vilakins | Assorted links

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Assorted links

For various reasons I don't want to talk about RL, so have some links snurched from various people.

Cricketing authors - how cool is that? To quote from the linked review:

Peter Pan’s First XI is a study of JM Barrie and the cricket team of dazzling literati (and not quite so dazzling sportsmen) that Barrie ran haphazardly for over 20 years.
[...]
PG Wodehouse was a useful batsman; Jerome K Jerome was rather better at idling; AA Milne liked to watch it even more than to play it; and Arthur Conan Doyle was prodigious: a superb all-rounder who played 10 games at first-class level for the MCC.
[...]
Telfer’s narrative of the team’s travails allows for pleasant asides about [...] the influence of the sport on the literature of its day. Hook, as in Captain, is obviously a cricketing term; Sherlock, as in Holmes, was a conflation of two popular 19th-century county players: Mordecai Sherwin and Frank Shacklock.

Remember my puzzled query about so many Americans knitting dish and wash cloths? Well, Lion Brand's weekly newsletter now features a wash cloth of the week.

Purr Avon, or a cat looking rather like him.

MRIs of fruit - these are gorgeous and intriguing, and well worth waiting for the images to load.

Albanian sworn virgin custom - how a very sexist and traditional society allowed women to live and be accepted as men. Hell, if they had that custom here and now, I'd have gone for it as a kid, though I think the women had to replace a lost male. The article includes interviews with several men born female. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

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I was a little amazed at the wash cloth of the week when I first subscribed to Lion Brands Newsletter, I mean it costs about 4 times as much to make them as to buy them. Now I think of them as learning tasks or bases for knitted patchwork based on stitch rather than colour. The MRI's are lovely but my first question is why? Is it art or science and if science why? you can take actual sections of fruit and photograph them. As pure art they work beautifully though.

I thought the wash cloth of the week was a new thing. People don't just do them as beginner projects though: they're gifts for friends and family for a lot of crafts people, though hardly any of my US friends knew about it.

Why not? For fun and as art, which they certainly work as.

I'd probably have gone for the sworn virgin thing, too. Even as a little girl, I knew I didn't want to have babies. And boys were fun to hang out with, but I think I would have preferred, if I had to choose, a life among them as equals rather than a life with one of them as wife. Sounded like a few families chose boyhood for a girl child when she still had a father and in one case a brother... there's an opportunity issue for them. At least two of them mentioned career prospects being much better for men.

I wouldn't give up my friend and lover and fellow geek Greg, but up till I met him, I'd totally have gone for that. It certainly seems they had much better lives as men, and I could certainly tell I would too when I was as young as 5 or 6. I used to dress in boys' clothes and tell people I didn't know that I was a boy; my parents were quite used to it. To give them credit, they gave me the boys' toys I wanted (tanks, water pistols, model planes), not dolls.

Oh, yeah, these days, no way would I turn my back on Allan. But I'm thinking before I met him. I didn't even believe I'd get married ever; I had daydreams sometimes, of course, but always figured what I'd need to do was fall in love with a career, because what would be the chances of me finding someone compatible with me?

You and me both, except that I never even dreamed of marriage. We really have so much in common! I regard Greg as my unexpected miracle, and wouldn't have married any other man I've ever met. My parents' marriage and most I knew weren't exactly good advertisements. But hey, I found someone as odd as me, with so many things in common.

But had I the choice back then, I'd have chosen the sworn virgin route and the complete acceptance as a man.

My parents have a great marriage. But I was so non-feminine, and all my idols were either male, or warrior women like Eowyn or Belphebe. I wanted to grow up and be the first woman to play The Doctor.
And I thought Faramir would be the perfect kind of guy. Someone who was smart and knew his own mind, and yet wanted me to be happy and make my own decisions. But guys like that are pretty much invisible in our culture. They exist, but the Patriarchy is very uncomfortable with heterosexual men who don't seek dominance. (I can explain that in less jargon-ish terms, because it's not as extreme as it might sound if you don't hang out on feminist sites a lot).

This is what I love so much about Greg: he's not just not dominating, he loathes sexism as much as I do.

I wanted to be a fighter pilot and even wrote to the air force about it (but was disappointed by the physical requirements and the assumption that I was male). My grandfather offered to pay for flying lessons when I was 15 but my parents refused. Then I went into science and got a physics degree. Ah, those optimistic days when I thought all things might be possible if I tried.

