Thanks to some background Sci-Fi I put on yesterday I have completed my first mini-collection for your next "movie" night. Enjoy with popcorn!

Theme: Amnesia Slavery

Farscape "Thank God It's Friday, Again"

S01.E6 aired Jan 17, 2000

During an excursion to the planet Skykar, D'Argo decides he no longer wants to travel on Moya, but become a harvester of Tannot root like all the drone-like inhabitants of the planet. (...) Crichton works to free both D'Argo and Zhaan from the effects of the Tannot root before the Skykarian leader enslaves them all and takes over Moya.

Stargate SG-1 "Beneath the Surface"

S04.E10 aired Nov 8, 2000

The SG-1 team awake to find they have lost their memories. They believe they are workers in an underground power station. They are told that they are helping to preserve life during an ice age. In truth, they are slave labor to a huge domed city above.

Star Trek Voyager "Workforce"

Two parts, S07.E15  and S07.E15 aired May 21, 2002 and Apr 28, 2002 respectively

Almost the entire Voyager crew has been abducted and brainwashed to serve as workers in a severely short-handed industrial alien society.

(Why yes, I also spend inordinate amount of time on TV Tropes as well, why do you ask)

One of the tales starts as many tales do: Alonuszka's mother dies, and her father remarries. Her father's new wife is a horrible step mother, and her daughter, now Alonuszka's step sister, even more so. One fateful night they conspire together to be rid of Alonuszka and leave her in the cold, snowy forest.

As she shivers and settles for the night at the foot of a tree, a winter wind comes to nip at her. Are you cold, Alonuszka, he asks repeatedly as he increases in ferocity and strength. And each time Alonuszka says no, I'm warm wind, I'm warm.

When she wakes in the morning safe and sound she is surrounded by chests of gold and gems.

Her greedy stepmother then hatches a new plan and sends out the step sister to the forest to get more gems; alas that girl is not so resilient and tells it to the wind straight: I'm cold. She is found dead in the morning.

The moral of the story is supposed to be that you will be rewarded for your resilience. Your grit. Your ability to persevere. To face adversity and withstand it. You will be in turn punished for complaining and for saying it like it is.

This story has been living rent free in my head since my childhood because it's a terrible goddamn moral.

Few tales highlight this, and therefore few people consider, that the requirement to demonstrate such grit is conditional on your circumstances. If you are reading this it's unlikely you're a little girl living in an ancient Russian forest. It's unlikely you've been left for dead in the middle of the night. It's also unlikely that a magical winter wind will make you rich if you put up with it.

As a society in general we are taught by tales, fairy tales, religious teachings, and through elevating individuals who have overcome some great difficulty, that the ability to overcome adversity, or insurmountable odds, is a virtue.

You can spin around on your toe, stop when you get dizzy, point in a random location and find some fucker who will tell you that doing things the hard way builds character.

Nobody ever has the answer to the question of "how much character is enough" before you can stop doing things the hard way. No such person ever has the answer to whether doing things the hard way, when an easier way is in fact available, also builds character, or is it just a weird flex.

Nobody ever talks about those people who didn't overcome the adversity, and became broken shells along the way. Is it still virtuous to overcome adversity and tell others to do so, knowing that many won't? Knowing that many will then think poorly of themselves, if they survive at all, despite the game being stacked against them?

And like, sure, I myself exercise a weird flex every now and then, of doing things the hard way when an easier way is available. It's one way I learn. But I sure as fuck don't do this to myself when it comes to washing dishes. Or laundry. Or cooking. A solution already exists.

So take this from me as a permission to choose the easier way if one is available to you. Get that vacuuming robot. Splurge on a new can opener. Hire a maid.

These are the same people who will use a Dvorak layout for shits and giggles, but it is really for equal measure of "mine don't touch" effect and air of superiority and then tell you that Dvorak layout is better than qwerty and they type so much faster, but you know that really they're just an asshole, trying to be special, with their fancy, expensive, alien looking peripherals.

The rest of us won't be caught dead using an ergonomic device unless we absolutely must just so we won't be tarred with the same brush as those guys. We instinctively know it's the same thing as with wearing non-prescription glasses: I won't look down on you if you need prescription glasses, but we all know no well adjusted person every wanted to wear glasses when they didn't have to.

People who use specialised devices due to injury or disability would never think to go and recommend or lord them over others.

