Image Dysfunction

I was bored one afternoon and decided to use Google Images to see what came up for my name. If you haven't googled yourself you should do that regularly to see what others see when they look for you. But this time I didn't use my whole name, just my first name (Catherine). And the results that came up were interesting. Did you know that there is an erotic video game out there called Catherine? Neither did I, until now. Most of the images that came up for my name were scantily clad women (and Catherine Zeta Jones who was sometimes scantily clad).

So then I typed in a different women's name, just to see what would come up in Google Images. The results were a little less scantily clad but I didn't have to scroll very far to find a mostly naked woman. And then another. And then another. So I tried a different woman's name. Same results. I went through friend's first names and family first names and always came up with similar results. There were some names that had fewer scantily clad images but ALL the women's names I typed in brought up at least a couple nearly nude images. ALL of them. Every single one.

So I played the same game with men's first names. And that's when I got disturbed. There were almost no scantily clad images of men on Google Images. There were a few shirtless pictures but that was it. No matter how far I scrolled down on each one I could only find one or so nude image or less. And I started thinking about what this says about society. For the record I don't think this is an issue with Google Images. I don't think that this is an algorithm gone bad. I think this is reflection of what type of images get posted online. And I worry about what that says about what society feels a woman offers in worth.

I would say that a majority of the images for men's first names were headshots, often in business or professional attire. While there were plenty of images of actors and models, almost all of them were dressed. And the images tended to focus on their shoulders and above. In contrast, most of the women's images were full body shots. Often in less clothes than more. The ones that were fully dressed were often showing good amounts of cleavage. But it was the full body portion that bothered me. Apparently we aren't all that interested in what women have above the shoulders.

Now I should say that I have no issue with women (or men) showing off their bodies. I like erotic images and porn as much as the next person. What got me thinking about this post was wondering what statement this says to the younger generations about how we portray women. If they go to look up their first name and all they find are images of scantily clad women, what lesson does that teach? Do they see that they can be a doctor, or a writer, or a soldier. Or do they see that women who take off their clothes get attention.

Perhaps I'm thinking too much about this. But it made me angry. I want to see women who are valued for their intelligence and creativity and professionalism. I want to see women who show grace and kindness and drive. And at work I see these people. Out in society I see these people. But when I look online, all I see are scantily clad women. No matter how innocent the search.

If you try this experiment let me know what you find. Go to Google Images and type any women's first name in and scroll down to see what type of images you get. Do the same with men's first names. Let me know what you find. I hope my searches aren't indicative of anything. I hope I'm wrong. But I tried a lot of names. And I can see patterns. It's a bit disturbing.

Hide and Seek

I've been hiding recently, which would explain why it's been over two weeks since I last posted anything. Don't feel bad, I've posted to Facebook with about as much regularity and haven't read a blog in weeks. I guess I've taken an internet sabbatical, although it's not been quite as productive as a true sabbatical.

Thank you for continuing to seek me while I've been hiding. I'm still amazed that people read this blog and I appreciate your willingness to stop by and stare at the same image for a couple of days in a row. You are all wonderful, far better than I deserve. And I'm ready to post. I'm out of hiding and things are starting to look up.

First and foremost I'm starting to slow down on my reading. Since I last posted here I've read eight books. I finished two in the last three days. I'm finally reaching a point where I'm ready to come back online.

Secondly I've been going through a bit of an antisocial period. Am I the only one who has these? I go through periods where I don't really want to talk or email. I retreat into my own head for a while and do nothing more social than go to work and occasionally talk to Jeff. This has been one of the more intense antisocial periods I've had. I've had emails piling up, friends I should call, Facebook statuses to update, and all I've been doing is sitting on the couch eating chocolate and reading. Not the most productive period of time.

And lastly, although I've missed writing the blog, I've been writing other things. I'm back to writing stories which make me incredibly happy. Nothing I can talk about yet but I'll keep you posted. So with all that said, I'm back. And feeling a bit refreshed.

