Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Thought it was about time
Figured that I may start to write this blog again, though who knows when I will ever have the time or inclination as my busy busy life is taken up with small kids, a demanding dog and surfing the internet. But I will endeavour to think of the occasional rant to burble on about. Now however I should be actually parenting. I'll try to get back to you in about 48 hours.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Ever fancied a past life?
Now there's a bit of a kerfuffle kicking off in the Antipodes based around the content of this article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/confessions-of-a-young-anti-feminist/
For those of you who can't be arsed reading the aforementioned piece it is written by a "29-year-old single anti-feminist" and is based on this stunning piece of scientific thinking -
Renowned Australian neurosurgeon Charlie Teo believes men and women have different roles “set not only by society but set by physiology”.
“The current trend is for dads to be more hands on. But for all we know it may be proven in a hundred years time that that may be a negative thing for the upbringing of children,” he said recently on Seven’s Sunday Night program.
“They’re there to be protective. A man has to have a good job; he has to do well at school so he can get a good job and support his family. A woman has to be loving and caring,” he said.
Oh it gets better!
For thousands of years men were providers and protectors and women nurturers. Evolution provided each with the physical and emotional assets to do these jobs well.
Well into the last century the husband provided his family with a home and food and this sole responsibility gave him a sense of power and purpose. And women didn’t feel pressure to justify their existence with a career. They were proud home makers and mothers.
Until feminism.
Now, I can't pretend to be an expert on gender roles or realities throughout "thousands of years", but I can give a little insight into the good old days of home life in ye anciente Egypte. Any of you who may have held romantic ideas about past lives may want to look away now.
And be warned, there are going to be some sweeping generalisations, but I doubt if anyone would want to read an academically tinged thrashing of "fact" and hypothesis, laced with innumerable examples, so I am just churning out some basics. But I figure if a professional journalist can make over-arching statements about "thousands of years", then I think I should be allowed to do the same about roughly 1500 years of human activity in one particular location as I've spent quite alot of time researching/learning about it.
Hold onto your hats! We're about to check out Egypt between 2600-1200BC, the era of pyramids, temples and pharaohs!
- The average lifespan of an ordinary Egyptian was between 30-35; if you were wealthy you may have a slightly better chance of living past 45
- children were set to work (hard physical labour on inductrial sites) as soon as they could perfom viably
- Only 1% of the population were literate; the vast majority of this 1% were administrators
- the word for schooling translates literally as "punishment"; physical beating was a standard educational motivator
- 90% of population had bone deformity resultant from squatting whilst performing work
- it is estimated 100% of the population had malaria
- the recommended marriagable age for "women" was 12 or 13 years old
- 33% of pregnancies miscarried/stillborn
- 33% of children died in infancy
- Food supply dependant upon an annual flood; if flood failed = starvation, if flood too high = disease and starvation
- Fundamental diet = rough bread and gruel
- Egypt's greatest "new build" city, Tell el-Amarna had streets filled with discarded household rubbish, including food, animal and human waste and thus vermin BTW this city was built whilst Egypt was at its peak in terms of power, wealth and creativity
- Animals kept within confines of domestic houses include cattle, sheep, goats and pigs
- natural environment of Nile valley condusive to rapid proliferation and breeding of insects and parasites
- Nile = main source of water - home to numerous parasitic worms
- Sedentary and permanent settlements ideal for infestations of fleas and bedbugs
- Everyday ailments included -
Anaemia
Gingivitis and tooth loss
Dental caries (most likely caused by grit/sand in food) resulting in severe dental abscessing and exposed pulp cavity
Conjunctivitis and eye disorders
Schistosomiasis, which may lead to haematuria, anaemia, loss of infection resistance, gynaecomastia, rectal pain and bladder cancer
- it is suspected that Tell el-Amarna may have been the site where human influenza came into being.
- local fauna included -
21 different species of known snake, amongst which were the Egyptian cobra, the spitting cobra, black desert cobra, vipers, puff adders and pythons
Various deadly scorpions
Lions
The Nile Crocodile
Hippos (which can bite a crocodile in half)
Hyenas
- standard punishments for crimes included slavery, forced labour, cutting off of nose and/or ears, being burned alive, impaling. Should the accused do a runner his/her family would be punished in their place
And to think I haven't even gone near any theorising about gender-based distinction...except that wives of high officials would carry on their husband's duties, such as tax collection, should their husband be otherwise engaged; that woman ran their own businesses and raised extra income by selling surpluses/goods at market; that women could initiate divorce and retained all their own property; that infertility was not considered firm grounds for divorcing a woman; that women could raise legal cases and served on "juries"; that women owned and inherited property on an equal status to men; that their religious beliefs suggest that female deities were the main protectors - note that the main protectors of the king were ALL female deities...
