Before anything else, thanks for the tea tutorial. I'm probably going to get a French press soon to take my coffee and tea to the next level, and this helps.
Re "Daryl" all I'm thinking of is Mark McKinney's character from Kids in the Hall or this fat kid with a mullet named Daryl who showed me his mom's vibrator when I was 7. Little help?
On April 18 2011 03:24 Chef wrote: But the issue is more sensitive with women because there isn't a very diverse representation of women on this site. It is one female role model, and that type happens to be super model... It's a little unfair, don't you think?
Valid. Ideally, women could post freely on this website without privilege or prejudice on the basis of their sex and appearance, but that seems like it's a long way off.
On April 18 2011 03:24 Chef wrote: If there were lots of different kinds of representations of women on this site, then it would be easy to pass by the models, but there is basically one representation of women on this site, which is the model. Sure, there is TossGirl and a few notable contributors who are women which is very good, but these look like anomalies in comparison to how often women are just models or pictures to look at.
Also valid, although I don't know JWD enough to know if he's a chauvinist pig who denigrates ugly women actively online or off-, or if his blogs seem to contribute to that behaviour in others. I'm assuming by his mod status that it's the latter; as I said elsewhere, the most egregious offenders on this site are banned.
If it's the former, then I've dug myself pretty deep.
On April 18 2011 03:24 Chef wrote: I don't find pictures of models or even pictures of models on this site in itself offensive. It is how it seems to be the only representation, with very few exceptions. Putting pictures of more common body types and having little blurbs from their facebook wouldn't exactly be any different.
Ostensibly, it would be different. The women on Facebook would not be models, but women he knows and whose body types are more "realistic" or "natural" or whatever word you want. The blurbs would ostensibly again provide detail as to how this attractive woman is a human being and not a constructed aesthetic object. (I know how creepy this sounds; I'm not advocating it. It's a thought experiment.)
On April 18 2011 03:24 Arkansassy wrote: As a woman, I'd like to comment on the "Sex" portion of your blog post and perhaps respond to jon; however, I'll restrain myself.
Go for it.
This is mostly boilover from JWD's blog, and the only female input came from a guy quoting his girlfriend. Input on the subject from a woman (more?) familiar with TL.net would be great, being that feminist discourse among men and men only turns into something of a circle jerk.
On April 18 2011 02:10 Chef wrote: People are elitist about nearly everything, but it seems like it is too far to be elitist about tea.
For the most part, at least tea elitists get together and talk to other tea elitists. I've seen teenagers (you know, the ones who can't legally drink) say that they only want Patron or Grey Goose and that everything else is beneath them. Also, it's still cheap to be a tea elitist. I bought some oolong tea that all came from the same tree and it was still cheap.
While the guys in Chuiu's blog were using 'tail whip' by telling people anything but loose leaf is terrible, this guy had 'ember' and was talking about hundred year old expensive teas.
Pu-erh is fermented for many years so it'll definitely change the flavor, and the age doesn't really mean anything anyway. Other teas aren't really aged... maybe oolongs but not really. Usually for the hardcore, they go crazy over the first tea harvest of the season. (Which, when I think about it... it's actually going on now in China.)
I wouldn't say he had 'ember,' more like 'leech seed.'
I think it's all good anyway. I only get mad when people say they like tea and then they name things like Chamomile or whatever, because it's not really tea, it just shares the same brewing process. For that matter, coffee does too, but I don't hear people talking about herbal coffee.
Also valid, although I don't know JWD enough to know if he's a chauvinist pig who denigrates ugly women actively online or off-, or if his blogs seem to contribute to that behaviour in others.
I want to say on the record I don't think JWD is chauvinist at all. Female models are a regular and forth-most part of his blogs, but I don't think he was pondering the social ramifications of doing so. Like I said, it's not offensive that he posts models, it's that it's just more of the same representation of women we've been getting on this site for years. It's not changing anything or adding female types for us to think about. I'm not gonna say TL needs to go out of its way to find women who are admirable in other fields, I'm just gonna say that we almost never do it at all right now. The first alternative female representation I can think of other than the female posters at TL, are the authors of Harry Potter and Twilight, which are only posted to say how not very good their writing is.
