Rose and Bay: I won!
Mar. 1st, 2013 07:54 pm
The Rose and Bay Awards are to Crowdfunded Creativity (poetry, art, prose, etc) what the Pegasus is to filk or the Grammy is to commercial music. And yours truly, in a three-way tie with
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
marina_bonomi, won Best Patron for financial, moral, and publicity support. SQUEE! I'd like to thank
mdlbear for pointing me at ysabetwordsmith, and Elizabeth herself for writing such compelling stories (and teasers) that I just *had* to pony up for a few! And also thindu for "Barrette's Private Ears", which had me *howling* in the eighth verse, because Elizabeth had let John Watson *do that to me*... :) :) :) And I highly recommend
ysabetwordsmith's poetry, particularly her Serial Poetry... Schrodinger's Heroes being my personal favourite, with An Army of One gaining ground... And, support your local! Whatever or wherever (including cyberspace) that may be!
Silverwitch feed
Oct. 1st, 2011 01:28 pmHey, folks, I've created a feed for damiana's new blog, Silverwitch, so you can read her in your DW stream. It's ![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
silverwitch_feed; you can just subscribe like you normally would, though giving access is kinda pointless :)
And, GO DAMI! I wish you and yours all success.
damiana's new blog, Silverwitch, so you can read her in your DW stream. It's silverwitch_feed; you can just subscribe like you normally would, though giving access is kinda pointless :)And, GO DAMI! I wish you and yours all success.
equal opportunity
Sep. 2nd, 2011 11:03 amI’ve been gently reminded in the last handful of hours that it’s not *just* men who engage in abuse, both on fora and in person. People are people, and, alas, some personalities resemble the north end of a southbound Clydesdale, irrespective of gender, race, religion, orientation, or species.
You may treat this as formal notice that I will, to the best of my ability, moderate my lifespace (cyber or f2f) with equinamity, bringing the banhammer and the praise cookies out as needed. Awesome will be rewarded with awesome, but if you mess with me or my people or my space? The hammer is comin’, brah, warp speed.
And you, gentle reader, are encouraged to point out that which deserves either.
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A couple weeks ago, I visited Uncle Mike’s Superlicious BBQ down in White Center. The ‘cue was quiet good, but Uncle Mike was up to something more. While he was there, the TV news played an interview with him, his staffers, and other people in and around White Center complaining about the loss of the storefront deputy sheriff stationed kitty corner across the street from them. I signed the petition to get the deputy restored.
Well, between the publicity, the petition, and some King County officials paying attention to this and the recent massacre in Kent, there is a new plan afoot, pending final Council approval, that will not only give us the deputy, but outreach programs for county youth, both those who aren’t in trouble yet, and those who have already had a brush with the law, and *healthcare*.
Details on the White Center Now blog.
This is the kind of result you can get by standing up and getting people’s attention. Granted, Dow Constantine seems a lot more willing to listen than certain other politicians in either Washington… but then, it’s up to you and I to put people in who *will* listen, innit?
Stand up, say your truth, say it loud, don’t back down. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary. And if it doesn’t work, find a way to say it louder, or do something entirely different. But don’t take “no” for an answer.
Seh-lah
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This guy: Robert Tiso, glass harp, Toccata and fugue in D minor - Bach - BWV 565
The mind, it boggles. (If you can't click through now, SAVE THIS; you'll want to later. Instead of an organ, this guy has an array of crystal glasses with different amounts of water in them... and wet fingers. Just incredible.)
The mind, it boggles. (If you can't click through now, SAVE THIS; you'll want to later. Instead of an organ, this guy has an array of crystal glasses with different amounts of water in them... and wet fingers. Just incredible.)
On making decisions
Jul. 1st, 2011 01:40 pmJack Lewis on choosing your people… and life choices in general.
I could add to it, but it would be like putting rhinestones on the Pieta.
Go. Read. Take your kleenex. And when you’re done putting yourself back together, live.
