Sophie's Secret LJ

I checked the episode summaries but I may have missed one :)

This icon popped into my head so forcefully I'm a little paranoid I stole the idea from someone.

Reading this post about the controversial decision to delete posts on Boing Boing and the fact I just made a post I've had to edit several times based on people's comments got me thinking about (EDIT :)) editing blogs.

Here I'm talking just about personal blogs like this lj, not proffesional or semi-profesional/famous ones like Boing Boing.

EDIT (heh): My brain turned to mush just as I was finishing this, so I'm still not going to express this well, but: I've conflated "What you do personally" with "What you tend to think other people should do" and "what you think is an objective minimum standard for blogging", and of course these are not always the same thing (such an objective standard may not even exist). Also I should make it clear that while I do think there are certain basic standards of behaviour I would expect from most bloggers (e.g. not changing your posts and then lying about it) on the whole I think people have a right to run their blogs how they like (though I think it's good to make your policy clear if there's confusion)

( When is it ok to edit a post? )

EDIT: this is a criticism of race as an "objective" biological categorisation. I do have arguments against (or at least about) race as a social phenomenon, but they are outside the scope of this "short" post. Sorry for being unclear!

A while ago there was a post on debunkingwhite challenging people to talk on their ljs about how race has no basis in biology. I added it to my "queue of topics to make thinky posts about" (I find it best to let things stew for a while there, and anyway was feeling sick and stupid ¹) and today got around to reading other people's responses.

Anyway, I reserve the right to make a long thinky post later, but this post and comment in particular really helped crystalise it for me personally:

So. Human beings are not genetically uniform. Different populations have observable genetic differences in their average makeup (ie the percentages present of various genes) and these result in observable differences (and presumably, also more subtle ones we haven't noticed) in things like skin colour, susceptibility to particular diseases etc.

There is also the historical/social concept of "race", which divides the world into fairly strict categories (asian, african etc) based on physical, geographical, and cultural markers, and which associates various traits (intelligence, criminality etc) to each race.

These two divisions, the genetic and the racial? Have pretty much no relationship to each other what-so-ever.
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How is that that I find out that Joss Whedon has a new project from a doctor who macro? I rely on you people for this stuff you know!

OMG

Also three separate things I'd thought "It would be really cool if the show did *blah*, but they totally won't" at three totally separate times during the last four seasons: and they did them! Woot! Continuity FTW!

It was a bit overblown, really, but I forgive them for that. That cliffhanger, however...

EDIT: lol isit_7_05yet (support communiy for people waiting for the final episode. userinfo has MAJOR SPOILERS)

Went to Supanova today, it was actually pretty fun and I'd say we got our money's worth. Mostly stalls selling various geeky things, got some VERY cheap graphic novels from King Comics. Also had a good time at the actor Q&As, Jewel Staite is great and it's cool to have seen Nichelle Nicholls (although she wasn't as entertaining) Cam liked Kandyse McClure. Bumped into a few people (including a middle aged woman from weight watchers I would not have pegged as a StarGate fangirl), admired the costumes.

So, I reccomend it it to anyone who has $20 and a bit of time to spare tomorrow, details here. The food is terrible though (long lines for overpriced crappy hamburgers etc), bring your own.

Also, wasn't sick! Which is no guarantee I won't be sick tomorrow, but still!

EDIT: Pictures! ( Read more... )

My overall reaction to "Turn Left" is OMGWANTNEXTEPISODE. Also I guess it answers the "where are all the asians?" question: On planet Asia! Being really asian! (I'm sure Serenity would have made a pit stop there too eventually)
( Spoilers ish up to Turn Left )

So, I've just finished all the season 4 Dr Who episodes I had (there's one more on the way, and then I'm back to waiting like an ordinary person. The indignity!) and to fill the gap downloaded every single recced Dr Who vid on the_reel (but not the latest Torchwood one) and thefourthvine

In retrospect, while it was convenient, it was a bad idea to get them in reverse chronological order since it meant the amount of footage the vidders were working from got less and less(*) and by the end I was heartily sick of Nine/Rose.

Anyway, the result of this is some particular recs (though they're all pretty good):

• Don't Stop Me Now(to the end of season 3) The Master to Queen. Made of awesome (and, specifically, made for sonnlich :))
  
• The Remedy Clever and effective Nine/Rose/Doctor vid (up to season 2)
  
• And She Was Infectious Rose character vid (up to season 2)
  
• Back to the Start Doctor/Rose, very nice match of song and content (up to season 2)
  

(*)It would be great if there were some seven->nine or eight->nine ones to create some continuity, but it was not to be

A bunch of people have posted this as a thing for people to fill out in comments, but posting it here is more efficient :)
( Just a typical meme )

Two things about Russel T Davies the world did not need to know: he has issues with fat people and a real thing for maid uniforms. (I'm sure it's just a matter of time before Donna gets into one)

( Somewhat spoilery thoughts )

Still deciding if I'll find this one very useful, since I can see some people taking it as making fun of them rather than making fun of me. Inspired by a tradition of *blah* against racism icons I've seen around the place (I think my favourite is a pic of Chiana with the slogan "REALLY white girls against racism")

I know the image isn't very good but the Hairspray pictures online are pretty much all just repeats of the same 12 or so publicity shots put out by the distributor. I had my heart set on an image of Tracy holding a placard (and also liked the idea of using something from the original, but there are NO decent images from that I could find), but this works ok too, imo.

Disclaimer: My "You are too stupid for the internet right now" warning beeper is sounding but I am in a mood to pontificate and the cat's wandered off. Also, spoilers, there's anyone who cares left who hasn't seen it.

