(no subject)

* "Mass Greek protest over Macedonia name:" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42937889

* "NHS protest: thousands march to demand more cash for NHS:" https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/04/nhs-budget-cuts-march-protest-jeremy-hunt-london-funding

* "UK leaders rebuke Trump for health care tweet:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/uk-leaders-rebuke-trump-for-health-care-tweet-1154418243839

* "For answers on Afghanistan, look to Pakistan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/why-is-the-u-s-still-in-afghanistan-pakistan-1154492483931?playlist=associated

* "Some Eagles players are skipping the White House visit over Trump:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/politics/philadelphia-eagles-super-bowl-white-house-visit/index.html

* Dear Leader thinks people should be tried for treason for not applauding him. O.o Someone needs to explain to 45 that things like letting Russian intelligence dictate your foreign policy while president against the interests of the United states is treason, but failing to clap isn't. Maybe someone needs to make a School house Rock style cartoon explaining the first amendment to him. "Trump: Democrats 'Un-American,' 'Treasonous' During State Of The Union:" https://www.npr.org/2018/02/05/583447413/trump-democrats-un-american-treasonous-during-state-of-the-union

* "White House rejects bipartisan immigration plan:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/politics/trump-daca-mccain-coons-immigration-plan/index.html

* "Trump's lawyers want him to refuse interview with Mueller:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-s-lawyers-want-him-to-refuse-interview-with-mueller-nyt-1154390083534

* "Rep. Lieu: ‘People would take to streets’ if Rosenstein fired:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/memo-doesn-t-give-trump-cause-to-fire-rosenstein-1153507907576

* "Rep. Schiff responds to Trump attacks over Russia probe:"http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/rep-schiff-responds-to-trump-attacks-over-russia-probe-1154414147546

* "Nunes memo stunt blows up in GOP's face:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/nunes-memo-stunt-blows-up-in-gop-s-face-1154475075653?playlist=associated

* "Zinke's agency held up Indians’ casino after MGM lobbying:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/01/zinkes-indian-casino-interior-312671

* "U.S. consumer protection official puts Equifax probe on ice:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-equifax-cfpb/exclusive-u-s-consumer-protection-official-puts-equifax-probe-on-ice-sources-idUSKBN1FP0IZ

* "Super Bowl national security docs left on plane:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/index.html

* "Massive Pentagon agency lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/05/pentagon-logistics-agency-review-funds-322860

* Let them eat cake. "Paul Ryan Deletes Tweet After He’s Mocked for Celebrating $1.50 Benefit From Tax Cut:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/paul-ryan-deletes-tweet-after-hes-mocked-for-celebrating-usd1-50-benefit-from-tax-cut.html

* "The GOP candidate who would represent a suburban Chicago district is an open Holocaust denier, white supremacist and anti-Semite:" https://boingboing.net/2018/02/05/arthur-jones.html

* "U.S. Supreme Court allows revamp of Pennsylvania electoral map:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-election/u-s-supreme-court-allows-revamp-of-pennsylvania-electoral-map-idUSKBN1FP2E0

* "Dow plunges 1,175 -- worst point decline in history:" http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/05/investing/stock-market-today-dow-jones/index.html

* "Market plunges, government shutdown looms:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/market-plunges-government-shutdown-looms-again-1154483779682?playlist=associated

* TW: Rape. "This Is Why Uma Thurman Is Angry:" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/opinion/sunday/this-is-why-uma-thurman-is-angry.html?emc=edit_ta_20180203&nl=top-stories&nlid=69193558&ref=cta

* "Anguish amid Trump deportation crackdown:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/anguish-amid-trump-deportation-crackdown-1154422339705

* "Ebony Morgan's Killer Found Guilty:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2018/02/ebony-morgans-killer-found-guilty.html

* "James Baldwin - Pin Drop Speech:"

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* "Remains in Europe: mummified woman in Basel is Boris Johnson’s ancestor:" https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/25/remains-in-europe-mummified-woman-in-basel-is-boris-johnsons-ancestor

