Not Anonymous

This episode made me squeal like the little girl that I am!

Neal called Peter "Sir".

Neal asked about inappropriate relationships between Agents and CI's.

Peter has a safe word! And it's a flower!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was awesome! And the new Boss? I like him better than Hughes.

Everyone was so super smart and charming.

So everyone knows about the Comic-Con Counter Protest to the Crazy Christians who go around demonstrating at various places in order to get publicity, right?

If you still have no idea what I'm talking about (bad Internet week?) here's a link.

My favourite sign is "Kill All Humans" carried by a Bender cosplayer.

And hey! There's a video from The Nostalgia Chick!


Actual content regarding srs bznz, coming soon!

I've just started watching the second ep of the third season of Leverage and I'm pausing the stream to say this:

It's about the contemporary opposition movement in Iran and it's directed by Jonathan Frakes*.

I'm so happy I'm watching this show!

*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

More later. Probably.

[*Freakin' Number 1 man! Dude! My Star Trek fangrrl is eating this program up! I'm told that I need to see "Spartacus: Blood and Sand". I do not have time for all this awesome!]

This is for all you Librarians out there and is very inspiring to this (maybe) future Librarian!

Giles wouldn't approve, but only because he'd probably dislike Lady Gaga.



Awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Full disclosure: I am a reader of fan-fiction, an occasional writer and have aspirations to be a critical aca-fen.

Now, go forth and read what I have to say about All Of This.
(Screenshot of all three posts and the PS). h/t ciaan

The reason I went online all those years ago, more than a decade for sure, was because I was looking for people like me.

What do I mean, people like me?

Fans of the teevee show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What I found was a sapling of what would be a giant red-wood tree of creativity, community and fun.

I wrote Buffy fanfic before I knew what fanfic was. Blatant self-inserts that I and my BFF at the time, who is also a Buffy fan, put in so that we could talk directly to the characters.
Her character was a manifestation of Energy who became human in search for love (i.e. Dawn).
My character was a vampire woman who was seriously into S/M (something else I had no idea existed at the time, I was sure I was inventing something) and enjoyed tormenting the male vampires and seducing young high school girls (i.e. Vamp Willow, also Faith sans the Vampire part, of course).

When both these characters did in fact actually manifest on the screen all those years later, when we were already in our late teens and little bit more aware of the world and all it's multitudes, we *squeed*. ( Lengthy )

Bottom line. You can dislike Fan-Fiction as much as you want. You can call it lazy, unoriginal, illegal (which is not the same as unethical!) or any other pejorative you can think of. That is your right, it is so easy not to read it.

Through fan-fic I discovered so much and so many comic books and more original fiction that I would probably have a much smaller book collection than I do. Three book shelves, stacked baby.

Don't tell me that fan-fiction is less meaningful that original-fiction.

Because it's wrong.

*Get the pun? Get it? :P

I'm reading this (quite long) article in the NYT titled: "Can Animals Be Gay?.

What an absurd thing to ask.

That question simply reflects science's own human biases.
Who said the life sciences were objective?

Nothing can be spoken about without subjecting it to human categories. We're so used to everything being about us, that we've forgotten that we're a part of it.

Evolution is a tricky beast. It's the reason why it's so interesting, fascinating and ultimately, the only way you can explain the diversity found within animals (human included).

The biggest misconception regarding Evolution is that we're going somewhere with it. That the changes that have gone on for billions, millions and other large sums of years, are progressive. There is no proof, nor is there any way to prove, that our gradual changes, that the fact that we have retained an appendix and Wisdom teeth - commonly known as vestigial organs, as far as this lay person is aware - are positive changes. That is, we have no way of knowing whether we are actually better equipped for "survival" than we used to be.

"Survival of the Fittest", "Natural Selection" - possibly the two most disastrous terms to ever be written and adopted into human functionalism.

I'm digressing.

Are humans animals? ( Come on in and find out )

As you may have noticed, there have been some interludes in my posting here, but the first two weeks of the Semester pretty much ate up my time... I think this weekend I'll be getting on top of things. There has been a huge amount to write about News Wise (which I shan't get to, unless there are interesting updates) and Life Wise (which I shall get to at some point), but before all that, there are two memes I want to fill out:

Via phaetonschariot and caledonius72 When you see this meme, post a poem:

( Strawberries - תותים )

There, there's a poem. Enjoy it, it's a good one.

For my next meme, it's going to be this one:
1. If you're on my friends list, I want to know 35 things about you.
I don't care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine.
2. Comment here with your answers and repost the questionnaire on your own journal (if you like).
3. All the questions except for 10, 13, 17, 18 and 21 are generalities, so here are most of the answers, the other four shall be answered in person.
( Here be a meme )

I feel like I've read this somewhere before...

