<div class=SAHTECH, SEMI, and Semiconductor Industry to promote “SEMI Safety Guideline” in Taiwan
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SAHTECH, SEMI, and Semiconductor Industry to promote “SEMI Safety Guideline” in Taiwan

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

“Localization of ‘SEMI Safety Guideline'”, executed by Safety and Health Technology Center of Taiwan (SAHTECH) and supervised by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), was announced today in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

This localization included several fields on health and safety of semiconductor manufacturing, certification testing on electrical devices, evaluations on fire or natural diseases, and environmental issues on semiconductor manufacturing devices, etc.. Companies and manufacturers from the semiconductor industry also paid more attentions on this guideline because issues on carbon-savings, earthquakes, fire diseases, and environment-efficiencies were included into this guideline.

This [safety] guideline was originally promoted by SEMI since 1975 and was set up according to industry infrastructures in Europe, America, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Currently, its standards from the S1 to S25 was completely ruled by several world-class executives in semiconductor industry, and the S26 standard for FPD industry, proposed in Taiwan, was also in several arrangements with the other countries.
The semiconductor industry is a high-value industry in every country. If a fabrication plant (fab) was vandalized with fire or earthquake, how will a company decrease its lossless after a disease? As of some examples from the other countries, several companies didn’t pay more attentions on devices’ safety and finally got a damn trouble on counting lossless after a disease. By the way, voltages on electric using will take effect on energy especially the wasting of CO2. We [the semiconductor industry in Taiwan] hope this announcement will drive on global safety standards.
Generally, the designs of a fab will take effect on possibilities when a disease take place in, and its scale will chain much wasting on manufacturing devices and materials. For example, when using fluorine in a fab, a company would consider using a gas tank car rather than a steel bottle. But due to environment and carbon-saving issues, some evaluations should be tested in a fab.

On the other side of the incoming trade show of 2008 SecuTech Expo, scheduled after 2 weeks at Taipei World Trade Center, not only main fields on security devices, information security, and fire & disease preventions, the digital monitoring will be a hot topic in security industry. For applications on fire & disease preventions, because its issues contained industrial applications and ESH (Environmental, Safety & Health) managements, if a company want to decrease the ratio of fire disease or earthquake, companies from safety and related industries should pay more attentions on disease preventions.

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<div class=Canada’s Don Valley East (Ward 33) city council candidates speak
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Canada’s Don Valley East (Ward 33) city council candidates speak

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This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley East (Ward 33). One candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Zane Caplan, Shelley Carroll (incumbent), Jim Conlon, Sarah Tsang-Fahey, and Anderson Tung.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Canada%27s_Don_Valley_East_(Ward_33)_city_council_candidates_speak&oldid=798572”
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<div class=Gastric bypass surgery performed by remote control
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Gastric bypass surgery performed by remote control

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Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

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A Typical Scenario In Building Your Home

A Typical Scenario In Building Your Home

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A Typical Scenario In Building Your home

by

adam leaf

When a manufacture starts building or designing a new kitchen which they would try to market to potential customers then its not a straight forward case of building it out of wood and repacking it with glossy packaging and then putting it to wholesalers or retailers and that is it. It doesn t work that way at all, when manufactures try bringing in a new kitchen into the marketplace then it takes in excess of around one and a half years just in research. Once the research is done then the development side of the team would make a demo out of wood, and then that would be presented to the approvals team at the manufactures.

Once the approvals team have checked every single defect, scrutinised the product in every way and only should it pass all the tests and experiments that s they only time it would get the go ahead from the approvals team. So once the product is a go ahead then the manufacturing starts to take place on an industrial levels, you need to consider that the less manufactures produce kitchens the more the cost of the individual kitchen will cost, however if the manufactures produces kitchen on an industrial level then the costs comes down fairly dramatically.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixsHVO0VApA[/youtube]

A lot of the kitchen throughout the world are produced on an industrial level which is the only way that people can afford. It s probably only less than one percent of the working population that can afford kitchens which costs in the upwards of twenty to thirty five thousand pounds. Most of the ninety nine percent of the working population would probably buy the kitchens that would cost under the region of nine to ten thousand pounds. People would rather buy a kitchen which costs a bit less but rather than spending it on one kitchen in their life time they would have a kitchen being fitted every couple of years so keeping up with the designs and the new styles.