* This pretty much fits with historical/archaeological record, so it's really confirmation, not a surprise. "New genetic map reveals Irish people share far more DNA with the British and Vikings than previously believed:" http://irishpost.co.uk/new-genetic-map-reveals-irish-people-share-far-dna-british-vikings-previously-believed/

* "Ancient Eurasian DNA sequencing is revealing links with modern humans:" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180125135609.htm

* "Titian painting given to Charles I's plumber goes up for sale:" https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jan/22/titian-painting-king-charles-i-plumber-sale-auction

* "The Greatest African American and Afro-American Martial Artists in History:" https://outofthiscentury.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/the-greatest-african-american-and-afro-american-martial-artists-in-history/

* "Hunter Knocked Unconscious By Shot Goose Falling Out Of The Sky:" https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/04/583110844/hunter-knocked-unconscious-by-falling-dead-goose-shot-by-his-hunting-party

* The title is terrible, but it's a feminist look at the way fashion and real women's bodies collide. "What is the ‘ideal’ female body shape?:" http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180122-what-is-the-ideal-female-body-shape

* "The evolution of the Australian accent:" https://phys.org/news/2018-01-evolution-australian-accent.html

* "Cut for Time: My Little Stepchildren (Natalie Portman) - SNL:"

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* "Weekend Update on Black History Month - SNL:"

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* "Weekend Update: Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve - SNL:"

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* I really only had 4-5 functional hours Sunday total, and went to bed very early. My sleep is mostly crappy still, but last night I wasn't having to wake up every 10-15 minutes to keep from choking which helps. I'll take fever dreams and frequent waking over tiny uncomfortable doses any day. When I got up, my breathing was a little better, so I decided not to try for emergency anti-biotics, although really I should make a lab result appointment soon. I have been craving comfort foods, like the impossible sandwich and a bunch of things my mom used to make. I've been too ill for experimental baking, but I managed some today. It was an edible failure, and I've ideas for further experiments as it was a near enough miss for me to do things like adjust for my weirdly uneven oven and work on substitutions to make the taste more like without getting me sick from allergens.

Today was a forage day, and I'm still trying to replenish depleted stores of staples. I planned things out to use the least gas, but it was still a grocery store, forage, pharmacy, library, and two other grocery stores on the way home which is a lot, even though they were all relatively quick trips. The second grocery store was extra frustrating. I wanted five specific things. One was there. One was nearly twice as expensive as I usually pay so I skipped it. The other three were out of stock. Sigh. I did find the herbal tea I'd thought had been discontinued a year or more ago as I haven't been able to find it anywhere and was shocked at check out to discover EBT no longer pays for it. Sigh. At the last store I did find the thing that wasn't at the store where it usually is on Saturday nor in the first store today, and was double priced at the second store. I am suspecting there might be a serious agricultural problem to the south of us, maybe related to the fires, mudslides, etc. that has borked the supply chain as that's likely screwed over their growing season, so I'm not blaming the stores for being out. Figuring processing/bottling time, I am thinking the Napa fire was timed just right to screw up supplies now. I did not find two of the three things I came specifically to the third store to get. Facepalm. I also remembered the thing I forgot to buy at the first store today while in the second store looking at their twice as expensive version. Maybe next Monday when I'm in that part of town for forage. The important thing though is that the four things I use all the time that I was out of or nearly out of going into the weekend are safely home in my cupboards. I also scored a basil plant. It's early in the season, so I'll need to bring it in if we have a cold snap, but that's one base covered and the plant is big and healthy looking, unlike the sickly things last season.

My dreaming brain has been spiraling architecture, which I love. I had this early modern fantasy novel type scenario where we were all people with terrible jobs (tavern, piece work, journymen/apprentices in the period were upward mobility bottle necked RL, only this was a low magic setting in a lesser regional market town.) There was this gorgeous cathedral in the center of town right on the market square and something happened that led to the bishop clearing out an attached convent gone wrong and do to some now forgotten convolution, I ended yup with it and decided to move all my misfit friends in and turn it into an Inn, only even as people were recruiting acts and the like for the entertainment of guests, I was exploring the place and my brain spun out more and more fascinating architecture spanning the 12-early 17th century. I love when my brain does that.

