sundries

[rm]

Patty and I had sushi at Takahashi last night. I used to go there all the time, and I have no idea how we've been together so long without me suggesting we go there. I guess it's easy to be out of sight out of mind about restaurants in New York. Anyway, it was very nice.

Oh shit, Yuletide!

We just about managed to remain conscious through John Stewart and the beginning of Colbert. I hate when it feels like these are the only guys saying what needs to be said. Newsflash: working between Christmas and New Year's doesn't disrespect Jesus. Second: the Republicans better not use the 9/11-blah-blah-blah strategy EVER again. My disgust level is so high.

Hey, I don't use it, but if you do: Del.icio.us is going away at a yet to be determined point (the team got fired yesterday) and you should backup or transfer your bookmarks.

Sarah Dopp has begun fundraising to launch the Gender Playful marketplace. Her being able to launch this platform would improve a lot of lives.

'Tis the season: Okay, so there's this guy Paul that I went to high school with. He's a freelance opera and classical music journalist and also a geek and has a blog. Where he just posted Dune filk of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Headline much more interesting than article: UFO shot down over a nuclear powerplant in the Negev. Seriously the link to this on CNN's homepage says "UFO." Fuckers.

Scathing: "Mark Twain’s autobiography, embargoed at his request for 100 years and now a best seller, is a powerful argument for writers’ burning their papers."

In France: Civil unions gain favor over marriage.

The fuck? The guy who is about to become the head of the House's Homeland Security Comittee says that Muslim radicalization will be a focus of inquiry as Muslim groups aren't cooperating enough. Really? The last time a Muslim group turned in someone they thought was a terrorist, it turned out to be an FBI plant. Fuck you, dude.

Not an American concern: something really anti-Semitic that Kissinger said in 1973 comes back to haunt us all.

FIFA apologizes for warning about gay sex, but it doesn't really solve the problem, does it?

Reports of assaults at US military academies are up 64%

Comments

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, but I saw this on the Guardian website earlier today and thought you might like.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

*mental note to signal-boost the new Gender Playful tumblr as well as donate*

I'm guessing the balloon they shot down (according to the Beeb; I am unsurprised that CNN led with "UFO", alas) was probably someone's attempt to photograph the "we don't have a nuclear weapons program honest" facility from the air.

And yeah, also cynical about the HSC's whining about lack of cooperation. They'd get a hell of a lot more if they took the time to understand the groups they were requesting cooperation from, rather than demanding results to the point of planting fake terrorists in their midst. Blech.

[marcmagus]

"Maybe"?!

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

Oh, the ironing. I actually, finally set up a Del.icio.us page yesterday. Yesterday!

Oh, and that Muslim group who turned in the plant... yeah, that's my city. Irvine is the anti-radical hotbed. A ridiculously suburban, high-income and culturally diverse town. It's been rated by the FBI as the safest city in the US for five years in a row (may be going on six). The biggest hazards are domestic violence problems amongst the married students of my university. There's one family homicide a year... in a city of over 200,000 people. Yep. Totally the first place I'd look for potential terrorists.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

That Kissinger thing nearly gave me an aneurysm. My family has a book of his and I stack various books by him and about him in the library where I work and I just wanna rip it up because DAMN the man was evil in so many ways!

UFO! In the Negev! BWAHAHAHA!

[maryling.livejournal.com]

Dear FIFA dude:

Actual apologies do not include the phrase "if I offended anyone." Actual apologies go along the lines of "I screwed up and I'm sorry" full stop, no qualifiers.

/massive pet peeve

[digitalsidhe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, I looked at the FIFA president apology and also thought: "Fauxpology."

"I'm sorry if I offended people" = fauxpology.

"I'm sorry that I offended people" = real apology.

The difference is really not that hard to understand.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Oh shit, Yuletide!

My thoughts exactly. Fortunately, my tomorrow is earmarked for finishing up. Want to swap drafts to edit?

I caught all of Stewart and Colbert and was heartbroken and enraged on behalf of the first responders who are being treated so shoddily, and the media's total lack of attention to it. This is why we have court jesters like Stewart and Colbert, but when something is so fucked up that Colbert is having to essentially break character to call Bill O'Reilly out...well, it's pretty fucked.

That Twain review bums me out. Damn. Also, I'm stunned that Nixon has been dead for 16 years. I have somehow gone into some sort of denial about my actual age by accident.

[zeldajean.livejournal.com]

Re: Nixon dead 16 years, stunned, denial of own age:

Apparently me too as this just came as a shock to me! I remember watching coverage of his funeral.

(Apologies for the paraphrasing rather than quoting, I'm posting from my phone and can't cut&paste.)

[airspaniel.livejournal.com]

I don't understand the reaction to the use of the term "UFO" here. It just means "unidentified flying object." There's no implication in it.

I don't know why that's what I fixated on, but it's been that kind of day. -_-

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Del.icio.us is going away at a yet to be determined point (the team got fired yesterday) and you should backup or transfer your bookmarks.

Wait, what?

I absolutely rely on it! Any suggestions for what to do next would be beyond welcomed.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Hm:

http://www.geekosystem.com/delicious-not-shutting-down/

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Oh! Replied before I saw this. I hope this is true.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

There's a post full of possible alternatives here (http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1080038.html) and someone is thinking of setting up a fanfriendly mirror here (http://community.livejournal.com/deliciouslymad/18362.html).

Looks like the best alternative kind of depends on what you use it for - whether you browse other people's links, or just want somewhere to put your own (I'm in the latter group, so diigo will probably do me, since pinboard requires a subscription).

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the Dune Messiah filk link; am still laughing. Now if a choir/chorus would just perform that, and put the video up on YouTube...

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

Did anyone else notice the NYT studiously not using the word 'partner' in the entire PACS article?

Oh, Sepp Blatter, you are an idiot. (Also, oh man, did I find a spectacular quote here (http://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=8402) for proof of that while I was looking for Sepp Blatter saying there were no gay people in football (which it seems, shockingly, he hasn't): "Es gibt schwule Fußballer, aber sie legen das nicht offen, weil sie denken, sie würden in den Macho-Organisationen nicht akzeptiert werden", erklärte der 61-Jährige. "Schauen Sie sich aber Frauen-Fußball an: Homosexualität ist dort populärer." (There are gay footballers, but they don't come out because they think they would not be accepted in the macho clubs. However, look at women's football: homosexuality is more popular there. The Google translation (http://translate.google.com/#de|en|%22Es%20gibt%20schwule%20Fußballer%2C%20aber%20sie%20legen%20das%20nicht%20offen%2C%20weil%20sie%20denken%2C%20sie%20würden%20in%20den%20Macho-Organisationen%20nicht%20akzeptiert%20werden%22%2C%20erklärte%20der%2061-Jährige.%20%22Schauen%20Sie%20sich%20aber%20Frauen-Fußball%20an%3A%20Homosexualität%20ist%20dort%20populärer.%22) is choice, as well.))

[trillian42.livejournal.com]

.... I'm sorry, Garrison Keillor is bitching about Mark Twain being "rambling" and "meandering"??? Hey Pot, my name's Kettle.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAH this comment made me chortle far too heartily. My stitches hurt! But it is the truth and a funnier bit of truth I don't think I could imagine just now.