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Below are the most recent 50 friends' journal entries.
- Google is using Artifical Intelligence to catalogue everything
(tags: ai google ) - Why Buy When You Can Make It Yourself? This Startup Lets You Do Both
(tags: building design craftwork ) - What kind of NHS can Britain afford?
(tags: uk nhs ) - EU sets timeline for single telecoms market
(tags: europe telephones ) - Prospect of EU exit boosts support for Scottish Independence
(tags: scotland uk europe independence ) - I want this t-shirt very badly.
(tags: awesome t-shirt meme ) - Baby's First Mythos: Learning With Lovecraft
(tags: cthulhu kickstarter ) - A brilliant tearing apart of the recent Star Trek movie. Which is right about everything (I still loved it)
(tags: StarTrek ) - The US government goes to war on journalism
(tags: journalism usa viafanf ) - BBC News - Yahoo 'to buy Tumblr for $1.1bn'
(tags: posttofacebook news social media blogging Yahoo tumblr Internet ) - Chicago Grid | Eight nerds get rich off a game that makes Oprah sob into a Lean Cuisine
'Cards Against Humanity has made well more than $12 million, all because some Highland Park 20-somethings wanted to avoid conversation.'
(tags: amusing awesome business culture gaming geek money posttofacebook via James Graham ) - Scotland's tough call: stay in the UK, or stay in the EU? | Angus Roxburgh | Comment is free | The Guardian
'It's the bad luck of the Scots. You wait a lifetime for a referendum, and then two of the damned things come along at once, each profoundly influencing the other.'
(tags: Scotland politics posttofacebook europe Scottish independence news EU interesting ) - Intervision Song Contest - Wikipedia
'The competition had an interesting way of voting. Because lot of citizens did not have phones, viewers would turn on lights if they liked the song or turned them off if they didn’t like the song. According to load experienced on the electrical network, points were granted accordingly to each contestant.'
(tags: music technology posttofacebook clever via andrew ducker interesting voting )
| Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 | ||
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3:20PM
rufinia Link |
Ugh, Panteria packing list It's been so long since I've been to a sort-of camping event, and it's made more challanging by the fact that my camp bedding never made it home from Pennsic two years ago. So. Riding stuff (which I already found!): breeches, boots, chaps, gloves, helmet, knee brace (just in case), riding tunics. Garb: two linen stolas, one wool, one or two (depending on what I can find) tunicae, one linen palla, one wool, wool cloak, strophia, hat box with associated hat and hair cruft, socks for under my riding boots and warm socks for the evenings, sensible shoes. Bedding: pillow, sheet, doubled fleece blanket, furry fleece blanket? do I still even own a sleeping bag? heavy wool blanket, jammies w/wool socks, feather bed for on top of the mattress (oh right, like you wouldn't if you had one). Toiletries, feast gear, crafty thing to work on while gossiping. | |
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2:52PM
james_nicoll Link |
Jasmine's obit for Mr. Bean
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2:08PM
torrain Link |
Success. Ish. All 93 issues of Heavy Metal rehomed, and someone is willing to take the laptop despite its occasional "oh, were you doing something? sorry, I am busy being a frozen brick now" tendencies[1], so that's good. Also there's a garage sale on our street this Saturday; looking to maybe get some stuff out. The carrybag for the laptop has a half-busted zipper (it's double-ended, so you can still close it 2/3s of the way). Am trying to decide if that should mean toss it (I have tried but cannot repair it myself, and zipper replacement tends to run $1-2 per inch), keep it for knitting-projects-etcetera, or send it off with the laptop and let the new owners decide. Also trying to catch up on reading (I had one of those horribly embarrassing moments cleaning the library[2]), clean all the dishes etcetera because we're getting our first box of vegetables tonight and it will be good to have all implements and all counter space available while we decide what to do with them, catch up on laundry, and possibly finish going through the box of things that Absolutely Need Putting Away from the coffee table. (I am a third of the way through it. It doesn't seem like enough.) If I am feeling better later, may try to reseed a patch of the back yard, but I don't think that's happening today. ...when I write it out, it sounds productive. I'm not sure if this is a clever illusion or not. --- [1] Which mostly kick in when it moves or tilts. Very annoying behaviour for a portable. [2] "Wait, I own this[3]? Dammit. I had to borrow it from a friend to read it." [3] This, in this case, being Coraline. (This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth) Current Mood:  busy | |
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1:57PM
ladysisyphus Link |
[ogmst] Alpert, Like Bread on the Seder Plate Okay! Dissertation proposal accepted, comps scheduled for August, time to read some shit! As always: probably not interesting to anyone else, but read along with my notes as you like. Alpert, Rebecca. Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition, 1997. ( mmm breadyCollapse ) Current Mood:  thirsty | |
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1:28PM
yendi Link |
For anyone wondering why it took so long for anyone to take the IRS claims seriously It might have something to do with the Republicans crying wolf so many damned times. | |
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5:00PM
ursulav Link |
Digger Omnibus Kickstarter Coming Soon! Well, the title more or less says it all, but let me say it again. We want to do an omnibus edition of Digger. You guys asked (repeatedly!) and we think it’s a great idea! The downside (and the reason we haven’t done it already) is that hardcover omnibuseseses require a big chunk of cash up front—we’re talking a big print job here, on the order of the Bone omnibus edition, and that does not run cheap. (Plus, of course, while people keep asking, we’re talking a spendy beast here and we want to make sure there’s enough interest to justify doing it!) Plus, if we get a LOT of interest, we can do all kinds of neat extras, like color inserts and cover embossing and extra stories and giant wombat balloons in the Macy’s Day Parade!* So, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be Kickstartering! And we will have all kinds of neat goodies for sponsors (postcards! pins! pickaxes!) and also all kinds of mildly absurd goodies for sponsors (I believe at one level, I name a tree in the yard after you and put a little plaque with your name on it…) so watch this space for more information! You’ll be the first to know!