20/20 vision just a pair of empty frames
Dressing like a nerd although I never got the grades
I remember when the kids at school would call me names
Now we're taking over their estates
Woah ho

So when I started to complain about strain in my wrist and then started shopping for a new mouse I resisted with all my might from falling into the ergonomic device trap.

I failed.

And now I must tell you how awesome it is. I'm that person now. Them the rules.

My new shiny mouse

My new ergonomic mouse is a Logitech because of course it is. ^[1]

They have two ranges, Lift and MX Vertical. While I don't exactly delight in products being specifically marketed to women^[2], I have such very small hands^[3] that I had to go for the Lift. I was going to buy it for myself but my husband had beaten me to the punch and bought it for me for my birthday. Yay! New toy!

I unpacked it greedily and braced for a long adjustment process going from a standard mouse to an ergonomic one, but you know what? It didn't happen. The mouse immediately felt like an extension of my hand. The tracker wheel is exactly where I expected it to be. The side buttons are accessible yet out of the way. The weight is just right. It's just excellent. I'm completely in love.

The real trial, of course, was putting it to the test while gaming... and again, I sorta forgot I had a mouse in hand at all. Even during a long Diablo II Resurrected session I hadn't noticed any performance issues, and most importantly, I didn't feel I needed a forearm massage afterwards.

It now has been several months of using this mouse and I report the wrist strain has not returned, whether I sit in an ergonomic position at my desk or slouch like an absolute goblin shrimp.

The one complaint

The only thing that I would complain about here is the connectivity options. As a longtime Logitech user I have a drawer-full of unifying receivers. The new mouse however uses the new Bolt receiver, or alternatively Bluetooth.

Bluetooth performance was absolutely rubbish with the cursor stopping-and-jumping, a tell-tale sign of interrupted connectivity. I tried to troubleshoot the issue, but after spending an hour on it I eventually gave up - I had better things to do. Furthermore getting a Bluetooth device paired on the same PC dual-booted with Linux and Windows is not something I particularly care for: either you manually register the device with the same ID on both OSs (technically difficult and error prone task) or you have to re-pair it every time you switch (a horrid chore). I had little choice as a result to use the Bolt connector.

Bolt and Unifying receiver devices however are not cross-compatible so I couldn't connect my new mouse to the existing receiver, nor my older K520 keyboard to the Bold receiver. Result? two USB ports being hogged by input devices - not great.

At the end of the day though I must say - these mice are pricey but entirely worth it. Go get one.

1. Over a decade ago one of my Logitech mice broke, and I called their support asking if they have repair instructions. Instead they asked me if I have the original receipt or invoice (I did) and to send it into their support mailbox. Then they asked me for my mailing address and to pick a new mouse from their online store that I liked, because they are so very sorry, the one I have is no longer produced. I got a new mouse of my choice the following week. This experience made me Logitech girl for life.

I'm not affiliated with Logitech in any way and won't get any monies from hawking their products. Which is a little bit of a shame but c'est la vie.

2. Wait, how do I know it's marketed to women? Well, there are only women in their promotional video and the Lift is available in White and Pink in addition to the traditional black. MX Vertical is only available in black and has both men and women in their video, but male hands dominate. Their promo video also emphasises engineering that went into the design of the mouse, rather than ergonomics, instagram-worthy interiors, and yoga poses seen in Lift video. See for yourself:
Lift Mouse
Lift Mouse Promo Video
MX Vertical Mouse
MX Vertical Promo Video

3. My hands are 17cm long and 8cm wide. I wear gloves US size S and EU size 7. I think Lift will be also comfortable for people in US size XS or M / EU size 6 or 8, but if you have larger hands than that you'll probably want MX Vertical.

In the summer its green leaves keep our rooms in cool shade. The branches dance on the wind casting a mosaic of shadow and light in our bedroom and office floor and walls. Within the thicket of its branches magpies, pigeons, and a host of smaller birds find respite and plenty of space to nest.

That's of course until last week.

Last week the country was reeling after the storm Isla and bracing for the next one. The night before, the branches of the flowering cherry tree scraped and banged against the outside wall of our apartment making an ungodly noise, so when tree surgeons appeared in our courtyard on Tuesday morning - just in time before the next storm - I thought they were there to clean up the damage from the night before. They started their chainsaws and got to work. We lowered our blinds for privacy.

