iniquity is one of the perks

nextian:

ourcatastrophe:

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997, Chinese-born American physicist, whose nicknames included the “First Lady of Physics”, “Chinese Marie Curie,” and “Madame Wu”) came up with a truly beautiful experiment to test whether the weak force conserves parity (whether beta decay would be the same if reflected in the mirror). In my print on the left I show Mme. Wu in her lab and a schematic diagram in the box of her beautiful experiment in the box. On the right I show her reflection, as in the mirror, and in the box I show the mirror reflection of the experimental set-up and the shocking result, that the reaction is not the mirror opposite. The print is in an edition of 10 printed on ivory Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper, 12.3 inches by 12.5 inches (31.2 cm by 31.8 cm).

In 1956, theoretical physicists Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang suggested that perhaps the weak force might not be the same ‘through the looking-glass’. The idea that the “Law of Conservation of Parity” might be broken was hard to believe. The laws of physics are the same in the mirror for anything else. Face a friend, as in the mirror. If you drop a pencil from your right hand, and your friend mirrors you and drops a pencil with his or her left, the pencils will fall at the same rate. This is because Parity is conserved by the force of gravity - as it is with the electromagnetic force and even the strong (nuclear) force within atomic nuclei. Lee and Yang pointed out that no one had checked to make sure that the weak force, which controls beta decay in radioactive materials, also conserves parity. Lee convinced the brilliant experimentalist to test this.

Madame Wu did a subtle and technically difficult experiment will her collaborators which is shown schematically in the print. She took Cobalt-60 (shown as the cobalt blue sphere in the box), which is radioactive. Its neutrons spontaneously give off electrons and become protons. The electrons are the tiny blue dots. On the left, we see that the Cobalt-60 in an electromagnet (a wire wrapped metal horseshoe with a source of power). Because of the spiral-wrap of the wire, we know that the North pole of the magnet will be on the bottom (you can figure this out by mimicking the curl of the wire with the fingers of your right hand and look at the direction your thumb points). It turns out that the emitted electrons are given off preferentially towards the North pole.

Next, she reversed the set-up as in the mirror. On the right you see the horseshoe and wire spiral reflected. If you use your right hand to check the direction of the magnet field, you’ll see that it is the opposite way; the North pole is now on the top. It turns out that the electrons are preferentially emitted upwards toward the North pole. Thus, beta decay IS NOT the same in the mirror! Madame Wu showed that a “Law” of physics did not hold! This result was staggering and shocked the physics world. Lee and Yang won the Nobel prize for their theoretical work. Many physicists thought Mme. Wu should have been included in this win.

- minouette on etsy, via joelleworkman

this artist has a lot of great science-related prints!  I chose to post this particular one in the hope that I will eventually understand it. 

Whoa, it is pretty rare for me to not even have heard of a lady physicist, especially one this boss. I…really want this print now.

yerawizardharry:

Nüshu (literally “women’s writing” in Chinese) is a syllabic script created and used exclusively by women in the Jiangyong County in Hunan province of southern China. Up until the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) women were forbidden access to formal education, and so Nüshu was developed in secrecy as a means to communicate. Since its discovery in 1982, Nüshu remains to be the only gender-specific writing system in the world.

Read more here.

(via asianhistory)

gondoleia:

According to popular explanation, Chinese cultural traditions are mainly preserved in Taiwan, Hong kong and overseas Chinese communities, and the mainland is where the tradition is at the thinnest. This is to the degree where Singaporean academics suggested that china should “Import Chinese tradition from overseas”, and people like Du Weiming and others wanting to investigate “after the Cultural Revolution, is there any news of re-emerging traditional culture”.

please god no

culture is an evolving thing and it is coloured by separate histories

chinese indonesian culture is not the same as hong kong culture is not the same as taiwan culture is not the same as chinese american culture is not the same as chinese singaporean culture is NOT the same as chinese chinese culture.