(Also, hey, Digger got nominated for the Mythopoeic Award, which is neat, too!)
*One of these things is a bald-faced lie. Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there. | |
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12:09PM
james_nicoll Link |
Alec Ash's Science Fiction in China: A Conversation with Fei Dao Nicked from Randy McDonald
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12:01PM
james_nicoll Link |
Can Americans Understand Eurovision One pundit is skeptical. Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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11:46AM
james_nicoll Link |
Do you like a specific hazelnut chocolate spread? Well, don't mention it by name.
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8:38AM
nihilistic_kid Link |
Interview Nine years ago this week, the hardcover edition of Move Under Ground (now also on Kindle for $2.99, cheap!) was released. To celebrate, kind of, here's an extensive interview with me over at the Weird Fiction Review: Everything is terrible, everywhere. | |
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10:29AM
james_nicoll Link |
Casey Dreier's Planetary Science Echoes Through the Halls of Congress
 (To put this in perspective, the Canadian Space Agency's annual budget is something short of $500,000,000, which is why there aren't orbiters around other worlds with the Maple Leaf on one side). Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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10:27AM
sittingduck1313 Link |
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7:25AM
eyemage Link |
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10:00AM
james_nicoll Link |
Gollancz Masterworks f/m Series Total Female Male F/T Numbered paperback series 73 4 69 0.05 Unpublished titles 2 2 0 Hardcover titles 10 1 9 0.1 New design 62 12 50 0.19 Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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2:46PM
andrewducker Link |
I need to know about your morals! Poll #1914651 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 68 Using an ad-supported website with an adblocker turned on. Throwing away excess food Buying books,movies, DVDs, games, etc. second-hand Taking a tax deduction Downloading illegal digital copies of music you own Downloading illegal digital copies of books you own the paper versions of Downloading illegal TV that you would have eventually got legally for free, but not for aaaaaages Downloading a game/album/movie that you bought, but now the disc is missing/damaged Answering poll questions when, frankly, you should be working right now. (And as people seem to regularly be confused by this - you can change your answers by clicking on the poll link at the top after you've answered. And FB/Twitter users can answer if they log in.) Context. Oh, and there will be _no_ prize for the first person to start quibbling about whether downloading books that they don't own the copyright on is illegal in any given jurisdiction. | |
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9:39AM
james_nicoll Link |
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9:09AM
james_nicoll Link |
It's not exploration if it doesn't involve burly men and women in see-through space suits, From way back in 2006 (found because I was looking for a review of Gradisil).
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9:00AM
supergee Link |
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12:00PM
andrewducker Link |
Interesting Links for 21-05-2013 Original post on Dreamwidth - there are | |
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11:44AM
trailer_spot Link |
Blood Ties, August: Osage County, Europa Report, Blood, The Kings of Summer Blood Ties HD720p 22MB Trailer from France for this crime drama that's a remake of the French movie Rivals that marks the first English-language directorial effort by actor-director Guillaume Canet (Tell No One, Little White Lies), co-written with James Gray. The original starred Canet and François Cluzet. This version is set in 1974 New York. Fifty year-old Chris (Clive Owen) has just been released on good behaviour after several years in prison. Waiting for him reluctantly outside the prison gates is his younger brother, Frank (Billy Crudup), a cop with a bright future. The two have always been different, and their father (James Caan) seems strangely to prefer Chris. Yet blood ties are the ones that bind. Frank, hoping that his brother has changed, is willing to give him a chance; he shares his home, finds him a job, and helps him reconnect with his children and his ex-wife (Marion Cotillard). But Chris' past quickly catches up to him, and his descent back into a life of crime becomes inevitable. Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, Lili Taylor and Matthias Schoenaerts are also part of the cast. August: Osage County HD480p 17MB HD720p 29MB Big screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by Tracy Letts (who wrote the screenplay). It tells the dark, funny and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Star-studded cast includes Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney and Julianne Nicholson. Directed by John Wells (Company Men). Will in all likelihood be positioned as another Awards contender by the Weinsteins. Europa Report HD480p 25MB HD720p 89MB Trailer for this sci-fi movie that I think is actually more a horror movie made in found-footage style. It follows a contemporary mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to investigate the possible existence of alien life within our solar system. When unmanned probes suggest that a hidden ocean could exist underneath Europa's icy surface and may contain single-celled life a privately funded space exploration company, sends six of the best astronauts (among them Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Anamaria Marinca, Daniel Wu) from around the world to confirm the data and explore the revolutionary discoveries that may lie in the Europan ocean. After a near-catastrophic technical failure that leads to loss of communication with Earth the astronauts must overcome the psychological and physical toll of