More ominous in the literal sense I dreamed a version of my high School graduation that was sort of smashed together with this May day fair my school used to do , but stopped about halfway through my Middle School with no explanation. RL, my parents had to force me to go, because the last thing I wanted to do was spend one more minute in that place with those people I wasn't strictly required to. The dress code for graduates was so much better than what they really forced us to wear, though still extremely gendered. This version of me transitioned androgyne Senior year and for some reason, no one commented on it, which is not what would have happened in that place and time. There was also a mix of people from the next two grades up who I was friends or sort of friends with who were obviously not there RL.

The real difference though was the aweful and beautiful blood red sky. I'm not talking sunset, red near the hiorizen. I'm talking uniform arterial red like a wound. Awesome in the original sense of the word, if that makes sense. This fairly light hearted celebration sor of thing was under a sky who's terrible beauty felt like the end of the world, and they were playing this game on the lawn, with rules you had to work out yourself while playing and if you lost, you got sucked through a door and were never seen again. In retrospect, this was merely a mpre overt version of what happened to the people the school broke real life, but I was too busy extricating myself from the playing field to ponder that at the time. It was all like that in the dream, really, lots of cryptic instructions and unwritten rules. More obvious and symbolic that RL, but recognizable. at the end, one by one I said good bye to folks from other years, from cross country/track, from the gang that hung out in the Alcove after school. Last of all a certain boy. I nearly said, "I've had a crush on you since I was 5," but instead I just silently waved goodbye as he he turned the corner out of my life forever.

When I got to my car, parked in my Dad's old spot from when I was in Lower and Middle School, which over looked the lawn where people were still playing the deadly game, the sky now bleeding for real onto the Chapel on the hill on the other side I had two final thoughts before waking: 1. The world is beautiful in it's dying. 2. This sky is something we will tell our grandchildren about, if enough of us survive long enough to have grandchildren. *shudder*

* Not yet seven months old, largest Cat in the house. She is creeping up on Tavy weight wise. http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170561555502/not-yet-seven-months-old-largest-cat-in-the

* The Power of Love in Tolkien: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170547215037/kitteninteacup-obtrta-prismaticprince

* "Ghosts, Gaslighting, and Haunted Heroines: The Horror of “You’re Imagining Things”:" https://filmschoolrejects.com/ghosts-gaslighting-haunted-heroines-horror-youre-imagining-things/

* TNG: Season 6 Rewatch:

- 6.16-6.17 Birthright: They go to my beloved DS-9 to assist with water management technical stuff. There are two plots that reflect on each other, both to do with titular birthrights. One plot is Julian and Data collaborate to investigate an alien devise using the Enterprise's Equipment. Julian says inadvertently racist things to Data while gushing about how cool Data is. "I didn't think you'd be so personable" sounds a lot like "I didn't think you'd be so articulate." I do have to give them credit for not dropping the thread of people Othering Data, even though it makes me wince. he asks a lot of questions about how Data functions that conveniently provide in universe answers for why data breathes and has a pulse. An accident knocks him offline and he has a vision.

The other plot is Worf getting word his Father might be alive and captured by the Romulans from an alien on the station and having to come to terms with the dishonor. Worf's advise to data about his vision helps him decide to go look for his own Father. I always like the little Worf/Data scenes because of the way they are both partial outsiders in human culture and the ways they sometimes help each other navigate situations in which they are both unsure about something. Worf finds the shady guy and makes him take him to the prison camp instead of paying up front for dodging coordinates, which was the original offer.

Data goes to captain Picard, baffled by the large array of meanings for the same symbol across cultures. Picard calls him a "culture of one," which seems apt, and sends him off to thik about what the vision symbols mean to Data specifically. Data paints a large number of paintings based on the vision, starting with things he saw, but then he started painting things he imagined after. He wants to recreate the accident, risking his neural net in hopes of seeing more. This time it's different, and his Father tell him it's always different, and that he's started a "wonderful journey" and he's more than a collection of processes. Data can now dream and be creative. "Data, you are the bird." Data lets Julian write a paper on the incident.

