Short-form comments in long form - 21 October - 06 November 02015

Time-sensitive matter - 1,000 USD to the winning entry in a climate change fiction contest.

We start with statistical plotting of happiness over time - it sucks for a lot of early adulthood, then it does get better, and then as the body and mind fail, it starts sucking again. Concurrently with this, the journey of self-discovery can be long and difficult, but succeeding at it is incredibly exhilarating.

Whether at the destination or on the journey, pride dragons are excellent companions.

Be aware, though, the journey often requires work.

A quick experiment offers a way of seeing how easily you can see things from other perspectives - it's coached as a test to see how powerful you think you are, but I don't think that actually applies.

Your local librarians would appreciate it if you would learn these things to heart - especially the one about asking us questions not related to getting cards and unjamming printers.

Kansas City and Toronto libraries trash-talked each other with book spine poetry during this year's American League Championship Series in baseball.

IKEA transformed drawings made by children into plush toys. They are adorable. also in the realm of aesthetically pleasing art, the deviantART gallery of cryptid creations

The tenth anniversary printing of Twilight brings with it the same story, but with Beau as the human and Edyth the vampire. As one might guess, the problems present in the original are...still there, and they have new ones layered on top of them.

Admittedly, Twilight comes from a particular pedigree, even if it wants to try and distance itself from them - Sweet Valley High, for example.

Referencing brain research as an explanation for behavior seems to work, even when the referenced part doesn't help explain anything.

Say hi to Monica Rambeau, the Spectrum, a black woman with superpowers who's been a non-caricature over many years. After all, it is not a big lie to have diversity in your speculative fiction. Even Star Trek knew as much.

To transition away from market capitalism and the concentration of power into an elite few, worker-owned cooperatives and worker-favoring public policies are a necessary thing. Additionally, the exclusion of marginalized people from many fields is retarding our ability to grow and change.

We have found our passions. No, really. What keeps us from doing them? Things like not believing we can make a living doing them.

The estate of George Orwell issued a takedown notice against someone for using the number 1984 in a shirt design, claiming the number on the shirt violated copyright.

Ahem. DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

Peer inside the FBI file on Alfred Hitchcock - mostly having to do with how his show portrayed agents.

The United States done warfare program is conducted in secret, and causes a lot more damage and death to people not the target. What is done in the United States' name is likely not able to curb the terrorism it claims to. We also note that the prime minister of the United Kingdom was very much ready to invade Iraq long before the actual invasion happened, so much so that he was willing to act as a front man for George W. Bush. So we should be able to conclude at this point that the invasion and all of its consequences were all going to happen, no matter the evidence. Can we start with the prosecutions now?

A coastal First Nations tribe will be able to access the coast again without having to go through white land as the leaders have raised sufficient money to buy the land that was locking them out.

Africa is a place to produce science fiction stories, it just hasn't so far, because the form isn't thought of as native to Africa. The underlying story, perhaps, might be the same as others - one of the rejected master's thesis proposals from Kurt Vonnegut suggests that stories have only a few basic shapes.

And some part of it may have to do with stereotype - painting women if color in a different medium brings out elements not always associated with them, for example. Or examine art of black women who are quite happy. Or see how Black Lives Matter, including in the comics and watch black dancers captured in a moment of performance. (this is a particularly good performance, with accompaniment by Yo-Yo Ma.) These things challenge cultural stereotypes - being surprised that they exist is an opportunity to ask why you're surprised. Why is it hard for people to name superheroes of color? What's with all the crap packaged up about your intelligence in diction, accent, and dialect of your language? And why do we keep perpetuating offensive stereotypes in Halloween costumes?

Speaking of rejections, only those with success and power enough to pick and choose their projects can say no, even if the form letters they draft for the purpose can be quite fun to read.

Crafting action scenes means using exciting and detailed verbs, descriptions, and sensory inputs. Whether in words or in videos.

The archives of our universities and libraries are having their papers and artifacts stolen, sometimes with the intent of having them be sold to private collections or back to the places from whence they are stolen.

Digital books are suffering from stagnation because their companies are still thinking of them as products, instead of as books, which means the issues like DRM and the sunset of platforms turn out to be greater aggravations than they should be.

Dedicated fans of the Sailor Moon franchise in Japan may choose to purchase thematically-appropriate marriage paperwork to fill out and file.

Thorra and Iron Asami - because if you think about it, that's exactly the right match.

It is now possible to preserve your tattoos to be passed along to your survivors.

Literary carved squashes, to accompany Japanese culture and its prevalence of spirits. (Also, a story of an angry group of ghosts, an empress' final wish, cursed paintings, and a story of long life granted by consuming mermaid flesh.)

A black student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina was assaulted by a white police officer in her classroom after she refused to leave the room because the teacher dismissed her for using her phone in class. Furthermore, the student that stood up for the victim was threatened and arrested herself by the police officer, who was already known for his violent assaults on students before this attack. Yes, there's no excuse for this, because schools should be safe for all students, but when the greater community can't focus on the right problem or choose to blame the victim, there's no reason to believe that schools are even close to safe for anyone. To their credit, the police department fired the officer swiftly, although they also engaged in a significant amount of victim-blaming, claimed the officer could not be a racist because he was in an interracial relationship, and otherwise refused to accept the responsibility for the attack solely rested with the officer.

Commentators that suggest Captain America has always had the best values of reactionary conservatives do so in absence of having read even the most cursory summary of the character.

Convincing someone of the rightness of your argument works better off you can frame it in terms the other side finds appealing or virtuous, at least temporarily.

A heist movie with an all female cast - it's a remake of Ocean's Eleven, which, yay, women! Boo, remakes.

Persistence can be a virtue, but it suffers from the same problems of excess that other virtues do.