deep space travel. Also part of the cast are Embeth Davidtz, Dan Fogler and Isiah Whitlock Jr. The use of quotes in the trailer from sources few people visit for movie reviews indicates to me to keep expectations (very) low. Blood HD720p 23MB Dark crime thriller from the UK based on the BBC mini-series "Conviction". The Fairburn brothers (Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham) are detectives who have lived under the shadow of their police chief father (Brian Cox) – a man known for doing whatever it takes to get a confession. When the brothers take an interrogation too far, they raise the suspicions of their colleague (Mark Strong) and suddenly find themselves having to cover up their own crimes. Directed by Nick Murphy (The Awakening). Probably won't break new ground but the cast certainly makes it interesting. The Kings of Summer HD720p 50MB To lighten the mood, the redband trailer version for this very amusing looking coming-of-age comedic drama about three teenage friends who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Free from their parents' rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship as each boy learns to appreciate the fact that family - whether it is the one you're born into or the one you create – is something you can't run away from. Adult cast includes Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie and Mary Lynn Rajskub. | |
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11:21AM
bart_calendar Link |
The Lesbian Statutory Rape Meme Unless you've been living under a rock for the last week you know the story I'm referring to. A pretty 17 year old girl in Florida started dating a 14 year old girl. The 14 year old's parents were not amused and started taping the phone calls the girls had with each other. Shortly after the older girl turned 18 they taped a conversation where the two girls talked about eating each other out. They brought the case to the cops who arrested the girl - because by this point she was now more than three year older than her girlfriend which put her in violation of the law. The local public school then expelled the older girl. Her family has been screaming that this was motivated by homophobia because the younger girl's parents are super christian. The cops and the school are pretty much saying "a crime is a crime." Here's the thing - I get why the girl's family is screaming homophobia. It's really their only trump card to try to press the prosecutor to offer her a good deal and to poison the jury pool out there to make it hard to convict if it has to go to trial. But I don't think it does the gay rights cause any favors to jump on this bandwagon. Let's be honest here - if the younger girl's parents are super christian and they managed to get evidence that their 14 year old was sucking the dick of an 18 year old dude they would probably still have gone to the cops. Even if they weren't super christian a lot of families don't want their 14 year old daughters to be fucking anyone, male or female. And high school seniors get arrested for fucking freshman all the fucking time. As for the school expelling her. They have evidence that she has been charged with sexually assaulting one of their students. I'm sorry but no matter how sympathetic this girl may be - and a lot of the sympathy I suspect comes from her being white, blonde and feminine - if your school board is informed that a student has been accused of sexually assaulting another student it's their responsibility to remove her from the school. If they didn't and she got accused of eating out a different freshman they'd have a hell of a lawsuit on their hands. So, please excuse me if I don't share the outrage that most of the Internet has for this situation. Let's fight instances of homosexuals being treated differently by the system, not a situation where they were treated exactly the way a heterosexual person would have been. | |
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9:58AM
tyrell Link |
Flickr disaster The new Flickr redesign is a goddamn nightmare. I'm so upset. Ten years and 90,000 views and I'll be on a new site by the end of the month. What's wrong with it? Well, let's start with the basics: * Their new layout means that photos in a row are the same *height*, which makes landscape photos enormous and portrait ones have their impact severely reduced. In some rows, I have 7 portrait photos crammed in beneath 3 huge (but relatively boring) landscape ones. And to make it work, each row is a *different* height, meaning some of my portraits are TINY. * There's not enough white space between photos, so they intrude on each other, shouting for your attention. * Single photos now show up on a black background. You don't do that. You go with grey or white, it's a rule. But none of that is the big problem, just really clueless design flaws. The BIG problem is this: It makes your photos look insignificant and temporary. ...Because it looks like Google image search, or every other quick-search mobile device Windows-8 rubbish. Why am I so upset by this? I'm surprised to find that I really am. I think it's because I viewed my flickr page (which I loved) as a portfolio. I can't draw or paint, so I use my camera. By reducing the presentation of that, they've actually made me a worse artist. I don't want a site that makes VIEWING other people's photos easier and faster, I want one to SHOW my photos on to best effect. Yahoo don't care. Their clear plan is to get everyone to use the free accounts only, so that they can charge more for the new adverts they've put on your page. To help with that, FlickrPro accounts now don't give anything significant over free ones, and the only options from today forward are to get rid of the adverts or not. Other smaller issues with the redesign? Loads of them: * They're taking the stats and "who viewed you" feature out totally. This is insane. * The titles to the photos only appear on mouseover, the commentary and comments from others are only visible if click to view the photo on its own. Previously they've been set up to be part of the story, and people have written them with presenting on Flickr in mind. * The icons for your Sets are