read stories for my granddaughter, just as I read to my own children when they were little.
My life would be very different, and very much the poorer, without it. And my story is not unusual. The data are clear that blind people who know Braille have a far higher chance of finding employment.
The story of the Braille code shows us that the best people to develop solutions for blind people are blind people ourselves. Louis Braille designed, then refined his code, and taught it to other blind people. There was a period where the books containing his code were burned. The Braille code was driven underground because some sighted people felt threatened by its otherness. They insisted that blind people should conform and read raised print, even though it was inefficient. Thankfully, the Braille code prevailed. That lesson is just as applicable today.
Some think Braille is no longer necessary because blind people have talking books and talking computers now. This view is wrong and harmful. To people who say these things, I say we'll give up Braille when sighted people stop reading print and use audio exclusively too. Braille is our equivalent to print. When something is under my fingertips, I remember it more clearly. It is the same as being a visual learner.
And Braille is more vibrant than ever, thanks to an exciting range of Braille displays. It is also a tool of profound significance for those who are DeafBlind, for whom audio isn't an option.
So once again, a toast to Louis Braille the man, and Braille the code which in New Zealand we capitalise to always remember his genius and his sacrifice.
@JonathanMosen this is great stuff, I especially thought about this snippet:
"Some think Braille is no longer necessary because blind people have talking books and talking computers now. This view is wrong and harmful. To people who say these things, I say we'll give up Braille when sighted people stop reading print and use audio exclusively too."
Braille and also print both allow for a VERY flexible reading velocity based on your capacity to understand the respective words!
📖 The Fragile Threads of Power, by @veschwab. What a promising start to this new trilogy! So much of what I loved from the Shades of Magic universe is still here, but also a lot of novelty and very strong characters building. ✨ https://kevinplattret.com/reads/the-fragile-threads-of-power
No good deed goes unpunished. As Ume discovers when she rescues Shiomi. Neither Shiomi nor the jealous, vengeful ghost that stalks her appreciates the act. Something they both make clear. As for Ume’s partner, Tomo, he is less than thrilled at the intrusion of an unpleasant third into their relationship. “I know I told you to find someone who would appreciate your advances, but I really question your taste.”
Come, follow Ume-san, Shiomi-san, and the increasingly exasperated Tomo as the three explore their attraction for each other in a world where creepy things wait and watch from the shadows.
I looked at the cigarette in my hand, thought, “What the hell?” and took a puff; “Ugh, unflavored.” But I’d finally gotten a kiss from my konbini girl, a secondary kiss, but a kiss.
Come, follow Ume-san, Shiomi-san, and the increasingly exasperated Tomo as the three explore their attraction for each other in a world where creepy things wait and watch from the shadows.
"Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh;
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky."
Now the Day Is Over
Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist Sabine Baring-Gould died #OTD in 1924.
He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers", and "Now the Day Is Over". He also translated the carols "Gabriel's Message", & "Sing Lullaby" from Basque to English.
Samantha Hill: "Für #Arendt war die politische Emanzipation der Bourgeoisie der Grundstein des modernen Nationalstaates, in dem die politischen Gesetze von den privaten Interessen der Geschäftsleute bestimmt wurden, die es für nötig befunden hatten, den Staatsapparat zu übernehmen, um das Militär für ihre kolonialen Unternehmungen einzusetzen. Diese Kooptation der Nation und ihre Umwandlung in einen Nationalstaat durch private Wirtschaftsinteressen war der Kern ihres Verständnisses. Und was sie betonte - und wofür sie kritisiert wurde - war das Argument, dass der Antisemitismus vom Nationalstaat politisch benutzt wurde, um seine politischen und wirtschaftlichen Interessen zu fördern.
"Arendt hat dieses Argument nie aufgegeben. Tatsächlich griff sie es in ihrem umstrittensten Werk, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), wieder auf, in dem sie Ben-Gurion vorwarf, einen "Schauprozess" zu veranstalten, um das Leiden des jüdischen Volkes auszunutzen, anstatt den wirklichen Verbrecher, Hitlers Cheflogistiker Adolf Eichmann, für seine Verbrechen zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen. Natürlich sei Eichmann antisemitisch gewesen, aber sein Hass auf das jüdische Volk sei nicht sein Hauptmotiv gewesen. Vielmehr sei es seine banale Hybris gewesen, die ihn dazu gebracht habe, in den Reihen des Dritten Reiches aufzusteigen. Das sei die Banalität des Bösen, und sie definierte die Banalität des Bösen als die Unfähigkeit, sich die Welt aus der Perspektive eines anderen vorzustellen."
In 1944, #Arendt "stressed that the return of the governments in exile corresponded to a restoration of national structures[:] collective security, sphere of interest, national alliances - which had played a decisive role in preparing for the war and bringing it about. "There is nothing to expect from restoration", Arendt concludes, since it is also the restoration of what led to the Second World War and the "German problem".
Autistische Menschen sind hier stark vertreten.
Such mal nach #actuallyautistic
(Du kannst Hashtags hier auch folgen.)
Es gibt auch eine Gruppenverteiler @actuallyautistic an den du posten und dem du folgen kannst, wenn du willst.
Queere Leute (aller Flavours) gibt's auch, wobei ich wenig Einblick habe, wie lesbische zu finden sind. @iyalei, kannst du weiterhelfen?
I've watched the last two Indiana Jones movies today. Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny. I enjoyed them both, even under the weather. Yes I am feeling poorly.
One of two possibilities. Either I have a cold, which coincidentally began about 12 hours after the RSV vaccine, or I am having side effects from said vaccine.
Honestly, even if it is from the vaccine, I'm still glad I got it. Vaccines are important, especially at my age. And, no, they don't cause #autism.
I've had intermittent low grade fever, fatigue, stuffy head, and occasional cough. The fatigue could be #fibromyalgia , but the rest is definitely not.
I'm treating with generic Alka Seltzer Cold and Flu. That and bed rest. No big plans for #NYE are being ruined. Not to worry.
🙏 for mentioning the biography by Frances A. Underhill, 'For Her Good Estate'. I edited the expanded 2nd edition. The booksite at https://barnes1.net/FHGE/ includes a resource page with many free downloads, & an account of the Lady's insistence on choral music at #ClareCollege. Book sales support this! the hardback more so.
Eignet sich das #Fediverse, um Leseempfehlungen (Bücher) zu erhalten, bzw. gezielt Ideen für neuen Lesestoff zu suchen? Die #Bookwyrm Instanzen sind ziemlich klein (kaum 100 user), würde sich das trotzdem lohnen, sich da zu registrieren? Oder reicht es vielleicht schon, auf Mastodon bestimmten Hashtags zu folgen? #lesen#buchbubble#Frage