I know things are better than they were in my parents' youth--back then a woman couldn't even get a loan or buy a house without a husband to sign contracts) but there's still a hell of a lot of sexism that others don't see or just ignore.

Oh, wow! When I was 12-13, I was giving the Air Force serious consideration, because I wanted to be an astronaut and saw that as the best route. But I also knew I had a serious problem with following orders when I didn't respect the person giving them, especially if the orders seemed pointless or worse. So I couldn't really picture myself fitting into the military. I'm shocked your parents held you back from flying lessons! I'm sure mine would have agreed to it-- we were lucky enoug to have my grandparents treat us to a small plane flight over the Grand Canyon back when those were legal.

I remember when I was quite young, my mother told me Lousiana (I think) had just got rid of a law against one of those weird sexist holdovers-- it had to do with widow's inheritance being below the children's in precedence, I think.

More in common! I wouldn't have done well in the air force either, due to refusing to follow stupid orders from ignorant management. If I think an order's wrong, I will say so, and I'm sure this, coupled with being female, stopped me doing well in the corporation world. If I'd been a man, they might have promoted me for being gutsy, but then again I've never been interested in power or management either. I do not respect people in authority unless they earn it.

Both Greg and I would have loved to be astronauts, but we knew we wouldn't have passed the physical even if there was an infinitesimal chance. My first flight was at about 10, over the Bay of Islands in a 6-seater Piper, and I still remember it.

Have you done Myers-Briggs / MBTI? Are you an INTP like me by any chance?

INTx -- the very cusp between J and P. Apparently, INT-s often do fall into that borderline, and the traits combinein a predictable enough way that some theorists have written about the INTx type. Only the INTs have this tendency, not found in any of the other combos.
... which is stuff I found out through a Blake's 7 list, by the way. :)

Yes, corporate life did not suit me. I'm hoping teaching will. There's still a beauracracy, but the way I look at it is, the classroom is my ship, and I'm the captain in charge of it. The admirals may tell me where to go and by what route, but I've still got most of my focus on steering it day by day and keeping my (caution, strained metaphor) crew on their toes/passengers happy.

I'm fairly P in my personal life and rather J at work. Why, I have no idea.

I couldn't teach--too shy--though I'd enjoy tutoring. I can role-play being someone else for a time, and use that for interviews, but not all day every day. Besides, I witnessed a shy teacher almost having a breakdown because of harassment by the year 10 class I was in. I'm pleased I wasn't one; in fact I used to stay after class to talk to her about French.

I didn't know you were on a B7 list! The Lyst by any chance? I'm still there (I joined in 2002 or 2003) but it's pretty dead these days.

Yes! It was the Lyst! I was tempted to ask, because I knew they'd always had a strong NZ contingent(including, iirc, the only ESNP, a Vila fan... she usually contributed something far out and silly to make us smile when the conversation got too abstract and serious. Sometimes she wondered if we found her annoying, but it's good to have a Vila among the Avons.) There's some B7 limericks I wrote floating out there on one of the member's fan page.
That was possibly the first group I got involved with online.

My brother has always been terribly shy, but teaching becomes him. I think it's because it isn't a normal social dynamic. It's the teacher's job to set boundaries and I think that gives him the courage to make it work. I also think I've seen it slowly help his outside-of-classroom confidence. I don't think that would work for you, though. Shyness has both universal and personal qualities. Like trust issues seem to be a big part of why shyness. And how to deal with it, what triggers it, etc varies.
I do have a friend on social anxiety meds and that has helped her.

I tend to be J short term, P long term. This last year, is the first time I have a 5 year plan. And even that's been a little fuzzy in detail, figuring things will change and I will have to make adjustments.

I should like Avon more, being an INTP, but it's Vila I love best. I'm not even sure why, since otherwise my favourites are mainly aliens and androids: Spock, Data, Garak, Seven, Stark etc. Something in Vila just appealed so much. As a kid I wanted him to be my uncle; as an adult I want to look after him, and this is someone with zero maternal instinct.

I've always though Vila to be an ENFP: he's very extrovert and intuitive (sensing danger and whether he can trust people) and the F and P are fairly obvious, I differ from others in picking N over S. It's not just the intuition but his opinions and sense of self coming from within. Despite the horrible things that have happened to him in the past, his core self survives. I suppose people go by his love of food, drink, and women, but I'm very N (19 to 1) and love my comfort and my food, As for his awful attempts at flirting, they're so bad that either it's a habit left over from trying to fit in with his fellow Deltas, or a smoke screen to hide how little experience he really has. He never made the first move on Kerril and was surprised and gratified when she did.

