sundries

[rm]

Last night, Patty and I participated in a salon about technology and relationships at Science House. The conversation was wide-ranging, amusing, filled with very diverse perspectives and ranged from the usual "are you different online?" (me: you're different everywhere, why do we only care when it's about the damn Internet?) to the ethical issues of child-like sex robots. There was also a great deal of food and spectacular views. If, by odd chance you're coming over here from over there, hello!

Tonight? Homeness and Project Runway. Has it moved back to New York? Please tell me it's moved back to New York.

I just realized we're going to be in Chicago in 2.5 weeks.

Charges, not unexpected, filed in the murder of Steve Perry. Warning: article is gruesome for any reader and particularly unpleasant for those of you who knew the man online or off.

Because I am all about the news you can use: Michael Jackson's estate vs. Plants vs. Zombies.

The past was not in black & white: DC during WWII.

More of similar. Not just DC this time. Color photos of rural towns 1939 - 1943.

On that note, If the Blitz comes....

One more indication that our healthcare system is still fucked: Insured Americans are using fewer medical services.

Congress is rethinking the ban on Internet gambling. This is interesting, because I'm someone who enjoys casinos and also knows we need the revenue. However, I also suspect that Internet gambling is potentially addictive in ways different or additional to casino gambling, and this could be very messy if approved.

Tom Hardy of Inception has had sex with men. Personally, I'm discomforted by his remark about gay men and gender roles and entirely more interested in his thing about shoes than anything else. I love men's shoes. Not in a pervy way, damn you.

What is it with NYC and food halls lately? First there was the opening of the one at the Plaza, now there's Eataly.

On Saturday elionwyr will being doing a blogathon to benefit Live Strong.

Separate post about graduate_maria things later.

Hey, I beta'ed this fic by bethynyc. It's Where Youth and Laughter Go and is a Stargate/Torchwood crossover with a largely WWI setting. bethnyc had to deal with a lot of complexities regarding writing that time from the eyes of people not of our time and place, and that sort of thing is really hard to balance, but she did an awesome job, so you should go read it.

Comments

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Hardy cracked me up. "I'm an actor, for fuck's sake." Like it's a DUH. When I was in theater, I simply assumed a guy was gay unless we saw evidence otherwise. And usually I turned out to be right. :) It's hard being a straight woman in theater... or at least hard on the dating life! :)

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Re Hardy: And then the fandom exploded

[idunn.livejournal.com]

I pay $200/month on my parent's healthcare plan (a fact which totally destroyed Canadian friends of mine - "you pay HOW MUCH?!") just so I have healthcare in case the worst happens. Otherwise I don't really go to the doctor and am overdo on my visit to the ob/gyn. I had to go to a specialist lately and laughed when she outlined how often she wanted me to see her and then expressed confusion that I didn't come in again; even with insurance, at $150/visit, I'll take my chances on my own.

To non-Americans reading about our healthcare crisis, it really is that bad. And my situation's incredibly tame compared to what other people are going through. I'm lucky.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

IKR. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but if it's costing more than gold per ounce - and that's if you *have* insurance! - it's a disincentive to invest in it. Then there's the non-monetary cost: taking time off work to see the medico(s), and getting ground down due to bureaucratic idiocies in the HMO.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

I was recently involved in a discussion and someone asked if we had Cobra, but didn't explain what it is. Now I have to laugh, because we don't have Cobra, but if your income is low, a certain level of health care is free, and it's cheap anyways. (For example, the specialist is free if you are referred by your GP for further investigation.)

I'm glad you're willing to get coverage, even at $200 a month. The Americans I work with (in BC) refuse to pay for even basic coverage at $60/month, and won't even think about going to a clinic or the hospital when something is wrong.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Please take minority populations into account. There's a fundamental distrust for doctors over the terrible things that have been done to many of us by the medical system. What to you is "refusal" is to many people a reasoned response to being treated like shit.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this. I pay for coverage in case of emergencies, but otherwise I avoid doctors because of such bad encounters with them. I just want to make sure I'm covered in case limbs fall off or something.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

You get shitty doctors in Canada, too. It's just cheaper to shop around till you find someone that works with you, and isn't a dismissive jerk.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm pretty sure shitty doctors isn't an American phenomenenon, but like you said, it's too expensive to just shop around until you find someone who's knowledgeable as well as a good person.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

Oof. Yeah. Let me show you my bias of growing up in the Canadian system. I do think of my coworkers as privileged, as they are all higher degree holders who travel frequently, and have privilege over me in that respect. I shouldn't assume. :/

[idunn.livejournal.com]

WTF is wrong with your coworkers?! I'd be ecstatic if I had basic for only 60 bucks!

COBRA's a ripoff. I got that after losing my job in the crash of '08 for $500/month. Who needs rent?

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

I think they don't quite get that the $60 means that, no really, doctors and specialists and hospitals are FREE. Walk in, get treated, walk out. Many other things are reduced cost. Birth control and gyno visits can make the savings significant for women...

[idunn.livejournal.com]

How is that possible? Flabbergasted Yank here.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY MY POINT! I don't understand it either, and I grew up with it. I just accept and move on.

