picked a handful of violets in my name

melannen

One thing I love in a good SF story is ways of doing love, marriage, and romance that don't buy in to our society's idea of love+romance+sex+monogamy all on one single person as the only way to do it.

denise

I've seen people wondering why imports are taking so @)#$(*& long. This might help shed some light:

synecdochic

So, people who grumble about "the Russians" taking over LJ should remember that in Russia, LiveJournal isn't just the top blogging platform, it's the blogging platform. It is Russia's free press. It is the tool being used to fight corruption and advance the cause of democracy. And, more practically to LJ users, the Russian-speaking sector of LJ is the reason LJ is still there at all.

helens78

I am in favor of tickys because tickys are a form of communication. They can help engender community and relationships in a way that can enhance comments rather than replacing them or taking away from them. When someone isn't commenting, it's impossible to know if it's because they're lost for words, aren't on a platform suitable for lengthy comments (how many users read the site from smartphones now?), don't have a lot of spoons, have to conserve typing time... or aren't reading and don't care. Seeing people's names crop up repeatedly in tickys helps us discover who out there is giving us their time and attention, and can be a greatly-appreciated form of support, even or especially in times when hearing many individual comments -- and feeling obliged to respond to each of them -- can feel overwhelming.

Shapeways user Ceramicwombat created these great "thorn dice" and they're available in a number of polymers and metals, fresh and piping hot from the 3D printer.

azurelunatic

From that last entry, you'd think that growing up queer in suburban Alaska was pretty rough. I didn't think I had it particularly hard at the time. It was not like I had it half as bad as it could have been. I felt lucky to have it as good as I did.

oursin

I find the thought of limits as enabling rather than confining really rather exciting, because it does tend to mesh with my experiences across quite diverse fields of endeavour.

That if there is no particular reason to go in a particular direction or get stuck into a particular task or if you're facing an enormous supermarket full of choices, it can really be somewhat paralysing.

SuperBetter is a superhero-themed game that turns getting better in multi-player adventure. It’s designed to help anyone recovering from an injury, or coping with a chronic condition, get better, sooner – with more fun, and with less pain and misery, along the way.

I do this for regular sex, too. If I can say that no, we're not raw-dogging it; no, you're not sneaking it up my ass; no, you really have to stop when I say stop; then I can say "yes" to the sex itself. Limits may feel all limity, but within those limits, some fucking hot sex can happen. Without limits, you're not allowed in my house, much less my vagina.

My bedroom isn't very large so I needed a small makeup vanity. I'm the type that likes to see all my makeup because if I don't see it, I won't use it.

commodorified

The Prophet, peace and blessing upon him, said:

"Help your brother, whether he be an oppressor or one of the oppressed."

Some said "O Messenger of God, we help him if he is oppressed; but how can we help him if he is an oppressor?"

The Prophet said, "By stopping him."

sassbandit

So I was digging around in the archives of Mix Magazine which is a trade magazine for audio engineers, and thought some of the following articles might be of interest to bandom folks:

melannen

...So the other day I did that Dinosaur Comics fanart where they have feathers?

And Ryan North, creator of Dinosaur Comics, found out about it somehow, and he went back in the archives and has posted an alternate, scientifically accurate version of the comic starting at the beginning.

azurelunatic

Editing my stories as I did was an act of self-erasure: sometimes necessary to survive, but not okay, never okay, merely the lesser of two evils. Pretending that the world only contains straight people is not okay. Teaching your children that the world only contains straight people is not okay. It is a denial of that-which-is, a denial of c'thia. Treating any mention of same-sex romance as inherently more sexually explicit than an equivalent action of an opposite-sex couple is not okay. Trying to pretend that the only possible ethical instance of human sexual behavior is for reproduction is not okay. Teaching your children that is not okay either.

I just read a paper from the discipline of conversation analysis. It dovetails nicely with what I wrote in Talking Past Each Other, and I’m going to go through some of the findings (I can’t redistribute the paper itself), and talk about some conclusions. Long story short: in conversation, “no” is disfavored, and people try to say no in ways that soften the rejection, often avoiding the word at all. People issue rejections in softened language, and people hear rejections in softened language, and the notion that anything but a clear “no” can’t be understood is just nonsense. First, the notion that rape results from miscommunication is just wrong. Rape results from a refusal to heed, rather than an inability to understand, a rejection. Second, while the authors of the paper say that this makes all rape prevention advice about communicating a clear “no” pointless, I have a different take. Clear communication of “no” isn’t primarily going to avoid miscommunication — rather, it’s a meta-message. Clear communication against the undercurrent that “no” is rude and should be softened is a sign of the willingness to fight, to yell, to report.

sasha_feather

The presenter, whose name I unfortunately do not recall, let the discussion go on for a bit before stopping it. She said, and I paraphrase, "All of the medical details can get confusing and upsetting, so I like to use a metaphor. Imagine you are caring for your elderly grandmother. It's difficult to get her up and down the stairs and into the tub because she is a tall woman. So, to fix this problem, you decide to cut off her legs to make her smaller."

Alt.Share is an unconference on April 3rd, 12:30pm-4:30pm at the Boston University Women’s Resource Center based on the idea that sexuality affects all aspects of life and that anyone with the desire to learn has the right to do so and has something to contribute to this open environment.

Because of the way that sex workers are generally made vulnerable to violence, as well as the ways that prisoners face frequent sexual assault, the most callous part of this practice may be the fact that such large numbers of those forced to register as sex offenders for non-violent offenses are victims of sexual violence themselves. Most of the women and men profiled in these articles talk about having been raped, whether as adults or children, whether by clients or family members, by prison guards or fellow prisoners. They must register as sex offenders, be unable to find employment or residences, face harassment and assault, and bear scarlet letters on their identification while at the same time, probably all of their actual rapists do not have to do the same. They have not only been raped, but been given their rapists’ punishments. They have not only been raped, but told that they are like, or perhaps worse than, their actual rapists.

Prime Focus Productions, the people behind the upcoming Good Omens TV series and the three existing Discworld miniseries, have commenced development on a new, ongoing show. This one will revolved around the City Watch police force of Terry Pratchett‘s vibrant fantasy city, Ankh-Morpork. It’s an amazing location, as vividly described in the fantasist-satirist’s series of 38-going-on-39 Discworld novels.

trouble

This multimedia website profiles the experiences of some of the key leaders in the developmental disabilities movement from 1845 through the present through historical trends and public and professional perceptions. This includes the evolving context of acceptance of and services available to persons with disabilities, the features of effective leadership, and the different styles of leadership required for sustainable change.