Random Rants ΟΔ: broken record

[Mouthwash]

One of the unsung heroes of our time: a criminologist takes homeless men to task for their male privilege.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

One of the unsung heroes of our time: a criminologist takes homeless men to task for their male privilege.

The author is an idiot, and doesn't seem to have done an ethics review.

I would blow this off as unsanctioned, and probably unapproved research. It also smacks of toxic feminism (Yes I can use the word toxic in that sentence), or typical hyper-feminist garbage. If college professors have nothing better to do with their time than ridicule the downtrodden and mentally ill, I have very little faith in the educational credentials at Laurier University. Why didn't she kick these men in the crotch while she was at it?

I hope they can prove that she ignored the ethics panel, or didn't seek approval from the ethics board. Maybe the university will see that and revoke her tenure. Of course, then she'll write a book about her experiences in the male dominated world of education, and how toxic masculinity caused her to lose her job.

But at least she'll be unemployed.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I am writing this on my phone as my laptop is not working.

After downloading the new episode if Doctor Who last night I found that VLC Media player would crash any time I tried to play anything. I reinstalled it a couple times. That did not serm to help. I restarted my computer a few times. That did not help either at first, but after a break to browse the internet it started working well enough to let me watch that video but froze up when trying to play two mp3s at once. I changed some settings and for thinks working better, but still got way to many instances showing up in the notifications tray.

Earlier in the day I ran CCleaner and did not realize until I noticed it was taking a long time that I had clicked the 'delete old versions of Windows' option.


I was awakened by a text at 4:20 am. It was from a woman who was going to pay me to build her some shelves this morning. I think she said we have to reschedule because a relative if hers had a stroke, but that is just a guess because of several terrible typoes.

Since I was up any way I decided to check my laptop, and was surprised to see that it had turned itself off completely instead if just turning off the screen. When I restarted it I found that the screen was at the maximum brightness and stayed just as bright no matter how I tried to dim it. The night light option claimed to be on but clearly was not working. The options to turn it off or adjust any settings were greyed out.

When I looked for a solution online I found a post from someone saying that they fixed a similar problem by restarting their computer in safe mode without networking though msconfig and then restarting again out of safe mode.

I tried that, but found that in safe mode I cannot log in with a pin number like I usually do. Worse yet, I found it did not recognize my password either.

Last week I changed the Mucrosoft password after it did not recognize the old one after upgrading to the latest version of windows. This time it did not give me an option to change the password, and does not recognize the current one or any I ever used in the past.

I was able to use the password I made last week to log into my Microsoft account and seek assistence online from my phone. An Indian woman named Kimberly talked me through a process that did not lead anywhere.

She eventually said that I will need to make a Windows ISO USB on another computer to fix my operaring system, or perform a clean install which would wipe out every file saved to my hard drive. She added that there is a chance there is a hardware issue that nothing could fix.

She said the USB has to be at least 8 GB, but did not seem to know if that technically means 8 gigabytes or 8 gibibytes. The largest flash drive I could find is what I believe would be sold as 8 gigabytes (although it was not sold, as it was swag from a career fair) but Windows says the capacity is 7.61 GB.

She said they could try to help me remotely but any further assistance would fall under paid survives, costing st least $49.

I am 53% through downloading the ISO on my mom's desktop.





In unrelated news, my sister seems to be doing better. Her mother in law brought her and my niece to visit us today. Her son is out of town chaperoning his students on a school field trip. She said my sister had been doing very well since the day he left town but was not so good when someone from the Department of Family and Child Services visited last week. They may be stopping by at ramdom a few more times in the next month and a half to evaluate whether she is a fit mother. They recommended having someone stay with her to help out full time until they are sure she can handle it. Her mother in law now thinks my sister will be fine with the baby and plans to go back home to Michigan by herself after her son gets back in town. (My sister still says she is fine being alone with either of them but has trouble handling their constant bickering when they are both together.) She suggested I stop by to babysit while the father is at work.

Edit:
I am back on my computer now. The computer still did not cooperate on my first several attempts to use the USB ISO, but eventually I was able to do a custom install that let me log in as normal.

This ISO rolled my computer back to the April 2018 update of Windows 10.There are a lot of security fixes, driver updates, etc., that I still need to install.
​

All of my programs were uninstalled, but my files were safely moved to Windows.old.000.


The computer seems to be running a bit sluggishly, and as I was writing this I noticed that it is acting like I'm holding down "insert" and overwriting letters instead of pushing them forward.

Right now I am backing up all of the files that I care about onto an external hard drive. Once they are secure I am thinking of resetting the computer with a clean reinstall before putting any of my programs (like Civ IV or VLC) back on the machine.