Shall I go on?
In short, Egypt during this time was a harsh, viscious place to live, but the concept of men as protectors and women as nurturers, if it existed, certainly bore no resemblence to Ms Asher's deluded "good old days".
Now I am going for a lie down in a darkened room with a large glass of scotch.
For those of you who can't be arsed reading the aforementioned piece it is written by a "29-year-old single anti-feminist" and is based on this stunning piece of scientific thinking -
Renowned Australian neurosurgeon Charlie Teo believes men and women have different roles “set not only by society but set by physiology”.
“The current trend is for dads to be more hands on. But for all we know it may be proven in a hundred years time that that may be a negative thing for the upbringing of children,” he said recently on Seven’s Sunday Night program.
“They’re there to be protective. A man has to have a good job; he has to do well at school so he can get a good job and support his family. A woman has to be loving and caring,” he said.
Oh it gets better!
For thousands of years men were providers and protectors and women nurturers. Evolution provided each with the physical and emotional assets to do these jobs well.
Well into the last century the husband provided his family with a home and food and this sole responsibility gave him a sense of power and purpose. And women didn’t feel pressure to justify their existence with a career. They were proud home makers and mothers.
Until feminism.
Now, I can't pretend to be an expert on gender roles or realities throughout "thousands of years", but I can give a little insight into the good old days of home life in ye anciente Egypte. Any of you who may have held romantic ideas about past lives may want to look away now.
And be warned, there are going to be some sweeping generalisations, but I doubt if anyone would want to read an academically tinged thrashing of "fact" and hypothesis, laced with innumerable examples, so I am just churning out some basics. But I figure if a professional journalist can make over-arching statements about "thousands of years", then I think I should be allowed to do the same about roughly 1500 years of human activity in one particular location as I've spent quite alot of time researching/learning about it.
Hold onto your hats! We're about to check out Egypt between 2600-1200BC, the era of pyramids, temples and pharaohs!
- The average lifespan of an ordinary Egyptian was between 30-35; if you were wealthy you may have a slightly better chance of living past 45
- children were set to work (hard physical labour on inductrial sites) as soon as they could perfom viably
- Only 1% of the population were literate; the vast majority of this 1% were administrators
- the word for schooling translates literally as "punishment"; physical beating was a standard educational motivator
- 90% of population had bone deformity resultant from squatting whilst performing work
- it is estimated 100% of the population had malaria
- the recommended marriagable age for "women" was 12 or 13 years old
- 33% of pregnancies miscarried/stillborn
- 33% of children died in infancy
- Food supply dependant upon an annual flood; if flood failed = starvation, if flood too high = disease and starvation
- Fundamental diet = rough bread and gruel
- Egypt's greatest "new build" city, Tell el-Amarna had streets filled with discarded household rubbish, including food, animal and human waste and thus vermin BTW this city was built whilst Egypt was at its peak in terms of power, wealth and creativity
- Animals kept within confines of domestic houses include cattle, sheep, goats and pigs
- natural environment of Nile valley condusive to rapid proliferation and breeding of insects and parasites
- Nile = main source of water - home to numerous parasitic worms
- Sedentary and permanent settlements ideal for infestations of fleas and bedbugs
- Everyday ailments included -
Anaemia
Gingivitis and tooth loss
Dental caries (most likely caused by grit/sand in food) resulting in severe dental abscessing and exposed pulp cavity
Conjunctivitis and eye disorders
Schistosomiasis, which may lead to haematuria, anaemia, loss of infection resistance, gynaecomastia, rectal pain and bladder cancer
- it is suspected that Tell el-Amarna may have been the site where human influenza came into being.
- local fauna included -
21 different species of known snake, amongst which were the Egyptian cobra, the spitting cobra, black desert cobra, vipers, puff adders and pythons
Various deadly scorpions
Lions
The Nile Crocodile
Hippos (which can bite a crocodile in half)
Hyenas
- standard punishments for crimes included slavery, forced labour, cutting off of nose and/or ears, being burned alive, impaling. Should the accused do a runner his/her family would be punished in their place
And to think I haven't even gone near any theorising about gender-based distinction...except that wives of high officials would carry on their husband's duties, such as tax collection, should their husband be otherwise engaged; that woman ran their own businesses and raised extra income by selling surpluses/goods at market; that women could initiate divorce and retained all their own property; that infertility was not considered firm grounds for divorcing a woman; that women could raise legal cases and served on "juries"; that women owned and inherited property on an equal status to men; that their religious beliefs suggest that female deities were the main protectors - note that the main protectors of the king were ALL female deities...