A lot of the manufactures are under extreme pressure and scrutiny that they source their main raw materials from sustainable resources rather than using resources that are scarce. From the wood and the timber for the kitchen cabinets, to the packaging for the completed fitted kitchen to even the glossy magazines that are in the showrooms everything in these modern times have to be sourced from reputable sustainable suppliers.

Manufactures goes through all stages in the process that the kitchen units are mage from defect free materials which can not cause any harm to personnel working on the factory floor to the clients actually using the kitchen itself. To a lot of people their kitchen is their home and the centre point for the whole of the family so it s important that the kitchen can live up to the years that are expected by the manufactures. A lot of manufactures also give free kitchen appliances with the kitchens such as a kitchen sink or kitchen taps which the customer can choose from a wide range.

Adam is an expert when it comes to choosing kitchen mixer taps and will give out advice for when you are shopping for your kitchen pull out taps.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

5 Bloodborne Pathogens Safety Equipment

5 Bloodborne Pathogens Safety Equipment

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By Greg Garner

Bloodborne pathogens are extremely dangerous viruses carried in blood as well as other bodily tissues. Healthcare workers are particularly at risk when they work with blood samples in a laboratory, do blood work on patients, and clean up blood or body fluid spills. To maintain the safety for health care workers in a clinic or hospital setting there are different safety and first aid kits that can be purchased and used. These supplies and kits must adhere to OSHA rules and regulations. If you purchase these safety kits from a reliable source, you should have no OSHA problems.

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Spill kits and pick up devices and products. These items include towels that are disposable and plastic lined Universal absorbent pads, boom socks, and splash goggles. Included in these kits are gloves and blood waste disposal carriers.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5zU1y_0Geo[/youtube]

Personal protection kits for bloodborne pathogens. These personal kits need to contain eye and mouth protection for CPR, scoop bags for safe and fast cleanup of blood spills, a disposable gown and bonnet as well as shoe covers, throw-away towels and biohazards bags with ties.

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Germicidal solutions. Environmental spray solutions are needed to be immediately available to prevent cross-contamination. Most germicidal solutions and wipes protect against staph, salmonella, herpes and HIV as well as hepatitis infections.

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Fluid control solidifiers. These products are designed to solidify blood and other bodily fluids to make clean up and disposal much safer.

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Sharps containers. Every medical clinic is required by OSHA regulations and rules to have sharps containers in every area where bodily fluids and bloodborne pathogens may reside. These containers are specifically designed to protect against needle sticks by providing the proper disposal of syringes that have been used. All these containers are required to have locking tops. It is highly illegal for health care workers to remove any needles from these sharps containers.

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Blood clot powders and first aid kits. It is very necessary to have a powder or other type of a blood clotting product for patients and health care workers. These preparations should have the ability to stop bleeding instantly without waiting for natural clotting. OSHA requires that these products do not burn the skin, but actually clot. These provisions are designed to provide a seal that protects against infections.

Although it can be somewhat disconcerting to work with blood samples, if a clinic or health care worker takes the proper precautions, there should be no contamination. In the event, however of accidental needle sticks or bodily fluid contact, you should have rules and regulations posted in your clinic where to go for help. Bloodborne pathogen safety regulations need to include training on all prevention products and how to safely use these them. Do not leave your health care employees without the proper training on any equipment. Make sure these safety kits and precautionary statements are in plain view of health care workers. It is not a good idea to keep bloodborne pathogen prevention equipment in locked closets or away from the general health care worker population.

About the Author: For more information, please visit our

Bloodborne pathogens

website.

Source:

isnare.com

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<div class=Media speculate over possible presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg
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Media speculate over possible presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is prepared to spend one billion dollars of his own money for a 2008 White House bid, the Washington Times reports, citing his friends and “close associates” .

However, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday made light of Senator Chuck Hagel‘s suggestion that Bloomberg could run as an independent with Hagel as running mate. Bloomberg has so far denied that he is running but has not ruled out the possibility either.

Media reports speculate that Bloomberg is considering a run if the Democratic and Republican nominees cater more to the parties’ bases, leaving room for an independent candidate who can attract moderate voters for both camps.

TIME magazine reports that Bloomberg was at first ready to consider spending US$500 million for a presidential run.

Michael Bloomberg could have more money than either party candidates, former FEC chairman Michael E. Toner told the Times. Those funds would come in handy to mobilize the thousands of petitions needed to qualify for a run in some states.

The Washington Times also has reports of a Bloomberg adviser saying some people involved with John McCain‘s Presidential Campaign are prepared to leave and join Bloomberg’s campaign if he does indeed run.

Bloomberg’s advisers have also said that they have been studying and learning from Ross Perot‘s Presidential campaign in 1992. They have called and talked with Perot’s former advisers and campaign workers to learn from their mistakes and experience.

Bloomberg made his fortune with his company Bloomberg L.P., a financial news and data company. Forbes magazine ranked him 44th on a list of wealthiest Americans and 142nd on a list of billionaires worldwide. His net worth is estimated at US$5.5 billion.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Media_speculate_over_possible_presidential_bid_by_Michael_Bloomberg&oldid=1978141”
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<div class=On the campaign trail in the USA, October 2020
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On the campaign trail in the USA, October 2020

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Monday, November 2, 2020

The following is the sixth and final edition of a monthly series chronicling the 2020 United States presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

This month’s spotlight on the campaign trail: the Free and Equal Elections Foundation holds two presidential debates, three candidates who did not participate in those debates give their final pleas to voters, and three political pundits give their predictions on the outcome of the election.

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<div class=Volunteers and food needed for flooded Manitoba, Canada
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Volunteers and food needed for flooded Manitoba, Canada

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Local municipal and provincial volunteers in Manitoba, Canada are exhausted in their efforts to divert the rising waters of the Red River of the North.

It has been hard work with little sleep for the residents who live on the shores of the Red River to shore up their defences with sandbags, build dikes, clear frozen culverts and break ice jams

Volunteers to spell relief for local volunteers and food are desperately needed.

“It’s a week now we’ve been doing this … you’re talking four, five, six public works guys. In my one community we’ve got 25 volunteer firefighters and those guys have been going 24/7, so of course it’s wearing them down.” said Paul Guyader, Manitoba’s emergency measures coordinator.

“We’re dealing with one of the biggest floods the province has ever seen,” said Steve Strang, mayor of St. Clements, Manitoba “We’ve put out hundreds of thousands of bags already. The municipalities are working very well, we’re working with the provincial government, we’ve brought in every possible resource we could to address this issue. The volunteerism within the community has been phenomenal.”

The Portage Diversion has taken some spring waters from the Assiniboine River and diverted the flow to Lake Manitoba.

Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has been totally evacuated, as well as many homes near the Canada – United States border.

The cold weather is freezing the ice jams into place. Guyader has had 2 Amphibex Excavators operating on the river breaking up ice.

The Red River is right now 16.7 feet (5 metres) above spring ice conditions. The Red River Floodway gates cannot be opened with the current ice jams.

“If we operate now, we can get ice jamming going into the floodway, jamming up against the St. Mary’s bridge, as such, the floodway capacity would be reduced and would cause higher water levels in the city of Winnipeg.” said Steve Topping, Manitoba Water Stewardship spokesman

The floodway was constructed in 1968 following the 1950 flood to divert the overflow spring flooding waters of the Red River. The floodway has been widened the since the 1997 “flood of the century” and the expansion is expected to be completed this spring. As well Manitoba built permanent dikes around communities within the flood plain since the last two major floods..