So, I just finished Dr Who Season 3. Overall I really enjoyed it, but some bits were just..blah. Wrong. In the end I found the only way to process the arc so far is to see the Doctor as a condescending borderline-sociopath who prefers the company of those who don't challenge his intelligence or power. Still, the second last disk is made of like 99% pure awesome (with 1%: a maid? Really? Ew)

And so finally I can read all the meta I kept seeing on metafandom a year ago. And use it to say what I would but am too dumb to :) Unfortunately a little under half of them are flocked/deleted, which I guess is a sign of how intense the imbroglio got.
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I just had a train of thought I have pretty much every time I take a sick day:

Man, I don't feel that sick, maybe I could have gone in to work after all. I suck.
Hmm. Hungry. Out of food¹. Maybe I should wander to the corner shop to get some supplies.
Hmmm...no. Don't have the energy. Have to stay hungry.
Maybe I could watch some dvds.
Actually... no, that's too much effort too.
*fall asleep²*
*wake up, repeat*

(1) My definition of food narrows pretty significantly when I am unwell
(2)Yes, yes, smartie pants, am not actually sleep blogging. But that's the usual gist.

Our home email server is down until further notice, which means I'm only getting lj notifications for replies to posts I've made. So my apologies if I seem to be ignoring you!

And thus: Cam, when you get home, the Spore demo creature maker is in shared/files.

Look what I made!:



Yeah, fallimar's are better, it was still fun :)

Also: note that, afaict, according to the TOS EA owns everything you make.

So, gay marriage is slowly making ground in America. Good for them, I say.

Now most of the people I've seen say anything against it are homophobic conservatives, and their arguments aren't worth even mentioning. But another objection (which I found difficult to understand at first but have gained more sympathy for the more I think about it) is that expanding the definition of marriage to include gay couples ignores the larger problem with their society (and ours too) focussing so much on "marriage" and ignoring more complicated partnerships, ie the law tends to assume that spouse = coparent = romantic partner = next of kin = co-owner of house etc.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the best thing to do would be to remove "marriage" as a legal state and have various legal partnerships/relationships to do with next of kin, sharing of assets, childrearing etc, with the default being the same as the current legal marriage. What do people think? Am I missing something? I was inspired by the posts Why this queer isn’t celebrating and intersectionality and the stickiness of it all.

(nb the first question is just for calibration purposes :))

Poll #1206670
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Do you think gay couples should have the same legal rights as straight ones?

Are you in favour of replacing legal marriage with more generic legal partnerships?

I realise this may seem like an odd position for me to take given that I'm in pretty much 100% mainstream marriage myself, but the fact that it happens to be the right thing for us doesn't mean I think everyone should be shoehorned into it.

Today has been awesome. In summary:

Watched disk 2 of Dr Who Season 3. Swooned over David Tennant. Was amused by Harry Potter references. Shipped Ten/Martha with a side of Ten/Shakespeare just because it's amusing.

Drove to Hillaries, not expecting to see anyone due to lack of RSVPs. See mandragora2003 and Mr mandragora2003(*)! Have very pleasant (if expensive) lunch, mm all you can eat salmon and chocolate pudding :) Drive home. Do not die! Or kill anyone!

Use GIMP to edit animate hat icon as per advice. (Not sure it's an improvement, but it was certainly fun to make)

Rewatch Veronica Mars Season One disk one, am reminded how totally awesome the show was before it got crap.

Watch latest "Northanger Abbey" on ABC, it is awesome. They upped the satire and sex just enough for a modern audience, she really felt like a real mills-and-boon reading teenager.

And now, sleep.

(*)Any suggestions on a better non identifying term accepted (not Dr mandragora2003 though, that would just be confusing)

Via ithiliana: an academic who runs a blog discussing ways to combat biased thinking argues that women don't seem to like this blog, clearly it must be because they're inherently wired not to understand/be interested in the topic, with the conversation quickly shifting to the way women are biologically predisposed to being less intelligent and scientifically rigorous. (Edited as per request, note that this still isn't an entirely accurate description of his argument)

ithiliana goes into the crazy bad wrongness of it quite well, as does mswyrr here (see the OP make an idiot of himself in the comments!) and has a really nice and interesting argument here, including some great quotes.

But it got me thinking about two insidious ideas I see a lot of places, which have a lot of appeal even for people who should know better (like this guy)

( The first is that things like racism/sexism etc are just social justice issues, things you should care about because they're morally right, but that they have nothing to do with anything else. )

( The second idea is that any prejudice, however horrible and blown out of proportion, must have some basis in fact )

So I was planning on going shopping with mandragor2003 today, but through a combination of miscommunications we ended up instead spending and hour or two moving back and forth between Bayswater and Fremantle without managing to cross paths :( (I still haven't managed to get through to her either. Sorry about this)

Since this is just the latest in a sequence of failed attempts to have any social life whatsoever (Cam, his friends(*), and my family don't really count) going back about two months, I am feeling a bit mopey about the whole thing.

So: I and Cam are planning on upping my driving hours by having lunch at noon tomorrow at Jetties in Hillaries. You are invited to come along and say hi, it's buffet so we'll just start at 12 and if we see you that's nice :)

RSVPs would be nice just so I know if anyone's coming and don't get all emo if noone comes.

Yes, it's far away, and short notice, and the menu doesn't look at all vegetarian friendly, it's still worth a shot.

(*)Except the ones who are also my friends, obviously :) But up until recently I was feeling so utterly blah that I wasn't up to enjoying much anyway, even your fine company.

I got inspired to make this icon ages ago but had no excuse to use it. So when it was suggested I be a mod at webcomics how could I say no? :)

I need to find a way to make it flash, what's a good animated gif maker? (My old one is gone) New flashing version made by the super awesome sonictail!