“importing” aspects of our culture from overseas (or from hk) dismisses the fact that we mainlanders have undergone 20 years of constant systemic destruction of our culture and while i agree it’s good to go back to some of the old practices (of which i am especially fond — including the baoquan, etc) i don’t agree that the way to do it is to take culture from places that are more “pure” (if culture can be pure because culture is not a stagnant thing that never ever ever changes of course it changes it changes with contact it changes with history it changes with time and modernisation and technological progression/retrogression)

and i am never a fan of reviving culture if it entails erasing/burying/forgetting history — especially history that has brought about so much destruction and so much tragedy. further, the idea that mainland chinese culture is somehow less legitimate and/or less authentically “chinese” than other forms of chinese culture/huaxia/whatever you want to call it found in taiwan and xianggang and aomen and singapore and malaysia and indonesia and australia and america is just

ridiculous. because 1) those chinese cultures have also been changed either by virtue of colonisation (taiwan, aomen, xianggang) or through living in a cultural context where chinese is not the majority (southeast asia, australia, the us) but also because mainland china is the source of mooooost of the chinese people in the world and how could the chinese culture practiced by most of the chinese people in the world be less legitimate than the culture practiced by chinese people who are not chinese (that is to say that their family is indigenous to/originates from china but they are not a citizen of the prc)?

tl;dr - i am of the persuasion that as long as you are ethnically chinese in some way (and i use this term synonymously with “originating from china” not with “han chinese”) any form of “chinese culture” you practice is absolutely legitimate

(via rubato)

selchieproductions:

Ghana calls an end to tyrannical reign of the Queen’s English

© Afua Hirsch, reporting from Accra for the Guardian

Voice of colonialism gives way to local form of English that’s ‘flexible and fun’ as opposed to giving language ‘a good beating’

Question: “Have you eat?” Reply: “No I go eat after small small.” This is just one of the turns of phrase Ghanaians employ, in the words of one local commentator, “to give the Queen’s English a good beating”.

But as Ghanaians join their west African neighbours – following the examples of Nigerian Pidgin and Sierra Leonean Krio – in speaking their inherited colonial tongue with growing creative licence, a row is breaking out about what really is the proper way to speak English.

On one side of the fence are the old-school Ghanaians who were taught throughout their education to mimic received pronunciation – or BBC English, as it is popularly known – with varying degrees of success.

On the other side, a backlash is growing against the old mentality of equating a British accent with prestige. Now the practice has a new acronym, LAFA, or “locally acquired foreign accent”, and attracts derision rather than praise.

“In the past we have seen people in Ghana try to mimic the Queen’s English, speaking in a way that doesn’t sound natural. They think it sounds prestigious, but frankly it sounds like they are overdoing it,” said Professor Kofi Agyekum, head of linguistics at the University of Ghana.

“There has been a significant change now, away from those who think sounding English is prestigious, towards those who value being multilingual, who would never neglect our mother tongues, and who are happy to sound Ghanaian when we speak English.”

Ghana has nine indigenous languages that are officially sponsored by the government, including Akan languages spoken widely in the south. A further 26 languages are officially recognised and at least double that number are also spoken. Unlike its francophone neighbours, which were forced under colonialism to teach only in French, Ghana has alwaysmaintained the use of African languages in its primary school education.

But the idea that sounding “British” carries prestige also has a long history in Ghanaian society, manifesting itself in the country’s struggle for independence in the 1940s and 50s, when an ideological difference emerged between an Oxbridge-educated Ghanaian elite and more radical, left-leaning leaders.

Now, more than 50 years later and more than 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade saw an influx of Christian missionaries imposing British language and literature, Ghanaians are embracing a new standard: Ghanaian English.

“The idea that intelligence is linked to English pronunciation is a legacy from colonial thinking,” said Delalorm Semabia, 25, a Ghanaian blogger. “People used to think that if you speak like the British then you are as intelligent as the British. But now we are waking up to the fact that we have great people here who have never stepped outside the borders.”

“The best example of Ghanaian English on the international scene is [former UN secretary general] Kofi Annan’s clear diction,” said Ghanaian columnist Kofi Amenyo. “The man maintains the Ghanaian features in his pronunciation and yet succeeds in being easily understood by the peoples of the world.”

For Ghana’s younger generation, though, the move towards Ghanaian English is less about elder statesmen, and more about music and technology.

“In the 90s many local artists wanted to sound like Usher or Jay-Z, but now they are taking local names and branding themselves locally,” said Semabia. “Little by little, people are embracing the use of our own languages – for example, now we can Google in Akan.

“For us, English is our language – we want to break away from the old strictures, to personalise it, mix it with our local languages, and have fun with it. The whole point of language is that it’s supposed to be flexible and it’s meant to be fun.”