The Red River waters will crest between the beginning of April to mid April, at which time also the weather should be warming up. Communities are bracing for higher water levels, more ice jams as well as melting snow in the warmer spring temperatures.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Volunteers_and_food_needed_for_flooded_Manitoba,_Canada&oldid=801654”
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Excavators: A Condensed Soup

Excavators: A Condensed Soup

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Submitted by: Robert Tate

Innovation; it is what drives the people of the world to a better life. It is innovation that allowed the excavator to come into being. The excavator is a vehicle that is composed of a moveable arm attached to a bucket for scooping, as well as an operator s cab mounted on a rotating platform. These sit atop an underbody with either tracks or wheels, depending upon the application. Excavators are commonly used in the digging of trenches and foundations, material handling, demolition, river dredging, mining, and grading and landscaping.

The vehicle itself is produced in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Smaller vehicles are called compact excavators while larger ones are simply called excavators. Recently, hydraulic excavators have opened up new possibilities in the capabilities of the machinery. The equipment is now capable of compacting, pulverizing, hammering, and grappling objects through the use of attachments. Several newer excavators include quick-attaching mounting systems to simplify the attachment process on the job site. Another advancement in the potential of the machinery occurred in the early nineteen-nineties. The Komatsu Engineering Company noticed that a counterweight that was built into the rear of machines to provide more lifting capacity obstructed the excavators ability to turn in constricted areas, thus rendering it relatively useless in such situations. Therefore, the company launched a prototype model that eliminated the counterweight design; this type of machinery is now extensively used throughout the world.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz2RIhVu3j0[/youtube]

Akin to many things, the realm of excavators has its own language, so to speak. There is a distinct set of vocabulary that is associated with the machinery; the devices themselves are sometimes referred to as diggers or three-hundred and sixty degree excavators. Also, excavators are sometimes called front hoes because of the location of their bucket. An excavators bucket moves in the same way as a backhoes’ — that is, toward the machine. Therefore, the previously mentioned term is incorrect.

An interesting side note is that excavating technology has even made its way onto Mars with the one of the exploration rovers. It features a robotic excavating arm controlled by an embedded operating system or the NASA Operations Center on Earth. The excavating arm is festooned with a bucket, auger, camera, and various sensors; the system has failed many times, however. This is because of the intense weather conditions on Mars.

Essentially, excavators are what have driven the world into this age of technologically advanced buildings and cities. The excavator is an advanced piece of machinery, complete with a bucket, articulated arm, and tacks or wheels. It is used for digging, auguring, mining, material handling, and many other things. Modern excavators allow for the use of many attachments such as drills and grappling devices. It has its own set of vocabulary that is used to describe the equipment itself and various attachments. All in all, the excavator is a beautiful vehicle in both the engineering sense and design. The excavator is an innovation. Perhaps you will one day create an innovative product too.

About the Author: Robert Tate Region Sales Manager of Mascus UK. Mascus is an electronic marketplace for used trucks, trailers and tractors. Mascus makes trading in

excavators

more efficiently by collecting all information about supply and demand in one place. Contacts: Robert Tate Regional Sales Manager – UK Mob:+ 44 (0) 7970 230055 E mail: robert.tate@mascus.com

Source:

isnare.com

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isnare.com/?aid=409288&ca=Education

<div class=RuPaul speaks about society and the state of drag as performance art
" />

RuPaul speaks about society and the state of drag as performance art

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Saturday, October 6, 2007

Few artists ever penetrate the subconscious level of American culture the way RuPaul Andre Charles did with the 1993 album Supermodel of the World. It was groundbreaking not only because in the midst of the Grunge phenomenon did Charles have a dance hit on MTV, but because he did it as RuPaul, formerly known as Starbooty, a supermodel drag queen with a message: love everyone. A duet with Elton John, an endorsement deal with MAC cosmetics, an eponymous talk show on VH-1 and roles in film propelled RuPaul into the new millennium.

In July, RuPaul’s movie Starrbooty began playing at film festivals and it is set to be released on DVD October 31st. Wikinews reporter David Shankbone recently spoke with RuPaul by telephone in Los Angeles, where she is to appear on stage for DIVAS Simply Singing!, a benefit for HIV-AIDS.

DS: How are you doing?

RP: Everything is great. I just settled into my new hotel room in downtown Los Angeles. I have never stayed downtown, so I wanted to try it out. L.A. is one of those traditional big cities where nobody goes downtown, but they are trying to change that.