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“Goodnight, Sarah-Jane”
Apr. 21st, 2011 07:08 amTalis Kimberley has my monitor on the blink. Y’see, it has the bad habit of going all blurry whenever somebody writes something good. And she’s written one of those songs that just hadda come out.
In memory of Elisabeth Sladen, here is a lovely tribute for a strong woman, both on screen and in life: “Goodnight, Sarah-Jane.
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In a hole, in the ground, there lived...
Apr. 15th, 2011 06:42 amThe Hobbit.
Peter Jackson in the first of a set of video blogs on the making of... including a traditional New Zealand islander greeting/blessing to commemorate the first day of shooting. Worth your ten minutes. In HD where available.
Peter Jackson in the first of a set of video blogs on the making of... including a traditional New Zealand islander greeting/blessing to commemorate the first day of shooting. Worth your ten minutes. In HD where available.
When Seahawks fans rumble, they RUMBLE!
Jan. 10th, 2011 11:08 amThe absolute pandemonium during/after Marshawn Lynch's epic run during Saturday's wild card game actually caused a minor seismic event... and here I thought Vol fans were bad. Wow. Eight tackles broken, and Hasselbeck himself - playing in a cast - was there to help with the final blocks...
Now, if we can manage to beat Da Bearz, and Green Bay can do a number on the Dirty Birds... we will HOST the NFC Championship... and *that*, sports fans, will be a Battle in Seattle that will make all those Zags games pale by comparison.
NBC said during the second-game halftime show, "UPSET FOR THE AGES." Ha. When we win the Super Bowl, *that* will be the Upset for the Ages.
Now, if we can manage to beat Da Bearz, and Green Bay can do a number on the Dirty Birds... we will HOST the NFC Championship... and *that*, sports fans, will be a Battle in Seattle that will make all those Zags games pale by comparison.
NBC said during the second-game halftime show, "UPSET FOR THE AGES." Ha. When we win the Super Bowl, *that* will be the Upset for the Ages.
It’s a semi-a-capella group from Yeshiva University in New York called the Maccabeats. Remember Straight No Chaser a few years back that did the 12 Days of Christmas/Africa mashup?
This is bigger. They took well over a MILLION hits in just over… uh… eight days. 
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Candlelight!
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Thank you, Cheryl Morgan, for making me pitch my conventional ideas about a Thanksgiving post.
Y’see, I could go make a list about being thankful for motorcycles, or a job, or whatever, but while some of these things are new, the whole concept is old hat. Bin there, Dun that. I’ll probably keep doing it, but there’s more to life than that.
And it’s happening right here in Pugetopolis.
See, it’s not just the military that says Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. It’s the whole COUNTRY that has this culture.
And maybe It Gets Better later. But that’s not good enough. Today’s young people want Awesome RIGHT NOW.
And they are being the change they want to see.
They are going into schools, jails, hospitals, churches (yes!), companies large and small, and reteaching gender and sexuality and creating not just safe space, but liberating space, not just in one place, but in all places.
These are my people. These are the same people who have for years now kept me sane, kept me safe, kept me going, and who keep on being awesome every day. It’s not *just* about letters or us vs. them or it being OK to be different. It’s about being uniquely who we are, and by we I mean you too, anybody reading this, because we are *all* different… and we can *all* be awesome if we try. I know. I learned.
And way more than motorcycles or jobs or heat in my space or turkey on my table, for all the strange and funky people in my life, no matter what their brand of weirdness, I am thankful. Y’all are awesome, and you’ve rubbed off on me just a little bit… and that’s one set of cooties I wouldn’t dream of living without.
Happy (American) Thanksgiving, y’all. Be excellent to everyone.
Put This On The Map: Reteaching gender and sexuality is youth reaching out to strengthen schools and communities, while learning to become leaders themselves.
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The Ghost of Doctors Past…
Nov. 20th, 2010 08:40 amThanks to ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
filkertom for pointing to the trailer for the Dr. Who Christmas Special.. which will be cablecast IN AMERICA ON CHRISTMAS DAY on BBC America!!! *kermitarms* No more having to wait!