zoomed-in versions of the cover photos, with no options to change that, and the Sets no longer appear on the front page at all. * Instead of viewing lots of my friends' photos and choosing a few to look at in detail, I have to scroll past huge images for much longer. * It's much slower (loading) and people have reported problems getting it to even run on some machines. There's lots more but I'm too depressed. There's almost no aspect of this which doesn't appear amateurish or designed by someone with zero basic knowledge of how to present photographs. The loss is that there's a professional community out there who were linked to each other through flickr and they're almost unanimously horrified. Here's the official feedback thread. The comments are about 99% negative, which is hugely high even for an unannounced, mandatory roll-out like this. And they're not just a little bit negative, they're screaming. So, which site should I move to? Smugmug? Zenphoto? Snapfish? Photoshelter? Do any have a big enough community that people will actually see what I put up? | |
| Monday, May 20th, 2013 | ||
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11:57PM
herewiss13 Link |
Goodbye My dad died at home, early Friday morning. He'd been getting better, somewhat, and then he started getting worse again and then he...stopped. By the end he was completely non-responsive, but it was still a miracle month that let us say goodbye. The first coma in April was almost like a dress rehersal. I'm not really sure how I feel, right now. I love my Dad, but mostly it just feels like he's gone somewhere else...not metaphysically, but geographically. He managed one last trip to Spring Training in March. It's like that, like he's just not in town at present. And I'm pretty fine with that. It mostly felt the same way in college when my Grandmother passed away. But then there are those moments when something inside wells up and my heart just wrenches and I just don't know how I'm supposed to do this. I'm not ready. I haven't learned enough. You know; we never actually got around to changing a tire together. How am I supposed to learn now, if not from him? So many things left undone, so many ways I feel like I let him down...even though everyone maintains how proud he was of me (and, I must grudgingly admit, my brother). For the past week or two, I've found myself eulogizing in my head, which seemed so wrong when he wasn't even gone yet. It looks like the funeral on Saturday will be short and sweet, but I finally figured out what I might have said, so I'll say it here now: When my Dad worked in the yard, he worked in the yard 100% until everything was done (and usually paid for it the next day). And when my Dad watched sports, he watched them 100% until all the sports were done (usually while paying for the day before). And when he was having fun with his friends, he was having Fun with his Friends. Full stop. Dad lived in the moment, whatever the moment, better than anyone else I have ever known. I can sometimes match that level of "nowness" when a book gets really good, but usually my mind is a hamster-wheel ricocheting between future and past. I'm going to miss my Dad's calm present presence and I really hope I can someday learn to be as fully invested in the current moment as he could. | |
| Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 | ||
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8:20AM
vkup Link |
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| Monday, May 20th, 2013 | ||
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11:12PM
fengi Link |
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11:25PM
james_nicoll Link |
The Nina Allen 101 Women to Read Meme 101 Female F&SF authors you could try: ( Read more...Collapse ) Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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8:28PM
lurkerwithout Link |
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11:19PM
james_nicoll Link |
CBS Radio Workshop: The Ex-Urbanites The Ex-Urbanites A doleful morality tale about the fate that waits for those who make the fatal move out of New York and into the countryside. Although an endless struggle, mounting debt and alienation from their families are almost inevitable, the ex-ubanites are to respected for the example they set for lesser Americans. I don't recall the last time I read or heard something quite as aghast as this is at the idea of leaving the City. Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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11:12PM
james_nicoll Link |
CBS Radio Workshop: The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes This is a "story-ballad". A seemingly lucky win at cards leaves a chancer in possession of a magnificent silver horn and his ambition to learn to play it sends him straight on the path to hell. Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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9:08PM
yendi Link |
Worth noting Political memory is short, so for those who don't remember, here's the Senate vote on Hurricane Sandy relief. Note the presence of Inhofe and Coburn in the "no" column. When they inevitable request aid for OK, yes, they'll be a pair of hypocritical bastards. No, it doesn't mean OK should be denied the aid; the request is legitimate, and the people need help, not a pointless lesson in what a pair of shits they've elected. But the senators themselves damned well deserve to be raked over the fucking coals. And to get the fuck out of our government. (FYI, for those who don't know, my roots are in OK; my mom grew up in OK, and although I no longer have any family near any of the affected areas, it's still a part of my childhood.) | |
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8:13PM
kierthos Link |
yup Neverwinter did a rollback. I lost three levels in it, but considering that it took me just a couple hours to get those levels, it's not a big deal. Now from the bitching and whining, you'd think they did a complete wipe. Of course, there are some bitching and whining that they didn't do a complete wipe, so no matter what, there are unhappy people. This entry was originally posted at yah -> (http://kierthos.dreamwidth.org/1092 You can comment here or there. | |
