sundries

[rm]

The linkspam on the character death panel from Gally won't be going up for a least a few days -- too many people who have said they want to write things are still traveling/having con crud/have other personal commitments, such as I'll probably put it together this weekend. And in case it wasn't clear to anyone, it's going to be commentary free. Just "here's people writing about the thing," in case you're concerned or anything.

I wonder what this said. On one hand, I should TOTALLY be on Wikipedia. On the other hand, I bet it'd be like when people kept editing the entry on stingrays to call them murderers.

I really got a kick out of nancylebov's post on stuff that seems fairly ordinary to us that would make either a great science fiction plot point or seems too unlikely to be a science fiction plot point to be a science fiction plot point. I feel sad that "a black president" makes the list.

To avoid supporting gay people in any way whatsoever Catholic Charities is now denying benefits to all spouses. "If you and your spouse are already enrolled in Catholic Charities health coverage, your spouse will be grandfathered in. Starting tomorrow, however, new employees (or newly married employees, hint hint) will not be allowed to add spouses to the plan."

Troll PSA #1: Can I talk to you?

Troll PSA #2: Guy tweets like he's at con, but he's not there. He's just stealing other people's experience and photos.

"You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed." via arielstarshadow

Fat-shaming and the Wii from ladyaelfwynn.

Video on women-only commuter train cars in India titled "Men barred from commuter trains." Infuriating.

"In the gap between war films and reality is a world of loss."

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Catholic Charities is very consistent in their wrongness.

One wonders how easy they'll find it to attract new employees?

[tdanaher.livejournal.com]

I saw a bit of your wiki entry from the cache before it was just purged, and apparently somebody just said you were an ordinary woman who got a little negative attention from writing about Pugs Not Dogs, Goblins. That was all.

[rm.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

That's.... that's just... not what I expected. In any scenario. I'm so confused.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

The Pugs Not Dogs, Goblins thing gets me every single time. I'll see one, laugh hysterically, try to explain it and then just watch as people stare at me like I've totally lost it.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Still leaves me grinning too.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

That, right there, is why I love the Internet -- that streak of WTF randomness.

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Video on women-only commuter train cars in India titled "Men barred from commuter trains." Infuriating.

* snort * It's the same thing I find to be logicFAIL in Islam, some men are tempted to behave badly towards women, but don't require better behavior of the men, segregate, or en-swath or imprison in their homes the women.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I was annoyed because the headline implied MEN ARE SUFFERING because of these train cars.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Is it because of the word choice? "Barred" making them sound like victims where 'prohibited' or 'restricted' would not?

Could this be a language thing? I've seen similar language used with 'Pedophiles barred from living near schools'. That didn't cause me to think of them as victims, but I'm predisposed to think of pedophiles as bad people. In contrast reading American history and how people of color were barred from using water fountains in public , I feel that they were victims of racism.

The video of the overcrowded train reminds me of riding the 6 during rush hour.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Well, it's usually easier to segregate than educate. It's not RIGHT, but it's easier and creates faster results. To uneducate the US Male population out of objectifying women would take at least 3 generations, if not more, assuming that the culture and media followed suit.

[saomigray.livejournal.com]

When I was in India, it was explained to me that the problem on the trains of "Eve Teasing" was a pretty serious problem in the north. I don't know how far the "teasing" would go, but what it amounted to was sexual harrassment based on the fact that a woman was travelling alone. At the time, there were already women-only waiting rooms in the stations farther north with signs posted gently reminding men that Eve Teasing is against the law.

I agree that men should be expected to behave themselves on the trains, but keeping the sexes separate seems neccessary in those places where the harrassment is so socially acceptable that women do feel unsafe when traveling.

I am concerned with the level of comfort the women seem to enjoy while the men are still packed in like sardines. This separate but definitely not equal thing is going to be problematic and possibly exacerbate the problems they are trying to fix.