DS: How do you like Los Angeles?

RP: I love L.A. I’m from San Diego, and I lived here for six years. It took me four years to fall in love with it and then those last two years I had fallen head over heels in love with it. Where are you from?

DS: Me? I’m from all over. I have lived in 17 cities, six states and three countries.

RP: Where were you when you were 15?

DS: Georgia, in a small town at the bottom of Fulton County called Palmetto.

RP: When I was in Georgia I went to South Fulton Technical School. The last high school I ever went to was…actually, I don’t remember the name of it.

DS: Do you miss Atlanta?

RP: I miss the Atlanta that I lived in. That Atlanta is long gone. It’s like a childhood friend who underwent head to toe plastic surgery and who I don’t recognize anymore. It’s not that I don’t like it; I do like it. It’s just not the Atlanta that I grew up with. It looks different because it went through that boomtown phase and so it has been transient. What made Georgia Georgia to me is gone. The last time I stayed in a hotel there my room was overlooking a construction site, and I realized the building that was torn down was a building that I had seen get built. And it had been torn down to build a new building. It was something you don’t expect to see in your lifetime.

DS: What did that signify to you?

RP: What it showed me is that the mentality in Atlanta is that much of their history means nothing. For so many years they did a good job preserving. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a preservationist. It’s just an interesting observation.

DS: In 2004 when you released your third album, Red Hot, it received a good deal of play in the clubs and on dance radio, but very little press coverage. On your blog you discussed how you felt betrayed by the entertainment industry and, in particular, the gay press. What happened?

RP: Well, betrayed might be the wrong word. ‘Betrayed’ alludes to an idea that there was some kind of a promise made to me, and there never was. More so, I was disappointed. I don’t feel like it was a betrayal. Nobody promises anything in show business and you understand that from day one.
But, I don’t know what happened. It seemed I couldn’t get press on my album unless I was willing to play into the role that the mainstream press has assigned to gay people, which is as servants of straight ideals.

DS: Do you mean as court jesters?

RP: Not court jesters, because that also plays into that mentality. We as humans find it easy to categorize people so that we know how to feel comfortable with them; so that we don’t feel threatened. If someone falls outside of that categorization, we feel threatened and we search our psyche to put them into a category that we feel comfortable with. The mainstream media and the gay press find it hard to accept me as…just…

DS: Everything you are?

RP: Everything that I am.

DS: It seems like years ago, and my recollection might be fuzzy, but it seems like I read a mainstream media piece that talked about how you wanted to break out of the RuPaul ‘character’ and be seen as more than just RuPaul.

RP: Well, RuPaul is my real name and that’s who I am and who I have always been. There’s the product RuPaul that I have sold in business. Does the product feel like it’s been put into a box? Could you be more clear? It’s a hard question to answer.

DS: That you wanted to be seen as more than just RuPaul the drag queen, but also for the man and versatile artist that you are.

RP: That’s not on target. What other people think of me is not my business. What I do is what I do. How people see me doesn’t change what I decide to do. I don’t choose projects so people don’t see me as one thing or another. I choose projects that excite me. I think the problem is that people refuse to understand what drag is outside of their own belief system. A friend of mine recently did the Oprah show about transgendered youth. It was obvious that we, as a culture, have a hard time trying to understand the difference between a drag queen, transsexual, and a transgender, yet we find it very easy to know the difference between the American baseball league and the National baseball league, when they are both so similar. We’ll learn the difference to that. One of my hobbies is to research and go underneath ideas to discover why certain ones stay in place while others do not. Like Adam and Eve, which is a flimsy fairytale story, yet it is something that people believe; what, exactly, keeps it in place?

DS: What keeps people from knowing the difference between what is real and important, and what is not?