(via rubato)

lotus-eyes:

Rally led by poetess Sufia Kamal

Sufia Kamal (Bangla: সুফিয়া কামাল) (June 20, 1911-November 20, 1999) was a poet, writer, organizer, feminist and activist from Bangladesh. She was born to a Muslim family in Barisal, Bangladesh. She is one of the most widely recognized cultural personalities in Bangladesh. When she died in 1999, she was buried with full state honors, the first woman in Bangladesh to receive this honor.

Shewas born in Shaestabad, daughter of a distinguished zamindar family, in Barisal. During her childhood, women’s education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learnt Bangla, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. They had a daughter, Amena Kahar, and Mr. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Ms. Kamal married Kamaluddin Ahmed.

In addition to her first daughter, Ms. Kamal is survived by two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal; two sons, Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal; three grandsons, three granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.

A short story “Shainik Bodhu” which she wrote was published in a local paper in 1923. She came across prominent South Asian personalities, such as Begum Rokeya, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Mahatma Gandhi. Rokeya, who can be regarded the first female feminist of Bengal, had a lasting impression on her.

Sufia Kamal’s first poem, Bashanti (Of spring), was published in the then influential magazine, Saogat in 1926. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be the member of Indian Women Federation.

(via fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin)

leftist-linguaphile:

The muxeres of the Mexican 1910 revolution. Badass. 

(via fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin)

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

This fierce lady is Juana Galán. She was a Spanish heroine known for  beating Napoleon’s troops out of her village during the Peninsula War (1808-1814). During the Battle of Valdepeñas in June, 1808, there weren’t enough men to defend the village from invading French troops. Juana, who was about 21 years old at the time, immediately rallied all of the women in the village to plan a defense strategy. When the French troops marched into the village, the women dumped boiling oil on top of them. As for Juana? She stood in the street with a large club and beat seven shades of shit out of any French soldier that crossed her path. The French beat a hasty retreat from the village, never to return, and Juana was declared a hero. 

(via folkbloodbaths)

todaysdocument:

The stories in these records are a direct consequence of the Chinese Exclusion Act, approved May 6, 1882:

riversidearchives:

Records of Chinese Deportees, 1912-1920

These records are part of a series of forms processed as individuals were deported under enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act.  Each record in this series, which is dated around about 1910-1920, usually includes a physical description of the person and an indication as to where he was deported to and the ship on which he was sent.  Some of the records also indicate further reasoning for the deportations and additional information about the individuals.

The men pictured are Fung Lock and Kim Jow.  Both certificates are dated in January 1913.

Observing Asian-Pacific Heritage Month

To pay tribute to the many generations of Asian-Pacific Americans that have enriched our nation’s history, the National Archives at Riverside will be highlighting some of our holdings relating to Asian American history in our region (Southern California, Arizona, and Clark County, NV), including records relating to enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act, records relating to Japanese internment and relocation, and many more. 

For more information about Asian-Pacific Heritage Month, see http://asianpacificheritage.gov/

(via rubato)

Blockade at Wounded Knee, The Dakotas, Indian Territory  on March 19, 1973 -  American Indian Movement activists block the road at Wounded Knee. 

(Source: kaijudude, via fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin)

It was just a case of this country buying its way into good society. Honestly, when I read in the papers that this deal had been made, I laughed until my sides ached. There were the Filipinos fighting like blazes for their liberty. Spain would not hear to it. The United States stepped in, and after they had licked the enemy to a standstill, instead of freeing the Filipinos they paid that enormous amount for an island which is of no earthly account to us; just wanted to be like the aristocratic countries of Europe which have possessions in foreign waters. The United States wanted to be in the swim, and it, too, had to branch out, like an American heiress buying a Duke or an Earl. Sounds well, but that’s all.

-Mark Twain, Interview with the Baltimore Sun, May 1907

(Source: ellobofilipino)

Harrowing

nextian:

sinag:

So I’ve been thinking of a-bayani’s post and— okay, please listen to them, they are saying some effing important things. And, reading and re-reading the first paragraph of their post, I just— ugh. Okay.

I don’t have all of a-bayani’s experiences — for one thing I’m a Filipino in the Philippines, I’m one of those people who’s given up shouting and speaking out online because what the hell, no one listens, and meanwhile we have First World Feminists wringing their hands about how oh those poor Filipinas remain so voiceless (guess who stole those voices away, guess who keeps speaking over us, guess who keeps erasing our long history of struggle, our ongoing battles) — but can I just say I’m pretty appalled by how Americans have no effing idea what they’ve done to our country? You have no idea your military’s still here, really? You have no idea how much your armed occupation messed us up? How much you continue to mess us up?

