Disqus - Latest Comments for webdistillery

Re: What’s the weirdest place you’ve breastfed?

Rachel — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:49:52 -0000

Where do I even begin...I can't tell you all the places I breastfed because at least in the early days, my son breastfed everywhere and I didn't even think about it. I've certainly breastfed at weddings, in parks, at the shops, at the zoo, while vacuuming, while eating, and recently on a ledge halfway up Castle Rock in the Porongurups.

Re: Google Chrome Beta Officially Released For Linux

Rachel — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:22:20 -0000

Is anyone else seeing anything odd with fonts on google chrome?

I have helvetica (and helvetica neue) installed and helvetica neue is set as my default system font and default font for chrome.

However on google chrome if the style sheet specifies helvetica, I see arial (which I uninstalled in a fit of typeface-rage). In epiphany-webkit I see something else (looks like a mangling of arial and lucida unicode) and on firefox I see helvetica.

When there is no font specified and I'm browsing on chrome, I see helvetica neue but the very tops of the letters appear to be chopped off.

It is driving me slightly batty. Ok,very batty. I have screenshots and other font nerds have verified the oddity. They're not on linux so can't replicate it.

Re: Affirmative Racism

Rachel — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:37:27 -0000

I can see why you might feel that way.

However racism is more than just waving placards or yelling offensive remarks. Racism (and indeed, other forms of discrimination such as gender or sexual orientation) is so inherent in many of our institutions and practices that we are completely blind to it.

I'm not necessarily saying that affirmative action is the only way, or the right way - but it is one way.

I'll give you an example.

Here in Australia, in some places a criterion for granting someone parole is longevity at a particular address. Doesn't sound discriminatory, does it? This criterion is essentially testing someone's links to the community. A person with stronger links to the community has been found to be less likely to breach parole.

However Indigenous Australians don't usually have one fixed address for too long. This is for a number of cultural and societal reasons. Indigenous Australians were historically nomadic. Many Indigenous people today are essentially nomadic too however will travel between family groups or within family groups. Indigenous Australians are also more likely to rent and will accordingly move more often. Indigenous Australians however have very strong links to their communities.

What this particular criterion does is ties a particular thing "links to the community" to a particular cultural interpretation. Instead of having a criterion that can be assessed holistically based on the individual it is viewed through a white man's cultural filter.

This is but one example. It is everywhere. And people will not see it until people of all races and ethnicities are empowered to move into positions of influence.

Personally I think that affirmative action is a bit of a cop out. It doesn't properly address the true institutionalised racism which would involve a lot more thought, difficult questions and potentially unpopular actions. But it is better than nothing.