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tfabris just posted the 2010 Pegasus Winners:( if for some reason you don't wanna be spoiled... )
Save the Classic winner (about which I'm really happy), I've seen every performer on the slate live. It was a really tough ballot this year. So. Much. Awesome. Conga Rats to the winners, and frankly to everybody who got nommed... y'all bring hope and love and healing to the world. Tikkun olam.
May there be much singing and healing and hugs in Ohio... and those of you headed this way afters, safe journey, and bring some of that magic with you!
Going viral
Oct. 18th, 2010 12:47 pmWRT the previous post, i.e. Scalzi’s list of things he doesn’t have to think about, but will, Cyranetta (sadly, no valid link) came up with a wonderful idea: Make a YouTube video of the list done as a spoken-word piece, “with participants from all conditions in life”, and the closing line as a mass chorus.
Having helped make a couple videos lately, and having had an absolute BLAST (thank you, you know who you are 
, I’d so be up for doing this, but obviously I’ll need some help… I also know that a number of y’all will definitely fit the bill for being participants. No pressure… but if you want in, make with the clicky.
Be the change you want to see in the world. — Gandhi
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Things to think about
Oct. 18th, 2010 07:08 amThe most excellent Mr. Scalzi writes about Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today. But he thinks anyway. And so do his readers… the comments are highly recommended.
This gives me hope for the world. (And stuff to do! but that’s ok. I think it will, you know, actually make a difference. Unlike the federal part of the upcoming elections.)
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Oh, HELLYEAH: QOTY
Sep. 30th, 2010 07:50 pmQuote of the YEAR:
RT @pourmecoffee: I bet I know one way to reduce bullying. Don’t let bullies decide when other people can marry or serve their country.
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Link Salet Saturday
Sep. 4th, 2010 08:25 amWe be in yo lines, flushin’ yo snooze, j0.
This is a little old, but I can’t find anything new on it, so… All Texas Trans People Forcibly Detransitioned? Picosummary: Texas estate case, family of dead man sues woman who happens to be trans, knock-on effect is that if ruling goes against her, no one in Texas could legally transition, could have wide-ranging legal effects. I believe Cheryl Morgan pointed at this.
Along similar lines, thanks to jhitchin for alerting me to the fact that Best Buy[sic] and Target are contributing to the campaign of Tom Emmer, candidate for Governor of Minnesota, who has been linked to a group who says Muslims’ advocacy of executing gays is ‘more moral’ than some Christians’ tolerance…
I’m deliberately not mentioning parties here. You can guess, and you’d be right, but I again point you to the behavior, and putative affiliation, of the Current Occupant… use your brains, and draw your own conclusions.
From the no-credit-where-it-isn’t-due department: According to Snopes, There Is No Obama/Kagan Connection.
Oh, and further from that department: AP: ‘Combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is’.
Another case for critical thinking, and making sure of one’s stories before hitting “submit”.
OK, that’s the bad news. Now for the awesome.
You can get a science fiction short story in your inbox daily. The first three have come and gone (but will be available on the website next week)….
I do have a teeny issue with them. Their feedback mechanism for the individual stories is Facebook. I have suggested alternatives to them, and they’re interested in Dreamwidth… One might suggest increasing the volume of suggestions in any direction but Facebook; despite its undisputed popularity, we’re all familiar with Facebook’s privacy issues by now… (if not, see me after class…)
From less awesome to more awesome. Thanks to Ms. Shoes for the link to early 20th century color photographs of Russia. These were generated by taking three exposures, one each with a red, green, and blue filter… which is why the current colors are so vibrant. (I don’t know when the images were re-processed, but you can see that one of them near the end of the sequence has a visible offset error…)
The 2010 Pegasus ballot is up! If you consider yourself a filker, please go vote. No formal membership is required. Much awesome on this ballot; it was at least somewhat difficult for me to choose. Among the awesome are s00j and batyatoon, each with multiple noms (om nom nom?)… The one I really feel strongest about, though, is Best Classic Filk; this being the final year of the Shuttle, I think Fire In The Sky really needs to win… (And I’d love to see Dr. Kare at Orycon this year! If any Portlanders have any pull in this regard….)
