My continuing fascination with scarification

Caution, all of the following links are NSFW, and will not be easy to take if you have a weak stomach.

Scarification intrigues me immensely. In terms of cultural precedent, it seems to sit where tattooing did 60-odd years ago. Where tattoos have become heavily co-opted by the mainstream, and taken to the level of irony, scarification remains entirely fringe. Like ink once was, it's the domain of the circus freak and weirdo. Proper scarification requires not only intense ability to accept, even revere, pain, the wounds have to be left to heal by their own power, so you can't touch the massive gaping cuts they leave. However, some more extreme people will deliberately slow healing in order to trigger the creation of extra scar tissue.

Scarification is one of the few things that can raise an instant gasp of pain/shock in me. Can you imagine the removal of that much skin? Some designs are gorgeously intricate, of metaphorical potency, and this one reminds me of nothing so much as Islamic architecture.

Keep in mind, all of these are done without anaesthesia. This is to some extent due due to the view that the pain is part of the process, but also the lack of legal anaesthetics due to the dubious status of the process. See, scarification is borderline illegal. It nears the line of surgery without any clinical benefit, undertaken by professionals without any formal training in the area, and occasionally questionable sterility. It is a procedure of the medical wastelands, the habit of freaks and geeks. And holy shit does it sometimes look beautiful.

While healing, it can look a little terrifying, but you cannot argue with some of the outcomes. Here's a sequence of healing process from start to finish: 1, 2, 3.

As you can no doubt tell, scarification produces an incredibly mixed reaction in me. Seeing the cuts makes me wince in pain, and the thought of getting it done is just about unfathomable in terms of the trauma it would produce. On the other hand, the product, both freshly cut and fully healed, is so beautiful that I find it astonishing. It really is something that I could never do, but I can admire.

The America Work Ethic

Being a BA geek, and spending a few semesters in the grips of Sociology, a lot of discussion at one point was devoted to the phenomenon of the Protestant Work Ethic, which apparently drives people of cold climates and miserable religion to work their asses for a heaven that they can't get into due to predestination (Luther was a loony). Today, this has morphed into the American Work Ethic, which is nothing so much as utterly fucking ludicrous. As a long time inhabitant of the south Pacific and inveterate slacker, I never pegged myself as one to have a job where I would work till 10pm about once a month, and the occasional weekend. I never imagined I would be the first person in the office every morning in order to get through everything that needed doing. And I certainly didn't expect to land in a place with a broken system of holidays.

Let me elaborate. At my job, we get 7 days of holiday scattered throughout the year. Just the big ones. Christmas, New Years, July 4, etc. No Easter Friday/Monday. No Boxing Day. We're expected to work at least 50 hour weeks. The pay is mediocre considering where I live.

Yet this is normal for America. Apparently this is standard corporate culture, even for a small company. You're meant to give over your whole life to the company it seems, and heaven help you if you want a personal life.

Perhaps this is how people get by in lands of shitty weather. Or maybe America is just that much more focussed on the corporation over the individual. I don't know. Apparently the only way to get a job that actually has a 40 hour work week and decent holidays is to work for the Government. How about that?

A German girl I work with and I occasionally take time to bitch about the lack of socialised health care, crappy employment law, and useless holidays offered. It seems the better pay offered by American corporations (as compared to NZ/AUS) is mostly due to them expecting you to work fucking ludicrous hours.

This ties into the school system to, in behaviour that is almost Japanese in its level of ludicrousness. Through primary and high school, kids time is strictly regimented between study, sports and extra-curricular activities. All in the attempt to get to a good college. At the Universities drug abuse is rampant. Prescription drugs, especially amphetamines and nootropics, seem to be required to get anywhere at university. Good lord, they're breeding soulless automatons. Yet those that rebel against the system inevitably end up as shiftless stoners and slackers it seems. Hell, even the postgraduate system is geared towards overwork, demanding that you attend classes while working on your PhD.

Work life balance, folks. It appears to be a myth here.

The Kiwi Institution of the Tea Room

When traveling across America, the most frequent food stop, at least in terms of zeitgeist, is undoubtedly the Diner. In New Zealand, it's the Tea Room. And where the US has good, but greasy, food served by tough old broads, the Tea Rooms are bastions of the under-whelming and rather disgusting.

You usually end up at one of these places as the only food option in a small town, or else are forced there due to the vagaries of trans-city transport. And they all look the same. The same fluorescent lighting, the same aging chairs, the same particle board counters, and worst of all, the same horrible food.

To start with are the triangle sandwiches, always white bread. Pickle and salami. Ham and cheese. Cheese and onion. Roast beef. They have that nefarious way of sticking to your mouth. You'll also find some attempt at a fancier, more complete sandwich, with more than two ingredients. These are usually over-priced, and always have hard-boiled eggs, onions and the all-staining beetroot included. The pies have been sitting in the warmer too long, and are half-cold, and the pottles of chips are always soggy.

For some reason, the bathrooms are, while tidy, located inconveniently and far too small. They are places without soul, without taste, and without color. And for some reason NZ has embraced them.

I really don't know what this picture is about

I just like it

Via Halbot Mail. Occasionally NSFW, and mostly in Czech (I think)

File under: Oh my!

Link via BoingBoing. Read them.

A Step In The Right Direction

We were all worried that Obama might just be another two-faced politician. This is just amazing. Here's hoping they get fair trials, and don't just get shipped off to another hellhole.

Edit: To track Obama's promises: check the Obameter. Should be interesting over the next few years.

Because I want to melt your brains.

Via Coilhouse, read them