chris_gerrib: (Me)
chris_gerrib ([personal profile] chris_gerrib) wrote2013-07-26 10:00 am

Links and Thoughts, Friday Edition

Like the label on the tin says:

Thought: In the never-ending debate on women in the military / combat, one frequently hears women compared to a "200 pound 6 foot tall man." You never hear a "5 foot 6 inch 150 pound man" compared to the larger man.

Pretty Picture Link #1: From [livejournal.com profile] jaylake buildings made from or made to look like ships.

Pretty Picture Link #2: Pictures of the 25-least-crowded US National Parks. I've been to three of them, and as an introvert it's nice to not be elbow-to-elbow with the great unwashed.

The title says it all: Arctic shipping quadruples thanks to global warming.

Jaywalking: A fascinating article on the invention of the concept of jaywalking. There was no such work in English until the 1920s, and it was invented as a way to shame people. (Bach in the 1920s, calling somebody a "jay" meant they were a hick from the sticks.)

[identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com 2013-07-26 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
During the discussion of boob-armor on tor.com I pointed out that nobody ever objected to Trainspotting by critiquing the very idea of the 5' 6" Violent Glaswegian Begby. One reply I got was

Because its fiction/fantasy/escapism, which is exactly my point.

[identity profile] chris-gerrib.livejournal.com 2013-07-26 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I did smurch that concept from you, didn't I?

[identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com 2013-07-26 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Parallel development seems very plausible.