Also valid, although I don't know JWD enough to know if he's a chauvinist pig who denigrates ugly women actively online or off-, or if his blogs seem to contribute to that behaviour in others.
I want to say on the record I don't think JWD is chauvinist at all. Female models are a regular and forth-most part of his blogs, but I don't think he was pondering the social ramifications of doing so. Like I said, it's not offensive that he posts models, it's that it's just more of the same representation of women we've been getting on this site for years. It's not changing anything or adding female types for us to think about. I'm not gonna say TL needs to go out of its way to find women who are admirable in other fields, I'm just gonna say that we almost never do it at all right now. The first alternative female representation I can think of other than the female posters at TL, are the authors of Harry Potter and Twilight, which are only posted to say how not very good their writing is.
Not sure I follow regarding the need for an alternative female representation on TL. The way people feel about women is not a product of the TL boards. It isn't really the website's or poster's responsibility to encourage more holistic views on women.
As for JWD's posts... its what he does. You wouldn't expect MAXIM or FHM to replace their model shoots with an Artosis interview about Gerbils right?
I mean... I agree that a lot of kids on here (both in terms of age and maturity) appear to have a very unhealthy view of women, but thats got nothing to do with TL or portrayals of women on TL.
good read. Glad to see there are ppl on TL.net with some class. Hard for me a lowlife buy-by-the-bulk Lipton tea bag to relate. I always thought tea was meant to be "cooked" in the sun in some old discarded glass jug? I doubt I can be civilized. I'm way too far beyond repair.
@ beating boxer! Wow.. NICE! .. looks like you did this in recent times as those screenshots are most likely from a replay (with text capture) as opposed to screenshots. I wouldn't expect you had time to micro/macro vs. god AND take screenies? With that said... WHERE IS THE REPLAY?!!!!! Dude come on YOU BEAT BOXER! I'd be posting that replay in every far corner of the Starcraft community!
@ Women and peachyness We treat women with the due respect they deserve here in Santa Cruz, CA! Seriously, women make the world go round. Love em! That said, I still find it ridiculous that magazines like Surfer magazine have slowly moved away from showing hot babes in bikini's as it isn't as politically correct. Wth? What's next? Sports Illustrated annual swim suit edition to be discontinued? What's so hypocritical about admiring women for both their inner and outer beauty?
As an update, I did eventually learn that if you use too high a temperature for green tea, you will get a really bitter tea which is immediately solved by using water that is a little less hot. I wouldn't say you have to have an exact temperature, but the ranges are pretty accurate and 80 degrees is about what I let my water cool down to for green tea.
...You buy tea balls and use a french press. That in itself is enough to disqualify you as any sort of authority on tea culture.
Tea culture has had many centuries to develop and evolve and many of the greatest countries of the world poured vast sums of money into developing this culture. To show up out of nowhere and start talking about tea preparation as if there's nothing to it is foolhardy in the extreme. The type of leaf, the temperature, and how to brew it produce vast differences in flavor.
It's the equivalent of saying all wines are the same, hot or cold doesn't matter, how they're bottled doesn't matter, where the grapes are from don't matter, all the same shit. Cheap wine = expensive wine etc etc.
That was a pretty spiteful post. Is this about the time I made fun of you for giving people advice on how to write? I guess we're both hypocrites.
In any case, the thing I find offensive is when someone is enjoying a cup of tea, and someone comes around and tells them they've done it wrong it a really snooty way (oh my god, you use a FRENCH PRESS???), as opposed to just suggesting another method they might try. Actually, I'm the same way about writing. I hate when an editor thinks they know everything, as opposed to an editor who can suggest alternatives. Maybe it's the tact.
For what it's worth, I actually did research and looked at bio journals and studies to discover what the actual differences are (coles notes: there's certain things in tea which react only at a certain temperature, some of them you want to react, others you don't), and also experimented a little myself based on these studies. So I probably know a lot more than some guy who listened to the old asian lady at the supermarket drone on about the history of tea in China and how you need to drink it from a special cup and wear special clothes to enjoy it. That may or may not have actually happened to me. I meet a lot of weird people.
EPT
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