sundries - help fund a liver transplant, assist a commuter cat, and argue about stories

Deb Mensinger needs a new liver, because hers has been destroyed by a genetic form of porphyria. The hope is that Deb's brother will be able to be the live donor (livers are awesome that way). However, Deb's brother lives on the opposite coast and is uninsured, which means there are a lot of expenses involved in all of this that Deb's insurance won't pick up.

So a fandom auction is stepping in to help Deb, her wife (Laurie J. Marks, author of the Elemental Logic series, the Children of the Triad series, The Watcher's Mask, and Dancing Jack, and guest of honor at WisCon 31) and her brother. The auction will open for bidding on May 1, but right now we need people to offer things to bid on! Please visit debsliverlovers to offer items to bid on, and please help spread the word. Thank you!

deza has recently moved from Atlanta to eastern North Carolina. Her cat, Jack, is currently in foster care in the Atlanta area and she has medical issues that prevents her from going to retrieve the little guy herself. If you can possibly help with cat transport, please contact her.

I am vaguely toying with doing a week-long food diary here. Enough people ask me what the hell I eat being gluten-free and also make assumptions about the nature of my food habits due to my weight, that I thought it might be interesting. Is it interesting?

The pay gaps of NYC. More money out of the gate for men, while, as usual, women get less.

Do men get paid more than women because women lack Machiavellian aggressiveness? Did the person who wrote this blurb ever spend time at an all-girls school? I got your Machiavellian aggressiveness right here.

A week ago a day laborer who often had no roof over his head was stabbed to death in NYC. Surveillance video reveals that this happened after he came to the aid of a woman who was being confronted by an angry man. The video also reveals that numerous people walked right by him as he was dying, including one person who paused to take a photo with their mobile.

I just want to say a few things about Buffy, my tirade last night and various ways in which we respond to media and how we respond to people responding to media. ( Read more... )

Meanwhile, redstapler has just alerted me to this particular use of V for Vendetta to which I must say no. No no no no no no no.

In case you haven't read it, this is part of Valerie's letter, which is a critical, central element in both the film and the original graphic novel. ( Read more... )

So this is me, being unable to articulate my rage. I'm used to people taking my rights. My stories though? How dare you?

Finally, the best quote about the financial crisis EVER. Congressman Barney Frank on the decision-making process regarding capital set-asides at AIG: "They thought they were selling life insurance to vampires, and then the vampires died." That's begging to be a story, isn't it? It makes me feel sad.

St. Katharine's Dock Market

When we arrived in the UK (see, I told you I would write all this up eventually), it was far too early to check into our hotel, so after a valiant effort we left our bags there and went walking. Patty took me to the Tower of London and I insisted on wandering into every Pret and Eat to see if they had gluten-free things (since Patty had brought me gluten-free carrot cake from one last time she was in the UK; if you haven't figured it out yet, I get OBSESSED with food when I'm traveling).

Eventually we sort of decided we'd get sandwiches/salads somewhere and sit outside, as it was a ridiculously warm day, unseasonable weather having followed us from New York. As we were roaming, though, Patty saw a sign to a market so we followed it and discovered St. Katharine's Dock.

It's hard to describe this little neighborhood. It's as if you hollowed out (NYC's) Chelsea, filled it with expensive boats belonging to hedge fund guys and then surrounded that with pubs. Then! Then, on Fridays fill it with gourmet street food vendors.

Patty and I had kept hearing about the markets in London, and I don't know about her, but I guess I assumed they would be like the farmer's market here -- fruits and vegetables, some preserves, cheese, things like that. We figured it would be good for picking up a snack or two, but poor for a trip wherein we did not have access to a kitchen.

Oh god, we were so wrong. The market was like tent restaurants, a street food paradise. I wound up getting gluten-free risotto balls with hot pepper chutney and a salad with apples and sunflower seeds. It was the best thing EVER, and only 4 quid. Patty got a chorizo, cheese, roasted pepper and wild rocket sandwich and we sat on the ground near some school kids and looked at the boats and watched the finance boys in suits starting the weekend drinking early at the pub.

AND we found a vendor of fudge which was gluten-free, so I got tons of strawberry-vanilla, chocolate vanilla AND coconut ice (HOW DID I NEVER REALIZE THAT THE TANG IN THE COCONUT ICE THAT I COULDN'T REPRODUCE WHEN I TRIED TO MAKE IT AT HOME WAS A SLIGHT BIT OF STRAWBERRY FLAVOUR?????) who was super awesome.

It was all so good. SO GOOD, one of the best meals we had of the entire trip. And I was super chatty with all the vendors because I was all "I just got off a plane from New York, gluten gluten, blah blah blah, Patty conference blah blah blah" and people thought I was really funny. People remembered me the next week when I went back while Patty was at her conference, because I had to have more of EVERYTHING.

When I think of flying in and out of London again later this year, even if my destinations are points elsewhere, I feel like I'd have to go out of my way to get to this market for more fudge and risotto. Most of the time we were in the UK it was cold, but how lucky we were that first day to sit on the pavement and eat beautiful food and think this country was just fucking waiting for us to show up.

If you're in London, you should go, it's on Fridays. And if you do go, tell the fudge vendor guy that the chick from New York with celiac disease who got stranded by the volcano says hello.