Shall I go on?
In short, Egypt during this time was a harsh, viscious place to live, but the concept of men as protectors and women as nurturers, if it existed, certainly bore no resemblence to Ms Asher's deluded "good old days".
Now I am going for a lie down in a darkened room with a large glass of scotch.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Domestic goddess!
Over the last couple of weeks I have become somewhat fixated on food.
Those of you who know me know that there is absolutely nothing unusual about this. I happily confess that I am one of those people who wakes up in the morning and starts wondering what to have for dinner. Since our foray into parenthood and the requisite level of organisation (ie that there are only so many times you can greet your spouse with a scowl and the words "we're having takeaway for dinner an YOU'RE collecting it") I have become quite adept at planning a menu or two. Actually what I have taken to doing is being one of those people that eats the same thing in rotation. Like an old person.
So we have a fairly regular weekly diet which is based around the nutritional fundamentals of curry, pizza and pasta. Appealing, no?
It started with America's Next Top Model. Watching vacuous skinny people be vacuous and skinny drove us to eating pizza in large quantities, hence Friday became "pizza night". Originally this meant buying pre-made pizza bases and adding my own toppings. Gradually this morphed into pre-made pizza bases with home-made pizza sauce and toppings. Now it has gone one stage further. Oh yes siree!
Now I am making my own pizza dough/bases.
That sounds truly Martha Stewart-esque, doesn't it? Before you start panicking and visualising me grinning slightly maniacally whilst wrestling home decor and brandishing a mondo huge kitchen knife, I am simply bunging all the ingredients into a bread machine and selecting the "dough" setting. Oh and adding some extra "flair" like chili, or sun-dried tomato, pesto, fresh herbs etc etc.
And it is astonishing. Tonight's pizza was a tomato relish/herb base with mushroom, red pepper, feta, bacon and smoked paprika. Bloody marvellous.
Saints preserve us, but I am planning to start a mini herb/veg garden come Spring and it's going to get out of hand.
This is what happens when you stay at home looking after kidlets. Be warned.
Oh and that photo is not my pizza. In case you were wondering.
Monday, August 16, 2010
The rant I had planned
was to consider the American studio remakes of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", "Wings of Desire", "The Vanishing", "Dark Water", "La Femme Nikita" and "The Return of Martin Guerre" amongst others.
I may come back to it. Or I may not.
I may simply rant on and on about something else entirely. Who knows?
I may come back to it. Or I may not.
I may simply rant on and on about something else entirely. Who knows?
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Stupid American Remakes
I am planning to rant on about the dubious propensity of the Hollywood studios to remake confusing foreign films, ie films that require the viewer to read subtitles and often to follow a plot, into bog awful miscast "American" movies with happy endings. However, I have been slightly distracted by Gert's rear right foot.
Now, the sharp-eyed amongst you will note the jaunty angle of one of her claws. It would appear that during her vigorous galavanting around Newtown Park in hot pursuit of tennis balls she managed to puncture her foot. Being a hard-ass she gave no indication of any such injury or incident at the time, nor when she scampered back into the car, not even when she got home and ate a hearty breakfast. It was at lunchtime when she staggered/hobbled out of her bed, left a trail of bloody pawprints in the hallway and stood on 3 legs looking pathetic. On close inspection a distinct hole was espied, still oozing blood, and so off to the vet's we went. The jaunty angle caused by swelling between paw pads.
Now she has 5 days' worth of antibiotics and is housebound for 3 days (until the hole heals up) with strict orders that gallavanting shall be avoided. Should just about make her demented. So on Friday I expect to have my arms wrenched out of their sockets by a dog desperate to RUN!!!
Monday, August 09, 2010
Oh, and...
In case you thinking "Oh for fack's sake, stop bloody whinging you middle class git", I was brought back to reality whilst out ensuring Gert was getting her morning exercise (Sorry Cesar, she only got 30 mins tennis ball madness because it is BLOODY freezing today).
Gert did a stonking steaming and squishy poo; I had no poo bags; I found "emergency" poo bag in my own bag; I scooped up poo like a responsible dog owner.
Emergency poo bag had massive split in bottom and most of the triple-S poo went straight into my grabbing hand.
