Official News topic

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JAGzilla
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Re: Official News topic

Post by JAGzilla »

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/12096607 ... n-monikers

Dozens of American bird species named after white ornithologists or nobility are being renamed. I agree that descriptive names make sense and are helpful for identification or whatever. That makes sense. And I can see where there's an uncomfortable imperialism angle to it; the Native Americans weren't calling them Cooper's Hawk or Anna's Hummingbird. This is fine so long as the policy is applied universally going forward. No human of any race gets a bird named after them, point blank.
Last edited by JAGzilla on Fri Nov 03, 2023 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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_JNavs_
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Re: Official News topic

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Now that, is very silly.

Added in 2 minutes 28 seconds:
Very excited for the shitstorm that'll brew over "Darwin's Finches" being renamed to "Assorted Color and Differently Beaked Birds"
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Re: Official News topic

Post by Spirit Ghidorah 2010 »

JAGzilla wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 1:11 am https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/12096607 ... n-monikers

Dozens of American bird species named after white ornithologists or nobility are being renamed. I agree that descriptive names make sense and are helpful for identification or whatever. That makes sense. And I can see where there's an uncomfortable imperialism angle to it; the Native Americans weren't calling them Cooper's Hawk or Anna's Hummingbird. This is fine so long as the policy is applied universally going forward. No human of any race gets a bird named after them, point blank.
One of my ornithologist friends actually mentioned this to me a few weeks ago, and she's actually pretty happy with it. Eponyms in general are stupid, especially in the scientific community where new discoveries are made everyday. It's a way for egotistical scientists to get their names immortalized into history with no regard for future generations who will have to sift through the deluge of uninformative and non-descriptive designations.

We're already slowly doing away with them in the medical field since so many complex diseases were named after two or more doctors, which makes an already complex syndrome more confusing. For instance, there's a congenital disease that prevents a female's reproductive syndrome from properly developing. You know what we used to call it? "Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome", which is a fucking word salad. Now we call it the infinitely less confusing "vaginal agenesis".

So yeah, good riddance to that shit.
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LSD Jellyfish
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Re: Official News topic

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Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 2:11 am
JAGzilla wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 1:11 am https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/12096607 ... n-monikers

Dozens of American bird species named after white ornithologists or nobility are being renamed. I agree that descriptive names make sense and are helpful for identification or whatever. That makes sense. And I can see where there's an uncomfortable imperialism angle to it; the Native Americans weren't calling them Cooper's Hawk or Anna's Hummingbird. This is fine so long as the policy is applied universally going forward. No human of any race gets a bird named after them, point blank.
One of my ornithologist friends actually mentioned this to me a few weeks ago, and she's actually pretty happy with it. Eponyms in general are stupid, especially in the scientific community where new discoveries are made everyday. It's a way for egotistical scientists to get their names immortalized into history with no regard for future generations who will have to sift through the deluge of uninformative and non-descriptive designations.

We're already slowly doing away with them in the medical field since so many complex diseases were named after two or more doctors, which makes an already complex syndrome more confusing. For instance, there's a congenital disease that prevents a female's reproductive syndrome from properly developing. You know what we used to call it? "Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome", which is a fucking word salad. Now we call it the infinitely less confusing "vaginal agenesis".

So yeah, good riddance to that shit.
I think it's silly as a "statement", but makes makes a lot more sense for the reasons you described. It's much more practical.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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JAGzilla
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Re: Official News topic

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Who is really pathetic enough to have to slap four names on a medical condition like that? :lol: Freaking babies. Fine, I'll agree all day that cases like that need to go.
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Re: Official News topic

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 2:38 am Who is really pathetic enough to have to slap four names on a medical condition like that? :lol: Freaking babies. Fine, I'll agree all day that cases like that need to go.
I was thinking about Lou Gehrig's disease versus ALS. As much as I sympathize with Lou Gehrig, who was brave for revealing and drawing attention to his condition, it is sort of confusing to refer to ALS as that. In the last ten years, I saw the transition for Lou Gehrig's disease to ALS, which I think is understandable. I personally think that what they're doing with the birds makes a lot of sense, but they don't need to rationalize it with any weird or "radical" political methodology or whatnot.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Official News topic

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 1:11 am https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/12096607 ... n-monikers

Dozens of American bird species named after white ornithologists or nobility are being renamed. I agree that descriptive names make sense and are helpful for identification or whatever. That makes sense. And I can see where there's an uncomfortable imperialism angle to it; the Native Americans weren't calling them Cooper's Hawk or Anna's Hummingbird. This is fine so long as the policy is applied universally going forward. No human of any race gets a bird named after them, point blank.
Is this going to be done only to birds from North America north of Mexico, or all over the world? Is the same thing going to be done to animals other than birds? And, most important of all, where does it stop?

There is such a thing as going overboard with this. To me, this is a perfect example of the old saying "Try to please everyone and you end up pleasing no one." In fact, one of the basic truths of life is "You can't please everyone."

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Re: Official News topic

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Lmao. People renaming birds to "fight the power" so they can feel good about themselves and pretend to actually make a difference in the world.
"We've come to understand that there are certain names that have offensive or derogatory connotations that cause pain to people, and that it is important to change those, to remove those as barriers to their participation in the world of birds," she says.
I have utterly zero respect for anyone with views remotely similar to this. If you want to change the names for practical reasons, I guess that's fine. But if this is the motivation I am totally against it. Gotta hand it to the think tank that thought of this grift.
Last edited by shadowgigan on Fri Nov 03, 2023 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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JAGzilla
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Re: Official News topic

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And now for a less controversial animal story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lo ... ac9&ei=167

Researchers in Indonesia caught an Attenborough's long-beaked echidna on a trail cam. Only a single specimen had been recorded by science before this, and that was in 1961. But here they are, still trucking along.