(There are some additional costs, like detailed doctor's notes, physicals with write-ups for jobs, and in-office surgery (in hospital is always free... I know this because I'm allergic to anaesthetics and had my wisdom teeth out in hospital. YAY!).)

[idunn.livejournal.com]

But ... but ... this is like an amazing discovery involving string theory.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

(me: you're different everywhere, why do we only care when it's about the damn Internet?)

So true! Maybe it's only *because* it's the Internet that we actually sit up and notice. (Also, do you know if there have been writeups on that salon? This sounds like it would've been relevant to my interests, and I'm annoyed I never heard about it.)

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

I help to curate the salons-- they are invitation-only and largely not publicized (though future topics may receive more marketing). For each salon, our guests are picked to represent a mix of experts from a variety of fields on a certain topic, and often bloggers / academics whose experience may not be directly related to the topic being discussed. The website for the project is is here, and if you are interested in being a participant you are welcome to write to me at megan AT sciencehouse DOT com.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

me: you're different everywhere, why do we only care when it's about the damn Internet? ILU

Re Hardy, I don't know whether you were bothered by the same thing(s) I was, but it's the Daily Mail (for fuck's sake): all quotes to be taken as doctored until proven otherwise.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The whole sort of "gay men are feminine" thing and possibly the "outgrowing" it thing. But at the same time I was sorta "Well, you're slightly an idiot, but go you! Shoes!"

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was pretty much it - plus what I thought was a little over-generalization. But the Advocate didn't have the whole story: the source they quote is the Mail, but that article makes clear the comments were from Now magazine (a celeb gossip mag, somewhat more disreputable than the worst of the tabloids). The interview, according to the Mail, also included this quote:

"A lot of people say I seem masculine, but I don't feel it. I feel intrinsically feminine. I'd love to be one of the boys but I always felt a bit on the outside. Maybe my masculine qualities come from overcompensating because I'm not one of the boys."

But Now's own website omits that and gives a slightly different version of the "form and the physicality" quote: "I love the form and the physicality but the gay sex bit does nothing for me, in the same way as a wet vagina would turn someone else into a lemon-sucking freak."

Now continues: "Tom, 32, hasn't gone 'all the way' with a guy. 'Not all, but I can imagine; we've all got an arsehole. It just doesn't do it for me, sex with another man.'"

Um. Whatever. I trust the accuracy of Now's quotes even less than the Mail's.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Thank you again for your beta--I received some lovely comments on the story!

I agree with you on the different everywhere--I'm very different with family than I am with friends or even on the internet!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh! Where does the story live? I'll link people from here.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Best one to use is the slashing_lorne community and here's the link!

http://community.livejournal.com/slashing_lorne/192716.html

I also have it on AO3, but I hardly use that one.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the plug! I appreciate it!

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Re. child-shaped sex robots. My first reaction was, "DO NOT WANT!" However, so long as they aren't AI (which would be far in the future, heh), if it protects REAL children from predators, I guess I can't really argue with it, sigh.

Re. Going to the doctor. When I had insurance, I went for every minor ache or pain because I *was* paying for it - what are people thinking?

Re. Internet gambling. Given how addictive the *regular* internet can be, I tend to agree with you, :(.

Re. Tom Hardy - Interesting...

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Re. Going to the doctor. When I had insurance, I went for every minor ache or pain because I *was* paying for it - what are people thinking?

That their coverage sucks since they're only (barely) covered for whatever the insurance company feels like paying. As I said above, I was sick but $150/visit to a specialist is unreasonable so you go without.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's the very rare insurance these days that has a reasonable co-pay as your only cost for going to the doctor. Otherwise, it's still fairly expensive to go. Even with insurance.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Not counting medication. The above price I quoted was knocked down from $250 (okay, but many people still can't afford it) and doesn't include the drugs.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Jesus... I'm sorry, :(.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I am going to miss the Michael Jackson dancing zombie. I haven't played the game much, but I'm inordinately fond of certain details. Plus, it's not like it's a tasteless jab at him. It's good nostalgia. Grr, litigation.

I need many more hours for these old color photos. Side note: my grandfather apparently had a photography hobby and liked to tint black and white photos. He died long before I was born, so I never got to see much of this, but these have me thinking of him.

Also, that shot of the window with news stories in orange and blue kicked my ass.

I'm not sure what to make of that Tom Hardy thing. Positives: I like someone who recognizes flexibility in his own gender, and differences in social dynamics. Negatives: wow, blanket statements, much?

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Drive by icon love!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

It's by copperbadge, and free to snag. :)

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

Those pictures of DC are cool. One of my husband's great uncles bought a color video camera (at least I think it was a color camera) in 1939. I'm told that he dropped a load of money on it because that was the newest technology at the time. My in-laws have some footage of my husband's grandparents' engagement party. My husband's grandparents were Jewish and lived in Brooklyn. I've only seen the video once, but it was very interesting in that it was a window into a different world.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the plug! I'm gonna plug grauduate maria over on FB.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be visiting Chicago at the beginning of September, myself. Will you be visiting the Thorne rooms?

[therealycats.livejournal.com]

Not that it makes the situation any less terrible, but...I was worried you meant Steve Perry from Journey was murdered.

[miep.livejournal.com]

those color photos of the rural US... love. love.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Boosted signal, put three books up for auction. Good luck Maria!