Not So Helpful Captchas

May 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

A well designed web forum registration page might include an anti-spam device, like a captcha. These are images that only humans can figure out. Bots cannot figure them out.

However, some humans have trouble with them. I happen to be one of those humans. Not because I can’t see well (though I do have vision problems - astigmatism and far sightedness) but rather because I can’t do them fast enough. (I think some of these captchas are designed to time out way too quickly or to reassign the same “unique” captcha to another website visitor while I’m still filling out the form/ leaving a comment/ etc.)

If there is a captcha, there is about a 50% less chance I am willing and able to overcome it. I regularly have to do those things multiple times to get them to work. Ultimately, I often get frustrated and give up.

A well designed web forum registration page’s captcha mistake response might do something like this:

“You answered the NoSpam! question incorrectly. Please reevaluate your answer or, if you found yourself unable to answer it, you can refresh for another question. If you find yourself repeatedly unable to answer the NoSpam! questions, please contact the forum administration.”

But then, the evidence that this hasn’t been fully thought through appears when the forum administration contact page has another spam question just like the original during registration, making actual contact impossible for anyone with accessibility issues during the first captcha. This lack of detailed thinking and thorough testing on the part of the software maker effectively discriminates against disabled persons as well as anyone who has trouble with captchas.

For the record, I couldn’t find the contact for this admin to tell them about this problem though a whois lookup. It makes the whole thing seem shady, which I know it’s not. They just probably got bad advice or made some mistakes when they set up the site. It happens, I know, I’ve done it and probably still do stuff like that. But it still makes me upset.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Blogging, Internet & Technology, abilism
2 Comments to "Not So Helpful Captchas"

Apple Fennel Soup Recipe Veganized

May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Apple Fennel Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup white wine
2 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped fennel
1 Bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
6 Peppercorns

Directions:
In large pot, combine broth, water, wine, apples, carrots, onion, fennel, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Strain soup, reserving liquid. Remove bay leaf from apple-vegetable mixture in strainer. In blender or food processor, puree mixture; add reserved liquid and blend well. Reheat soup, if necessary, ladle into soup bowls and serve.

*This recipe is a veganized version of this recipe. All I did was change the chicken broth to veggie broth and remove the tiny bit of yogurt suggested as a garnish. Simple. See how easy? Vegetarianism and veganism is EASY.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Food, veganism
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Anti-Racist Vegan Activism Part 4

May 12, 2008 | 3 Comments

This is part four in my series of trying to confront my own white privilege.

Previously:

Now, I’m going to jump ahead in the reading list to Racism and the Animal Rights Movement from Satya magazine (no longer in print, but all the links still work). Here are some key quotations from the piece:

“It’s one thing for a white person to pass out vegan flyers. But attempts by white AR activists to set the agenda for other cultures bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the historical pattern of suppression by dominant nations. Instead of exporting ‘democracy,’ AR activists are exporting their cultural concepts of the proper relationship between human and nonhuman animals.”

“[M]ost large AR organizations, which model themselves after corporations and in fact are characterized by the same ‘institutional racism’: no matter how colorful their brochures, the vast majority of positions of power are held by white people, albeit nice ones who like animals. According to one activist, outreach to communities of color is approached like a marketing challenge, not as a desire to share power.” [...] “Any organization that is not intentionally anti-racist inevitably benefits white people.”

“But the key, the pivotal point is how to embrace other people, how to share power.”

“It’s dangerous when you take an extreme this-is-the-only-way-things-can-change point of view. [...] They need to ask people of color, ‘How can I help you? How can I be your ally? What is it that you need from me?’”

Even better, the essay suggests specific things you can do to foster non-racist and anti-racist attitudes in vegan and animal activism (might I suggest these ideas to other people working to become allies?):

Talk about it
Get anti-racist training
Take responsibility
Strategize with diverse groups
Be thoughtful when planning campaigns
Write diversity into your Mission
Think: location, location, location
Table in neighborhoods of color
Co-sponsor events with diverse groups
Practice affirmative action

Go here to read the whole thing >>

My reaction: This essay is great. The tips are especially helpful. I don’t run an animal rights organization, but I run a vegan website (Vegan Soapbox) and I plan to be a partner in a small vegan business soon (currently writing the business plan). So these tips are wonderful. For example, I will incorporate anti-racism and diversity into our Mission Statement right away.

Now, let me tackle some of the specific problems the essay mentions:

“attempts by white AR activists to set the agenda for other cultures” - I think the way to counter this is to seek out AR people first. One thing I learned in college about female genital mutilation (FGM) is that within each culture that practices it, there’s a group trying to end it. But the mistake that many Western organizations made was that they assumed because the practice was so widespread that no one within the culture was already fighting it. Instead of finding the activists within the culture and arming them with tools and activist soldiers, we invaded, literally (FGM and women’s liberation was used as one rational for the US to invade Afghanistan). The solution to overcoming this kind of colonialism is to seek out the activists within each culture or community and work with them rather than coming in as an outsider and taking control. It’s also probably a more effective strategy, too, to work with the people already fighting the same battle than to work separately.
“model themselves after corporations and in fact are characterized by the same ‘institutional racism’” - There are lots of solutions to this one. Many are listed above: anti-racist training, affirmative action, etc.
“the pivotal point is how to embrace other people, how to share power” - Here’s where I get stuck. Beyond the ideas listed above, how do we share power? It’s one thing to hand someone a microphone, it’s another to actually share power. Half the power I have I don’t even realize, so how am I going to share it? I know, I know, I should learn to recognize it. But, seriously, that could take a lifetime. Is there a quick fix? Is there an easy way to share power? Typical, right? White women doesn’t want to think and wants the answers delivered neatly onto her lap. Well, yeah, sort of. Basically, I just really want your input.

