Articles, a little ranting, and some John/Ronon
OK, God/Fate/Universe-at-Random or whatever, if you could stop sending half my friends-list and their families to the hospital, I'd appreciate it. kthx. *frets*
Meanwhile, from the NYTimes:
*whistles "my home state's still a kick-ass state"* - 9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants - Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have come to a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, according to a confidential draft proposal. The cooperative action, the first of its kind in the nation, came after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
One of my favorite lines from here: In recent years, New York and other Northeastern states have aggressively tried to reduce power plant emissions. Several have joined together to sue coal-fired power plants in Midwestern states that produce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that drift across state borders and cause acid rain in the Northeast.
I’m sorry, what was that, Red States? Oh right, YOU pollute US while we pay more of the taxes that support your public health care, hospitals, and government industry subsidies. (No, I’m not bitter at all about crap like "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!")
I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk in gross generalizations like that - it's sinking to the stupid level of people who write that sort of junk (and worse, read it & give it good reviews on Amazon) - it's just so frustrating. Of course liberalism, when run amuck, has come up with some stupid ideas -- any -ism, any idea or ideology can be poorly implemented, applied too abstractly or too broadly, or for personal gain rather than general -- but "liberalism" also, as one clever wag on Amazon said, passed child labor laws so that kids can sit at home and read for fun instead of work in a factory. (The exact quote is: Actually, the first volume in this series was titled, "Help, Mom! I Have to Work in the Coal Mine 16 Hours a Day!", written in 1894. Unfortunately, since the evil liberals initiated child labor laws, demand has fallen, and the book is no longer in print.)
Gahhhh! *hates all over stupidity*
Grasping the Depth of Time as a First Step in Understanding Evolution - A fabulous op-ed that begins with a premise best explained by Hitchhiker's (Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.) and discusses the human mind's propensity for sticking itself in the sand and going "la la la, I can't heeaar you!!" Or, more gracefully, The essential, but often well-disguised, purpose of intelligent design, is to preserve the myth of a separate, divine creation for humans in the belief that only that can explain who we are. But there is a destructive hubris, a fearful arrogance, in that myth. It sets us apart from nature, except to dominate it. It misses both the grace and the moral depth of knowing that humans have only the same stake, the same right, in the Earth as every other creature that has ever lived here. There is a righteousness - a responsibility - in the deep, ancestral origins we share with all of life.
Community pimping:
Along the lines of fandomsounds, only SGA-specific - _rfa, Radio Free Atlantis. Some good stuff already going up there - and check out mod ihatefastcars' awesome Sheppard mix. Kaiser Chiefs = new obsession. And now I'm starting to contemplate one of my own...
And thisisbone writes a great John/Ronon piece - Eight Days - as Ronon decides about joining the Atlanteans. Great character tension, as well as sexual, and amazingly hot for its PG rating.
Another great story covering the same interval, with more excellent character exploration is sdraevn's The Start Line.
This is why I love fandom - given a character with mostly just "shiny" and one or two glances/lines worth of characterization, y'all can flesh him out wonderfully. And that was already some very nice flesh, to start with. *grins*
Two memes my friends have been after me to do:
For drenilop,
5 Idiosyncrasies
1. Some people like to collect postcards, or stamps of everywhere they've been. I like to collect weapons.
2. Not that I'm not known to inhale a large amount of junk food myself, but when I'm actually cooking - especially for other people - I'm a total food snob. Nothing but the freshest ingredients and best products will do.
3. I can keep a basil plant alive indoors for up to three years now, but can't seem to do the same with any other herb.
4. My bedroom is utter chaos, but my kitchen cupboards are pretty tightly organized.
5. I'm a big ol' linguistic mirror - I v. quickly pick up and incorporate speech patterns, turns of phrase, and sometimes even gestures/body language of those around me. (It's already a little scary how much of my roommate is in my speech - and then the percentage zooms way up when I'm actually speaking to her.)
For celticlullaby
5 Signs I'm a Dork:
1. My favorite way to spend a Friday night is Sci-Fi's Friday night lineup.
2. I'm known to swear in made-up sci-fi languages (frell, frak, etc.)
3. I always looked forward to the vocabulary unit at school. Loved it, loved acing it, loved learning new words.
4. In fifth grade, I used to sneak reads of Dragonlance novels in my desk during class.
5. rageprufrock's joke in "Hindsight," about the FBI team whose motto is "Federalists will Unify You Hard!"? I about busted a couple ribs laughing at that.
