Things you probably didn’t know about medieval lesbians

But there was a medical condition recognized by medieval authorities that might cause normally heterosexual women to become lesbians. It was called ragadiae. According to Carolyn Dinshaw, who is your go-to scholar for weird medieval sexuality, William of Saliceto’s 1285 Summa conservationis et curationis or “Bumper Book of Treatments and Cures” defines ragadiae as fleshy growths, often in the shape of a penis, caused by difficult childbirth, other abscesses of the womb, or sometimes friction from excessive sexual intercourse. Women who found themselves in possession of these growths would sometimes subsequently develop a desire to use them to have sex with other women.

http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2007/07/if-medieval-lesbians-dont-get-you-back.html

Good things

I had a really good Sunday (kayaking then a few blissed out hours in the sun (! actual sun!) in the beer garden of the local lezza bar), then a crap Monday morning – visa hassles for Turkey, my porridge exploded, I forgot my Oyster card, the bus was diverted, blah blah blah. So this story in The Age about the power of learning and the benefits of the internet has helped renew my happy Sunday mood.

Armed only with his intelligence, a book on electricity, some plastic piping and found objects, Kamkwamba built his first windmill, which generated enough power to run a light in his room.
His second, larger windmill uses a bicycle to increase efficiency and was able to generate power for his parents’ house and charge car batteries or mobile phones for people in his village.

Hopefully he won’t end up wasting his life on social networking sites like the rest of us.

This has cheered me up:

THE Howard Government has been accused of failing to provide moral leadership on crucial issues by the newly named Younger Victorian of the Year.
Tom O’Connor, Victorian director of the youth poverty-fighting group the Oaktree Foundation, used yesterday’s award presentation to launch a blistering attack on the Federal Government.
While he was “humbled” to receive the award, Mr O’Connor stressed he was accepting it on behalf of a generation that expected moral leadership from government.

The Age: Young state award winner lets fly at Howard Government