A Perfect Night

If it seems like I've been distant from the internet lately, it's because I have. I haven't been on Facebook in days. Haven't checked email since we got back in town. And really haven't been online most of the day except for my brief lunch breaks. Work is ganging up on me and I haven't had a ton of time to spare.

So last night after working late again, I had planned to go home, make up a salad, and sit on the couch mindlessly watching TV. Jeff had other ideas. As I brought out my salad fixings he meekly suggested going out. And of course I couldn't pass that up. We headed over to one of the local sports bars and found a table outside on the patio. It was beautiful yesterday but we had the patio completely to ourselves. It was heaven. I ordered a beer and their amazingly tasty (and possibly good for me) taco salad. Then Jeff made me an offer I simply couldn't refuse. His deal was that we would go to the library as long as I walked around the nearby lake with him. Okay so I get to go to my favorite place in the world, and I get to go on a beautiful walk. Sign me up!!!

After dinner we headed over to the library and walked the lake. It's not a huge lake and we took our time in the walking. Jeff and I tend to get distracted by interesting bugs, pretty flowers, birds or animals of any sort...well pretty much everything. It was just nice to be out. I'm working on walking on rough terrain to strengthen my ankle even more. I'm still not 100% but I'm getting better. After the walk we went to our own different sections of the library. I picked up the second book in the Bone series by Jeff Smith. I've been loving this graphic novel series but have been taking my time reading them. The series follow Fone Bone and his cousins Phoney and Smiley who, after being kicked out of Boneville, find themselves being chased by rat creatures, saved by a dragon, and befriended by a young girl and her ultra tough grandmother. The characters are all unique and the plot has me both intrigued and confused. I need to pick up the pace with this series.

I picked up a graphic novel called Wonderland written and illustrated by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew. This is the first in a series of graphic novels following the exploits of Wonderland's characters without Alice. This one followed Mary Ann, the housemaid for the White Rabbit and her adventures with the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Spades. I'll be curious to pick up the next book. I love take-offs on Alice in Wonderland and these are inventive and downright beautiful. The story is a wonderful reinvention of the world and is very much in the spirit of the original book. The book's artwork is stunning, a great mix of detailed and surreal landscapes with well created characters. I'd seen the artwork before and had been meaning to check out the book.

I also picked up a biography of Edward Gorey and a book on the making of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version). After the library Jeff and I stopped for ice cream and I went home to read. I finished the two graphic novels and started the "making of" book. I'll be through it before the weekend is up. As I sat on the couch last night, surrounded by books and finishing up my ice cream, all I could think was that last night was a perfect night. I feel completely refreshed today. It's amazing what unplugging does for me.

A Strange Disconnect

I'm not sure if I'm feeling proud or a bit ashamed when I say that I went the entire weekend without spending any real time on my computer. I read comics each morning but that was it. I never once checked email. I didn't read any of my blogs. I didn't even check Facebook. I was almost completely disconnected. And I have to admit that it was wonderful.

My in-laws arrived at 6ish on Friday night and we quickly went out to dinner. I had some amazing vegetarian sushi while everyone else had fish. Jeff's parents are Catholic so they were avoiding meat because of Lent (since when are fish not meat?). Then we just headed back to their hotel to watch UNI lose to Michigan State. :-( Oh well, can't win them all.

The next day we grabbed an earlyish breakfast and then drove them around the city a bit. They had been predicting rain all day so we stayed in for most of the afternoon. Jeff had two movies that he had to watch for his Reproductive Law class so we ended up watching one of those Saturday afternoon. We watched Waitress which wasn't a fantastic movie but did make me want to learn how to bake pies. That night we met my parents downtown for dinner and then went back to my parents house for an evening of cards and pie and talking. It was a nice night.

Sunday was an incredibly lazy day. After brunch Jeff's parents headed off and we went home. Jeff watched the second of his movies (Knocked Up) and I tried to ignore it. I think I got stupider just watching that film. I absolutely hated it. So I immersed myself in a book. I just started Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and could not put it down. It was one of those books where I walked to the kitchen to make dinner while still reading. I lay on the sofa for the rest of the day, just devouring the book. It was amazingly well written. I left it at home this morning so I wouldn't be tempted to read at work. It's that good.