I don't have social anxiety and can speak to strangers easily enough--though Greg;s not good at that unless he's displaying his knowledge--it's the public speaking side of teaching. I take night classes in things that interest me, and I still don't like getting up in front of the small classes and saying things. OTOH I love to act.

I've never had a plan for my life, and never will now the economy's so crap. The furthest I plan is our next holiday's destination, and that's only a few months in advance.

:) The crap economy was part of what helped me find my goal. Otherwise, I've tended to take the easiest route through life.

I can see ENFP for Vila. He does see patterns well, that's part of an N type.
I seem to have a weakness for INFPs. My husband and some of my friends are, and it does bring out a protective element in me, and I feel extremely safe. I think I'd feel that way around Vila, too, even if he is a bit of an extrovert.
How much of an extrovert is he, really? He gets very nervous when he's not with at least one person he already knows, and tends to babble because he's nervous. He rarely volunteers to go to planets (only pleasure planets), which suggests he's doing all right with a circle of 5 close friends. I wonder if he seems like an extrovert only by comparison to Avon, who he usually hangs out with. And to the fans, who seem mostly introverts. At any rate, I think he's toward the middle of the I/E spectrum

Interesting! I consider him an extrovert because he panics when left alone and will choose a dangerous situation over that. He would rather go off and rescue the others even though he's afraid then stay safe where he is, and when offered the chance at least twice to stay in Xenon base, he chose to go into danger with the others.

He's nervous around strangers, but that could be due to the hostile environment he's always lived in--never trust anyone you don't know--though he does trust when people act kind, like Zee, Bar, and Pella. I note they're women, and probably women have hurt him less (juvenile detention wards, prison, reprogramming etc).

I don't think the crew ever counted as close friends. Vila likes being around them despite their insults however, but now I think of it, he's the one we know the least about, so he's good at lots of talk and little revealed. I still think his reaction to being alone is telling.

Hmm, true. I get nervous alone in a strange place, but not at home, and their ship is certainly home. OTOH, when I can remember him being scared and alone, it was really creepy circumstances, like possessed-Cally having done something to the others. (My tapes have been in storage so long!) It really hasn't boded well for him when he's been isolated.

And this is going to sound weird, but while I hesitated calling them close friends, I decided to because it's physical proximity that I had in mind-- close contact, being nearly 24/7 with the same group of people. You either bond strongly (and they did, enough to be a potential gestalt)-- or you try to escape the situation, because you need to be around people who aren't them. So they are close in many respects-- just not in the respect of actually liking each other very much.

And Avon chose to go into uncertain death (he'll take a very high risk, just not 100%) on Horizon, rather than race off alone.

But in defense of the extrovert theory, he is NOT one of the ones who the audience sees sulking in their room alone. That distinction goes to Avon and Cally. But I do think Vila falls somewhere midscale, less introverted than Avon, more introverted than Blake or Gan. More consistently written than Dayna. ;)

Yes, we only see Vila alone in his room once, when he's trying to convince himself he's not ill like Jenna and Avon. They are close in an odd way, I suppose because none of them have anyone else. Hmm, I'm starting to be convinced because of how personally reticent he is, though is that an E/I trait? I thought it measured where people get their energy, and Vila does get his from being around others.

I've actually taken tests answering as Vila and he comes out ENFP for me. I'm INTP usually, occasionally INFP on some tests, and the only super-strong attribute I have is N; the others are all around 60-70%.

Greg, I meant to say before, is also INTP. Some people marry their opposite or complements--my ESFP sister married a guy I think is ISTJ--but we married likes, and it's so easy and fun knowing what the other will think about something or be interested in. The hard part is prising Greg out of the house to do things like see films.

Well, Introverts can get stimulated being around others, it just wears them down as well, and they feel that part after the excitement wears off.

Also-- does Vila maybe have health issues? He naps a lot for a healthy young man.
I think I tested 9 Introvert (shocked me because compared to my brother and some friends, I'm not so bad), 9 or 10 iNtuitive, 7 Thinking, 5 J/P

I think the S/N is the biggest "divider" between people, but maybe that's because I'm an extreme on that. But I/E has more to do with how one has fun than how one thinks. And T/F is a sort of value issue; extremes may be hard to deal with, but I think moderate Ts and Fs can connect better than either can with someone at the extreme-- it's frustrating to deal with someone who doesn't ever recognize the merit of an emotional response, and likewise, people who never *think* before reacting are tiring and difficult. J and P, well, those are very complementary sometimes, as planning & adaptability are both useful and should be balanced.