Also, that story about the local tradition using echidnas to resolve conflicts is hilarious. We should still be doing that. Next time some morons in Congress force the government to shut down, we send them into the jungle to find an echidna. Problem solved.
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Re: Official News topic

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Nov 10, 2023 3:07 am And now for a less controversial animal story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lo ... ac9&ei=167

Researchers in Indonesia caught an Attenborough's long-beaked echidna on a trail cam. Only a single specimen had been recorded by science before this, and that was in 1961. But here they are, still trucking along.
Awesome find and quite the interesting animal!

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Re: Official News topic

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https://www.cbr.com/godzilla-minus-one- ... shuji-abe/

Yet another important figure in Japanese media has passed away.
Come on, ten more days left in 2023; what now?
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Re: Official News topic

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Warner Bros are in talks to have a merger with Paramount.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/media/wa ... index.html

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Major sssspielberg!
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Re: Official News topic

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Lots of us have probably eaten food that was cultivated or harvested by US prison labor. It's a longer article but I recommend reading it. Is it even possible to be an ethical consumer?
https://www.wafb.com/2024/01/30/angola- ... utType=amp
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Re: Official News topic

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:23 pm Lots of us have probably eaten food that was cultivated or harvested by US prison labor. It's a longer article but I recommend reading it. Is it even possible to be an ethical consumer?
In this end stage Capitalist fever dream we currently inhabit? Alas, likely not. Almost every part of modern civilization bends towards exploitation, either subtle or overt. All people can do, in my opinion, is hold on and do what good they can.

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Re: Official News topic

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

^ the funniest part is the part of the article that points out the US ships foods cultivated with prison labor to China, whom we've banned from exporting certain cotton products because they're produced with prison labor.
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Re: Official News topic

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Daily reminder that we never actually abolished slavery. Enslaving prisoners is still totally allowed in the US Constitution. All the 13th Amendment did was add an extra step to the process.
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Re: Official News topic

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From the article:
David Farabough, who oversees the state’s 20,000 acres of prison farms, said Arkansas’ operations can help build character.

“A lot of these guys come from homes where they’ve never understood work and they’ve never understood the feeling at the end of the day for a job well-done,” he said. “We’re giving them purpose. … And then at the end of the day, they get the return by having better food in the kitchens.”
I worked three years at a restaurant. There was a lot of BS I had to endure. I built character. You know what else happened? I got compensated for my time and energy. The good feeling that I had at the end of the day was my wallet being just a little bit thicker. Building character is great, but be very wary when it's used as an excuse to treat people like shit, and/or arguing that because of some perceived growth they should not be properly compensated.

Now, the article correctly points out that some prison work programs can be good, and they can be used to get skills. I tend to agree, but it really varies circumstance to circumstance. The idea of prisoners working with and for each other (things like working in a cafeteria) seem totally fine. Likewise, although more labor intensive, if the conditions are good and safe, I could see the argument that working in some form of construction on state/federal lands might be okay, as long as they are compensated well and that it's a voluntary choice.

I can see the argument being made that these people have committed crimes. While I would have little sympathy for a murderer or sex offender, it's again important to remember that a lot of these people are part of the prison pipeline that exists within the United States. By having these people work, but not get properly compensated, it also makes it much more difficult for them to survive after getting out of prison. A lot of prisoners get released from jail with zero money and resort to criminality as a means to support themselves because they can't get a job before they're back in jail. I'm not excusing their crimes, they should be punished, but the issue is it becomes cyclical and as the article points out you can clearly see how this process is corrupted by capitalist interests.

I guess I can reveal something. A couple years back, through my MA program, I was involved with a program where prisoners wrote letters and creative writing pieces and I read them and provided feedback. They were given this opportunity to help them practice English, as well as well as do something productive. They wrote all sorts of things, some good, some that was filled with deep regret, and some stuff that was honestly pretty depressing and or abhorrent. But, the point is that, and I do believe this, that them writing me letters and keeping in touch (with clearly outlined strict procedures and privacy policies that I had to abide by) was a positive influence. Many of the prisoners, even those that had difficulty reading and writing, were excited to be part of a program like this. That built character.

I'm not saying that prisoners should be handed out diplomas or anything, but I think that large sections of the prisoner population should still be treated like people, and should be given more opportunities.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Official News topic

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The majority of my family and friends are criminals in one way or another. Large percent of criminals and people in prison are non violent offenders who deserve basic dignity.

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Re: Official News topic

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Also keep in mind that the US Justice system is set up to specifically target more vulnerable members of society.

See also: the punishment for crack possession being orders of magnitude harsher than the punishment for cocaine possession, despite the two drugs being virtually identical.
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Re: Official News topic

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I work with a lot of prisoners. What people don't tell you is the inmates actually love these programs for the most part. It allows them to do something other than sit in the block, which is a good thing. I'm not sure it builds character or not, I'm pretty skeptical of a lot of these programs utilized by the prison industrial complex. I'm pretty convinced most of these programs fall short of their loftier ambitions. I have no confidence in their ability to make all-encompassing societal changes. However, if they are giving individual inmates piece of mind, I support that.

I'll be honest with you guys, in my experience, I don't think the inmates care if they are being paid or not. Additionally, in some jurisdictions inmates are being "paid" in the sense their sentence is reduced. You can debate whether this is fair or not, and argue they should at least be paid minimum wage. I think that's reasonable. My worry is, when I hear this topic discussed, that it will lead to the dissolution of these trustee programs, and I would view that as a bad thing.

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