linkspam of the nation

On March 18, 2015 By StephanieIn links, Uncategorized6 Comments

The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman, aka No Award supports misandry, and this article just gives us more evidence. Includes bonus statistics.

Speaking of misandry, The Toast retells The Little Mermaid, and it’s perfect.

MRA tweets during the qanda about domestic violence. Includes grossness.

On Ikea in Fortune:

One way Ikea researchers get around this is by taking a firsthand look themselves. The company frequently does home visits and—in a practice that blends research with reality TV—will even send an anthropologist to live in a volunteer’s abode. Ikea recently put up cameras in people’s homes in Stockholm, Milan, New York, and Shenzhen, China, to better understand how people use their sofas. What did they learn? “They do all kinds of things except sitting and watching TV,” Ydholm says. The Ikea sleuths found that in Shenzhen, most of the subjects sat on the floor using the sofas as a backrest. “I can tell you seriously we for sure have not designed our sofas according to people sitting on the floor and using a sofa like that,” says Ydholm.

Aside from the TERRIBLE turns of phrase (one should never use the term ‘meatballs out’ to describe the Indian market. INDIA.) this is a great article that speaks to many of Steph’s interests, primarily capitalism and regional difference.

Rap duo Coda Conduct take on Queanbeyan.

Steph laughed her way through this entire article: Karl Ove Knausgaard Is The World’s Worst Travel Writer. Steph loves travel writing, but hates many travel writers because they’re usually white people exploring exotic locations and learning about themselves on a backdrop of brown people. Good times. This is like everything that’s terrible about travel writing, but a non-North American travelling around North America, and so great. So funny.

Relatedish: ‘Africa’, a celebrity must have. On celebrity charity tourism and the white saviour complex.

Australian researchers have printed a 3D jet engine, GENIUS and also AWESOME.

Are there Black people in Australia, by Natasha Guantai at Overland. Great piece looking at blackness and immigration and assumptions and Australia, with some great conversations in the comments (and also some terrible ones, of course).

At ABC Science, 8 more things you should know about great white sharks.

Great whites don’t only rely on their sight for tracking prey. Like all sharks, they have special receptor pores under their noses (ampullae of Lorenzini) that detect the extremely tiny electric fields surrounding all living creatures.

SHARKPERFECTION

Chinese Feminists have been in detention for 2 weeks, and not charged with any crimes, and basically being detained because they’re prominent feminists, and it is NOT ON. Two good articles: At China Law & Policy; at Foreign Policy.

hashtag lifestyle choices

On March 12, 2015 By StephanieIn australia, Uncategorized1 Comment

On the same day as Tony Abbott announced a decision to close more than 100 remote indigenous communities, he compounded injury with insult (literally) by justifying this move as the defunding of a ‘lifestyle choice’.

To live on Country is obviously not a lifestyle choice. To live on Country is a right and a responsibility and also, get your goddamn white man shoes off the land.

Here are some Indigenous voices:

Utopiana: Parliament House is an unviable political community.

At the ABC an article that has a lot of quotes from people, including this truthy beauty:

The chairman of WA’s Kimberley community of Djarindjin, Brian Lee, said it was a cultural obligation to live on traditional country and it could not be a “lifestyle choice”

“We are obliged to look after our country and that’s why a lot of us are out here on country,” Mr Lee said.

“Unless you live out here, you really can’t make any judgement on that.

It’s not that hard a concept. Even if you move it away from cultural stuff (you shouldn’t), it’s still about a sense of place and stewardship of the land, and how are we still in a place where white people think their science is always right; their politics is always right; their traditions are always right?

By Kate Galloway and temporarily outside the paywall at the Alternative Law Journal, Indigenous dispossession in the 21st Century: The Northern Frontier.

I say this a lot but are you following Luke Pearson and/or Indigenous X? Luke is thoughtful and excellent, and Indigenous X is a different Indigenous voice every week and every voice is amazing.

#lifestylechoice

Not Indigenous voices, but excellent, at SBS Comedy: Indigenous Australians Still Not Thrilled About ‘Lifestyle Choice’ To Take Their Land.

Reports from various Indigenous leaders indicate that first Australians are still not thrilled about colonisers making the ‘lifestyle choice’ to steal their land and kill their people.

Though understanding it was the invader’s personal decision, Indigenous elders noted that the cost of being systematically oppressed greatly outweighed the benefits, namely due to there being no benefits.