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4:37PM
nihilistic_kid Link |
My Two Minutes Of International Fame and Shame So because I wrote Insults Every Man Should Know I was asked to speak on BBC5 about the weekend's row over swivel-eyed loons. I was told not to say the "f-word", the "c-word" or to "take the Lord's name in vain" but other than that anything would be fine. I was on for all of two minutes. We spoke very briefly about clever insults between politicians, and I pointed out that this case is different: it's someone insulting their own rank and file, not trying to either build a coalition by insulting some "outsider", nor is it performative like the barbs politicians trade as part of the election show. I was then asked to address what "swivel-eyed" might have meant. Me: "It's an ableist slur, it's basically saying that have a mental and physical disability...like calling someone spastic" Host: "Oh, spastic is an offensive term!" Me: "Well, yes..." Host: "Not appropriate for BBC radio" Me: "I'm explaining that it's an insult" Host: "We apologize to anyone who might be offended..." And after that I was asked about America and mentioned that John Adams once called Thomas Paine's Common Sense "crapulous" and I was off the air two seconds later. SUPERSTAR! | |
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6:47PM
james_nicoll Link |
“‘We Have Always Fought’: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle and Slaves’ Narrative” by Kameron Hurley
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6:46PM
yendi Link |
You know When the comment from the PE teacher on your daughter's mid-term report is, "social responsibility is inconsistent," that's a little like the high school equivalent of being on Nixon's enemies list, and the sort of thing that convinces me she's doing something right. Needless to say, her comments from her real teachers are all raves. Oh, and yes, I'm sure there are good K-12 gym teachers out there, just as there are good debt collectors, TSA employees, and televangelists out there. I haven't met any yet (don't get me started on the ones I dealt with growing up), and this one's the stereotype of the genre, right down to being a sub-literate bully. | |
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11:15PM
sparkindarkness Link |
On straight, cis folks and Civil Partnerships A day of debate on Marriage Equality has brought many things, lots of arseholery, of course – but bright sparks like Gerald Howarth’s nasty homophobia becoming that rather awesome #aggressivehomosexuals hashtag on twitter. Well played my siblings, well played indeed :). But it also brought a huge amount of debate about straight, cis folks (since there are straight trans people who are currently in civil partnerships) having access to civil partnerships and I am rather annoyed. So let’s look at that. Before I begin this, I feel the need to remind everyone what a civil partnership is and what it was created for – the history people like to forget It was not created as a choice equal to marriage that allowed you to gain some legal rights while avoiding the kyrarchy/tradition/religion/whatever connected to marriage. It was not a union that meant something different or special from marriage. It was not created as a union for people who are uncomfortable with marriage for whatever reason, want to protest marriage or object to marriage or change marriage or, indeed, do anything else to marriage, our culture, our society, our tradition, our religions or any other damn thing in the entire country or even the world. Now, it’s possible you can repurpose civil partnerships to do any or all of the above, but that wasn’t what it was created for. Civil partnerships were a turd of homophobia, polished up all shiny, to be fed to GBLT folks because we were fighting for some legal recognition and marriage was considered too shiny, too special, too precious to be sullied by the likes of us. It was a way to concede some of those rights while still making our lesser status in society clear and overt. It was another legal entry in the annals of “why nasty GBLT people are beneath the precious cishets”. It still is. Don’t ignore that. Don’t forget that history. To do so is dismissive, privileged and homophobic. And I say that as someone who is in a civil partnership and am painfully aware of how civil partnerships are treated. This is what we are trying to fight now with marriage equality. We are trying to remove the law that says we are less, our families are less, our loves, are less, we are less. We are trying to get the highest authority in the country to stop legitimising homophobia, to stop broadcasting that we are lesser people with inferior lives, to stop insisting that we are less due respect and full membership of society. That is marriage equality and that is what we are fighting. And there is a lot to fight – there are some very needed amendments for this bill coming up and some more Tory sabotage to fight against. But today we spent hours talking about cishet people and civil partnerships. I don’t know if Maria Miller is right and there will be all kind of delay for the bill – it’s likely she’s lying she is, after all, a politician and a Tory so chances are good. But I’m unwilling to take the risk and, regardless, we still spend hours during a debate on equality for GBLT people talking about the plight of bloody cishet people Does everything have to be about you? Seriously? Is it actually possible to do something without cishet people deciding they absolutely have to be involved? Do you want to take the turd that is civil partnerships and maybe use it to fertilise something better, something different? Great! Do so! By all means fight to use civil partnerships to create something good; so long as you remember and respect the history of civil partnerships and what they represented – AND STILL REPRESENT. Remember, civil partnership isn’t a special toy we got and you were denied, it’s the scraps off your table you expected us to settle for. Maybe you can make more of it than that – I hope you do. But do it on your own damn time. This law is about achieving equality and righting an injustice on a marginalised group. It is not about you, cishet people. But you are deciding to use us, our fight, our struggle to further your own goal. It doesn’t matter how interesting or worthy or progressive or excellent that goal is – it’s supremely entitled for you to jump on us like this for your own agenda – especially if you risk derailing or delaying our actual struggle for equality. | |