I’m no historian. But — if you can spare the time to view them — here are some links.

Here’s an infographic detailing the increase in US troops in the Philippines over the past several years. Here’s an article detailing what a US Marine publication said about the Philippines, in reference to its “new generation of Marines and sailors [who] will get to experience the Philippines as previous generations have.” Here’s a timeline of the Subic rape case. Here are some articles on how the US not only supported the Marcos dictatorship, but stored nuclear weapons here during that time. Here’s a record of the Balangiga massacre — guess what, you still have the Balangiga bells. (And don’t even get me started on all those spoils of war encased behind glass in your museums, things you have stolen from us and continue to hold up as prizes in the collections of your academe.) Here’s an account of the Battle of Bud Dajo. Here is an account of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, where the US bought the Philippines for the sum of twenty million dollars.

And— there’s so much, so much lived history, so much char and ashes in our streets and in our minds, so many scars —but what good would it do to show you? What does it matter? What is this but yet another harrowing of wounds that people all too easily unsee? All these things go unheard, forgotten, and now instead those who struggle to remember are asked why they hold on to hate.

For all the benevolence of your rule, America. For all the blissful ignorance and apathy of your people. I give you back my fury, all my bloody broken rage.

I live on the grounds of one of the camps the US troops used to invade the Philippines for the first time. The only mark of this is a tiny bronze plaque on one of the side streets. I didn’t notice it until I was a grown adult.  It was gone for most of my life but finally reinstalled in 2008.

This was the entirety of the education I ever received about the United States and the Philippines until I attended my third college.

Don’t forget what we did and what we’re doing.

keeptomandcarryon:

magpieandwhale:

shadesofbrixton:

immlass:

(via Open Channel - Pearl Harbor surprise: Photo of female firefighters wasn’t from Dec. 7)

The real story is frequently more interesting than the fiction. Turns out this was taken during the war but not during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and one of the women is still alive to tell the story.

 Attention @magpieandwhale, calling @magpieandwhale, where are you, RIGHT NOW, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE, and then write me stories about all of these fine ladies who NOW HAVE NAMES.

YES. OHMYGOD, YES. (Because the Girl Shots of Drexel definitely need some sisters.)

GUYS. GUYS. THIS IS SO COOL. P.S. Katherine Lowe, you are an excellent old lady. \o/

(via be-themoon)

ieatmypancitwithrice:

1901 Philippines

(Source: ladyurduja, via asianhistory)

Homosexuality in Ancient China

fuckyeahchinesemyths:

Guys, if I posted a picture for this entry I would totally have to make this blog NSFW, and you’ll kinda see why. Since it’s February, the month of loooove, we’re gonna talk about all kinds of love and relationships, including homosexual ones. (This is so I can introduce a god to you later.)

Homosexuality in China (Sharing the Peach and Cutting the Sleeve)

So we’re gonna talk about the first figure of speech, and this totally happened wayyy back, during the Three Kingdoms era. See, there was this dude, called Duke Ling of Wei, and he and this official, Mizi Xia were obviously having the sexytiemz with each other, and apparently Mizi Xia had a face that was “as pretty as that of a blossoming maiden.” (Oooooh.) So anyways, they were like, walking and holding hands in the Duke’s Eastern Garden, and Mizi Xia picked up a peach and started nomming, and after he was done, he pushed the leftovers into Duke Ling’s mouth. Errbody who saw that like, totally gasped, ‘cause it was so damned rude! But All Duke Ling did was say, “This tastes good ‘cause it was in yo’ mouth,” so that’s how this scandal started, and that’s how ‘sharing the peach’ meant that two men were totally gettin’ it on.

Now for the second figure of speech. See, Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty also had it goin’ on with Dong Xian, who was like, also one of his court officials. And they were pretty cute, too, ‘cause one day, they took a nap together (awwwww) and like, Emperor Ai was called to do some shit, ‘cause Emperors never really rest. And the thing is, Emperor Ai totally didn’t wanna disturb his beau, so he cut the part of the sleeve which Dong Xian was lying on, and went to do his official duties. Hence, the term ‘cutting the sleeve’ also meant that two people were in a homosexual relationship. 

Homosexual Relationships (Manchu Style!)