—

Reminder for commenters: Please share your thoughts if you’re interested in anti-racist vegan activism.

But if you’re not interested in anti-racist vegan activism, please comment elsewhere. If you’re not pro-vegan or vegan-neutral and anti-racist, I’m not interested in what you have to say. Say it elsewhere. This space is not for bashing on vegans. Likewise, this space is not for claiming that confronting racism within the animals rights movements is a waste of time. Furthermore, the fact that I’m confronting racism within AR is NOT “proof” that animal rights is anti-human. There are plenty of anti-racist vegans and anti-racist animal advocates out there!

Example of a good comment: “I’ve got some ideas of how to end racism within AR. Here they are…”
Example of a bad comment: “PETA is stupid.” or “These are all trivial issues.”

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Racism, veganism
3 Comments to "Anti-Racist Vegan Activism Part 4"

Poultrygeist

May 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Oh. My. God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VXDbUE3Et8

See more here >>

Says SuperVegan:

“Here’s a supershort synopsis: A KFC-like fast food joint opens up on an ancient Native American burial ground. A group of college lesbian animal rights activists protest the restaurant, but fail to close it before zombie chickens hatch and reap bloody revenge on everyone in sight, including D-list porn star turned PETA activist Ron Jeremy.”

Official synopsis:

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead is cinema’s first chicken-zombie horror-comedy… with musical numbers!

When well-meaning but somewhat dim Arbie (Jason Yachanin) returns to the spot of his first (and only) romantic encounter with his high school sweetheart– the not-so-romantic Ancient Tromahawk Tribe Indian Burial Ground– he is shocked to discover two horrible realities:

Not only has the graveyard been bulldozed to make room for the newest fast-food “American Chicken Bunker” chain restaurant, but after only one semester at college, his girlfriend Wendy (Kate Graham) has been transformed into a left-wing, lipstick-lesbian liberal, and spends her free time protesting the corporate takeover of America.

Reeling from heartbreak and a brutal beating from Micki (Allyson Sereboff), Wendy’s new activist girlfriend, Arbie channels his spite into applying for a job at the very restaurant they are protesting against.

But something else is feeling wronged by all of the construction and commotion… Something not human…

Meanwhile, newly employed Arbie’s new coworkers are a colorful group: the sassy manager Denny (Joshua Olatunde); the burqa-clad Muslim, Humus (Rose Ghavami); the animal-loving yokel Carl, Jr. (Caleb Emerson); the effete Mexican spitfire Paco Bell (Khalid Rivera); and a mysterious 60-year-old man who has been working in fast-food all his life (Lloyd Kaufman).

Together, they slowly uncover the supernatural secret of the American Chicken Bunker, while the owner General Lee Roy (Robin L. Watkins) tries to keep a lid on everything, lest the scandal taint his growing empire. But once workers and customers start dying in bizarre and grotesque ways, it becomes clear that this isn’t just a mild case of salmonella … but something much more FOWL.

Will Arbie and his friends stop the supernatural before they infect all the artificial food stuffs, the customers or even the world? Will Arbie be able to win Wendy back now that he’s making minimum-wage? What’s Carl Jr. doing with that frozen chicken? And what’s with all the singing and dancing?

It’s Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead!

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Animals, Food, Politics, Sexuality, TV and Film, veganism
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Happy Mother’s Day

May 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

These pictures speak for themselves. They are images of children the Iraq war.

child with a sign
A girl holds a sign that reads “I am Iraq.”

A father cradles his wounded child.

baby in Iraq war
Small girl crying as family flees from smoke cloud.

boy sits on dirt with tank in background
A young boy sits on the dirt ground. In the background is a large tank.

child with gun
A boy with a large gun.

children with guns
Two boys hold pistols to a smaller boy’s head.

child plays ball
A boy kicks a ball around. In the background there’s a fire.

boy holds sign
A boy behind a wire fence holds a sign that reads “Democracy is not to force peoples to follow USA.”

You can see the entire set of images of children in Iraq here.

Thanks to Kay Olson at Gimp Parade, who blogged about these photos:

Pharmaceutical companies lie for profit, children are given shock therapy, returning military vets are discharged without adequate health care.

And yet, the greatest example of disablism at work in the world today is this immoral war in Iraq that terrifies, maims, and kills while also destroying the existing social structure of supports that could help manage the everyday needs of Iraqi citizens. Maybe it sounds like a stretch to call civilian war casualties disablism in action, but what is disableist policy if not a policy that holds the lives, bodies and minds of others so cheaply?

See the Gimp Parade’s set of photos and read commentary here >>

Let us, this Mother’s Day, treat the children of the world better than we have been treating them. Let’s give Mother Earth a rest, too. We MUST end this immoral war.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Family, Kids, & Friends, Feminism, Politics, Racism, The World, abilism
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