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6:01PM
supergee Link |
RIP Ray Manzarek I loved Ray Manzarek's organ music so much that I even tolerated the guy braying crap like "Our love become a funeral pyre" on his records. | |
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2:13PM
jwz Link |
Phrenology works. I can tell because of the pixels. Mike Pelletier: Lucy Skull The model of the skull was generated from a friend's dental tomography scan. The form of the object was created by creating an array of copies of the skull, where each successive copy of the skull is scaled, rotated, and moved. The skull starts at life size at the front and ends up rotated 180 degrees and two times larger than life at the back. Mirrored from jwz.org. | |
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11:34AM
duncan_blkthrne Link |
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2:33PM
netcrimes Link |
True Crime Online Newsletter - May 20, 2013 I couldn't make this up if I tried. . .Bing adds Klingon to translation tool http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/05/1 U.S. software giant Microsoft has added "Klingon" to its Bing translator to celebrate this week's release of "Star Trek: Into Darkness." The search engine partnered with Marc Okrand, the creator of the fictional language, to add the alien tongue to the translation tool, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Selecting Klingon on Bing causes a line to pop up indicating partnerships with Paramount and the non-profit Klingon Language Institute. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit WHOA on the web at http://www.haltabuse.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS TO USE AND PASS ALONG! (DISCLAIMER: The following news items were found on the web and were not written or endorsed by WHO@; they are for informational purposes only) Cyber bullying cases pass to private investigators - 05/21/13 http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/c POLICE are referring cases of Facebook cyber bullying to private investigators, telling them they neither have the time nor the expertise to deal with complaints from parents. Private investigators receive countless tip-offs from police through unofficial channels asking them to step in and solve cyber bullying crimes. FBI arrests Puerto Rico man for Twitter threat against well-known gay activist on island - 05/20/13 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/arres A man has been arrested in Puerto Rico for a Twitter post that threatened a gay activist and made a reference to the Boston Marathon bombing, the FBI said Monday. Joseph Morales Serrano was taken into custody at his home in San Juan on a charge of cyberbullying for allegedly posting the threatening message on May 6, according to Special Agent Moises Quinones, a spokesman for the FBI in the U.S. island territory. Indian policeman says 23 fake Facebook profiles opened in his name - 05/20/13 http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/05/2 A police officer in India says 23 fake Facebook profiles were created in his name by persons unknown and they have been flooded with marriage requests. The officer, Shivdeep Waman Lande, who is currently posted as aide-de-camp to the Bihar governor, filed a formal complaint with the office of senior superintendent of police in Patna Manu Maharaj Saturday, Gulf News reported. Google Maps helps man find parents 23 years after he was abducted - 05/17/13 http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/05/1 A Chinese man who was abducted as a child about 23 years ago said he was able to find his family with the help of Google Maps. Luo Gang said he was abducted at age 5 near his school and raised by adoptive parents in Sanming, Fujian province -- and all he could remember about his hometown was that it had two bridges, The Daily Telegraph, Britain, reported Friday. Waitress fired for Facebook picture of deputies - 05/16/13 http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/05/1 An Oklahoma Chili's said a waitress was fired for a Facebook photo of police dining at the eatery with a caption saying they "better hope I'm not their server." Piedmont Police and Oklahoma County sheriff's deputies said they were concerned when Ashley Warden posted a picture to her Facebook page of a group of deputies dining at the Oklahoma City restaurant, WFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, reported Thursday. The ugly side of social media, school punishment for cyberbullying - 05/16/13 http://www.wistv.com/story/22276088/t The method of punishment for bad behavior on social media, it's something a Charleston County school board member said needs to be addressed. This comes after the board had to intervene for the first time last week punishing a student for posting a racial slur on Twitter. The definition of cyberbullying sometimes depends on who you ask. Howard Stern Threatens to "Go to War" With Cyberbullies Mocking His Family - 05/16/13 http://www.wetpaint.com/network/article Howard Stern isn’t a man who minces words, so when cyberbullies started attacking his family, he was more than ready to fight back. Radar Online reports that some of the shock jock’s fans have turned against him for allegedly going soft and are taking to Twitter and other online forums to lash out against both Howard and his family. Seen At 11: Adult Bullies Take Their Stalking Online - 05/16/13 http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/0 Imagine being bombarded by threatening emails or text messages on a regular basis, or finding out that someone has been posting disturbing photos or lies about you on the Internet. Cyber stalking is a growing and dangerous trend that has many