 

[The_J]

At least the last part sounds a bit better .

 

[Gori the Grey]

One of the unsung heroes of our time: a criminologist takes homeless men to task for their male privilege.

Pretty sure she is documenting how homeless men suffer from the expectations of what she calls "hegemonic masculinity."

Hard to tell for sure without reading the chapter, but it looks as though PJ is distorting the tenor of her argument.

Even PJ nowhere quotes her using the word "privilege."

 

[metatron]

I hope they can prove that she ignored the ethics panel, or didn't seek approval from the ethics board. [...]

But at least she'll be unemployed.

She got approval from the ethics board. She will continue to be successful, never mind that she is a hideous totalitarian.
Fascist "feminism" is not safely contained or something like that.
It may be comfortable for you to think that it is, while you occasionally mock it.
But it's not.
It needs to be fought.

Pretty sure [...]

Nope.
Stopping you right there.

For both of you:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ch...-for-the-male-homeless-their-hypermasculinity

 

[Synobun]

She got approval from the ethics board. She will continue to be successful, never mind that she is a hideous totalitarian.
Fascist "feminism" is not safely contained or something like that.
It may be comfortable for you to think that it is, while you occasionally mock it.
But it's not.
It needs to be fought.

Rampant feminism doesn't seem to be a pressing concern in the West.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Nope.
Stopping you right there.

Your summary of the chapter does quote the author using the word privilege. It makes me grow more and more certain, however, that commentators are missing the point of the study.

 

[metatron]

Your summary of the chapter does quote the author using the word privilege. It makes me grow more and more certain, however, that commentators are missing the point of the study.

1. I certainly summarised nothing in this matter.
2. The National Post article contains what appear to be both direct and indirect quotes. These quotes make you postion fairly untenable.

 

[Gori the Grey]

By "your summary" I meant "the summary of Dej's chapter in the National Post article you linked to"
I don't think the quotes in Blatchford's article make my position untenable, but I'll have to settle for a brief illustration.

Blatchford presents it that Dej is adding to homeless males' misery by accusing them of being hypermasculine: Blatchford "As if the homeless didn’t have enough going against them, now, it turns out, the bastards engage in “compensatory masculinity,”"

As I make it out Dej is documenting that homeless males experience their homelessness in the context of our society's ideas about what it means to be male. This matters for Dej for reasons that one quote Blatchford gives points out: Dej: "“it is essential that interventions that seek to prevent and end homelessness take into account the complex gender dynamics at play…. With this awareness, programs can be designed and services can be provided in such a way as to mitigate the troubling ways that compensatory masculinity manifests"

If male homeless people experience their homelessness in conjunction with their maleness, interventions should be designed with that in mind, to make them maximally attractive to/effective for, the men involved.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I tried to drink hot chocolate with a straw. That did not go too well.

 

[metatron]

If male homeless people experience their homelessness in conjunction with their maleness, interventions should be designed with that in mind, to make them maximally attractive to/effective for, the men involved.

Ok.
Am i the only one who feels this sentence sounds the least bit odd?
Their maleness and their homelessness.
Of which one would you like to cure them first if you had the choice?

 

[brennan]

I think the best intervention for homeless men is housing. I don't think that's got much to do with gender.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I tried to drink hot chocolate with a straw. That did not go too well.

I have to ask...you were surprised when it didn't?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I read somewhere about a "housing first" strategy where they give homeless people a place to stay first before dealing with their other problems. It worked pretty well from what I recall.

I have to ask...you were surprised when it didn't?

Not particularly, but it was either use a straw or spill it all over the damn place trying to drink it the regular way.

 

[brennan]

I didn't realise drinking hot chocolate was so hazardous...?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have Parkinson's Disease (young-onset) with corresponding resting and action tremours. It's generally controlled with medication but remains just enough to make things like trying to hold a mug full of hot liquid a bit risky.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I didn't realise drinking hot chocolate was so hazardous...?

Through a straw it is. The mouth is a cavern with a big spit reservoir in the bottom. You dump in hot beverages, they immediately mix with enough spit to disperse the heat. Stuff sucked through a straw geysers against the roof and burns the hell out of it.

Not that I have any such experiences.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It reminds me of reverse brain freeze.

 

[brennan]

I have Parkinson's Disease (young-onset) with corresponding resting and action tremours. It's generally controlled with medication but remains just enough to make things like trying to hold a mug full of hot liquid a bit risky.

Well that sucks. Hot chocolate is supposed to be a cuddly as it gets.

Stuff sucked through a straw geysers against the roof and burns the hell out of it.

Oooooh. (I may have to try this now in the spirit of SCIENCE)