I Found A Maleficent Lunch Box With Dragons On It In An After-Halloween Sale Several/many Years Ago.

Yet another thing where I can’t understand why it is controversial.  Yes, men can be raped.  Men can also be sexually harassed and sexually assaulted in other ways.

Just an experiment. Reblog if you actually give a fuck about male victims of domestic violence and rape.

Of fucking course

What sick bastard doesn’t

Friendship to the max!  Lumberjanes is awesome, and I desperately hope that the show does it justice.  

The comics are fun and silly and teach a lot about friendship and being yourself without getting preachy.  While the core group of friends have a lot in common, they each have distinct personalities, interests, and abilities.  They also support one another, even where their interests don’t overlap.

Plus, instead of cursing, they swear on the names of historical women.  “Holy Ida B. Wells!”  “What the Sally Ride?”

IM NOT GONNA ASSUME ANYTHING BUT…NEW GAY SHOW TO BE OBSESSED WITH?? COMING SOON??

I’m ready for my catradora/lumity ass to be ~fed~ ✨🌈✨🌈✨

This is so frustrating.  Have any of you wondered why your local library doesn’t have eBook versions of your favorite book?  It’s crap like this.  All of the major publishers (and their subsidiaries -- so this covers a lot more books that you might think) put some sort of major block between libraries and their eBooks.  This can include jacked up prices, limits on the number of checkouts, limits on how long a book can circulate before the library has to buy it again, embargoes, or some combination of those.  Oh, and in most cases, the library can only check an eBook out to one person at a time.  If several people want to read it, they have to wait, or the library has to “buy” multiple copies.  (Yes, even if the limit is on the number of times a book can circulate.  Doesn’t that make sense?)

What do I mean by jacked up prices and limits on use?  Let’s take a look at some books that are popular now, just as examples!

The President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton -- $90 for libraries to buy the eBook.  You can get it on Kindle for $14.99.  You or the library can buy the hardcover print version for $15 or less.  For that matter, you could buy the print version, read it, and give it to the library.  That’s right out for eBooks.

The Outsider by Stephen King -- just $20.99 for libraries.  That’s not too much more than the $14.99 Amazon is charging people.  However, the copy that you buy (probably) won’t disappear after 12 months.

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva -- $28.99 for libraries.  Again, $14.99 for ordinary mortals on Amazon.  Do you think you and your friends could read it more than 26 times?  Not if you’re checking it out from the library!  After 26 checkouts, it goes away.  But it’s still limited to one reader at a time -- even if ten people want to read it today (and use up almost half of those checkouts), they have to wait in line to get it.

Feared by Lisa Scottoline -- Are you ready for this?  $60 for libraries AND it goes away after the earlier of 52 checkouts or 24 months.  (Still just $14.99 on Amazon for individuals though!)  

I could go on and on.  (Just ask my family and friends who have gotten to hear this rant in person!)  I just checked the top 5 New York Times bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction.  All of the eBook editions suffer from these higher prices and/or restrictions on use for libraries.

Why?  Because we cut into sales?  Libraries buy a lot more print books than eBooks, even now, but we get discounts on the print editions.  Publishers know that library sales mean more people reading their books and reviewing those books, talking them up to friends, buying them for family members, even buying their own copies later.

Because people might crack the DRM on the library’s eBook?  It’s possible.  However, it’s probably easier with a regular commercial copy because library eBooks are actually locked down more than individual eBooks.  You can’t access an eBook that you’ve checked out once the loan period is over -- it’s automatically “returned” to the library.

Could libraries spend their money on smaller publishers that are less restrictive?  Absolutely!  However, those eBooks aren’t on the bestseller lists.  They usually aren’t the ones that our patrons are asking us to buy.

I’m afraid I don’t have a great way for individuals to make a difference.  (Mostly, I just wanted to rant because this is a topic I find extremely frustrating.)  Joining Readers First and letting publishers know that you support libraries will help.  Being patient when your local library can’t get the books you want as an eBook is great, too.  If you have a way to talk directly with someone high enough in one of the big publishing houses, let them know that these restrictions hurt libraries, hurt readers, and ultimately hurt sales of eBooks.

Tor Publishing Issues a 4-Month E-Book Embargo on Libraries, Cites Retail Sale Concerns

If you’ve been to the library recently, you might have noticed something strange. New e-books from Tor Publishing are nowhere to be found. Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu. Cathy Clamp’s newest novel in the Luna Lake series. The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. All missing. That’s because Tor is refusing to let libraries have them.

Several library organizations and advocacy groups, including the American Library Association and ReadersFirst, have come out against Tor’s embargo. In a phone interview with io9, ALA president Loida Garcia Febo expressed her concerns that it could mean more trouble for libraries and their relationships with publishers, taking into account how hard they had to fight to get e-book access in the first place. She also said how unfortunate it is that the embargo is targeting sci-fi and fantasy readers, given how dedicated and passionate they are about the written word.

I love this idea!  However, I think you could do Midsummer Night’s Dream if you start and end the play outside (or next door, whatever) and use the large, labyrinthine coffee shop from Tempest for the woods.  Bonus points if the mechanicals do Pyramus and Thisbe as if it were set in a coffee shop!

Coffee shop AU, except the original media’s setting is otherwise largely unaltered – it just has a coffee shop in it now, or the nearest remotely plausible equivalent.

I found this at Goodwill.  It’s a little gaudier than I usually like, but I couldn’t resist.  Now that I have it set up, I love it!  (It’s rather difficult to take a picture of a lamp in place.  I mean, it’s there because I want light there, but turning on the lamp itself put in way too much glare.)

This explains a lot.

Please enjoy this comic about my cat, Anise

I can’t confirm that the promo code is still good (late-September 2019) because the signature box is currently out of stock.  However, the normal price is about $20 for 30 lunch/dinner servings, plus side dishes, breakfasts, and snacks.  Full Cart also has slightly larger and smaller options, which were in stock when I looked.

You can see what is included in each box at https://fullcart.org/get-started/.  Clicking through to “what’s inside” or “learn more” for each box lets you see the size of the packages included and their ingredients.

Please boost this!

Exactly!!

I don’t have many followers, but if any of you know someone in the Chicago area with kids who want to take them to a queer-safe Santa, please pass this along!