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Jun. 8th, 2012 04:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* This is incredibly moving: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/07/student-overcomes-homelessness-and-gets-into-harvard/?hpt=ac_mid
I keep thinking of the kid up in Ferndale, who's parents kicked him out for being gay, and all the parents of his friends who fed him and let him couch surf the rest of the year so he could graduate. It a good thing that decent people stepped forward for that girl in that story and her own strength and perseverance in the face of waste of skin parents.
* I am still seriously creeped out by Mitt Romney's hobby in College of dressing up in a real State Trooper uniform and pulling people over on the highway for fun. It's not just that it's a felony, but that I know my serial offenders and that's a really common ploy used by serial killers and serial rapists. Hell, there's been one in Mississippi this year. I mean, yes, I assume this is a is thing for Mitt Romney, but it's a felony for a reason and I just keep thinking of how bad your judgement has to be to act on this fantasy over and over again. I also keep thinking about all those innocent motorists he pulled over to terrify for his own amusement. That's a pretty fundamental lack of respect for the rights of other citizens as well as a complete disrespect for the law. It shows a fundamental belief that because he was born rich to a politically powerful father that he can routinely commit felonies with no fear of consequences. He was, of course right as proved by the fact that he served no jail time. Do we really want someone who considers himself fundamentally above the law by right of birth in charge of our whole country? Can no one remember Nixon?
* The Republican Governor of Florida is defying the ruling that voter purges this close to an election are still illegal and has ordered the District Supervisors to break the law. District supervisors, regardless of political party have decided that unlike Governor Scott they want a fair election, are unwilling to break the law, and are deeply uncomfortable telling veterans and active duty soldiers that they no longer have the right to vote.
* "Wisconsin Governor Pushes To End Hospital Visitation For Gay Couples: http://jezebel.com/5802972/wisconsin-governor-pushes-to-end-hospital-visitation-for-gay-couples
* Colbert responds to the death of Ray Bradbury: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/414933/june-06-2012/sign-off---ray-bradbury-tribute
* John Stewart looks at "fair" in political coverage:
Pt 1. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-7-2012/mitt-romney-s-house
Pt 2. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-7-2012/fair-factor
* Corruption on Sesame Street: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/414998/june-07-2012/corruption-on-pakistan-s--sesame-street-
* I'm a big fan of Shriner's hospitals. Yes, I have issues with their -isms as as an organization, but the things they do for people with horrible injuries are impressive as Hell and irreplaceable. I've heard excellent things about their Burn hospital, and I had a friend in high School who was rendered paraplegic because someone played a practical "joke" on him that snapped his spine. Why rendering someone paraplegic is hilarious escapes me, but a lot of human behavior does. Anyway, not only did he get first rate care in the immediate aftermath, but they did excellent long term care and help with getting services, helping him adjust, and just generally treating him like a complete human being with dignity and intelligence. That's unfortunately a rare thing. They even had special sex ed tactics to teach people how to please a partner by working around limitations. How many institutions recognize that people with disabilities have sexual agency ad sex lives, let alone help them figure out how to make that more fulfilling?
Why am I on about this today? Emerald City Comics is doing a benefit for Shriner's Hospital. It's a very good cause and a lot of ordinary people are getting quality care there. It makes a huge difference to people. They are doing an auction for a set of BPAL RPG themed goodies. The products are excellent and it really will help make lives better: http://ekcomicsandgames.com/index.php/emerald/page/product/shriners/shriners_auction_045_black_phoenix_oil_set/
* I decided to simply not sleep until he bureaucracy was done. I started to fade hard about two hours before the office opened, but I stuck it out. Papers were acquired and dropped off where they needed to go. It was at this point I discovered I had seriously miscalculated the money for the month Again. The whole two hundred dollars less this month thing is a serious problem. Probate was supposed to finish April or May. I really need it to go through now. Like yesterday. Anyway, what with everything, I forgot to cool off my room in the night, so my options were not sleeping for the heat or allergens. this lead to me waking up suffocating as my throat started to close about an hour into sleep. I simply had to close the window and run fans and air filter instead, which meant I didn't hear the door, which meant me sleeping in my clothes was a wasted inconvenience and I have to reschedule. Gah! This also means I woke up exhausted and in pain, like I do with crap for sleep. It took a few extra hours to make it out of my bedroom. Meanwhile, Hector is being hard to feed. (He's hungry enough to demand feedings, but will only take a few mouthfuls. This is a bad sign, despite him doing a bit better by some other measures, but not eating is a terrible sign.) June is really fucking sucking.