A wordless story of a cat that ventures out on Halloween night. Very cute.

A lot of writing advice is find a way to put the fear away and write the story you want to write, which is good, but can get complicated. Because that means persisting in the face of an industry that doesn't know what to do with your book, and focusing on the story instead of the writing. Because telling a great story is a thing that takes some skill.

The Evil Empire believes it is correct. To write it as being evil and convinced it is evil and wrong doesn't work, and is ahistorical. The narrative of being The One causes problems and allows bad systems to perpetuate themselves, as well as setting unrealistic expectations in the lives of normal people. (Which opens up the possibility of narratives that have a heart but not a One.)

So why not have a method for learning new skills by breaking the skill into smaller skills, choosing the ones that have the most impact, and then learning them one at a time, while trying to avoid demotivating scenarios? It sounds like a lot, but it's supposed to be something pretty small with a big impact.

A hotel in Tokyo will have books for the guests to read, and places to sleep right near the bookshelves. Sounds great.

The small nation of Palau had declared a large area of ocean surrounding them to be a protected marine preserve, and is working out the details of enforcement.

As one might expect from his public behavior, Donald Trump is a thin-skinned bully who should have long been shown the door in any form of serious politics. Knowing, however, that a large amount of United States politics is not serious...

Senator Sanders called out the hypocrisy of many CEOs who signed a letter calling for reductions in the social safety net as a way to balance the budget, pointing out the large amount of money those CEOs and their corporations could provide to the treasury if they didn't have tax havens and loopholes. Don't be fooled by Republicans claiming Democrats are the only entities interested in giving away things - tax cuts are giveaways, too.

Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of National Geographic has resulted in layoffs of the most respected and senior staff, despite claims that the acquisition wouldn't affect the magazine.

In Canada, the most recent Federal election produced gains for women and minorities in representation. It also removed Stephen Harper from power and put the son of a previous Liberal PM in power as a Liberal PM. Ministerial appointments are placing people well-suited to the issues of their department, including a proper scientist in charge of the Ministry of Science, and the new PM gave an excellent answer when asked why his cabinet was gender-balanced. (We can expect others to have suddenly strong opinions about that balance.)

Ally work includes a complete package. You cannot take only the things you like from another culture and not expect to be called out on it. it also means pushing back when stories favor the able-bodied person and don't ask the person with disabilities about anything.

if you base the authenticity of your restaurant on things like whether the tortillas are hand-crafted, you are focusing on the wrong things.

Recipes that make food even when you're low on energy or cope.

Recipes to recreate the food porn seen in Miyazaki and Ghibli films.

Even in cases that clearly are emergencies, hospitals and emergency rooms can ignore pain in favor of their own conclusions. having an advocate helps, but so would having enough doctors on hand to be able to give each patient proper care.

And that's without all the attacks on women that have happened through the years. Those who were there at the Roe decision have much to tell us about why abortion needs to stay legal. Then we have examples of what happens and the desperation of women when abortions are criminalized, as they are in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Elsewhere, those who want to advertise underwear designed to absorb period blood are getting pushback about their nonsexualized ads being too risqué for the subway. Or the taxes paid on sanitary products that can put them out of reach for many women.

Experience often changes minds on issues - in this case, a rape with a pregnancy changed a fundamentalist-raised woman from anti-choice to pro-choice. I would never wish that situation on anyone, ever. At the same time, the great work that goes on in those clinics, welcoming even those that work against them, is excellent and deserves support.

A good cure for these issues, and that nagging problem of how to get excellent hair - feminism! Which also means not perpetuating ideas that excuse young men as not in control of their decisions or hormones.

And it means supporting and believing women when they tell you about their experiences - most women won't keep the ten years of creepy, harassing, and demeaning comments and correspondence they've received, after all.

In technology, pumpkins, thermite, gun cotton, and a spark. The reaction is pretty much what you would expect.

Congratulations to the Internet Movie Database, which turns 25 this year and survives well as an Amazon company.

Concrete that can support moss will absorb carbon dioxide, and may also help with other aspects involving the building.

Microbiologists create art in petri dishes, and people create art in words after receiving art that technology enhanced. (have some more body positive phrases, from people who are undeniably attractive, even if not the "perfect size 6".

Pictures from space of a volcano in the process of erupting.

A new font for katakana characters embeds English pronunciation approximations into the characters themselves.

The food that is left after the meal is becoming important again, and for many of the same reasons it was before - saving money.

Arms and armor of those who fought for Roma, accompanying a documentary about the way people really fought with swords, which has a lot of "hit people any way that you can" and not so much with fancy sword work, and an experiment in shooting locks in the body to make them open up. As it turns out, shotguns work and nothing else really does.

Dogs grow quickly from infancy to adulthood. Really. Also, the return of a seal that was surrounded by cows upon washing ashore,animals at the zoo celebrating the pumpkin season, ducklings taking a leap, keeping your octopus intellectually stimulated, a cat snuggling with a dog, the likelihood that even the most pet of cats is still wild in the genes, a kitten brought up with love and single bite feeding, and a henge, or at least a grouping, of hobby horses, rocking horses, and other toy ponies... that occasionally rearrange themselves.

Last for tonight, Smooth Criminal, played on traditional Japanese instruments, and Disney princesses falling in love with each other, rather than the men they're usually cast across along with speculation on why femslash isn't as prominent or prolific in the fannish world, and an ode to Dana Scully, who helped at least one awkward and geeky woman find the place where she could be happy.

Plus, Orphan of Interest, a crossover idea between Person of Interest, Orphan Black, and Rizzoli and Isles. I would love to see this series made.

Did we mention that AO3 is enabling comment moderation? Because people are jerks in other people's fannish spaces.