“It certainly is a lifestyle choice,” said one indigenous elder. “Some people want to become plumbers, some want to be electricians, some want to attempt to steal sovereignty from a native people.

there’s a pain goes on and linkspam

On February 20, 2015 By StephanieIn links, Uncategorized1 Comment

Nova Peris says MPs walking out of debate shows total disrespect to Indigenous Australians (IT DOES)

LADY DETECTIVES IN XI’AN

By the awesome Sulagna, Life Hacks for the Marginalised

The UK is giving tourist destinations Mandarin names

A very US-American term (so I would dispute “By now everyone has heard of Columbusing”) but I accept this article: What will White People Columbus next?

A NEW SEA DRAGON!!!

In today’s Ladies Written Out of History by Men: Monopoly’s Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn’t Pass Go

A young Azn-Australian faking it til she makes it, A++

At New Matilda, on the Black Work for the Dole

Steph spent many an hour watching the Leyland Brothers World tv show as a young Australian and cannot wait to check out this Australian Story on iView.

In awesome accessibility news, the RBA is introducing tactile bank notes? How does the RBA keep making awesome advances in bank notes. First the polymer bank notes that are slowly taking over the world, and now this!

AARLI, a totally adorable Indigenous upcycling fashion brand, is looking for some Pozible loving

thoughts on the first morning of the lunar new year

On February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 By StephanieIn Uncategorized

My fingernails are too long, but I am bound by the moon and some hours too late; now I must put up with these claws until Saturday.
The cat has covered the floor in fur; I hope the Kitchen God doesn’t drop by. Can one stuff his mouth with sticky sweets every day of the year, just in case? Surely someone has tried this.

Did I eat enough noodles?

More importantly, my mother is a goat. Did she eat enough noodles?

What the world really needs is a series of quirky lunar new year movies to watch every year. Two of them should star Gong Li, and one of them should be set in Australia and feature Joan Chen.
sr-joan
Will Lee Lin Chin be dressed to theme? I love her.

Why don’t I own any work appropriate red dresses? This is unacceptable.

Dumplings for lunch. It’s traditional.

services the australian antarctic division requires

On January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 By StephanieIn Uncategorized2 Comments

ALERT, ALERT, IMPORTANT NO AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT:

Applications for jobs in Antarctica for the Australian Division are now open!

OBVIOUSLY jobs such as electrical engineer, communications operator, and carpenter are all very important. Sadly, No Award is not qualified for any of those. (Frankly, it’s shocking that there’s no call for a Climate Change Adaptation Specialist, because Antarctica is going to need one of those eventually, and Stephanie is pretty ready for the job)

Other staff the Australian Antarctic Division should be looking for:

LAWYER. Responsibilities: For when someone starts killing everyone one by one. Someone. Or something. Occupational Health and Safety implications of serial killer on remote Antarctic base.

NEWS PROVIDER. Responsibilities: Min. 8hrs per day surfing internet & providing amusing and entertaining commentary on the state of the outside world. Remuneration: $101,406 p.a. plus allowances.

ARTWORK. Responsibilities: Lie around looking pretty; perfect eyebrow game; provide tutorials on the perfect wing eyeliner; occasionally frown disdainfully at crew members who get too close. Remuneration: Lots of chocolate.

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR, OFFICIAL FANDOM LIAISON, MEME DISTRIBUTOR. Responsibilities: Grow social media presence through lulz, beta-read other team members’ fic, ensure memes are up-to-date. Check for important show downloads.

INVESTIGATOR. Responsibilities: Willing to go through the door everyone knows the inevitable serial killer on the team is hiding behind, fills out all forms in triplicate, willing to work with and/or against law enforcement, depending on what side of the blood bath they fall.

LAW ENFORCEMENT OF SOME KIND. Please bring guns and knives.

PENGUIN WRANGLER. Responsibilities: Cuddling penguins.

CALLIGRAPHER. Responsibilities: Spend all day making a large and artsy mess, producing very little. Occasionally bounce out of studio to show off something shiny and gold or to ramble about nibs. Remuneration: art supplies to the value of your salary; food.