Policing the cars is not an option, because there are so very many people sharing the space that not everyone can be watched all the time. Having the men police each other would be totally awesome, but that is not likely to happen, as Delchi said, for at least a few generations.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

it's actually beyond sexual harassment and rises to sexual assault at times - ass and breast grabbing included.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Troll PSA #1: Can I talk to you?

Funny, I think I encountered this one as a random PM on LJ a long while back, but once I replied to them with "sorry, I don't see how we share interests, and I don't generally talk to people unsolicited on LJ unless they do" they went fairly silent after that. Sounds like I got lucky compared to some.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

the Catholic charities are complerely spitting their dummies out there. I'd say move all funding to secular charities and get such bigoted, childish arseholes as far away from vilnerable people as possible.

And weren't woman only cars introduced to protect women from harassment? I'm sure women would just LOVE to give up this "special right" - just as soon as it can be guaranteed they won't be harrassment

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

Someone handing me a leaflet essentially blaming me for my own rape would likely make me a very violent girl. Sort of like the way I get when people throw the word "rape" around in conversation like it's just every day banter. I hate having to correct people - as in - "I'm sorry, but the government didn't actually rape you on your tax return, nor frankly, could it." Doing so puts everyone in an uncomfortable situation. If I say something, then they wonder if they've offended a rape victim (they have). If I don't say anything or laugh at their "joke" then I make them uncomfortable. What a fine line...

[baka-kit.livejournal.com]

Someone handing me a leaflet essentially blaming me for my own rape would likely make me a very violent girl.

*nods*

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

DC marriage - You see this -
http://www.rmnblog.org/2010/03/a-step-on-the-long-road-to-justice.html

Catholic Charities...well, in a backwards sort of way, it is equality. By not allowing it to anyone out of sheer spite - and bad biblical knowledge - wonder how long before the "normal" married employees decide to throw a fit.

You should totally be on wiki. What about the wayback machine? What is even sadder is the deletion log "‎ (A7: Article about a real person, which does not indicate the importance or significance of the subject)"I think you are Significant! Maybe the fannish wiki? (which I can not currently find, but know was there, as I found myself and the Hupe's on it at one point *frowny face*)

[rm.livejournal.com]

I have a book out, so I think I can get on the real Wiki. Is it bad form to add oneself? I don't know Wiki politics.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

In general, one ought not add oneself or stuff about one's work or anything one has a direct financial stake in on Wikipedia, it's seen as self-promotion. They also like the articles to be interconnected. (I could see adding an entry about you in regards to your HP book, if there is an article on works inspired by HP or derivative works.)

Wikipedia has recently relaxed this rule for archives and libraries. Since we often work with actually documents (birth certificates, death certificates, diaries, etc.) we have valuable info that could benefit wider society. So I can add all I want to about any of the artists in our collection but shouldn't really add anything about my specific workplace.

I did a bunch of work a couple of years ago and totally had to slap my credentials about. I was glad that I when I had set up my account I'd been as gender neutral about it as possible, so that when I had to slap my cred about, my gender wasn't held against me. (I even remember writing my replies to be what I thought would sound more masculine. I wasn't chatty, I got to the point, and didn't apologize.) Some other person backed me up so all my work stayed put but Wikipedia can be a bit cut-throat.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Wiki politics are worse than club politics ( and I say that knowing your experience in such things ). I got involved in it due to the whole webcomics fiasco a few years ago and it took a serious wake up call to get me out of it.

As an author I think it's proper and relevant for you and your informatoin to be out there - and as far as self publishing , just use a non personal user id and make sure that the entry stays relevant - your works, your history, etc.. and not things like " BUY MY BOOK AT THIS URL , COME SEE MY MOVIE , AND JOIN MY FANCLUB FOR 19.95 " and so on. Granted you probably know this already....

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I think you may be thinking of Fanlore? (That is a specific nonprofit wiki for fans, by fans, set up by the OTW.)