So today I'm back at work after a late physical therapy session and am feeling a bit disconnected. I know that I'm addicted to my computer but it was nice to take some time to step away this weekend. I feel incredibly refreshed and even though I didn't get a ton done, I feel like a I didn't waste as much time this weekend. A fantastic weekend, relaxing and long. Now I just have to catch up.

Bing

I'm trying to remember when Google appeared on the scene as the primary search engine for the world. Google has easily outstripped all other engines in terms of usage and I would argue, versatility. As a librarian, I know that it is not a great research tool but I will admit that if you have an idea what you are looking for, it is invaluable.

This past year the word has been Bing, a new search engine put out by Microsoft. I've done some comparison work and still prefer Google for most of my search needs. But every morning I dutifully go to Bing.com. I go for the photography. Every day, Bing posts an image as the backdrop for their interface. And every morning I am completely blown away by the image. I'm not sure where they are finding these photographs but I want that source.

The images then offer links to learn more about the animal, place, landmark, etc.... I've learned a lot about different landmarks just by finding an image I liked. I clicked on an image of Stari Most, the Old Bridge in the town of Moster in Herzegovina to find out all about it's history. I learned about the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland after seeing a picture on Bing and wondering what the heck it was. I got to reminisce about my trip to Maui after seeing the image below. This picture was taken at the Black Sand beaches on the road to Hana. I stood on this very beach but my pictures don't come anywhere close.

Bing is not going to be my new search engine. I've done scientific comparisons and simply feel that Google is a better engine. But there is something about serendipitous learning that draws me. It's the same way I love to walk aisle by aisle through a library to see what catches my eye. I'll keep going to Bing to learn new things, to find new places, and to see the beautify of the world around us. For that reason alone, I hope they keep the site up.

Epic Fail

For a while I've been reading Icanhascheezburger.com. Although I cringe at the language (English majors everywhere are whimpering), these are just too funny. For those who haven't been, readers submit pictures of their cats and other animals along with funny captions. They make my day a little brighter. And I've even got Jeff reading them. 

So today we spent a little time with the website and noticed that they had other tabs at the top. One tabs had nostalgic items, toys and shows from my childhood. Another had funny images of dogs with captions. And our favorite was Fail Blog. This has reader submissions of pictures and videos that are just wrong. A sign that may not say what they thought it said. Spelling errors on tattoos. And just general human stupidity. I laughed until I cried. My stomach hurt. I'm still working through the archives but this is just hilarious stuff. 

One of my favorite pictures.

And here is my favorite video so far. 

Impossible Dream

I try really hard to pretend that I'm tech savvy. I'd like to think that I'm up on most of the newest applications. But I'm fighting Twitter, although it appears to have captured everyone else. (resistance is futile, as we geeks say) I have a tough enough time updating my Facebook status, I can't imagine trying to do that multiple times a day. But I have found a program that is taken up tons of my free time. I was planning to post something last night but I got carried away with LibraryThing.

LibraryThing is a website (partually free) that allows you to catalogue the books you read. You enter title or author and then select the book from the list. It keeps track of your library for you. You can review the book and add your own tags to better sort the types of books you read. It also allows you to see which other members have read the same books you have. I have one book that 40,000 other members have read and one book that has only one other member reader. The first 200 books you add are free. After that you need a membership. I bought the $25 lifetime membership and went to town. I'm currently at a little over 400 books. Here is a picture of LibraryThing. If you already are a member I'm CatB.

My goal (my impossible dream) is to add all the books I have ever read. I added my entire library last night but those are just the books I have on my shelves. That doesn't include the ones I've borrowed, checked out from the library, or given away. I have books I read as a child that I may not ever remember. I have stories that I read last week that may have escaped my mind. And I notice that as I get older my memory slips a bit when thinking about books. Stories and scenes blend together. It was actually a lot of fun to go through my library last night. I looked at books I hadn't paid attention to in years. I remember where I was when I read most of them. But I know that trying to remember it all is impossible. That's why I want to use this great site as a life list of books. I have a bit of start.