Off By One

Volunteerism is one of those interesting ‘isms’.  It’s probably one of the most well-regarded ‘isms’ by more people, but I admit that much like my reaction to charity, I have a decidedly contrary view of this practice.

And, it appears, I’m not the only one.  Here’s “To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich,” a transcript of a speech given in 1968 to a volunteer organization.  I came across this by way of, as always, Metafilter, where a discussion on the validity of volunteering was taking place. This was spurred by an interesting article decrying modern celebrity aid programs as development porn and calling out volunteerism as paternalistic behaviour… which is how I have always sort of felt.

Poke about. It’s a good debate.

They look like anybody’s grandparents now, but they’re special.

Men on the Moon

It’s something I’ve dreamed of my whole life. It’s something I may yet see in my life, and it’s something for which I would sell anything, give anything to see. The passion with which these men speak of the moon, the look in their eyes as they remember the experience of landing, walking on, and — in the end — successfully leaving the moon behind is something I empathize with, even if I can’t know the whole truth of it.

Although this link is NSFW, and also NSFPrudes, I kind of like it.

Sex, Sexuality, and Erotism

No idea how long it’ll be online, but I’ve already seen some interesting and well-shot erotica on it. Also, while it’s mostly images of women, there’s a gallery of well-formed nude men in it too; a nice sidelight for the ladies. There may be more in the archive, and I imagine it’d be fun going hunting

Apropos of nothing, here’s a few funny Craigslist postings, culled from Metafilter:

Hey, Crackhead

Cement Block, $1

Thank You Donkey Porn

$772,000 a year, and still lonely (mirrored on Jezebel because it was deleted)

I Have a Hot Tub

Why Doesn’t He Want Me

Of course you could just read the original Metafilter thread…

In contrast to my last post, this one is a bit less perky.

The fact that this happens at all is nearly enough to make me physically ill. The fact that I’m probably never going to encounter it, simply because I’m not brown-skinned…

It’s rare that I see something that makes me feel like we technonerds are doing unqualifiedly good things for the world.

So, I’d like to thank Dean Kamen for just… doing good things.