River: I know you have questions. Mal: That would be why I just asked them.

'Objects In Space'


Spike's Bitches 45: That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


Polter-Cow - Nov 21, 2009 9:16:50 am PST #1226 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Doctor Who comics? Obama comics?


sj - Nov 21, 2009 9:18:29 am PST #1227 of 30000
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

I'm not sure she is a comic fan.


Polter-Cow - Nov 21, 2009 9:22:45 am PST #1228 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Turkey jerky?

I'm out of ideas.


erikaj - Nov 21, 2009 9:26:51 am PST #1229 of 30000
Always Anti-fascist!

She's got a couple points here, that I think she's muddling pretty much.(Pointing it out might make me The Man in her eyes, though.Which is a new one for me, gotta say.) 1.Cognitive testing has been badly misused throughout history.(No doubt. I think she is too hard on Binet here...he did the research for an entirely different purpose than the one it was ultimately used for.) 2. Cognitive testing does not tell the full story of a person's life... can't argue here, either. My ACTs kinda stunk up the place, comparatively. But somehow that gets all wrapped up in the cultural preference for verbal fluency and all kinds of other shit. But then, I also like cleverness and verbal fluency too...in fact, they sometimes get me hot. Does that make me a Tom or something? Ok, I admit it might be a fetish once it makes me crush on Alan Grayson, but then I'm a pervert, not an ableist.


erikaj - Nov 21, 2009 9:35:53 am PST #1230 of 30000
Always Anti-fascist!

Cereal: Kind of want to post the previous and watch Crip Blogger Lady's head spin off. But that's kind of why I'm not really in the Movement anymore. They don't get me either. sj: gift card or like, zoo membership.


Pix - Nov 21, 2009 9:38:26 am PST #1231 of 30000
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie

Yeah, Binet was researching in order to help identify students who might need extra help because he believed intelligence was fluid. It was the good ol' USA that took the test and said, "Hey, this would be a nifty way to categorize people in order to stratify them and match them up with the hierarchical job system we've formed post industrial revolution!" I have an excellent article about this somewhere. I'll link to it later. We've been studying thus concept a lot at school this year--talking about shifting from a fixed to a growth mindset about intelligence. The parents and students are much harder to convince than the teachers, sadly.


Steph L. - Nov 21, 2009 9:42:05 am PST #1232 of 30000
the hardest to learn / was the least complicated

Yes - there's a HUGE difference between saying "IQ tests are flawed and have been used to justify all sort of horrific racism/etc" and saying "No human being is more or less intelligent than any other human being," and she seems to be conflating the two in a big way.

This was what I was taking from it, and why I have a problem with her conclusion. Using any kind of standardized test to determine someone's intellectual capacity and therefore worth as a human being -- not a good idea.

Calling the word "intelligence/intelligent" an ableist word, though -- I can't get behind that.


Polter-Cow - Nov 21, 2009 9:45:44 am PST #1233 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

But can William Shatner?


Pix - Nov 21, 2009 9:46:42 am PST #1234 of 30000
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie

Exactly. Intelligence is something people can acquire over time, brain research says, so how can it be ableist? It's not like being blind, which is generally a done deal, barring medical miracle.


beth b - Nov 21, 2009 9:53:32 am PST #1235 of 30000
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!

There was something I was listening on NPR that was talking about the testing for elite kindergarten-- and basily what they found was that the smartest kid in a third grade classroom , would not have passed the test for the kindergarten.