Two hours later they were still at it and I peered through the blind, concerned. I looked at the cherry tree - or rather what was left of it - in horror.

Several large branches were removed. All small branches at lower levels were gone too. Main trunk and three main branches remained, splitting up higher up, but trimmed almost entirely bare. By lunchtime only high up smaller branches remained, reaching up to the pale winter sky with skeleton fingers as if calling for aid.

Of course I know they're professionals. I know that what they did is probably the best for the tree, curtailing its growth in a limited space while keeping it alive. I know it's going to recover in a couple of years. I intellectually know this to be true. But I also know that there will not be a joyous cascade of pale flowers this year. I won't be spying on bumblebees' labour from my window. I won't delight in the dense dark green canopy shrouding me from the sun and the prying eyes.

The tree feels naked. Standing by the window now I too feel naked. And I feel very robbed of the future joy I was looking forward to all this dreadful and difficult winter.

So on Tuesday last week I wept for a flowering cherry tree.

On Wednesday I attended my friend's funeral.

Living in the city centre it is sometimes easy to forget how beautiful Ireland is when you escape the concrete grip of Dublin. In amongst the breathtaking greenery of Wicklow, even in the depths of winter, it's almost easy to forget why we're here. The morning is bright and brisk but a haze rises around as if you were watching the forest breathe.

Her coffin is emblazoned with an abstract painting in all the colours of the rainbow. We grin - of course it is! The service is relentlessly cheerful and hopeful, and the eulogy celebrates her in all possible ways. They hardly mention the cancer. We laugh at all the wonderful anecdotes, standing under the speaker outside of a fully packed church, rubbing our hands together to keep the chill at bay. It's impossible to weep.

I don't find the strength to see her being lowered into the ground.

After the service we join family and friends in the local pub. Neither of us are drinking that afternoon, so we nurse our teas and coffees and scoff the sandwiches and soup. We talk about everything but the funeral. There's an upcoming wedding in a few weeks; one of us has a new job offer; we discuss industry news.

In the evening I go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, an appointment I couldn't move. She tells me of two people she knows who took their own lives, both just the previous Friday. During the procedure she pauses; her son just lost his first tooth. We talk about the tooth fairy. Derry Girls is on the telly. As I leave she promises things can only get better.

Thursday I'm back at work. By Friday evening my throat's sore. By Saturday I have a fever. It takes a special kind of luck to get the flu at a funeral.

It's Tuesday again, I sit in my home office trying to concentrate on work. The worst is behind me but I'm tired from the illness. It's too bright. I feel watched. I want to go back to bed.

Outside, just at the eye level, I see the stump of what was a major branch of the cherry tree. My eyes well up.

It's not the same, I can't stop but think, but at least I'll still get to see this flowering cherry go through another spring.

Donate, if you can, to Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services below

Personal Donation

Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services

Alert groups that are captured by Grafana OnCall can send out notifications via various channels, as configured in the settings, and in the escalation chains. These are email, Slack, telegram, and outgoing webhooks ^[1].

To send email you need to have an existing SMTP mail server, and an email user with a password. For the use case I was working on, there wasn't an existing dedicated email address for this, and relaying emails via the existing SMTP server as it was set up proved challenging. It also wasn't important what the alert's outgoing email address or domain was, so the cheapest, reliable, and fastest to set up option was signing up a mailbox.org account ^[2] .

Mailbox.org is an email hosting provider and you can get a mailbox for as little as €1 a month, with their standard tier clocking €3 a month, and premium €9 a month. You can see the features in each pricing plan here.

When you sign up for mailbox.org account they will provide you with the mail client configuration settings (in Connect your device section) which look like this:

We can ignore the entire part about the incoming server settings, as we are only using this mailbox to send email. Take note of the outgoing server settings.

This is where things can go terribly wrong, and did for me. Pay particular attention to the port number. We will get to this a little later.

Configuring the server settings in Grafana OnCall

Grafana OnCall fundamental configuration can be seen in the Env Variables section in the User Interface. As an admin you can reveal all the environment variables on that screen, except for the keys and passwords, and change or set new values. It's worth noting that there are three ways any of these values can be set:

• the default value set by Grafana OnCall
• the environment variable set at, or before the plugin start time
• the value set in the Grafana OnCall UI

Environment variables override defaults, and the value set in UI overrides environment variables.

