Things that make you go WHAT
Teen Barista sues Starbucks over boss's demands for sex Starbucks says she and the guy concealed the "relationship," so it's totally not their fault. Apparently even McDonald's handles this sort of thing better (not that that's saying much, mind... "But everyone knows he's a pervert, so don't be upset if he gropes you!" is not a good start).
Why you can't get Tobias Buckell's books on Amazon anymore Because Amazon is acting like it's still the only ebook vendor in town and can force publishing companies (in this case, Macmillan) to accept any pricing scheme Amazon wants. I think Macmillan's right about variable pricing being a better model... and if Apple, Sony, and Barnes & Noble cut into the Kindle market enough, Amazon won't have quite as much weight to throw around, which will be interesting.
I'd like to plug Buckell here while I'm at it. Aztecs and Caribbeans fight alien overlords and zombies IN SPAAAACE! With colonialism, religion, economic divides, bulimia, musings on violence, and cyborg identity issues. Crystal Rain (book 1) is good, but I liked Ragamuffin (the Caribbean cyborg woman one) and Sly Mongoose (floating city of economically depressed Aztecs who rely on teen labor) even better. You can read them as fun space opera if you want, or go deeper.
Project 880 So... James Cameron had a version of Avatar that had fewer cliches and explained certain aspects of the plot better, but he made Ferngully instead? Why? (Note: I haven't seen it yet, but "Jake is the awesomest Chosen One Na'vi warrior EVAR and the only one who can ride the pterodactyl dragon!" vs. "Josh is pretty darn good, but not the only one who can ride the thing"? Obvious choice is obvious.)
The Texas Textbook Conspiracy I wish I were kidding. They're proud to admit it. ACTUAL QUOTE FROM A GUY ON THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: "Instead of the American way they want multiculturalism. [Because it's not like American had multiple cultures interacting and influencing the direction of, oh, everything from the beginning...] We plan to fight back-and, when it comes to textbooks, we have the power to do it. Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have." Also, "I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say [...] Evolution is hooey [...] The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan-he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes." And I will cite this paragraph because it's just so... well:
Barton and Peter Marshall initially tried to purge the standards of key figures of the civil rights era, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall, though they were forced to back down amid a deafening public uproar. They have since resorted to a more subtle tack; while they concede that people like Martin Luther King Jr. deserve a place in history, they argue that they shouldn’t be given credit for advancing the rights of minorities. As Barton put it, “Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.” Ergo, any rights people of color have were handed to them by whites-in his view, mostly white Republican men.
Note: this dude is supposed to evaulate history textbooks, yet "Barton’s only credential is a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University." It would be funny if he didn't have so much power over textbook content.
In summary, it doesn't matter if you or your movement/law/whole freaking community of millions existed and caused a significant impact; what matters is whether the guys on the Board like what you did. Or even understand what you did before deciding you can't possibly have done it (either nothing happened or some white dude really did it) and cutting you out.
On a better note, Uhura > you is an awesome story about Captain John Christopher (that pilot they accidentally kidnapped from 1969) weirding out over Uhura being a senior officer. Also, gehayi's chromatic recasting of LotR (with genderswapped hobbits!) is beautiful. I love the original actors, but can we have this version too? I want to see the Morgan Freeman vs. Ron Glass wizards' battle! And Shemar Moore as Boromir, yes. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Gina Torres and... WANT.
Why you can't get Tobias Buckell's books on Amazon anymore Because Amazon is acting like it's still the only ebook vendor in town and can force publishing companies (in this case, Macmillan) to accept any pricing scheme Amazon wants. I think Macmillan's right about variable pricing being a better model... and if Apple, Sony, and Barnes & Noble cut into the Kindle market enough, Amazon won't have quite as much weight to throw around, which will be interesting.
I'd like to plug Buckell here while I'm at it. Aztecs and Caribbeans fight alien overlords and zombies IN SPAAAACE! With colonialism, religion, economic divides, bulimia, musings on violence, and cyborg identity issues. Crystal Rain (book 1) is good, but I liked Ragamuffin (the Caribbean cyborg woman one) and Sly Mongoose (floating city of economically depressed Aztecs who rely on teen labor) even better. You can read them as fun space opera if you want, or go deeper.
Project 880 So... James Cameron had a version of Avatar that had fewer cliches and explained certain aspects of the plot better, but he made Ferngully instead? Why? (Note: I haven't seen it yet, but "Jake is the awesomest Chosen One Na'vi warrior EVAR and the only one who can ride the pterodactyl dragon!" vs. "Josh is pretty darn good, but not the only one who can ride the thing"? Obvious choice is obvious.)
The Texas Textbook Conspiracy I wish I were kidding. They're proud to admit it. ACTUAL QUOTE FROM A GUY ON THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: "Instead of the American way they want multiculturalism. [Because it's not like American had multiple cultures interacting and influencing the direction of, oh, everything from the beginning...] We plan to fight back-and, when it comes to textbooks, we have the power to do it. Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have." Also, "I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say [...] Evolution is hooey [...] The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan-he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes." And I will cite this paragraph because it's just so... well:
Barton and Peter Marshall initially tried to purge the standards of key figures of the civil rights era, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall, though they were forced to back down amid a deafening public uproar. They have since resorted to a more subtle tack; while they concede that people like Martin Luther King Jr. deserve a place in history, they argue that they shouldn’t be given credit for advancing the rights of minorities. As Barton put it, “Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.” Ergo, any rights people of color have were handed to them by whites-in his view, mostly white Republican men.
Note: this dude is supposed to evaulate history textbooks, yet "Barton’s only credential is a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University." It would be funny if he didn't have so much power over textbook content.
In summary, it doesn't matter if you or your movement/law/whole freaking community of millions existed and caused a significant impact; what matters is whether the guys on the Board like what you did. Or even understand what you did before deciding you can't possibly have done it (either nothing happened or some white dude really did it) and cutting you out.
On a better note, Uhura > you is an awesome story about Captain John Christopher (that pilot they accidentally kidnapped from 1969) weirding out over Uhura being a senior officer. Also, gehayi's chromatic recasting of LotR (with genderswapped hobbits!) is beautiful. I love the original actors, but can we have this version too? I want to see the Morgan Freeman vs. Ron Glass wizards' battle! And Shemar Moore as Boromir, yes. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Gina Torres and... WANT.