* Blackout came, but I haven't had time or energy to properly dig in. It's already a bit of a stab to my heart in a way I wasn't expecting, but probably should have.
* An interesting thing on smile asymmetry in general and Cumberbatch in particular: http://opallynn.tumblr.com/post/24466169237/the-cumberbatch-conundrum
I admit, I'm a sucker for both cheekbones and androgyny, but I suspect the complexity of the acting really helps, as I tend to prefer complexity just generally.
* And a comic: http://cdn.thedevilspanties.com/comics/20120608.gif
* I'm not big on the house of Hanover/Windsor (They changed their name to sound less German), or ceremonial monarchy in general, but I think this slideshow of a hundred year or so of wedding photos interesting for history of fashion reasons: http://gofugyourself.com/jubilee-tv-special-royal-wedding-fugs-and-fabs-06-2012/queenmum
* A thing I wrote on tumblr about the plausibility of the choosing process in Hunger games:
How big is their school? The town didn't look that big. My High School had four hundred people in it. I knew everyone's face, nearly everyone's personality, and had history of one sort or another with more than half. If you look at it that way, odds are good that whoever was picked would have some prior history good or bad with Katniss, and him being one of however many boys that had a crush on her isn't that implausible. I suspect we'd have the same conversation if he'd been one of her bullies in school, which seems about the same plausible. I think in a town that size, whoever they picked would know and have an opinion of a girl as visible as Katniss, after all, she's not just a school make, but one of a handful of hunters in the community, a girl who stood on stage at the mine disaster memorial to get the medal for her family, and a frequent trader at the hub, and thus likely known by face and reputation to everyone.
I know there is no actual evidence one way or another in the first book, which is as far as I've gotten, but given how fixed the actual games are (odds tilted strongly for the rich districts, game makers cheating for or against certain players and arbitrarily changing rules), what are the odds that the drawing is occasionally fixed similarly so as to occasionally make more drama. A doomed twelve year old from district no one cares about might both be a poignant story for the media and a political reminder that everyone can die. I'm not saying it happened, just that I wouldn't put it past them.
I keep thinking of the kid up in Ferndale, who's parents kicked him out for being gay, and all the parents of his friends who fed him and let him couch surf the rest of the year so he could graduate. It a good thing that decent people stepped forward for that girl in that story and her own strength and perseverance in the face of waste of skin parents.
* I am still seriously creeped out by Mitt Romney's hobby in College of dressing up in a real State Trooper uniform and pulling people over on the highway for fun. It's not just that it's a felony, but that I know my serial offenders and that's a really common ploy used by serial killers and serial rapists. Hell, there's been one in Mississippi this year. I mean, yes, I assume this is a is thing for Mitt Romney, but it's a felony for a reason and I just keep thinking of how bad your judgement has to be to act on this fantasy over and over again. I also keep thinking about all those innocent motorists he pulled over to terrify for his own amusement. That's a pretty fundamental lack of respect for the rights of other citizens as well as a complete disrespect for the law. It shows a fundamental belief that because he was born rich to a politically powerful father that he can routinely commit felonies with no fear of consequences. He was, of course right as proved by the fact that he served no jail time. Do we really want someone who considers himself fundamentally above the law by right of birth in charge of our whole country? Can no one remember Nixon?
* The Republican Governor of Florida is defying the ruling that voter purges this close to an election are still illegal and has ordered the District Supervisors to break the law. District supervisors, regardless of political party have decided that unlike Governor Scott they want a fair election, are unwilling to break the law, and are deeply uncomfortable telling veterans and active duty soldiers that they no longer have the right to vote.
