sundries

[rm]

Just so you know: I am currently noodling around with WordPress and designs and domain names. Soon I will have a new blog. I will continue to use this blog for my need to link spam and fanfic (this, btw, has nothing to do with any desire or need to separate fanfic from the rest of my identity; it just makes sense for fic to stay where the LJ fan community is) and it will remain as unsecret as it currently is. New blog will be, hopefully, for more thoughts that take more than three sentences. I may cross-post, and I'll definitely set up an RSS feed so people can read from their LJ friends-lists still. I hope people will interact with me there; meanwhile, I'll still be reading my friendslist here.

Why is this happening? The first post on the new blog will hopefully explain, and I don't want to steal its thunder, but the short answer for here? LJ culture and I aren't getting along real well right now, mainly because I don't know how to keep doing what I've been doing, and so this slightly new thing may be what I need to do to feel like I can regain authority over my own words.

You have not heard this saga, but it suffices to say: I have found the missing tomatoes.

Patty has arrived safely in Ohio.

Had a long talk with one of my oldest friends last night, a lot of which was Trans 102/103 regarding a situation in an organization of which she is a member. She is good. She can do some good. It was nice.

Note to self: renew your damn NCIS membership.

Everyone like me who has systems for getting cheap fares? Prepare to have it not work as American Airlines removes its listings from Orbitz and other carries may follow suit with a variety of services. Now, I hate flying American, but I've gotten a shitload of stellar deals with them lately, so I'm displeased. I'm also displeased by the potential impact on the sites I use to find awesome fares on various carriers.

Obama says he is prepared to implement the DADT repeal and that it will take months not years. (Good). He also says he is "wrestling" with marriage equality. Does that smell like a crappy compromise to you? It smells like one to me. That said, he does manage to talk about dealing with DoMA and about marriage gay and lesbian couples he knows. So, something. Baby steps are tiring.

Hey, the UN voted that extrajudicial killings of gay people for being gay are bad. 93 voted for this; 55 voted against it; 27 abstained. It's arguably safe for me to see approximately half the world. Focus: arguably.

Despite apologizing for it over the summer Target has continued to make anti-gay donations.

African farmers displaced by investment from both inside and outside of Africa.

A blogger sets out to donate about $600 worth of gift cards to people in need. More people than that ask for help. Other people step up. In the end, about $40,000 gets donated to 90 people.

Ob random: One day Patty and I will get to gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney. Dammit. Yes.

Comments

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

93 voted for this; 55 voted against it; 27 abstained.

It's the abstainers that make me angry.

[graene.livejournal.com]

I have not heard the tomato saga, but if you have any tips for locating the chocolate chips missing since August, I would appreciate.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

"Wrestling" what's there to WRESTLE with?

In the blue corner we have COMMON SENSE!
In the red corner we have BIGOTRY!

Fight!

This is as poor as the "my opinion on gay marriage is evolving" yeah, well let us know when it leaves the bigoted stage and we'll bake you up an ally cookie.


I'm trying to celebrate the UN resiolution going back... ut I can't. It depresses me so much to say "GOOD NEWS! The whole world has decided I maybe shouldn't be killed on sight. Sorta." I mean, being reduced to celebrating that?


The African investment just shows how throwing money without proper direction can fail so much - the money has to go to those in need, those who are poor, not to companies and NGOs to "invest" for them

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finding the tomatoes.

I sincerely hope things will move forward with DADT repealed. I'm hoping it'll serve as a lever to pry DoMA loose and pave the way for national recognition of same-sex marriages. For one perfect example, it is now entirely possible for someone in the Navy to get married while stationed in Grot on, CT, and then be not-married upon transfer to Norfolk, VA. It was always insane, and apparently this state-level piecemeal stuff was the only way to get the ball rolling, but now it's glaringly and obviously federally insane.

Of course, I picked VA because it's the other Big East Coast Sub Base, but apparently it's also got loonies in office, one of whom thinks they can selectively retain DADT for their National Guard. *headdesk*

The thing that surprises me about all the coverage on Target's continued donations is that everybody's talking about that "apology" as if it meant anything other than "we're sorry you were offended" or more likely "we're sorry these protesters are making store managers' lives difficult." Meanwhile, Target has lost at least $700K in business, based on what former customers have been posting here, so you'd think they'd develop a clue. Apparently not.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

*hopes with you*

Ugh, I hope Target buys a clue eventually. (Any choice tidbits from the FB page for those who don't have FB?)

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Is it not viewable if you're not logged in? Damn.

I don't know about choice tidbits. Most posts are just "spent $xxx.xx at store XYZ instead of Target" which is how they tally it up. The current total is $738,663.71, and they're hoping to make it to $750K by Christmas, as that would be five times the amount donated to MN Forward.