The following values can set to allow for sending of email ^[3]:

• EMAIL_HOST - SMTP server host
• EMAIL_HOST_USER - SMTP server user
• EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD - SMTP server password
• EMAIL_PORT (default is 587) - SMTP server port
• EMAIL_USE_TLS (default is True) - To enable/disable TLS
• EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS (optional) - Email address used to send emails. If not specified, EMAIL_HOST_USER will be used.

For the mailbox.org configuration these values would be as follows:

• EMAIL_HOST - smtp.mailbox.org
• EMAIL_HOST_USER - your email address
• EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD - your account password
• EMAIL_PORT - 465
• EMAIL_USE_TLS  - True
• EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS - your email address

With the first four values being the minimum required, as the EMAIL_USE_TLS is already enabled by default, and EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS being optional, and defaulting to the EMAIL_HOST_USER value.

• You should set EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS if your email provider login is not the full email address (for example just the local part before @ and domain) or if you are using an alias.

Here is where things can go terribly wrong.

While mailbox.org does accept emails on port 465, and Grafana will send emails to that port without displaying or logging an error, they will never arrive.

Given that as a user you will not have access to the mailbox.org SMTP server logs, and neither did I, I can't confirm what precise type of failure occurred, however I can highlight several things:

• in one yet unresolved GitHub issue there's a mention of port 465 no longer being supported
• IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) has reassigned this port to other services, with port 587 being used for message delivery
• unsetting the port number to default to port 587 solved the email delivery issue, therefore mailbox.org does allow message delivery on that port as an alternative to 465 - and it's likely they have failed to update their UI and/or documentation to indicate the port change

If you are having a similar issue, I recommend to use 587 as a part of your troubleshooting process and reach out to your email service provider if they don't accept emails on that port - they're messing up.

Testing your setup

Once all your environment variables are set correctly and they're displaying in the Env Var section in your Grafana OnCall, you'll need to test the setup.

1. Navigate to the Users section and find a user you wish to send a notification to. Select Edit and set Default Notifications channel to Email. Ensure an email address is visible on the left hand side panel
2. Navigate to the Escalation Channels section and ensure you have an Escalation Channel with a Default notification to the aforementioned user. If no Escalation Channels exist, create one
3. Navigate to the Integrations section and ensure that you have at least one integration. Ensure that it has the aforementioned Escalation Chain assigned to the integration
4. Click on "Send demo alert" button
5. Navigate to the Alert groups and open your demo alert. On the right hand-side in Timeline you will see Grafana OnCall proceed through the Escalation Chain and attempt to send an email to the selected user
6. Observe the destination mailbox and see if the email arrives

If you did everything right, you should see the following message in the timeline:

sent email message to user.name

and an email should arrive in that user's mailbox.

1. Grafana cloud offering also integrates with other services, but I'm only going to talk about the open source version.
2. I'm not afiliated with mailbox.org, and this is not an advert or a particularly strong recommendation. It's just what I happened to use for this job. Other email hosting providers are available. YMMV.
3. This is per Grafana OnCall documentation.

• Firefox is now a snap by default
• Snaps run in sandboxed mode
• As a result Firefox Snap Gnome Shell Integration Addon can’t connect to the local Gnome Shell Connector
• This occurs even if you follow all the installation steps for the addon, and the connector

Instead extensions can be installed manually from a zip file.

Instructions

I’ll be using Bluetooth Quick Connect as an example.

1. Download an extension from https://extensions.gnome.org
2. Check the extension metadata for UUID

unzip -c ~/Downloads/bluetooth-quick-connectbjarosze.gmail.com.v29.shell-extension.zip metadata.json | grep uuid | cut -d \" -f4bluetooth-quick-connect@bjarosze.gmail.com

3. Extract the file into ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/<extension UUID>

unzip -q bluetooth-quick-connectbjarosze.gmail.com.v29.shell-extension.zip -d ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/bluetooth-quick-connect@bjarosze.gmail.com

4. Restart gnome shell

killall gnome-shell

5. Open Gnome Extensions UI — the new extension will be visible and can now be further enabled and configured

Sources:

• Manual Installation of GNOME Extension from ZIP File
• How to install Gnome Shell Extensions from ZIP file using command line on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux

More reading:

• Snaps in Ubuntu Core
• Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

It was my mum whom also gave me my “midnight, year 2000” haircut, which was the first time I had really short hair. Mind you, I had some bobs, some fringes, some other inventions in between. But the year 2000 was supposed to be somehow different, and new — and I got a pixie cut.