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be what I was thinking of. Thanks! My brain does not always work right.

[marcmagus]

I checked the Wayback Machine and Google cache. Looks like it wasn't around long enough. [It might show up on Wayback in a few months? They say there's typically a 6 month delay from collection.]

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that Catholic Charities is acting so stupidly about this. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end for them. Bigots shouldn't be able to masquerade as charity organizations.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I doubt it. The most conservative Catholics have the most kids. Still, one can still be morbidly fascinated by the D.C. diocese insistence on changing deck chairs on the Titanic.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I unknowingly lost a wikipedia relevance fight too once, and my article seemed to turn up on http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com. Or maybe the Wayback Machine can help you. Strange that Google hasn't cached the original article from what I can grok.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Apparently, judging from other comments, it was deleted because the article was, in fact, deeply irrelevant and adddressed pretty much none of what I actually do.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

oh thanks for the heads up on the troll
and that leaflet based on how you are dressed! the other day i went shopping and was trying on some tops, this elderly woman said to me, "You'll go straight to hell dressed like that." - i sorta laughed at the time, but it was weird

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Did CNN change the title? The one I saw said " Commuter Trains For women Only "

[rm.livejournal.com]

At the time I posted this the link to it off the main page said what it says in the post.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I wonder what prompted them to change it - multiple complaints perhaps?

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

I think I saw that twitter troll on the #gally hashtag, which I pretty much ignored... because I didn't know who he was. WEIRD.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

First troll: Creepy. I wonder, though, if he *is* doing for the lulz - or whether he's got some sort of serious issues of his own. It seems like a relatively weird and atypical form of trolling, from what I could gather.

Second troll, the one who tweeted as though he were at a con he wasn't within a thousand miles of? I'm trying to come up with a conceivable motivation for that. Some sort of absurdist theater/art, perhaps?

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

To avoid supporting gay people in any way whatsoever Catholic Charities is now denying benefits to all spouses.

So nice to see the love of Jesus in action. :/

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

The company I went to work for in 2006 did not extend benefits to my husband. He had to get on his own workplace's insurance.

The company I work for now (largest trucking company in the US) covered him until last December, when they announced all working spouses were being kicked off the medical coverage. They would have to get coverage from their own workplace.

This is not limited to Catholic Charities. Nor is it at all uncommon.

disability fail

[ambyr.livejournal.com]

The comments on that last linked article . . . eesh. Three people on one page telling the author that being blind means he has no right to critique movies, because he can't possibly understand them without full vision? Ick.

(I know, I know, rule one of news articles, never read the comments.)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think I'm the only person in the US who wasn't amazed by a black president. Part of it is that I underestimate the pervasiveness and virulence of racism, but it's also that everyone seemed to think Colin Powell was a plausible candidate.

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

Video on women-only commuter train cars in India titled "Men barred from commuter trains." Infuriating.

The current title on it is "Commuter trains for women only". Maybe someone at CNN is not wearing their posterior for a chapeau, noticed and took care of it. We can only hope.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

You so don't want to be on wikipedia considering what happens to people who are there and then deleted because they aren't "important" enough.

There is a group called the deleters who spend all their time working hard to delete articles from the Wiki.

How do I know? Kristen Ayre is a Canadian Actor who's wiki was deleted after this one person got a bug up her skirt esp. after Peter pointed out her original reasons for deletion were incorrect and she couldn't even get Kristen's gender correct. Peter had worked with Kristen on Space Cases.

So Peter wrote up an article in the CBG (Comics Buyers Guide) called Wiki Wha? to give Kristen an actual article about his work that they could quote for the wiki.

They re-instated the article.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

what is your objection to the women-only trains?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with women-only cars. I have a problem with the original headline at time of posting, which made it out like men were a victim of this regulation.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

ah, ok. yeah, that would irritate me too.

wiki is in google cache

[nobodyreally.livejournal.com]

here