One interesting thread discussed how to handle receiving Target gift cards from clueless friends/family, because if you don't use them, that's money basically donated to Target. (Sort of like the way I view the extended warranty on my laptop. I paid for it in 2008. If I get covered repairs done elsewhere before it runs out, that's money basically donated to Best Buy.) Some suggest going Dec 26 to make it cost Target the most in stock, others suggest donating the cards to various charities.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

If you ever want to catch up by phone or Skype again, I'm here for you...

And I'm pretty good with Wordpress :D

[rm.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Because WordPress is making me beat my head into a wall a little. Also everyone is like "It's so hackable! DEATH FROM ABOVE!"

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can understand that...

http://themeforest.net/ has some awesomely simplified wordpress themes that look great. They're premium, so they have to be bought, but most of them are very easy to get the way you want them, and they'll take the work out of the setup!

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I recently started learning WordPress myself, and I'm glad to hear there will at least be an RSS feed because while I will follow you elsewhere, having it show up on my LJ f-list makes it a lot easier for me (and to comment, I can always jump to the new site, which is what I do in other cases now already).

I hope finding the tomatoes happened before they became... unpleasant.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I did find the tomatoes before they became unpleasant!

And I do want to make the WP thing as easy for everyone as I can. I've just got to make sure me, myself and I are on that list too.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the update on Target. I'm posting to let people know. Target is local to Minneapolis, and a lot of people shop there because of that, and they think of it as shopping locally. It isn't. I've done without them for 5 months now, and will continue to do so.

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

I've been blogging for years off-LJ, and I think one major difference is that there's a kind of snarky fractiousness and immaturity to interactions here. The culture is tighter, maybe because people have more in common (overwhelmingly female, white, highly focused on arts and entertainment) so maybe people feel more free to assume a closeness and commonality of experience that may or may not actually exist.

I still don't quite understand LJ etiquette about debate. I ran my off-LJ blog like a lot of other people run their blogs. My space, anonymous comments not allowed, and I am under no obligation to give you the time of day in comments if I don't feel like it.

I tend not to post on super serious or controversial real life stuff here on LJ, because the culture doesn't seem to be conducive to it. When I go to comms where they do have debate, I don't bother getting involved because there's too much a) backpatting b) flaming.

LJ is awesome for fanfic and fandom-related stuff but yeah... I can see why you're making the move.

I personally like blogspot: it's easier to use and harder to break, and most people don't really need a lot of the advanced stuff Wordpress has.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all of this. I will check blogspot out as I'm being warned about the intense hackability of WordPress a lot lately.

I feel like I used to understand LJ culture and now no longer do, which is super weird for me. And I would like a space where I don't feel obligated to view all behavior as acceptable to me.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I use blogspot for weight loss journaling and I love it. The only reason I haven't made the full switch is because most of my LJ friends wouldn't be making it with me or don't comment there, even when things get cross-posted. Sounds like that part won't be an issue for you, though.

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

I'm gutted to be leaving Melbourne 19 days before Midsumma kicks off. And then Sydney about a month before Mardi Gras. And I missed every single Pride I could have gone to back home this year by being in the wrong place at the wrong time - mostly Australia. Loads of the trams in Melbourne have Midsumma adverts up, and I see them with a combination of 'squee' and 'doh!'.

Already making plans to come back, though. For about three years, maybe?

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

I use WordPress and am pretty happy with it so far. I hadn't heard about it being super hackable, but I should probably look into that.

Personally I hate Blogger because it forces you to type a CAPTCHA every time you comment, which I find incredibly irritating. Maybe there's a way to turn that off though.

For me, LJ just seems a lot more dead than it used to. The whole internet to me feels like it's been taken over by Facebook. Most of the time when I post to LJ I feel like I can hear the crickets chirp, so I don't really know what problems you're having with it.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

You have not heard this saga, but it suffices to say: I have found the missing tomatoes.

This will not end well.

Also, cue moment where the television I watch (or that I am at least aware of) makes things like "NCIS Membership" sound really funny.

I am bummed/confused about American Airlines. One, because they're who I'm flying with both ways (purchased via Priceline), and Priceline is how I determined that they were a good deal. While I openly confess that I don't know the details of what companies like Orbitz and Priceline put airlines through in terms of hassle, logic and the data I can guess at makes me knee-jerk that "we do not want to exist on Orbitz" really just means "we want people to have to pay more." I suppose we'll see.

And argh. Fucking Target. I am not loving the fact that I am having to revisit the "lesser of two evils" question between them and Wal-Mart.

[rm.livejournal.com]

My own personal opinion is that Target is the lesser evil, because they do less lasting damage to the economy (in a way that eliminates potential choice).

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

So far, I think you're probably right. They're also (marginally) better to their employees, and score well in general in terms of operating practices. It's a thing to watch, though. They've been burning through their good reputation left, right, and center.