Dubai court annuls marriage to 'bearded lady'

[...]The [groom], who has not been identified, told a Sharia court [the bride's] mother had tricked him by showing him pictures of the bride's sister, Gulf News reported.

He only discovered the deception when he lifted the woman's veil to kiss her.

Oh yes, Genesis, chapter 29. For those not in the know, G:29 is the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel - Jacob had been promised Rachel after seven years of servitude, on the wedding night, he finds his bride is Leah - she of "tender eyes" (which no one really knows what it means, but it's widely accepted that she was the "ugly" sister.

Some things never change...

When I think about various discussions I've had with my parents regarding my political alignment (re: The Loony Left), I think about the fact that a former uni classmate of mine (who studied Psychology) said that they're probably sublimating their hostility regarding my queer factor onto my politics.

It's an interesting thought, one I wouldn't disregard, as it makes sense. Seeing as both my political alignment and me being not strictly straight are viewed by my parents as a rebellious phase.

Though honestly, having been "officially" out to my immediate family for nearly five years now¹, you'd think the whole "phase" thing would be taken as, you know, my life.
Alas.

Seeing that I'm now on Semester break and my first exam is only this coming Sunday (as in, not today, yays) I had time.
I had time to watch a twenty seven minute video about Coming Out With Mom from a YouTube channel called The Beaver Bunch, which are a bunch of American LGBTQ peeps talking about what it's like to be LGBTQ and disseminating information.
Things I generally find none too shabby.
I've watched a few of the shorter videos... it's all very American, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the issues do not really correspond with my experiences.

In any event, that video I watched irritated me throughout. Because constantly, constantly there was this emphasis on time.
When you come out give your parents time.
Time to realise you're the same person you always were.
Time to realise what they hoped for you (that fantasy of who you are in their head) is not what they thought.
Time to learn mourn the life they thought you were going to have.

In the video one of "Beaver's" - Michel(le?) - is sitting with her mother and they're answering questions from viewers about coming out.

I was irritated by the closeness that I saw between them. Obviously, I was completely and utterly jealous.
Not because Michel(le?)'s mother had reached an acceptance with the fact that her daughter is gay, but the fact that they even shared that closeness. ( Read Moar F-List... Read Moar! )

I just read an article on an online News outlet in Hebrew that the IDF is planning on ridding itself of the sandal that female soldiers are allowed to wear in summer.

Why?

Well, in the name of equality, of course.

If male soldiers aren't allowed to wear sandals in the heat and have to keep their think socks and high combat boots on year 'round then so should the female soldiers.

This is logic I can't really argue with, other than the fact that the whole premise is flawed.

My own personal ideological issues with the IDF aside, I know, not easy, but for the sake of argument, if you please.

First of all, by default, there is no equality between the service of female and male soldiers. Boys and Girls do not serve in the same way in the IDF.

The only time men and women get a so-called equal footing in the army is if a woman goes a serves in a unit that requires her to serve three years (which is the standard amount that men serve, while women serve two) and she gets combat boots and uniform tailored for men. Because, see, the uniform is not just tailored differently for men and women - they are completely different.
As in, other than the colour and material, you can look at the articles of clothing and go "huh" that goes in the same army.

You will never, ever, catch a man Dragging it in the military - that would be against regulations after all. A woman? A woman will do her best to get, at the very least, a pair of male tailored trousers to wear.

A woman's uniform has one less pocket than the male one, and even so the pockets on the female uniform are good for holding not much more than a pen and an ID card.
Mens pants can cargo a small canteen.
How do I know this? I wore a man's uniform for three months during training and mourned the loss when I was stationed for the next year and nine months on the base where I couldn't wear my fatigues any longer.

This may sound like "bithch, moan, whine", but tell me something? Do you think it's "equal" that women are issued a uniform that they have to get hemmed and adjusted off base in order for it to fit comfortably?
Do you think it's "equal" that women's uniforms hug your ass, don't have unusable pockets and basically there to show off your body?
Do you think the Army is an "eqaul" organisation when the service time is different between men and women for no other reason than men are considered more worthwhile to keep on?
Do you honestly think that by giving everyone "equal" footwear, the IDF will suddenly become an egalitarian utopia?

Hello! It's the military!
There is no effing equality, not between ranks and certainly not between gender!
To get the respect I deserved during my service I had to threaten people and yell at them. I'm pretty certain I was called "Hysterical Bitch" behind my back.

Regardless, the fact that male soldiers are complaining about the "advantages" and "inequality" between women and men in the IDF and claiming that women have it better is hilarious.
Is it any wonder my country is so twisted in the head when it comes to privilege, equality and feminism.
People, Israel can be found beneath freakin' Afghanistan when it comes to the statistical amount of women in parliament.

Just, c'mon now. For reals?!