Meanwhile, from the NYTimes:
*whistles "my home state's still a kick-ass state"* - 9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants - Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have come to a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, according to a confidential draft proposal. The cooperative action, the first of its kind in the nation, came after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
One of my favorite lines from here: In recent years, New York and other Northeastern states have aggressively tried to reduce power plant emissions. Several have joined together to sue coal-fired power plants in Midwestern states that produce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that drift across state borders and cause acid rain in the Northeast.
I’m sorry, what was that, Red States? Oh right, YOU pollute US while we pay more of the taxes that support your public health care, hospitals, and government industry subsidies. (No, I’m not bitter at all about crap like "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!")
I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk in gross generalizations like that - it's sinking to the stupid level of people who write that sort of junk (and worse, read it & give it good reviews on Amazon) - it's just so frustrating. Of course liberalism, when run amuck, has come up with some stupid ideas -- any -ism, any idea or ideology can be poorly implemented, applied too abstractly or too broadly, or for personal gain rather than general -- but "liberalism" also, as one clever wag on Amazon said, passed child labor laws so that kids can sit at home and read for fun instead of work in a factory. (The exact quote is: Actually, the first volume in this series was titled, "Help, Mom! I Have to Work in the Coal Mine 16 Hours a Day!", written in 1894. Unfortunately, since the evil liberals initiated child labor laws, demand has fallen, and the book is no longer in print.)
Gahhhh! *hates all over stupidity*
Grasping the Depth of Time as a First Step in Understanding Evolution - A fabulous op-ed that begins with a premise best explained by Hitchhiker's (Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.) and discusses the human mind's propensity for sticking itself in the sand and going "la la la, I can't heeaar you!!" Or, more gracefully, The essential, but often well-disguised, purpose of intelligent design, is to preserve the myth of a separate, divine creation for humans in the belief that only that can explain who we are. But there is a destructive hubris, a fearful arrogance, in that myth. It sets us apart from nature, except to dominate it. It misses both the grace and the moral depth of knowing that humans have only the same stake, the same right, in the Earth as every other creature that has ever lived here. There is a righteousness - a responsibility - in the deep, ancestral origins we share with all of life.
Community pimping:
Along the lines of fandomsounds, only SGA-specific - _rfa, Radio Free Atlantis. Some good stuff already going up there - and check out mod ihatefastcars' awesome Sheppard mix. Kaiser Chiefs = new obsession. And now I'm starting to contemplate one of my own...
And thisisbone writes a great John/Ronon piece - Eight Days - as Ronon decides about joining the Atlanteans. Great character tension, as well as sexual, and amazingly hot for its PG rating.
Another great story covering the same interval, with more excellent character exploration is sdraevn's The Start Line.
This is why I love fandom - given a character with mostly just "shiny" and one or two glances/lines worth of characterization, y'all can flesh him out wonderfully. And that was already some very nice flesh, to start with. *grins*
Two memes my friends have been after me to do:
For drenilop,
5 Idiosyncrasies
1. Some people like to collect postcards, or stamps of everywhere they've been. I like to collect weapons.
2. Not that I'm not known to inhale a large amount of junk food myself, but when I'm actually cooking - especially for other people - I'm a total food snob. Nothing but the freshest ingredients and best products will do.
3. I can keep a basil plant alive indoors for up to three years now, but can't seem to do the same with any other herb.
4. My bedroom is utter chaos, but my kitchen cupboards are pretty tightly organized.
5. I'm a big ol' linguistic mirror - I v. quickly pick up and incorporate speech patterns, turns of phrase, and sometimes even gestures/body language of those around me. (It's already a little scary how much of my roommate is in my speech - and then the percentage zooms way up when I'm actually speaking to her.)
For celticlullaby
5 Signs I'm a Dork:
1. My favorite way to spend a Friday night is Sci-Fi's Friday night lineup.
2. I'm known to swear in made-up sci-fi languages (frell, frak, etc.)
3. I always looked forward to the vocabulary unit at school. Loved it, loved acing it, loved learning new words.
4. In fifth grade, I used to sneak reads of Dragonlance novels in my desk during class.
5. rageprufrock's joke in "Hindsight," about the FBI team whose motto is "Federalists will Unify You Hard!"? I about busted a couple ribs laughing at that.