Meanwhile the dodgy guy drops Worf off near the camp and says he'll be back in fifty hours. He finds a Klingon woman who insists she is "home." He follows the woman and a Romulan back to the village, where there is a Klingon ceremony going on, and grabs an elderly man who says Worf's father died at the massacre. Worf wants to rescue them; the old man goes to the elders. A man who remembers his father tells something he remembers of small Worf. They turn him over to the Romulans because "He would bring others."

The second episode starts with the Klingons explaining they'd been knocked unconscious. The Romulans wanted to trade them, but they were dishonored, so begged to stay and are now raising the next generation there, under Romulan rule, hiding from Klingon. The dishonor lasts three generations. Worf reveals his soft federation underbelly which grosses out the Elder Klingon. The children are raised so pacifist they are using weapons to till. ("And into plowshares turn their swords, Nations shall learn war no more.") The young ones all think there is still a war on; the Elders worry Worf will infect them with discontent. It turns out the Romulan gave up his carreer to guard the klingons which is the only way he could keep them alive. He married one of the Klingon women. I mulled this. Is is consensual if he is both guard and prisoner or is it still creepy? Worf makes an explosion so as to escape, but is caught. They put a tracking chip in Worf. Worf openly practices his forms, attracting youngsters who want to learn. The young woman sneaks him into her home to show him the old armour and a rusting weapons. He explains them to her. They get caught just as he's explaining a decoration that is given to a daughter who is of age, "old enough to mate." The Mother kicks him out. Soon he is telling youngsters tales of Kaliss. The boy who hates all of it still keeps turning up for things even though he complains. The young woman flirts with Worf and sort of makes a mood. Worf flips out on discovering her Romulan ears. He spouts racist stuff about her father the camp commander. He does turn up to apologize, but does it in a shitty way, which she calls him on it. He keeps arguing with the nay sayer youth, and pricks his pride to get him to try. Worf asks to the Romulan to let Worf and naysayer go on a hunt. Worf gives his word not to escape; the elder Klingon stands surety and tells the naysayer to kill Worf if he breaks his word. Worf is much better with Klingon youths here than he is with his own son, I notice. Hunting seems to awaken the kid's instincts. They return with dead things. The Romulan freaks out. The boy gets people singing the old hunting victory song.

The Romulan and Worf debate privately. The Romulan points out this is the only time and place in all of history where Klingons and Romulans live in peace. Worf's argument is basically that he had to take the klingon out of Klingons to due it and now that they are waking up again and have scented wild prey, they can't go back to being what the Romulan made them. The Romulan threatens to put Worf to death if he doesn't conform. Worf chooses death over the lifestyle of the prison camp. "The young people will see what it is to die a Klingon." The young woman tries to remove the tracking devise. Worf refuses to run to show them what i is to be Klingon. She plays the "You care for me card." Worf admits he loves her, but won't live this way. She points out that the prejudice against he means she can't come with him. He points out that he isn't accepted for himself there. They kiss and she storms out. The Romulan insists it is necessary to put Worf to death because he will destroy everything. Worf says he's really being executed for bringing knowledge. The Klingon lad comes out in full armour saying that if they are killing Worf they must kill him too, that many of them want to leave and the Romulans will have to kill them to keep them. The Romulan is going to execute them. A bunch of the others make a body shield. The young woman joins them. Her mother tells her husband, "This is our prion; it should not be theirs." Worf makes those leaving "honor" their parents by keeping their secret.

Meanwhile, Worf's friends have been looking for him. They get a message to come pick up the dissident Klingons. Worf lies they are survivors of a crash, that "no one survived Kitamer." Picard says, "I understand" in a way that suggests he understands perfectly well, and is going along with it.

I think this has been the most satisfying TNG arc I've seen so far. I works really well for both Data and Worf, and the Worf story line has a whole lot of depth and relevance. It helps him work through a lot of his baggage and define who he is a person much better than heretofore. It also reminds me of that time I sort of started a small scale resistance when I was fifteen, but that is another, private story. I wonder if Worf's parenting improves as a result of his experience. He certainly seems more calm and centered and he was really good with the young people.

*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/

* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate

* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0

* Help fight for Net Neutrality restoration: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170010496350/democrats-are-just-one-vote-shy-of-restoring-net

* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey

* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.

* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386

* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/

* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html

* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com