So we’re gonna fastforward stuff a little, towards the end of the Ming Dynasty and the start of the Qing, yo. Aaaanyways, durin’ this period of time many scholars and poets were like, totally havin’ sexytiemz with boys, and these boys were called “shu tong” （书童）, or book carryin’ boys. And y’know, since these poets and scholars had no wimminz when they went on long journeys, guess who ‘accompanied’ them - yes, that’s right. These boys.

Homosexuality was also like, totally allowed in the Qing court. Why? ‘Cause the Manchus were like, rulin’, yo, and if a Manchu married a Han Chinese it was like, a super no-no ‘cause they wanted their blood to be pure, and so sodomy was allowed between two Manchu males.

Emperor Xianfeng also liked them boys, and durin’ that period of time, Peking Opera was like, the trend, and all the women’s parts were like, played by boys who were kinda effeminate. Hmmm… Backstage, these boys totally had to please the court officials if they totally wanted their careers. Emperor Xianfeng liked this man, Chu Lianfeng (not too sure about the spelling). This man really looked like a woman on stage, and of course Emperor Xianfeng took a fancy to him. But the thing is, Chu Lianfeng already had a bf, called Lu Maozhong (again with the spelling!) and so when Lu learned that his bf was like, having the sexytiemz with the Emperor, he was so upset that he said, “His Majesty should totally concentrate on rulin’ and not having so much sexytiemz, yo.” Of course the Emperor was like, real pissed and banished Lu. Chu was so upset he committed suicide (he was suffering from TB anyways) and had to renounce his association with his now ex-bf.

Sigh.

Emperor Tongzhi, the son of Xianfeng, also loved them males, too. The thing is, this happened when the Emperor was like, a teenager, and after he got married, he was like, “Oh man, women are boring. Imma go look for men,” and that’s what he did. See, he pretended to be a son of a rich merchant, and met this young scholar in a restaurant. So the thing is, they had an affair for quite some time, and then Prince Kung heard about it, and so errbody went on this search for him. The totally found the Emperor and the scholar making out in some wine shop. So like, the general found him and said, “Uh, your majesty, you kinda needa go home now.” The scholar heard, flipped his shit, and went back to Hunan and totally didn’t bother to sit for the Imperial exams, LOL.

Thing is, there were like, many male prostitutes around, too, and yes, many court officials loved them ‘personal attendants’ and took them errwhere, hint hint, and some generals even had ‘personal aides’ wearin’ make-up. Hmmm. But yes, gays did exist, and the Han Chinese didn’t like them, and so called them ‘mock women’ or ‘rabbits,’ which was like, super derogatory ‘cause it meant that they had a lower status compared to female sex workers. 

From Rabbit to Prime Minister, yo

One ‘rabbit’ was also lucky enough to be like, Prime Minister ‘cause he was basically sexing up the Emperor Qianlong, yo. His name was He Shen, and basically, well, when the Emperor saw that He Shen looked like a very beautiful woman, and he was like, “Oh my god! This totally reminded me of my dad’s concubine, which I totally tried to seduce when I was a kid.” So he also found out that He Shen was born on the day his the concubine was executed, he was like, “Yeah, this is the concubine I tried to seduce!” (Funny, wikipedia states otherwise.) So anyway, He Shen thought the Emperor had a few screws loose, but whatevs, ‘cause he was in the Emperor’s favour, which was awesome.

So basically, He Shen would go to the Emperor’s chamber to talk about ‘state affairs,’ and pretty soon he was like, promoted to handle all state funds, which he took a lot of. Anyway, to pretend that they were totally not sexing each other, the Emperor made He Shen get married, and He Shen’s son was like, totally betrothed to the Emperor’s youngest and fave daughter. Too bad his luck ran out, ‘cause Qianlong abdicated and Jiaqing took over, ready to suss him out, ‘cause they knew he totally embezzled state funds. So, after Emperor Jiaqing tried him in court, he realized that He Shen’s accumulated funds was worth more than the state treasury. And the thing is, since Chinese people were all about face, he made He Shen hang himself.

Nearly all of this info is from the book, The Dragon and the Phoenix by Eric Chou, which is very educational but also super smutty!

And now, since we know all of this, Imma introduce you to the god of homosexuality, so hang tight!

(via yiduiqie)

warwithinaframe:

Indonesia, 1998 - Jubilation at announcement of General Suharto’ s resignation.

James Nachtwey

(via asianhistory)