people living in fear. Could 'trolling' constitute 'cyber-stalking?' - 05/16/13 http://www.kttc.com/story/22276373/2 Bad reviews are a potential deal breaker for any business, product or person. But what if that person who wrote the review never tried the product? Could there be legal consequences? That's the question an independent writer in Goodview is asking himself after a handful of bad reviews on his books. In one review, the person admits to never even reading his book. Do false reviews violate any laws? Rick Carufel thinks it does. Internet Evolution Reports on Cyberstalking Victim's Campaign to Get LinkedIn to Protect Users - 05/16/13 http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/16/542568 More than 6 million Americans are victims of stalking every year. One of those victims wants LinkedIn to do more to help stop cyberstalkers. After being sexually assaulted at work, Anna Rihtar quit the job she loved to avoid her attacker. And, like many unemployed people, she turned to LinkedIn to find work. But Rihtar's attacker followed her online. In addition to phoning, emailing, and pursuing Rihtar on Facebook and Twitter, he began cyberstalking her on LinkedIn, leaving messages that were alternately flirtatious and threatening. Revisiting ‘Star Wars Kid’: Story inspires debate on cyberbullying - 05/14/13 http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/05/14/revi Ten years ago, he was known as the “Star Wars Kid” and the subject of unwanted media attention. Now the world knows him better as Ghyslain Raza. Since granting his first interview in a decade, Raza has emerged something of a hero as his story inspires debate about online bullying and the impunity of the message board. Raza’s story, which appears in the current print edition of Maclean’s and L’actualité, has spread to the U.S., U.K., France and Australia. It has been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, sites that didn’t exist when he was thrust into the spotlight as the butt of a viral video joke. Now he’s drawing praise instead of laughter. | |
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2:14PM
cmpriest Link |
I may be mad I may be blind I may be viciously unkind Here’s recent progress on my fin de siecle gothic epistolary about Lizzie Borden fighting Cthulhu with her trusty axe, now with Bonus! ghosts, guilt, arcane science, and an accidental villain who's losing his mind and his humanity in tandem: Project: Maplecroft Deadline: October 15, 2013 New words written: 4648 (multi-day total) Present total word count: 103,343 words Things accomplished in fiction: Probably best if I leave off with these, at this point. Even the vague stuff could point to spoilers. Next up: More cryptic shenanigans. Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunts around the neighborhood with the dog; did some pre-travel shopping; went to an anti-fracking fundraising concert at Rhythm and Brews; went to a friend's birthday party at the Honest Pint; left the birthday party with a bruised up butt and back from the wood stools and the banister I leaned against all evening; returned a loose dog to its owner (for the second time - same dog); got caught in two thunderstorms and spent most of Sunday soaking wet but not in a good way. Other: If you haven't checked out The Button Man and the Murder Tree at Tor.com, what are you waiting for? Bonus! other: This coming weekend I'll be at Phoenix Comic Con! And I, for one, cannot wait - but I also (probably) will not be able to wrap up a draft of Maplecroft before that occurs. I wanted to, but...I suspect that's not in the cards. That's okay. I have plenty of time, and when I get back ... THAT WEEK. That week I shall cough up the Draft Zero I so dearly want. I bet. Number of fiction words so far this year: 99,169 | |
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12:10PM
disgruntledgrrl Link |
Apparently this is a thing: NetFlix Adultery 12% of Americans commit ‘Netflix Adultery’ From this article: New York Magazine’s The Cut coined the term “Netflix Adultery,” the act of binge-watching TV episodes ahead of your significant other when you promised them you’d watch together. Have you been a victim of this horrendous crime? According to Netflix’s survey of 2000 American adults, “12 percent confessed to watching ahead on TV shows they were supposed to save to watch with their partners. ” Also, “ten percent admitted to being the victim of Netflix adultery, which means either 2 percent are blissfully unaware of their partners’ indiscretions, or the cheaters are hitting multiple victims.” ........ talk about a mountain out of a molehill. I'm certain this is light hearted, but I have heard of people getting honestly upset and hurt by this. Something about "lack of commitment" or "the principle of the matter".. How about maybe you don't shut up during a show (blurting what you think is about to happen out loud, cracking a joke and turning to get acknowledgement) and they want to watch it in peace? Or maybe they are hard of hearing and after have a need to rewatch a show to catch what was missed (cough Hannibal cough). My roommates and I can attest - there be some mumbling on there. I feel there is nothing wrong with watching a show privately and then rewatching it with friends. Unless the Rewatcher can't shut the fuck up about the show during your first viewing - then : water bottle. Sure it's nice to experience new things with friends at the same time but don't get butt hurt if you get left out. There are more than likely other things to get butt hurt about. Current Mood:  Snappish | |
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1:17PM
james_nicoll Link |
Where should I send someone who wanted to look for instructions, checklists, training documents for the geology conducted by the Apollo astronauts? It's for someone who wants to recreate Apollo astronaut "amateur geologist" protocols while on holiday. Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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12:55PM
silmaril Link |