Speaking of awesome filk, mysticfig made a video of his “Midichlorian Rhapsody”. Win and pie.
And finally, satyrblade has announced POWERCHORDS – Magic, Music & Urban Fantasy RPG as a Kickstarter project. They need $4200 to kick; they’ve already got $400. If you like this sort of thing and you have it to share, share away; the results will be awesome. (I originally wrote should, but I know what Satyr and Syme are capable of… 
OK, let’s go play with the motybikes, shall we?
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Friday alreddie? Time to flush….
Aug. 27th, 2010 07:52 amWoof, it’s been a week! Time to flush the lines!
First, something rather disturbing. US Army soldiers were punished for not attending a Christian rock concert. A few of you might be tempted to argue, the Army is the Army, suck it up… but this *is* America, and if a soldier is not afforded the right to worship, or not worship, as he or she so pleases (an it harm none), then I submit that the country for which that soldier is fighting has betrayed us all…
Google and HTC are jumping into the tablet wars.
Lacy Banks is not going gently into that good night. The former Sun-Times columnist fights a war both within his body and with private bureaucracy.
From jenk, how movies are like meetings.
Diaspora, the open-source, distributed-server effort at social networking (think Dreamwidth crossed with Freenet or BitTorrent), is about to launch. I don’t know if I’ll have time for this or not… but it’s interesting.
OK. Now for the awesome.
First, when I say “motorcycle therapy”, I’m not kidding; apparently, once one has gotten used to recognizing various motorcycles, the act of seeing a pretty one messes with your dopamine receptors in a way similar to seeing a pretty face… there are other aspects of motorcycles that are similarly therapeutic, but this one is *documented*…. wo de ma.
How can a mere spreadsheet be awesome? How about if it documents the time travels of Dr. Who? We’re talking all eleven Doctors here… it does not, however, count the timehole “visit” by Ten to 2008, where he delivered his Music of the Spheres composition to the orchestra in Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms… (that was awesome, leannan_sidhe!) (Alas, the Beeb doesn’t have it available for download anymore… but it’s out there, somewhere, you know it; I just gotta find it 
Wait! wait! He’s at MIT! Or at least, the Tardis is…
Another story from Britain vixyish tweeted about: a wildlife photographer had set up a camera on a tripod to take pictures of a young fox… only the fox ended up taking a picture of him!
Here’s a cute and touching video about music: Lucille.
Closer to home, Marian Call and Vixy & Tony are playing Fremont Abbey on September 9… there might even be some Dr. Who action there…
And saving the best for last: seanan_mcguire is right. You have to break rules if you want to break free. It seems that the proverbial David beats the equally proverbial Goliath quite a lot…. by engaging in disruptive behavior. The original David didn’t fight the original Goliath by playing Goliath’s game, with heavy armor and an unwieldy sword… he used a simple shepherd’s tool, a slingshot. Most of the heavyweights of today got where they were not by taking on the giants of the time on their own turf… but by doing something new. Cable companies. Amazon. Microsoft. Google. Even AT&T was an upstart at one point.
Although, a big issue the article deals with is the fact that when you go and break the rules, folks get upset. You have to be prepared to deal with that… but, frankly? It’s the only way to get stuff done. Harry Potter did not save the world by being a goody-two-shoes and obeying curfew…. and *that*, not all this witchy stuff, is what makes him dangerous… his willingness to tell authority to *stick it* when it gets in the way of doing the Right Thing. Or, more likely, not tell them, just do it anyway.
And there are any number of real-world examples.
So, go forth, be wicked and lovely, and don’t live in fear, and be *awesome*. After all, it’s Friday!
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