(Preface: this is not a sub-post aimed at anyone in particular, nor is it sparked by any recent incident. I've already talked about this with anyone who needed to hear about it personally from me ( Read more... )

Trigger Mortis is a new James Bond book, written by Anthony Horowitz, inspired in part by a tv-show plot written by Ian Fleming before Bond hit it big on the big screen. (Warning: link contains spoilers ( Read more... )

I know that hosting TKOP is intimidating for some. You don't need a bunch of kinky furniture or a huge place -- I've been to great parties that consisted of a few air mattresses, one bedroom, and twenty fun people. In my view, it's not that different from hosting a regular party (but then, I've been doing this for a while ( Read more... )

For my own amusement, while I'm on a conference call, I'm compiling all the mentions of Somerville MA in the New York Times.

( 1860 - 1995: Murder and mayhem )

The topic of decrufting (i.e., getting rid of excess stuff) came up recently elsewhere, which inspired me to record my methods here ( Read more... )

There are so many things wrong with this New Republic article on the danger of trigger warnings that it's hard to know where to start. For one thing, the twin pillars of their argument seem to be "But where will it all end!?!" and "We can't do everything, so we shouldn't do anything", neither of which are particularly persuasive to me ( Read more... )

There's a great discussion on the "tone" argument (and related ideas) happening on the MedievalPOC tumblr right now.

First bit

Second bit

Third bit

Fourth bit

Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson ( Read more... )

The fifth "Welcome to That Kind of Party Party" is September 21 at The Briar Patch ( Read more... )

I read a couple of "YA" novels recently. At this point, I think "YA" mostly means that "shorter and a little less violent and/or sexual". But only a little.

Feed, by M.T. Anderson, read like a modern-day John Brunner -- including the "and now it really all goes to hell" ending. An uncomfortable read in the best way. Recommended.

Slide, by Jill ( Read more... )