Interesting Links for 30-07-2020

[andrewducker]

Scotland won't need to repay the UK's national debt if it's independent unless the UK does as well - and there's almost no chance of that (happy to see any well written responses to this)

(tags:Scotland UK debt independence viaDanielDWilliam )

Soap dodger: meet the doctor who says we have been showering wrong

(tags:microbiome soap cleanliness )

Das Kapital in 8 tweets.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1287862670834663424.html
(tags:economics capitalism Twitter )

Software that changes photos of you so that your friends will still recognise you but facial recognition won't

(tags:faces software recognition )

Russian Intelligence Agencies Push Disinformation on Coronavirus Pandemic

(tags:Russia pandemic )

Turns out I pretty much agree with the original meaning of "cultural appropriation" before it got twisted out of shape

(tags:culture society race cultural_appropriation )

Comments

Re: Turns out I pretty much agree with the original meaning of "cultural appropriation"...

[xenophanean]

“you’re not allowed to do that because if you do that you’re racist, we don’t really understand why that’s racist but you’re not allowed to do that and if you do that you’re a klansman no exceptions. So you’re not allowed because because”

This made me laugh out loud, it captures such a lot.

[threemeninaboat]

Oh yes, the anti soap people who think they don't smell.....
They do.

cultural appropriation

[calimac]

So Elvis making a big hit with his Black-influenced style while the original Black artists who inspired him toiled in obscurity would be an example of the original problem with cultural appropriation?

And whose fault is that discrepancy, exactly? Elvis's?

Re: cultural appropriation

[kmusser]

Elvis is kind of a complicated example. Elvis' was always open about where his inspiration came from and never claimed to be original. Him being more successful than his Black contemporaries was more straight up racism. White people refused to buy records from Black artists, regardless of how much they liked the music. Elvis at least did have his own style. There were many contemporary White artists that made a living making note for note copies of recordings of Black artists enabling White people to avoid supporting Black artists that would be better examples.

For a more clear-cut example I often think of lacrosse. The game was invented by Native Americans. Once White people discovered the game and decided they liked it and started forming leagues to play professionally they banned Native Americans from joining those leagues. I feel that not being allowed to participate in something your people invented is the core complaint of cultural appropriation.

[darkoshi]

Thanks for the FR software link; it sounds useful. I'm testing it out now with mode "mid"... I made the mistake of using a test photo with 3 faces, which must take 3 times as long; it's certainly taking a lot longer than a minute.. it ended up taking 16 minutes for only the first of the 3 faces! I'll try mode "min" next time for comparison.

Re soap, this article is a similar one I read recently:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/hygiene-is-overrated/612235/

This article about dog vs human shampoo (I didn't realize there was a difference) is also interesting; it says that after you wash with soap, it takes a 12 hours for your skin to replenish its protective oil layer/acid mantle back to its starting point.
https://www.petmd.com/dog/grooming/evr_dg_shampoo_for_dogs

[agoodwinsmith]

Thank you for the Atlantic article. Dr.Skotnicki's approach sounds very Granny Weatherwax: wash the bits as and when they become available.

Soap

[anna_wing]

Having had room-mates in boarding-school with a similar non-approach to personal hygiene, except without the bidets (the gym changing-room could have knocked an elephant over) I can only agree. The only way I survived was to insist that I was a fresh-air fanatic, to justify (a) taking the bed by the window and (b) keeping the window open all the time, even in the dead of winter...

[anna_wing]

I think that the first time I came across the phrase "cultural appropriation" was over an incident in which a US museum was criticised by Americans (not Japanese) for letting Americans dress up in a kimono as part of an exhibit. The Japanese were, if I recall correctly, quite pleased that kimono was being appreciated by foreigners.

In Kyoto, in the good old days when that strange phenomenon called "tourism" still existed, it was very popular among tourists, especially Chinese (who could fit into them easily) to rent kimono and walk around town all dressed up. I thought it was rather charming, since everyone else was wearing Uniqlo.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, that's the usage I can't stand.

[naath]

And yet it may be more healthy to smell of human than to smell of flowers. I use soap (well, mostly shower gel) but less often than many people do, because washing my skin daily makes it itch.

[anna_wing]

There are soaps or equivalent that aren't additionally scented. Then one can smell like a clean human. Though these days I'd rather not be that close anyway.