But even when short, it was straight, and fringly, and not at all like the cute pixie cuts of my school friends got, who went to hairdressers all the time.

The first time I cut my own hair was sometime in mid 2000’s. I had just finished school, and it was the summer, and in a few short months I was going to move to Ireland. I cut it just above the shoulder, and then I used a sharp shaving razor on the outside of it to give myself “layers”. It was a terrible cut, I know that now, but my hair responded to it like a desert after a storm and bounced! oh how it bounced, with curls emerging and swirling around in joyous messy halo. I was elated.

When I moved to Ireland, I got a job, and money, and then eventually: a haircut. But this time I knew what I wanted, and was brave enough to ask. Layers. All the layers. To let the curls out.

I remember the first time I coloured my hair. It was shortly after the disappointment of the first hairdresser cut. I wanted better hair. I wanted it so much I went to the local shop, and with money I made selling my lunch to my cousin, I bought two sachets of cheapest temporary hair colour in mahogany.

Of course when your hair is long, thick, frizzy, and that ashy shade of brown that just doesn’t want to be coloured, no temporary hair colour will do. At the very best it gave my hair je-ne-sais-quoi sheen when viewed from a certain angle in a certain light.

I was hooked. Even the je-ne-sais-quoi was better than a decidedly cold, almost-gray brown I had been sporting all this time.

In high school I discovered auburn shades which, when applied liberally and for way longer than the package instructed, did have an effect in making me less stern-looking. Then I lied through my teeth that yes, I did want my hair to match my eyes.

I didn’t tell anyone that it didn’t matter what the colour was, so long as it wasn’t my own.

Each time I buy a new pack of dye, each time I apply it, with sure, practised moves in front of the bathroom mirror, mopping away any stray drips and drops, I ask myself: am I vain? Is it vanity to hate your own hair colour for so long, and so vehemently, that you can’t bring yourself to leave it alone?

Each time I book my expensive hair appointment at the fancy city center hairdresser with the one and only stylist who “gets” my hair I ask myself; have I gone too far? Is this too much money and time to spend on oneself?

Now that I’ve started going grey I tell myself there’s no going back, that the dye will go in no matter what colour it may be.

Now that I’m no longer a rumpled teen climbing down from a tree with a paperback under my arm it would be unprofessional to have my hair roughly chopped into a bathroom sink.

The cost of non-participation in the social dance of “taking pride in your look” is steep for a woman. To be well dressed, well made up or well groomed is a necessity. One ignores the rites of signalling at ones peril. It would be less of a statement to dye my hair purple, or the luminous red that I wear today, than to not dye my hair at all.

So am I vain? Would my own colour be just fine? Would trimming my own bangs, and clipping my own split ends be just fine? Or is my search for the perfect colour and cut combination that reflects me and my place in society just as much as a necessity as brushing my teeth?

The latter may be true but there’s something else that’s just as true.

In the dark recesses of my mind lives a woman whom I want to become: she looks at herself in the mirror and she knows she’s beautiful.

It’s a bit phablety (clumsy phone + tablet portmanteau, which is fitting) but other than that no major issues. Except for the TouchPal.

Some Googling will tell you that “HTC is using TouchPal as the onscreen keyboard for HTC 10 due to its popularity and extensive features.” What it doesn’t tell you however is that TouchPal has the ability to push ads to your notifications. True Story. I was just offered 60% on something — and I’m not sure what it was entirely because tapping on the notification brought me to a website so dodgy-looking that it evoked the internet of the 90’s (oh Angelfire, how I miss you) and that my first reaction was to terminate the app, then google for the answers. It was then that I discovered that TouchPal is defacto the keyboard for HTC and that getting rid of it is quite the pain: even if you download another keyboard app, TouchPal will offer itself as an option all the time.

The reviews say as much in the Play Store:

So here’s the rundown on how to be done with it entirely without rooting your phone.

A little disclaimer. I have a HTC Desire 825 running Android 6.0.1 with TouchPal for HTC Sense version 5.7.9.1. These steps work for me but your mileage may vary. Some users have reported that the app re-enables itself at a later stage — If that happens, I will report this here.

Follow at your own risk.