EATING MODEL. Responsibilities: Demonstrate a healthy and willing appetite for any food cooked by the chef, to discourage grumbling among the rest of the crew. Eat ALL the things. Remuneration: occasional sneaky Haighs drop.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. Responsibilities: Sort out everyone’s paperwork. Keep offices neat and tidy. Make sure things happen when and where they’re supposed to happen. Appear invisible. Remuneration: more than literally anyone else on the station, who can survive without proper admin?

KNITTER. Responsibilities: Knitting hilars clothes and accessories on request.

miss universe australia and asking permission

On January 23, 2015 By StephanieIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Australia, I have some news.

Miss Universe Australia’s National Costume this year was inspired by an “Aboriginal Dreaming sunset”:

I was stunned to discover this costume, designed by Victorian designer Caitlin Holstock, an ‘indigenous inspired sunset,’ was granted permission from an elder of the Wurundgeri people.

Tegan Martin, Miss Australia, said “I really, really love this design and I think its [sic] so awesome that we are representing the first people in our country.”

And:

The winning design, which was decided on by the public and Sunrise viewers, featured an ochre-coloured bodice and a long open-front skirt embellished with Aboriginal prints and clay beading.

Holstock, an emerging Victorian designer, was granted permission from the Wurundjeri clan to showcase the prints, originally painted by its last traditional elder William Barak in the 1800s.

“I wanted to bring this design back to Australia’s original roots, and I really drew inspiration from that,” Holstock said.

No Award, this is not at all where I expected this post to go. (I thought I’d link to Genevieve’s annual post and then go on a ramble about cultural appropriation) Don’t get me wrong, it’s still kind of ugly and awkward, but it’s not offensive and culturally appropriative, and includes respect and acknowledgement of our first peoples, and it’s also a little fun. I would like to know what granted permission means in this case, though. Did elder Murrundindi also approve the execution of the dress itself? Or just the use of the original painting (I’m struggling to work out which piece it is) as a print? But this is a great way to interact with Dreamtime things, rather than just stealing stuff and calling it appreciation. This is so unexpected. Australia, I’m momentarily proud of you.

Hold your breath, though. This weekend is Survival Day, so there’s a post for that soon, and we’ll go back to being disappointed in being Australians again.

gimme another linkspam, oh my baby

On January 20, 2015 By StephanieIn environmental stuff, links, Uncategorized

Important and relevant to the interests of No Award: at Spoonflower, an Australian cities design contest. There’s some racist poo in there, but mostly it’s hilarious fun.

The 7 Wonders of Reservoir. (Liz is moving in a few months, and has given serious thought to the fact that she can afford a two-bedroom house in Reservoir. Only the fact that she neither owns a car nor drives is keeping her in the inner suburbs.)

At the Guardian, on Boko Haram.

You can submit poetry at The Lifted Brow!

Steph enjoyed this profile of Wayne Denning at BRW – Denning got Australian Indigenous talent onto Sesame Street.

A teaser at Kill Your Darlings, about the absence of cricket in national literature.

This Stormtrooper was saved from a deadly snake bite by his Storm trooper armour. #straya

And multiple Australian men have been arrested for driving motorised eskies. #heroes

The Medicare rebate slash we better not have: Latika Bourke at the Guardian; Sophie Scott at the ABC.

Official No Award stance: Do not sing the National Anthem on Invasion Day (known legally as Australia Day). Can you even. This is beyond even the cultural cringe. (Steph had a moment when she first opened that article where she thought ‘NADC’ said ‘NAIDOC’ and she was like WHY WOULD NAIDOC SUPPORT THIS. Don’t worry. She was wrong.) And a thing at En Passant.

Australia’s ridiculously terrible Human Rights Commissioner thinks the Racial Discrimination Act is essentially censorship.

The horror of a pineapple of clowns descending upon Sydney.

Manus: Security guards attack Manus compounds and are total shits.

‘Indigenous Australian’ was one of the most read Wiki pages of 2014.

Language Tips for Cis Feminists Speaking on Trans Issues: Liz very much wishes she had read this before doing the Ancillary Justice post, and unreservedly apologises to anyone she offended.

NASA has released the world’s largest photograph, a high-definition panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy. Warning: may trigger existentialist crisis.