RP: Our belief systems. If you are a Christian then your belief system doesn’t allow for transgender or any of those things, and you then are going to have a vested interest in not understanding that. Why? Because if one peg in your belief system doesn’t work or doesn’t fit, the whole thing will crumble. So some people won’t understand the difference between a transvestite and transsexual. They will not understand that no matter how hard you force them to because it will mean deconstructing their whole belief system. If they understand Adam and Eve is a parable or fairytale, they then have to rethink their entire belief system.
As to me being seen as whatever, I was more likely commenting on the phenomenon of our culture. I am creative, and I am all of those things you mention, and doing one thing out there and people seeing it, it doesn’t matter if people know all that about me or not.

DS: Recently I interviewed Natasha Khan of the band Bat for Lashes, and she is considered by many to be one of the real up-and-coming artists in music today. Her band was up for the Mercury Prize in England. When I asked her where she drew inspiration from, she mentioned what really got her recently was the 1960’s and 70’s psychedelic drag queen performance art, such as seen in Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, The Cockettes and Paris Is Burning. What do you think when you hear an artist in her twenties looking to that era of drag performance art for inspiration?

RP: The first thing I think of when I hear that is that young kids are always looking for the ‘rock and roll’ answer to give. It’s very clever to give that answer. She’s asked that a lot: “Where do you get your inspiration?” And what she gave you is the best sound bite she could; it’s a really a good sound bite. I don’t know about Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, but I know about The Cockettes and Paris Is Burning. What I think about when I hear that is there are all these art school kids and when they get an understanding of how the press works, and how your sound bite will affect the interview, they go for the best.

DS: You think her answer was contrived?

RP: I think all answers are really contrived. Everything is contrived; the whole world is an illusion. Coming up and seeing kids dressed in Goth or hip hop clothes, when you go beneath all that, you have to ask: what is that really? You understand they are affected, pretentious. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s how we see things. I love Paris Is Burning.

DS: Has the Iraq War affected you at all?

RP: Absolutely. It’s not good, I don’t like it, and it makes me want to enjoy this moment a lot more and be very appreciative. Like when I’m on a hike in a canyon and it smells good and there aren’t bombs dropping.

DS: Do you think there is a lot of apathy in the culture?

RP: There’s apathy, and there’s a lot of anti-depressants and that probably lends a big contribution to the apathy. We have iPods and GPS systems and all these things to distract us.

DS: Do you ever work the current political culture into your art?

RP: No, I don’t. Every time I bat my eyelashes it’s a political statement. The drag I come from has always been a critique of our society, so the act is defiant in and of itself in a patriarchal society such as ours. It’s an act of treason.

DS: What do you think of young performance artists working in drag today?

RP: I don’t know of any. I don’t know of any. Because the gay culture is obsessed with everything straight and femininity has been under attack for so many years, there aren’t any up and coming drag artists. Gay culture isn’t paying attention to it, and straight people don’t either. There aren’t any drag clubs to go to in New York. I see more drag clubs in Los Angeles than in New York, which is so odd because L.A. has never been about club culture.

DS: Michael Musto told me something that was opposite of what you said. He said he felt that the younger gays, the ones who are up-and-coming, are over the body fascism and more willing to embrace their feminine sides.

RP: I think they are redefining what femininity is, but I still think there is a lot of negativity associated with true femininity. Do boys wear eyeliner and dress in skinny jeans now? Yes, they do. But it’s still a heavily patriarchal culture and you never see two men in Star magazine, or the Queer Eye guys at a premiere, the way you see Ellen and her girlfriend—where they are all, ‘Oh, look how cute’—without a negative connotation to it. There is a definite prejudice towards men who use femininity as part of their palette; their emotional palette, their physical palette. Is that changing? It’s changing in ways that don’t advance the cause of femininity. I’m not talking frilly-laced pink things or Hello Kitty stuff. I’m talking about goddess energy, intuition and feelings. That is still under attack, and it has gotten worse. That’s why you wouldn’t get someone covering the RuPaul album, or why they say people aren’t tuning into the Katie Couric show. Sure, they can say ‘Oh, RuPaul’s album sucks’ and ‘Katie Couric is awful’; but that’s not really true. It’s about what our culture finds important, and what’s important are things that support patriarchal power. The only feminine thing supported in this struggle is Pamela Anderson and Jessica Simpson, things that support our patriarchal culture.
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