My Factory of Extravagant Marvels

A poem by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Showing the inconsistency of men's censorship in blaming women for what men themselves have caused. Hombres necios que acusáis a la mujer sin razón, sin ver que sois la ocasión de lo mismo que culpáis: si con ansia sin igual solicitáis su desdén, ¿por qué queréis que obren bien si las incitáis al mal? Combatís su resistencia, y luego con gravedad decís que fue liviandad lo que hizo la diligencia. Queréis con presunción necia hallar a la que buscáis, para pretendida, Tais, y en la posesión, Lucrecia. ¿Qué humor puede ser más raro que el que falta de consejo, él mismo empaña el espejo y siente que no esté claro? Con el favor y el desdén tenéis condición igual, quejándoos, si os tratan mal, burlándoos, si os quieren bien. Opinión ninguna gana, pues la que más se recata, si no os admite, es ingrata y si os admite, es liviana. Siempre tan necios andáis que con desigual nivel a una culpáis por cruel y a otra ...

In preparation for this post, I really got to read some really depressing stuff on the subject of sexual assault, bullying, and consent. It is quite surprising that I would be saying this, given that the subject of this post is a physical theatre show I went to see last Friday. L.O.V.E.   was described on the Gulbenkian Theatre's website as an "immoderate Shakespearean ménage à trois," so of course I was expecting a play dealing with the subject of sex and sensuality. I went there expecting strong imagery about sex. I went there expecting to be challenged on sexuality. Importantly, the show was also described as a "theatrical landmark – a highly-charged and athletic classic that helped define the term   physical theatre. " Aside from the hyperbole of the description, I was really expecting an edgy, interesting, daring show. What I did not expect (or want) was to be sexually assaulted by the actors. Don't take me wrong, I am not morally against phy...

I use a VPN to encrypt all of my traffic. It's great when you're on a network that likes to monitor what you're doing, or when you want to be somewhat more difficult to trace, or when you need to get around location-based restrictions. But there's one problem: using a VPN means that there's an extra routing step between you and the internet, and if you want to have internet-facing ports open, they'll need to be forwarded. The problem with that is that your host will usually have a number of clients sharing the same public IP address at the same time, so you can't just get them to forward whichever ports you want. The service I use does offer the ability to request that a port be forwarded, but you don't get to choose which port it is, you only get one, and it might change each time you connect. I want to have a port open for bittorrent, but I don't want to have to constantly check which port I got forwarded, then manually change the bittorrent sett...

This post is a English translation of the last one I did in Portuguese. There is a video in the Ill Doctrine  website, which I find super cool, called "How to tell people they sound racist." Recently, I was wasting time on Facebook, looking at pictures and such, when suddenly I came across a picture of a good friend of mine (who is white) dressed in Nega Maluca (or the Brazilian equivalent of black-face). I confess I was a little bewildered and, not knowing how to respond immediately, I stopped a little to reflect. Should I leave a comment saying I thought the picture was a little racist? or Should I leave it alone, because it was only a joke? I know my friend for years. I know she is not racist . But this picture seemed so problematic that I felt compelled to show my point of view. After all, it may be that my friend had not realized that what she considered a simple joke can be very painful or offensive to black people. But ho...

Tem um video do site  Ill Doctrine , que eu acho super bacana, que se chama "How to tell people they sound racist." Recentemente, eu estava no Facebook enrolando, vendo fotos e tal, quando de repente eu vejo uma foto de uma grande amiga minha (que é branca) vestida de Nega Maluca . Eu confesso que fiquei um pouco perplexa e, sem saber como responder imediatamente, parei um pouco pra refletir.  Será que eu deveria deixar um comentário dizendo  que eu achei que a foto era um pouco racista? ou Será que eu deveria deixar quieto,  já que se tratava de uma simples brincadeira? Eu conheço minha amiga há anos. Eu sei que ela não é racista . Mas essa foto me pareceu tão problemática que eu senti necessidade de mostrar meu ponto de vista. Afinal, pode ser que minha amiga não tenha se dado conta de que isso que ela considerou uma simples brincadeira pode ser algo muito doloroso ou ofensivo pra pessoas negras. Mas como é que eu poderia falar do ...

This beard is for Siobhan Devandra Banhart The daughter of a man Was a mammal She bore the mark of fire And of flame Though they're both the same Born unto the age of the golden Oh that golden age of endless loss and endless gain Tra la la la, now Because my lips have split All the little children They all hide in front In the middle and in the behind La, la, la, la ! And because my nose has froze But i can keep on smellin' I could smell my little day away I could smell my whole day away Na da da da ! Now because my teeth don't bite I can take 'em out dancin' I could take my little teeth out And i could show them a real good time Tra la la la A good time a good time A real good time...