Translating Shakespeare in China:

The other Chinese favorite, perhaps less expected, has been The Merchant of Venice, which debuted as a silent film in Shanghai in 1927. Called The Woman Lawyer, the film highlighted what has particularly interested Chinese audiences about the play, even up to the present: its proto-feminist heroine Portia, who dresses as a man and brilliantly defends Antonio in a gripping courtroom drama. That scene later became, and still remains, a staple of the Chinese middle school curriculum. The Western focus on Jewish-Christian relations means little to Chinese audiences compared with the way that Shakespeare dramatizes a classic battle of Confucian ethics, between li (profit motive) and yi (loyalty to friends).

(Liz would argue against the suggestion that China is unique in using Shakespeare to advance its ideology! But it’s an interesting article nonetheless.)

The free market won’t stop climate change, but its failure is inspiring the people who will. A comic at by Sam Wallman at The Nib.

No Awarding Around:

Steph’s post from last week on Appropriation and Racism in Melbourne Restaurants has been linked eleven trillion times, so you should definitely read that. There will be a follow-up post eventually to tell you all the restaurants she has been told about following that.

Cranky Ladies of History, featuring fiction by Liz and Steph, is up on GoodReads! It’s not available for pre-order yet, but keep an eye out.

MRYCHRIMBO it’s a capitalist rort

On December 25, 2014 By StephanieIn links, Uncategorized

Welcome to a four day weekend (for some) and some public holiday pay (for others) and Christmas (for also some), Bilbies and Quokkas and visitors from across the seas! Stephanie is in Perth, and Liz is in Melbourne, and from 3500 kilometres apart we bring you this Christmas Public Holiday No Award Specialganza, before lunch and then the traditional nap.

Alleged pie fight sours Christmas party – from Liz’s home state, a tale of drunken work Christmas party pie assault shenanigans. No Award does not endorse assault but does endorse hilarity.

Important science: Christmas puddings put to the sobriety test; and because we (Stephanie) are scientists here at NA: the actual study at the MJA.

At The Conversation: Families we choose: an Australian gay and lesbian Christmas. (Please note that No Award does not endorse headlines that exclude other queer peoples)

Stephanie saw some of these today! The Mooja tree! Call to embrace world’s biggest mistletoe, the native Christmas tree.

A No Award pet hate: dumping things at Op Shops. Remember that if you wouldn’t give it to a friend, you shouldn’t give it to an op shop, because it costs millions of dollars for those oppies to dispose of your shit.

A case of Christmas workplace bullying, possibly by a superior: How cruel Kris Kringle ruined my public service career.

In tales of why capitalism is bad: Yiwu’s ‘red factories’: where the world’s Christmas decorations are made. This link has been doing the rounds as it’s recent and on the Shanghaiist, about factory conditions, capitalism, and the shit that’s used on cheap Christmas decorations.

A handy fact sheet from Alzheimer’s Australia, Including people with Alzheimer’s at Christmas.

Australia’s transplanted Christmas will never stop being surreal, which just keeps showing how little it belongs. Steph isn’t sure how she feels about the chat about childhood being a time of magic and how adults cram all the magic in to childhood before we lose it, which is frankly bull because Chinese adults believe in magic their whole lives, have you met her, but she likes the rest of it. (Related, Christine Anu has released an album of Christmas songs with no mention of snow, Island Christmas, which Steph desperately wants to listen to, because it seems relevant to interests of colonisation and what is australian and identity and etc)

Don’t forget for one second that the Prime Minister’s gift to us this Christmas was a shithead for Minister for Social Services and severe funding cuts to a number of organisations including those providing homeless and disability services.

And finally, a Christmas message we’ve stolen from Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin, via Mr First Dog on the Moon, because No Award maintains that Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin is modelled on Stephanie.

brenda, stolen from mr on the moon but can she truly be stolen when she is probably actually steph?

six white boomers, racing linkspam through the blazing sun

On December 22, 2014 By StephanieIn links, Uncategorized

The Troll Hunters – exposing hate online.

Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households,” Mr Abbott replied. “As many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average family.

AUSPOL: Tony’s top achievement as Minister for Women in 2014 was the repeal of the Carbon Tax; Scott Morrison is a “decent human being” and is going to be Minister for Social Services and my favourite commentary is here.

The Lego farmer blogs about life on an Aussie farm in the Riverina. I’m linking to the ABC story because it’s got the tweets too.

Do you like Indiana Jones? Why? He’s basically a validation of white colonialism and the West’s terrible habit of stealing things that don’t belong to them. So it’s great to read that the National Gallery of Australia is investigating ownership of 54 items after returning a stolen one to India. NGA bought it for (AUD?)5 million and returned it anyway. Good work!

