Happy Thanksgiving and/or Thursday! Open Thread

Thanks for the advice (about 3 pages back)

Its been a busy few days

Yeah, modding is tough. Done it a few times, hated it every time. Tempting though it is to think “well, the mods of a cesspool can’t be all that great” they still don’t need extra crap.

I’m still working on the alternative personalities thing you asked about – it’s a touch tangled with both personal stuff and other people’s privacy concerns. Not that they’d know about it but I will, if you get my meaning.

@Shadowplay,

Re kids in bed – oh my, yes! I only have the one, whereas it sounds like you have around 50, but when my boy was baby/toddler age, sleep was his natural enemy and he fought it with everything. We did all the controlled crying stuff (which has scarred us to this day, mutter angry mutter) until finally I just put a mattress on the floor and that’s where we slept. Didn’t fix everything but it sure made life easier.

Re that troll & Anna Dempster – agreed, this is someone who seems to spend far too much time fantasising about beating up women. Reminds me of a video someone shared back when I did Tae Kwon Do, of a woman sparring, and beating all comers. She was amazing – the comments not so much; so many men absolutely seething with fury and the desire to put her in her place. It was chilling.

@ Mish – only 6 of them, but there were nights it seemed like there were 600 🙂 Easier is good and screw the scolds – if it works it works 🙂

Course with 6 there were a bit more finessing to give them all the attention they needed (not all they wanted, of course!) – family dinners were the main thing, and everyone’s day was equally important to hear about (we went youngest to eldest, usually, unless it was a birthday or a nameday).
Still, was worth it. All out and with families of their own now – so now when I get back from abroad – I got grandkids to attend on! 😛

Heavens to Katie, if the publishing powers-that-be are going to lie about onions, what won’t they lie about! (In the opinion of this freelance editor, publishers have been lying to me for decades about how long it will take to edit a manuscript.)

Layers of Deceit
Why do recipe writers lie and lie and lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions?
By Tom Scocca

This article is news you can use, served two ways: For one thing, it teaches you how to actually brown onions. And for another, it teaches you that you have been gaslit and that you are probably not as bad of a cook as you might think. That’s service journalism at its finest. —Susan Matthews

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/life/scocca/2012/05/how_to_cook_onions_why_recipe_writers_lie_and_lie_about_how_long_they_take_to_caramelize_/120502_SCOCCA_CaramelizingOnions.jpg.CROP.promo-xlarge2.jpg

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/scocca/2012/05/how_to_cook_onions_why_recipe_writers_lie_and_lie_about_how_long_they_take_to_caramelize_.html

There’s proof: electing women radically improves life for mothers and families

When Iceland elected a female president in 1980, it set off a domino effect that turned it into one of the most egalitarian countries. What can the US learn?

When Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, a divorced single mother, ran for president of Iceland in 1980, women made up only 5% of parliamentarians in the Nordic country.

“I never thought I would win,” she says, sitting in the modernist architectural splendor of the University of Iceland multicultural institute that bears her name in Reykjavik. “I just wanted to prove a woman could run.”

But in August of that year, she became the first female elected head of state anywhere in the world. Reflecting on the impact of her 16-year tenure, she has no time for false modesty.

“If I may say so, because I hear it all the time, it changed everything,” says the 87-year-old. “Women thought, if she can, I can. In my advanced age, women still thank me for being a role model.”

In this small nation, there is a near-unquestioned conviction based on decades of evidence that electing women to positions of power benefits women and families. And at a time when American women, galvanized by the election of Donald Trump, are showing unprecedented interest in entering the political arena themselves, Iceland can provide both a roadmap and a promise for what’s possible.

Iceland’s lesson for America is clear: when women win elections, everyone wins.

“There is absolutely no doubt that there is an equivalency between more gender-balanced political representation and better policies for women,” says Brynhildur Heiðar, executive manager of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association. “Parental leave, daycare, the gender pay gap – none of these were seen as major issues before women ran for parliament.” . . .

It’s no coincidence that last year Iceland was ranked the most gender equal country in the world by the World Economic Forum – for the ninth time – and the Economist recently named it the world’s best place for working women. . . .

