Falling in love and crying: “Professionalism”, gender & emotion

Posted on by

Rachel E. Moss

[Gawain said:] “Ah, my uncle king Arthur! My good brother Sir Gareth is slain, and so is my brother Sir Gaheris, who were two noble knights.” Then the king and Gawain both wept, and so they fell on swooning.
Thomas Malory, Works, ed. Eugene Vinaver (my translation).

“Three things happen when they [women] are in the lab.… You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry.”
Nobel Prize-winner Sir Richard Timothy “Tim” Hunt, World Conference of Science Journalists 2016.

I’m currently tinkering with the final edits to an article on male swooning in Middle English romance. Medieval romances are full of fainting men: swooning from lovesickness, losing consciousness after battle, collapsing on receipt of bad news about beloved companions. In the middle ages, it seemed to me that swooning and weeping could be used as proofs of hypermasculinity – and so…

View original post 1,287 more words

If My Words are Worth Nothing, Why Are You Stealing Them?

Posted on by

days like crazy paving

A few days ago, I noticed that people were sharing around my blog post “Muslim, queer, feminist: it’s as complicated as it sounds” without including my Twitter username. Not a huge deal – they were linking back to my blog, so I was still getting clicks and page views out of it – but it was a little disconcerting (not bad, just disconcerting) to realise that my work was being shared around by people who didn’t even know me and therefore couldn’t directly credit me as the creator.

People keep telling me this is a consequence of “fame” (I wasn’t even aware that I was famous!) – that people will share your work without letting you know about it. I suppose I can live with that, as long as people aren’t just copy-pasting words of mine without any kind of course or attribution…

…which is exactly what happened to me…

View original post 839 more words

FeD – Cardiff

Posted on by

wpid-img_20150125_200011.jpg

A new restaurant is in town, or should I say a few new restaurants are in town and they are all under one roof.

Former members of the team that managed Red Hot World Buffet, branched out to create their very own dining experience. FeD, is a buffet style restaurant with a twist. Apart from the array of food from a variety of cuisines set out for you to serve yourself, there are stations where you order freshly cooked meals that will be served to your table. There are about 9 different kinds of savoury foods to try, as well as a delicious spread of desserts including white and milk chocolate fountains.

I visited FeD with a vegetarian friend, as soon as we walked in we were greeted by a friendly waitress. We asked if we could look around first, to check out the veggie options. We were allowed to take a quick look by ourselves, then a chef was called out to talk us through the vegetarian choices. After this we were greeted by a particularly friendly Rajat, who shared a joke with us and took us to our seats.

By the end of our stay, we were definitely FeD. Arguably the most impressive feat was having enough possibilities to appease my vegetarian friend! I also have a very sweet tooth, and the desserts were marvelous. For £12.99 (All day on a Sunday), this place is amazing value for money too. Picked up a loyalty card while I was there since I will definitely be returning.

Would I change anything at FeD? Yes, I’d add some waffles to go with the icre-cream and chocolate!! But that’s about all I can think of, even the location (next to cineworld), is pretty perfect.

A job well done to the guys at FeD.

Heebie Jeebies

Posted on by

I had heard a lot about this bar/club? Seems to be the place everyone goes. The ‘super cool place for the in crowd’. So… I went. The queue wasn’t bad, it moved quite fast. Though the bouncers were a bit off to the people in front of us, they seemed to have no issue with us. Got in sometime after midnight, it was heaving. This is good, nothing fun about an empty nightclub. But that’s about all that was good about heebies …..if you ask me. Drinks were average priced. Music was average at best and virtually non-existent in some areas. I did a bit of a walk about the club, and people were just standing around talking. Heebie jeebies is an OK bar. But I don’t see the mass appeal. Genuinely think it’s only thriving on the fact that people SAY it’s the place to be. . .So people try to be there. The name is pretty good though.

Words I Never Said: Megabus.

Posted on by

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing regarding a return journey I made on one of your coaches.
The outbound trip went swimmingly.
It was the high level of comfort and staff professionalism I have come to expect from you.
However, on my return journey from London to Liverpool I was sourly disappointed.
I was booked on a 6.30pm coach to arrive at Liverpool at 12:05.
The service was delayed by 90 minutes due to “severe traffic”.
Although, the 6:30 pm national express coach to Liverpool that was boarding at the gate next to ours, seemed to
have no trouble departing on time. Not only was the delay on your service inconvenient, it was costly.
Instead of being able to catch one of the last 2 bus services from the Liverpool one bus station,
I was forced to take a taxi home. I had not planned on doing this.

I hope you will improve on your services, so I won’t need to opt for alternative service providers.

Many thanks for your time,

Disgruntled passenger.

Radio City Tower (St Johns Beacon) – Liverpool

Posted on by

Interesting fact: The beacon was originally meant to be a chimney. 

Admission to the tower is £5.00 for an adult, £4.00 for students and £3.00 for children.

You get into the building and meet a security guard/receptionist. On your left side there’s a wall of awards. The security guard takes payment and leads you into an elevator. The elevator will take you up to the first floor. In 30 seconds. …. 400 Feet in 30 seconds. They are very proud of this. I think it’s kinda impressive… My ears popped.
Once you’re out of the elevator, you can see most of Liverpool stretching out in front of you! Its pretty breathtaking. If you’re into photography, this is a good place to be. On this 1st floor there are radio station studios as well. Sometimes visitors are allowed in, but I didn’t get the chance. You might be one of the lucky ones who get to enter the studio.
After the first floor, you step back into the elevator and are taken to the 2nd floor (the zoo room). The views are similar but you can see even further afield. The tower rotates, slowly. Some people said they felt the rotation, but I personally didn’t.

For those who are scared of heights, it’s worth mentioning that I went with someone with a mild fear. And he was perfectly fine. The thick glass provided some comfort.

This Liverpool attraction is worth a visit, especially for the potentially breathtaking pictures. It’s about a half hour experience. I think it would be better if the tower was open in the evening. I can only imagine how magnificent the view would be when the city is alight.