A great post on Strange Fruit, the racism of feminism, and music and Annie Lennox: The Unbearable White Ignorance of Annie Lennox at Media Diversified.

Are you reading Black Australia? If you’re not, you should be. Just this week they posted about cultural protocols and sorry business, and a whole bunch of really great links. Highly recommend to all Australians, both ATSI and not ATSI.

A post about#illridewithyou by the amazing Tessa, who sort of started it all.

And #illridewithyou Redux, in which Tessa talks about racial identity (hers), white guilt, accusations of (she is but is not white), and asks why we need permission to do great things?

Once again, who is allowed to instigate change?

That’s the wrong question. How about;

Why should anyone wait for your approval to act?

As far as I’m concerned, you naysayers can go sit on a pineapple and spin.

To quote a wise friend and fellow biracial, you’re better than this. Substandard criticism is vexing.

In Stephanie news, I translated a Tang Dynasty poem for Catwoman 37. You can read it, and also buy the issue when it comes out on Wednesday. So great. Much Chinese.

How A Nickelodeon Cartoon Became One of the Most Powerful, Subversive Shows of 2014. Or, Liz’s main fandom that’s not about an alien in a police box done good.

North Korea: Not Funny.

North Korea is not funny. It is hard to imagine a comparable comedy emerging about quirky Islamic State slavers or amusing and “complicated” genocidaires in the Central African Republic. The suffering in question is happening now, as I write.

The day will soon come when North Koreans are finally free, and liberated concentration camp survivors will have to learn that the world was more interested in the oddities of the oppressors than the torment of the oppressed.

Stella Young, disability activist, writer, comedian and all around heroine, sadly passed away recently. No Award admired her fiercely, but didn’t know her. But we’re fairly sure she would have had something to say about the plan to yarnbomb a wheelchair ramp in her honour.

Just so we’re clear, a layer of wool is not going to make a wheelchair ramp accessible. More like the opposite. Yarn bombing is terrible anyway, but covering an accessibility device is just … Liz doesn’t even have words.

(And it’s not just ramps! When Liz is tired and in pain and grumpy, the last thing she wants is to find that all the seats are covered in mouldy, wet wool. Looking at you, Moreland City Council.)

The event was scheduled for Saturday, and the Facebook page seems to have vanished, so maybe it didn’t go ahead. Let’s hope not, anyway.

How Jessica Mitford Exposed a $48M Scam from America’s Literary Establishment

What the world needed more than anything: I Am Bread – a game in which you play a slice of bread trying to reach the toaster. Obviously, this is just another example of the game industry’s ongoing exclusion of the gluten intolerant. But it’s also kind of brilliant.

Nice Doesn’t Pay the Bills – as occasional contributors to The Toast, we at No Award were dismayed to learn last week that their contracts are a bit dodgy. (How did we not know that before? Shut up, we’re Australians working in a US market.) Natalie Luhrs points out the implications of the problems, and the assumption that just because Mallory Ortberg and her team are really cool people, that means The Toast will always be a really cool market.

The lady vanishes – did someone say reprints of a once-popular, now obscure Melbourne author whose proto-feminist murder mysteries are back in print? This is from a few months ago, but Liz only just discovered Murder in the Telephone Exchange yesterday. Why yes, she is now nagging her library to get all of June Wright’s books.

Reasons why No Award has dietary requirements

On December 19, 2014 By StephanieIn health, Uncategorized

We hate freedom

We hate you

We really want to upset you

When Stephanie consumes something on the forbidden list, she turns purple, blows up to the size of a blimp, and then explodes
Hunger really is better than airport food

There are a lot of problems with the meat industry and associated animal products, and Australia’s industrial agricultural complex

Well, it saves us from mindless snacking…

Lactose intolerance is no small matter

We’re boycotting Catholic-approved foods

Sharks have a list of forbidden foods

Penguins have a list of forbidden foods totally stolen from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/food/2012-03/13/content_14824839_2.htm

Cephalopods have a list of forbidden foods

Because yer mum

To make life more complicated

We just really enjoy having long conversations with waitstaff

Buddhism says one must consider every creature but also it’s their own fault for doing something to come back as a cow

Explosive diarrhoea