Gert did a stonking steaming and squishy poo; I had no poo bags; I found "emergency" poo bag in my own bag; I scooped up poo like a responsible dog owner.
Emergency poo bag had massive split in bottom and most of the triple-S poo went straight into my grabbing hand.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Start the week!
This morning started at around 2.30am for me.
I woke up with a cough and a splutter, coughed a bit more, fetched a glass of water, coughed a bit more and then decided to transfer myself to the living room sofa so Jo could get a decent night's sleep before a workplace Monday morning. Unfortunately I didn't go back to sleep which means I am already 8 hours into my day and it's only 10.45am.
However, time was not a-wasting. The last few weeks have been a bit dodgy for me as I've found the slow, relentless grind of mothering a toddler is at times immensely boring. So I decided to fall back on my usual research resource and surf the net to find out if anyone had any top tips. Hooray! There are loads! Exercise, utilise family for babysitting, part-time work, don't forget your relationship.
Boo! I'm already doing all of them!
So what's the problem? The problem (I think) is that my tiny brain works like this -
"okay, I'm awake, time to feed/dress/entertain boy"
2 mornings a week = "Boy is creche, must do work, must do work, must do work; must exercise dog first...that dog whisperer bloke says dogs need 1 hour of vigorous exercise each morning. Then must do work!"
"Must collect boy from creche, feed him and get him into bed for nap" OR "Must take boy to playgroup/park/zoo/beach, feed him etc" OR "Must go to supermarket,etc etc"
"Bugger, need to do washing/shopping/empty dishwasher, then must do work whilst boy naps"
"Chores done, now to work....Sod that I'm going to read a book/surf net"
"Oh shite...I just spent whole of boy's nap NOT doing work, now I feel like a slacker/lazy git"
"Boy awake, must dress and give bottle, then we'll do something that won't cause him to go nuts"
2 afternoons a week = "Must get boy ready for nanna/dads, then must do work - only have a couple of hours"
"5.15pm - Jo home from work - must take dog out again and then sort out dinner, perhaps do some work afterwards?"
"Dog walked, dinner made, 7pm and I am knackered...and I have achieved sod all today - tomorrow will do better"
1 evening a week = "5.30pm - time to go and teach class until 8.15pm"
Weekends = MUST DO FAMILY STUFF AND BE DOMESTIC GODDESS!
I think I am doing this wrong. Perhaps a change in attitude is needed?
I woke up with a cough and a splutter, coughed a bit more, fetched a glass of water, coughed a bit more and then decided to transfer myself to the living room sofa so Jo could get a decent night's sleep before a workplace Monday morning. Unfortunately I didn't go back to sleep which means I am already 8 hours into my day and it's only 10.45am.
However, time was not a-wasting. The last few weeks have been a bit dodgy for me as I've found the slow, relentless grind of mothering a toddler is at times immensely boring. So I decided to fall back on my usual research resource and surf the net to find out if anyone had any top tips. Hooray! There are loads! Exercise, utilise family for babysitting, part-time work, don't forget your relationship.
Boo! I'm already doing all of them!
So what's the problem? The problem (I think) is that my tiny brain works like this -
"okay, I'm awake, time to feed/dress/entertain boy"
2 mornings a week = "Boy is creche, must do work, must do work, must do work; must exercise dog first...that dog whisperer bloke says dogs need 1 hour of vigorous exercise each morning. Then must do work!"
"Must collect boy from creche, feed him and get him into bed for nap" OR "Must take boy to playgroup/park/zoo/beach, feed him etc" OR "Must go to supermarket,etc etc"
"Bugger, need to do washing/shopping/empty dishwasher, then must do work whilst boy naps"
"Chores done, now to work....Sod that I'm going to read a book/surf net"
"Oh shite...I just spent whole of boy's nap NOT doing work, now I feel like a slacker/lazy git"
"Boy awake, must dress and give bottle, then we'll do something that won't cause him to go nuts"
2 afternoons a week = "Must get boy ready for nanna/dads, then must do work - only have a couple of hours"
"5.15pm - Jo home from work - must take dog out again and then sort out dinner, perhaps do some work afterwards?"
"Dog walked, dinner made, 7pm and I am knackered...and I have achieved sod all today - tomorrow will do better"
1 evening a week = "5.30pm - time to go and teach class until 8.15pm"
Weekends = MUST DO FAMILY STUFF AND BE DOMESTIC GODDESS!
I think I am doing this wrong. Perhaps a change in attitude is needed?
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