1. Download an alternative keyboard. Once you disable TouchPal, you still need to be able to type and for that you need a keyboard app. I went with Google Keyboard but others such as Swype or Swiftkey are also popular.
2. Once downloaded, open your new keyboard app and follow the instructions on screen. They will help you set up the new keyboard as default and choose layout, skin and languages.
3. Go to Settings -> Apps and using the menu in the upper right-hand side corner select Show System. Type in search “TouchPal” to filter down to TouchPal and its packages.
4. You will see the main app named “TouchPal — HTC Sense Version” and a lot of language packs / skin packs.
5. Tap into the main app and select “Disable” and then “Force Stop”
6. In “notifications” section select “Block All”
7. (Optional) Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the language packs and skin packs. There’s tons of them. This one is just “nuke it from the orbit” option for the patient.
8. Tada! You have now gotten rid of TouchPal as a keyboard option and stopped it from sending push notifications.

I hope this helps and saves you some time searching for a solution!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who experiences this feeling of wistfulness and melancholy as autumn rolls in and summer rolls out. The yellowing leaves, the promise of winter in the air, evenings growing colder by the day, create within me the inescapable desire to wrap up in blankets, drink tea, eat soup while listening to the howling of the wind and pitter-patter of rain on the window sill. I feel the passage of time keenly every darkening hour.

This years feels somehow different though. I don’t know why.

My perception of the everyday life is both clearer and at the same time, more abstracted from reality, somehow removed. I go through my days and truly enjoy moments yet I feel sad about their passing. It’s like finishing a really nice dessert or going through a big long farewell.

Maybe it’s just the autumn melancholy speaking. And maybe it’s just because I have a cold and pseudoephedrine makes me feel funny. But maybe, just maybe, it is a goodbye; goodbye to the old and a premonition of something new around the corner.

After our glorious holidays in France I’m in the most flabby range that I have been in a long time. Probably ever. (Checks scales) yes, ever.

I have been struggling with my weight for a good few years and I’ve been losing weight with moderate success only to regain it later. I would very much like to reverse this trend. This year has been the year of big changes already — and I think it’s time to try again.

I have no illusions on the cause of my weight gain. I’m a big foodie and I love quality food, lots of it. I lead a sedentary lifestyle. I snack. On top of that I really like my drink, the cause and the solution to all life problems. I’m also a coeliac, which makes my dietary decisions already difficult. All those things add up, a kilo at a time.

I have also no illusions on the motivation to lose weight. Some women think that dieting in order to lose weight is anti-feminist and we should love ourselves and be loved by others no matter the weight we are. And I agree to a point — I don’t judge anyone on their weight, neither do I like being judged upon it. But neither will I judge anyone if they want to change it — we all struggle with our body image one way or another. Saying “but you look great!” doesn’t really help. I am clinically overweight — so here’s one reason to shed some kilos — and not immune, as much as I would like to say I am, to the dream of a beautiful, fit body and that of well fitting clothes a size smaller than ones I wear now — so here’s another reason. I want to be healthy but hey, if it comes with me fitting into that fab Little Black Dress again, pretty please with a cherry on a top. Is it vain? Oh yeah, totally. And I’m OK with that.

What does it all lead to? I’m going to try harder this time, using all the tools at my disposal, to get back to healthy weight by the end of the year and I’ll try to record these attempts here. This will serve as a diary for me — to keep track of what worked, what didn’t, and see what the patterns are. I hope it will serve as an inspiration to others — or at least, a hideous warning :).

Here goes nothing.

These guys, Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, have given me shivers and made the hair on my arms stand up.

Gender bias is omnipresent and if you don't believe me, I'll illustrate it for you:

This is a Fairy washing-up liquid inviting one to be a Fairy Godmother in support of the Make a Wish foundation. Most people will probably see nothing wrong with this packaging, until pointed out: this is advertising on a washing up liquid bottle targeted solely towards women. Women are Godmothers - men are Godfathers, that alone is obvious. Women wash-up, men don't - that's what is the message.

I invite you to ponder for just a little moment about the images those words bring to your mind: Godmother and Godfather.

Godmother or even Fairy Godmother, brings to mind Disney princesses.
Godfather brings to mind Vito Corleone.

What if the bottle said Fairy Godfather instead? What would be the picture in your mind then? This is the one that came to my mind:

Hilarious, right? :)

Thus, we are left with a question: why does the Fairy Godmother on a washing-up liquid seems so normal, but a Fairy Godfather not so much?