I've guessed at my famil, and I think they probably are: my mom's an INFJ, and my dad's an INTJ. Brother is probably INTP. With Allan an INFP, we cover a quandrant. :)

Yep, if the company and activity's right. :-)

Vila does say he has a weak chest. [hugs him] My fanon is that he sometimes gets nightmares about his past and probably present which is why he naps.

Js and Ps can annoy each other (as I see with my sister and her husband) but yes, S and N are very different.

I think my father was INTx; he was a classics scholarm and aloof and rather Avonic. My mother was ESFP, and so E she'd follow me round the house to talk to me and have the TV on all the time 'for company' which drove me crazy. I went for long walks to be alone. My sister's very like her. I'm not sure about my brother; he's so introvert and closed in, I'm not sure how he thinks.

zomg, we share the same brother. :-)

The sworn vigin custom is very interesting. I'm not sure how I would have felt about it, because although (surprisingly as I have been married twice) I was never interested in marriage and family as a child, I like too many aspects of being a woman to give it all up.

The MRI of the fruit is facinating

I dislike far too aspects many not to have leaped at a chance like that if it had been available. I don't like traditional women's clothes, the attitude many men--and women--have about them, the petty discrimination, and having a women's body. I do own a "She-Wee" but I'd like to have the equipment to pee more efficiently. ;-)

I found the MRIs amazing and rather hypnotic.

true, the world is their urinal. I've never really got on that well with my she wee

Some very interesting links. Love the cat and the caption. Never understood the appeal of dressing up pets, myself, but he made me laugh.

The two 'men' from the village squabbling over who was stronger and more masculine also amused me. Apparently you're never too old for a feud.

I don't get the animals in clothes either, but that outfit was very Avonic.

I was watching Big Bang Theory last night, and Leonard had decided to learn about US footbal to fit in with Penny's friends and had bought a jersey that hung on him like a dress. He said it was the smallest except for dog sizes, to which Sheldon said that many in Texas had dressed their dogs in team colours, but that cats refused to wear sporting gear as his sister found to her cost. :-D Cats are very sensible and intelligent creatures.

That amused me too, with one disqualifying the other for having been unknowingly engaged as a child which made her a woman. Did you notice that he used the pronoun "she"? Ouch.

The fruit MRIs was interesting! And the Avon cat was very cute. Thank you for the links. :o)

I felt a bit sorry for the cat, but he was very cute.

That's my jug in your icon! :-D

I very much doubt I'd be able to get the kits dressed like that - not that I'd ever want to. But it does look cute. :o)

I used to have a jug like that for ice tea, too. But it was too big for our fridge. One bang too many and it just broke.

I have matching glasses too. They're all made of recycled glass with little bubbles in it--just gorgeous and just a rich blue edge--and I only use them for visitors. They sit where we can see them though. :-)

I had composed a comment about cricketing authors, but in the short time between reading your post and trying to post my reply my Internet connection died!

What I had been going to say was that, as you probably know, PG Wodehouse got the name "Jeeves" from a pre-WW1 Warwickshire cricketer called Percy Jeeves. Also Samuel Beckett played for Dublin University at a time when some of their matches had first-class status. I believe he is supposed to be the only winner of the Nobel Prize ever to play f-c cricket.

I didn't know that about Jeeves! I shall add it to the post.

I am always impressed with people who can excel in such different fields as literature or science and sport. I've always daydreamed (since 5 or so) about being a great cricketer, footballer, or runner, but the body wasn't up for it.

Thank you for the interesting lings and food for thoughts...

I accumulated them till I had enough to post; glad you enjoyed them.

Interesting links.
I loved the Purr Avon!

As for the honorary male thing.
I would have been better pleased if they didn't have to swear a vow of celibacy, after all males don't!

When I was younger I was very much a tomboy and was often mistaken for a boy!

I suppose it was because they didn't have birth control then.

Me too, and I encourage it.

Avon kitty! The expression in his eyes is so Avon. XD

I bet he's pissed off at being put in that outfit. :-)

Did you notice I wrote you some Sheldon and Avon?

G'night!

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