Placeholder entry Things to write about tomorrow, because today I don't have the time: * Star Trek: Into Darkness This was a... Star Trek movie. Yup. It sure was, yessirree. I didn't even dislike it. * Coursera's Introduction to Data Science class: I'm... starting to have issues with the pedagogical approach on display. But more about that later, too. Other than that, ILLITERAL. Crossposted from silmaril.dreamwidth.org. You can comment here or there. | |
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5:00PM
draxar Link |
Interesting Links for 20-05-2013 | |
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11:18AM
james_nicoll Link |
Analog Analytical Laboratory 1979 - 2012 f/m Not without detectable trends. 1979 is the cut-off because I am using the Locus records and that's as far back as they go. ( Read more...Collapse ) Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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5:13PM
bart_calendar Link |
Jesus Christ On A Stick - Mad Men Rage What the fuck is going on with this show? I mean, it's been defending itself against being called racist by saying it takes place in a racist time and culture, but they can no longer make that case with a straight face. So far the only black people we've seen on the show are elevator operators, secretaries and hookers. And now they give us a black burglar who seems to be doing an impression of the Mammy from Gone With The Wind. At this point we are at the level of real, actual racism. Meanwhile, this was a fucking novelty episode where someone essentially said "Wouldn't it be funny to show Don Draper high on cocaine?" Yes that would be funny for a small bit in an episode but not as the function of the entire episode itself. Meanwhile one of the characters who is generally a decent person suddenly become a sexual harasser out of nowhere and then fucks a girl who is so clearly jail bait that even a high on cocaine Don wouldn't fuck her. Beyond that they dress up Sally in what can only be described as "pedobait." They should be fucking ashamed of themselves for this episode. | |
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11:08AM
james_nicoll Link |
Huh This would make more sense to me if I still read Analog: ( Read more...Collapse ) Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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2:55PM
ursulav Link |
A few notes from the garden… WARNING: Biological Icky Bits Ahead! Guess what I found!?  I’m a larva! This peculiar devil is the larval form of the American Carrion Beetle! How cool is that? (They feed on mushrooms and dead bugs as well as rotting meat, so I hasten to assure you that I do not, in fact, have dead bodies rotting in the woods. At least, to the best of my knowledge.) Spring sprung and was promptly batted aside by summer, so it’s hot and humid in the garden, and I am trying to stay ahead of the stiltgrass with copious amounts of mulch, because the flamethrower is questionable in a dry pine wood and would also take out all my nice jewelweed that has established so marvelously. Thinking of trying to fight it by transplanting in Virginia knotweed, which is an aggressive loon of a plant, but native, attractive, and host to a couple of butterfly species. (I have the variegated form, “Painter’s Palette,” which comes true from seed and boy, is there a lot of seed!) Other than that, everything is blooming, the pollinators are out in force, I had a Zebra Swallowtail show up the other day (an uncommon butterfly in this neck of the woods!) and the pond is full of frogs and predacious diving beetles. On the downside, the weird cold/hot/cold/hot weather sent most of the spring veggies straight to bolting, so I got no daikons, some very sad beets, and the tomatoes are already starting to come in. Lost a bunch of peppers, too. Sigh. But the cucumbers and squash are happy, and I am holding out hope that the peas will produce a batch before the heat exhausts them. (A lot of local farmers just gave up and plowed the peas under. Can’t blame ‘em. This has been demented weather.) Craw-Bob is still in residence. Haven’t gotten a good look at him, but we’ve got the night vision cameras and just need to get them working with the house network. Mostly he’s a flash of movement into the hole as I go by. The Patio That Shall Not Be Named has been graveled, sanded, mortared, and now needs bricks. I’m traveling at the end of the week, but hold out hope of getting it done before June rolls around. (All productivity must be crammed into this month, because June is solid travel and July and August will be miserably hot.) I had a bit of a wildlife mystery this morning. Was going out to feed the birds and found—there’s no other way to say it—a pile of viscera in the middle of the path. Somebody had left their guts in a neat pile on the ground. Being me, I of course immediately poked them with a stick. Yup. That’s guts, all right. Guts and….earthworms? For whatever weird reason, there were a bunch of dead earthworms in the pile as well. I wracked my brain—had something vomited and lost guts and earthworms together? Was this some kind of weird version of an owl pellet?—until I realized that the earthworms were from INSIDE the guts. Our deceased gut-owner had been out eating earthworms, and had quite a solid meal, then something jumped him, eviscerated him, and presumably ate the tasty bits. (I would have thought the viscera WERE tasty bits, but apparently somebody was picky.) My guess is that the victim was a large frog, but I’ve got no idea what the killer was. I tossed the remains out of dog range—hopefully either Craw-Bob or the carrion beetles will find it and start the clean-up process. So that’s all the excitement around here at the moment. Guts! Bugs! Mulch! THRILLS! CHILLS! ETC! Originally published at Squash's Garden. You can comment here or there. | |
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10:37AM
james_nicoll Link |
Well, poop I was going to look at the f/m for Clarke Award submissions to see if the fraction varies significantly with time but as far as I can tell they didn't make the list of submissions public before 2008. Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are | |
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7:33AM
eyemage Link |
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