* "Wisconsin Governor Pushes To End Hospital Visitation For Gay Couples: http://jezebel.com/5802972/wisconsin-governor-pushes-to-end-hospital-visitation-for-gay-couples
* Colbert responds to the death of Ray Bradbury: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/414933/june-06-2012/sign-off---ray-bradbury-tribute
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
* John Stewart looks at "fair" in political coverage:
Pt 1. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-7-2012/mitt-romney-s-house
Pt 2. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-7-2012/fair-factor
* Corruption on Sesame Street: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/414998/june-07-2012/corruption-on-pakistan-s--sesame-street-
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
* I'm a big fan of Shriner's hospitals. Yes, I have issues with their -isms as as an organization, but the things they do for people with horrible injuries are impressive as Hell and irreplaceable. I've heard excellent things about their Burn hospital, and I had a friend in high School who was rendered paraplegic because someone played a practical "joke" on him that snapped his spine. Why rendering someone paraplegic is hilarious escapes me, but a lot of human behavior does. Anyway, not only did he get first rate care in the immediate aftermath, but they did excellent long term care and help with getting services, helping him adjust, and just generally treating him like a complete human being with dignity and intelligence. That's unfortunately a rare thing. They even had special sex ed tactics to teach people how to please a partner by working around limitations. How many institutions recognize that people with disabilities have sexual agency ad sex lives, let alone help them figure out how to make that more fulfilling?
Why am I on about this today? Emerald City Comics is doing a benefit for Shriner's Hospital. It's a very good cause and a lot of ordinary people are getting quality care there. It makes a huge difference to people. They are doing an auction for a set of BPAL RPG themed goodies. The products are excellent and it really will help make lives better: http://ekcomicsandgames.com/index.php/emerald/page/product/shriners/shriners_auction_045_black_phoenix_oil_set/
* I decided to simply not sleep until he bureaucracy was done. I started to fade hard about two hours before the office opened, but I stuck it out. Papers were acquired and dropped off where they needed to go. It was at this point I discovered I had seriously miscalculated the money for the month Again. The whole two hundred dollars less this month thing is a serious problem. Probate was supposed to finish April or May. I really need it to go through now. Like yesterday. Anyway, what with everything, I forgot to cool off my room in the night, so my options were not sleeping for the heat or allergens. this lead to me waking up suffocating as my throat started to close about an hour into sleep. I simply had to close the window and run fans and air filter instead, which meant I didn't hear the door, which meant me sleeping in my clothes was a wasted inconvenience and I have to reschedule. Gah! This also means I woke up exhausted and in pain, like I do with crap for sleep. It took a few extra hours to make it out of my bedroom. Meanwhile, Hector is being hard to feed. (He's hungry enough to demand feedings, but will only take a few mouthfuls. This is a bad sign, despite him doing a bit better by some other measures, but not eating is a terrible sign.) June is really fucking sucking.
* Blackout came, but I haven't had time or energy to properly dig in. It's already a bit of a stab to my heart in a way I wasn't expecting, but probably should have.
* An interesting thing on smile asymmetry in general and Cumberbatch in particular: http://opallynn.tumblr.com/post/24466169237/the-cumberbatch-conundrum
I admit, I'm a sucker for both cheekbones and androgyny, but I suspect the complexity of the acting really helps, as I tend to prefer complexity just generally.
* And a comic: http://cdn.thedevilspanties.com/comics/20120608.gif
* I'm not big on the house of Hanover/Windsor (They changed their name to sound less German), or ceremonial monarchy in general, but I think this slideshow of a hundred year or so of wedding photos interesting for history of fashion reasons: http://gofugyourself.com/jubilee-tv-special-royal-wedding-fugs-and-fabs-06-2012/queenmum
* A thing I wrote on tumblr about the plausibility of the choosing process in Hunger games:
How big is their school? The town didn't look that big. My High School had four hundred people in it. I knew everyone's face, nearly everyone's personality, and had history of one sort or another with more than half. If you look at it that way, odds are good that whoever was picked would have some prior history good or bad with Katniss, and him being one of however many boys that had a crush on her isn't that implausible. I suspect we'd have the same conversation if he'd been one of her bullies in school, which seems about the same plausible. I think in a town that size, whoever they picked would know and have an opinion of a girl as visible as Katniss, after all, she's not just a school make, but one of a handful of hunters in the community, a girl who stood on stage at the mine disaster memorial to get the medal for her family, and a frequent trader at the hub, and thus likely known by face and reputation to everyone.
I know there is no actual evidence one way or another in the first book, which is as far as I've gotten, but given how fixed the actual games are (odds tilted strongly for the rich districts, game makers cheating for or against certain players and arbitrarily changing rules), what are the odds that the drawing is occasionally fixed similarly so as to occasionally make more drama. A doomed twelve year old from district no one cares about might both be a poignant story for the media and a political reminder that everyone can die. I'm not saying it happened, just that I wouldn't put it past them.