Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"[...] [O]utrage does not necessarily equal misery. Outrage does not mean you must wallow in fear and fatalism and yank out your hair and wake up every morning hating the world and hating yourself and hating humanity for being so stupid/numb/blind and wondering how the hell you can escape it all.

"Outrage is rich with humanistic understanding. It is not some evangelical Christian parent 'outraged' that her kid saw a woman's nipple on TV. It is not some right-wing Family Council 'outraged' that someone put S&M outfits on Barbie, or that some art gallery is displaying Jesus as a woman, or that scientists dared to say that stem cell research does not equal abortion, or that the mayor isn't taking care of all the potholes and stray kitties. That's not outrage, that's reactionary whining.

"True outrage, like Olbermann's, [...] is honed and sharp and poignant. It contains a powerful sense of deeply informed decency, and therefore has a true feel for when that sense has been violated. Outrage has meat and substance and intellectual nourishment. It is actually healthy.

"Smart, informed outrage engages you and fires your heart, your mind. It is fuel. It is the reason you claim you enjoy being an American, to question malevolent government actions and take a stand and demand accountability where there has, for the past seven years, been none. Bottom line: We simply cannot let them convince us, by way of an all-out assault on science, sex, love, et al, that the good fight just ain't worth fighting."

-- Mark Morford, "Outrage fatigue? Get over it", SF Gate, 2007-11-14

"[...] [O]utrage does not necessarily equal misery. Outrage does not mean you must wallow in fear and fatalism and yank out your hair and wake up every morning hating the world and hating yourself and hating humanity for being so stupid/numb/blind and wondering how the hell you can escape it all.

"Outrage is rich with humanistic understanding. It is not some evangelical Christian parent 'outraged' that her kid saw a woman's nipple on TV. It is not some right-wing Family Council 'outraged' that someone put S&M outfits on Barbie, or that some art gallery is displaying Jesus as a woman, or that scientists dared to say that stem cell research does not equal abortion, or that the mayor isn't taking care of all the potholes and stray kitties. That's not outrage, that's reactionary whining.

"True outrage, like Olbermann's, [...] is honed and sharp and poignant. It contains a powerful sense of deeply informed decency, and therefore has a true feel for when that sense has been violated. Outrage has meat and substance and intellectual nourishment. It is actually healthy.

"Smart, informed outrage engages you and fires your heart, your mind. It is fuel. It is the reason you claim you enjoy being an American, to question malevolent government actions and take a stand and demand accountability where there has, for the past seven years, been none. Bottom line: We simply cannot let them convince us, by way of an all-out assault on science, sex, love, et al, that the good fight just ain't worth fighting."

-- Mark Morford, "Outrage fatigue? Get over it", SF Gate, 2007-11-14

A reminder, to myself at least as much as to anyone else who needs it:

Being too self-conscious will cost you many opportunities to have fun.

A reminder, to myself at least as much as to anyone else who needs it:

Being too self-conscious will cost you many opportunities to have fun.

Not feeling great: better than yesterday, still dizzy, throat still a little sore, not getting as much done as I'd like. But apparently enough attention span for some C coding.

Decided to finally get around to something I'd had an idea for two decades ago but kept putting off because I didn't need it quite badly enough to wade through varargs docs. Working on something else yesterday, I decided I needed this badly enough after all. The code works, which means I'm about 1/4 done. (Since I plan to use it again, and it might even wind up being useful to somebody else, Proper Documentation is in order ... and during the course of writing that, refinements and hooks for extensions will pop into my head arguing for their own inclusion in the code. It's a little thing, so it'll wind up dwarfed by its own documentation, but hey, that's how it works sometimes.)

Have a cat story to tell when I feel talkative again. Currently using coding (& doc writing) to distract self from feeling grumpy about not feeling well enough to do other things planned for today[*] and feeling worried about money and forms and bureaucracies I need to deal with. Programming as escapism. (Not the first time ... )

[*] And still feeling grumpy about missing the party Friday. Gonna have to get over that, I am. Feh.

Not feeling great: better than yesterday, still dizzy, throat still a little sore, not getting as much done as I'd like. But apparently enough attention span for some C coding.

Decided to finally get around to something I'd had an idea for two decades ago but kept putting off because I didn't need it quite badly enough to wade through varargs docs. Working on something else yesterday, I decided I needed this badly enough after all. The code works, which means I'm about 1/4 done. (Since I plan to use it again, and it might even wind up being useful to somebody else, Proper Documentation is in order ... and during the course of writing that, refinements and hooks for extensions will pop into my head arguing for their own inclusion in the code. It's a little thing, so it'll wind up dwarfed by its own documentation, but hey, that's how it works sometimes.)

Have a cat story to tell when I feel talkative again. Currently using coding (& doc writing) to distract self from feeling grumpy about not feeling well enough to do other things planned for today[*] and feeling worried about money and forms and bureaucracies I need to deal with. Programming as escapism. (Not the first time ... )

[*] And still feeling grumpy about missing the party Friday. Gonna have to get over that, I am. Feh.