A paper by Georgetown University political scientist Michele Swers found that liberal female legislators co-sponsored an average of 10.6 bills related to women’s health – an average of 5.3 more than their liberal male colleagues. (Incidentally, a Stanford University study also showed that female Congress members simply get more stuff done – passing, on average, twice as many bills as male legislators in one analyzed session of Congress.)*

The link between legislators and female-friendly and family-friendly policies is long accepted in Iceland, says Heiðar. “From our perspective there is no doubt that women in parliament drive policy for women.”

A historical look at key policies in the nation appears to back this up. In the 1990s, full-time, highly subsidised daycare became available for all children aged two and older after the election of several parliamentarians from the Women’s Alliance, a women-centred political party, and the election of Finnbogadóttir the decade before.

In 2000, by which time a third of MPs were women, a new law introduced a nine-month parental leave, which gave both mothers and fathers three months of paid leave each, plus an additional three months to split between them. At the time it was the longest amount of paid leave given to fathers anywhere in the world. “It changed society overnight,” says Ólafur Stephensen, secretary general of the Icelandic Federation of Trade and a father of two.

The next big push came after the 2008 financial crisis, which saw Iceland’s banking system collapse, creating a severe economic depression. In the election that followed in 2009, women took 43% of the seats, and Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the country’s first female prime minister – and the world’s first openly lesbian head of government.

“Because things were such a mess in 2009, the increase in women went almost unnoticed,” says Heiðar. “But we went from being a ‘normal’ democracy to a gender-equal parliament overnight – it was a fantastic victory.” The country briefly achieved gender parity in 2016, 101 years after Icelandic women first got the vote.

In the years that followed, new laws introduced quotas for women on company boards, a ban on strip clubs and the purchase of sex, the removal of perpetrators of domestic violence from the family, and a recent push to make employers prove equal pay.

Female political representation empowers other women at the top of other fields too, says Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, Reykjavik’s first female chief of police. Since ascending to the post in 2014, she has made violence against women and girls a priority. . . .

If the tiny nation has anything to teach the States, it is this: don’t give up. “Just keep going,” says [Auður] Styrkársdóttir. “Icelandic women aren’t here because it was handed to us – we had to fight all the way, and we are still fighting.”

*Misandry.

@CleverForAGirl

Finally Mammotheers discuss onions!

@Victorious Parasol

I do almost that exact recipe – try stirring a teeny bit of powdered mustard into the onions when you’re coating them in the oil/meat juice. I usually eyeball it at about a teaspoon for 6 onions. (I also put the brisket on top of a few sprigs of thyme).

Kicks it up about 20 levels. 😛

@Robert Walker-Smith

IMO, the onions in the photo are only partly caramelized. Some of the edges are truly caramelized, but the rest is just a half step beyond sauteed.

PHOTOSHOPPED ONIONS!!! FAKE NEWZ!!!!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo!

Trump accusers to unite for first time, demand congressional investigation into allegations

Women that have publicly accused President Trump of sexual misconduct will call for Congress to investigate the allegations at a press conference on Monday.

The women will unite for the first time to demand the probe and share details of their allegations against Trump, according to a press release.

The conference is being hosted by Brave New Films, a documentary group that released a film about the allegations against Trump in November.

More than a dozen women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump during his presidential campaign.

Trump has denied the reports and the White House has said its official position is that the women are lying.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/364217-trump-accusers-to-unite-for-first-time-demand-congressional

@Dormousing_it

Interesting factoid about Iceland. And welcome to the Onion Fan Club! Our meetings are aromatic.

Disney exec!

You surprised? An almost infinite supply of youngsters with the usual percentage of stage Moms and/or meal ticket Dads who won’t squeak?

It’s a predators paradise.

I have a new computer, so this comment might not show up right away, but I wanted to let people know that a writing magazine I read called Room* is doing a queer-themed issue! They’re accepting submissions until the end of January – link to website page here.

*Room is a feminist art and literary journal (stories, poems, etc) that’s based in Canada, but it accepts submissions from everywhere. It publishes work by women and non-binary people.

@Nothing is Permanent – sounds pretty cool. I like climbing things, but there aren’t too many outside things to climb in the city. Sadly, it’s also socially odd for an adult human (a woman especially, it seems) to climb rocks and trees. Next time I’m in the country, though! Might as while climb trees while I still can. If somewhat cautiously.