The Way The Days Are Blending Together Right Now Is Not Helping Me Remember To Post Regularly.  I Really

This is why it is important to vote your entire ballot in every election! Your state governor and legislature make a big difference in your life. Even your town's mayor and city council (or local equivalent), your school board and library board, your local and state referendums -- they all matter.

I get that sometimes it feels like you aren't making an impact. My district has elected some truly appalling people. However, the more local the election, the more difference a single vote makes, and even in a presidential election, a small number of votes can make a big difference.

Please vote!  No matter what the political bots say, there is a world of difference between Democrats and Republicans, and every vote matters.

Also, make sure to look at the candidates and vote in your local races.  A lot of work is being done on school boards, library boards, town councils, and other very local levels to ban books, limit what can be taught to children, restrict library programs, and much more that chips away at your rights.  

How do I put this gently . . . You fuckers wanna see Trump actually face consequences - see Roe protected - not lose all the progress of the past 2 years under Biden? (yes ik we need more to be done i know) YOU HAVE TO FUCKING VOTE IN THE MID TERMS - POLLS ARE SHOWING A RED RESURGANCE BC PEOPLE HATE INFLATION AND THEY'RE VOTING REPUBLICAN LIKE IT'LL DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT.

This regime wants to exert even more control over the news and information that the public receives – or doesn’t even receive at all. That's why it is attacking publicly funded media like NPR and PBS. But it's also part of a ploy to gut vital public services and oversight in order to clear the way for more tax cuts (and subsidies) that will predominantly go to the super-rich and powerful corporations. Know the truth. (Art work by @doodlebymeg)

@katy-l-wood put this in the tags, "#deciding what to eat for dinner #EVERY NIGHT #what should I cook? #babe what do you want for dinner? #I love food #but when I have to ask that question #I suddenly forget every food I like #and it never ends #personal"

My partner and I have this problem! It doesn't help that neither of us are good enough cooks to decide something on the spur of the moment that we'll both enjoy, so we have to plan a week's worth of dinners before we get groceries.

One thing that helps us is having a spreadsheet of dinner options. It includes where the recipe is, what type of protein it has, and what cooking method it uses. (We should probably add how long it takes, but we haven't gotten around to that.) This lets us look for slow cooker recipes or a way to use up the package of ground beef in the freezer.

This isn't perfect -- we still spend a lot of time staring at the spreadsheet, trying to find something that we're in the mood for and haven't done two of the last three weeks. However, it helps a lot with the "I suddenly forgot every food I like" problem!

The government does not have the right to force me to use my organs to save someone else's life.

in light of the texas abortion ban here’s a reminder to stop debating what counts as a human, baby, or life with pro-lifers because that is not a debate you can win. you can not win a philosophical debate about what counts as a person, and you will not change their minds.

what can be proven is that in no situation under united states law is an individual legally obligated to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. 

4.5 million people each year are in need of blood transfusion, the entire process of donating blood takes a little over an hour, it’s free, and a single pint of blood can save up to 3 peoples lives, but there is no legal obligation or requirement to donate blood in place. 

it is illegal to take organs from deceased peoples’ bodies without permission. CORPSES. bodily integrity is prioritized by law, even after death.

it doesn’t fucking matter whether a fetus is a person, whether a fetus is alive, whether a fetus has a soul. it literally doesn’t matter. pro-lifers set up the argument through that lens (hence their name) to evoke empathy and pity and take the focus away from the actual process of pregnancy, which changes a person’s body FOREVER. that is not an exaggeration. whether the pregnancy is complicated and high-risk or totally smooth sailing, the birthing person will physically never be the same. if they’re lucky, they’ll come out of it with weight gain, differently shaped breasts, and changes to the cervix/vagina. if they aren’t, there’s a fucking laundry list of potential complications that could arise, that may eventually fix themselves, need surgical or therapeutic intervention, or never go away, like varicose veins, separation of the abdominal muscles, incontinence, prolapse, diabetes, postpartum depression, and chronic pain, just off the top of my head. and this makes no mention of the very real possibility of income disruption, as well as the financial cost of giving birth, and the chance of fucking death, which is even higher for underserved communities like black women.

there is no basis for a governing body forcing an individual to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. that is the argument. period the end.

I know so many people for whom this is appropriate, but the first one I thought of is @ladypoetess.  Hugs to all of my spoonie friends!  (Is this how you really play “Knifey Spoonie”?)

Hi All!

I got tired of missing people on LJ, so I've created a Tumblr account (obviously) and a DreamWidth account. That seems to catch most of the people I was following on LJ who were still posting semi-regularly. I'm considering Twitter, but I don't know if I want to dedicate that much of my life to social media. (I have no problems with the "media" part; it's the "social" that I'm not very good at handling.) Feel free to point me at your favorite people and stuff on either DreamWidth or Tumblr! I'm still getting the hang of who/what is available where.

I like the video (especially the puppies!), and I can definitely see where they’re going with emulating sexy girl videos.  However, in addition to having a much wider variety of cuteness, most of these guys are waaaaay overdressed for a sexy girl video.

This post on the desexualisation of men made me think of this Charli XCX video.

Charli XCX directed this with Sarah McColgan, and asked the boys in question to do “all the sexy things that girls usually do in videos”. They include Riz Ahmed (this is the source of those gifs of him with a big pink teddy bear), Stormzy, Josh Ostrovsky (aka thefatjewish), Tom Daley, Jay Park and more - full list here. It is pink and fluffy and female gaze-y, and everybody looks happy.

It also has a much, much more inclusive idea of cuteness than sexy girl videos, and doesn’t dehumanise its subjects. Which is lovely, but underlines that when men are treated as objects of desire, they’re much more likely to keep a sense of agency.

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.