Refugees

Words go through a natural process of losing their intensity: we are no longer terrified by the terrible, nor awestruck by the awesome. The word "terrorist" has clearly reached the same point:

"There is an arrogance in the thinking by a few individuals who are at odds with the vast majority of the parliamentary Liberal Party and the vast majority of the Coalition party room to hold the Government to ransom on this. If you spit the dummy because the vast majority of people in your own party won't agree with you and you, in effect, behave as a political terrorist, well, I think you actually lose credibility." - Victorian Liberal MP Sophie Panopoulos

(Readers from countries where elected representatives are not expected to toe the party line on pain of punishment might find this particularly bizarre.)

On to the news: Rau inquiry says the "culture" of DIMIA has to change; the PM makes counter-offers to the rebel backbenchers.

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How the cat mind works

Frankus: Mom! Mom! I threw up all my breakfast, so can I have some more food?

Kate's Fannish Gender, concluded

I fear my attempt to get across my thoughts on fanboy and fangirl have been a flop, with many readers thinking I was labelling actual men and women, rather than trying to make the same distinction that exists between maleness and masculinity. This is partly due to other peoples' assumptions, and partly due to my utter lack of clarity on the topic. Ah well, I remain both a fanboy and a fangirl, concurrently or consecutively.

More to chew on:

motiveforce ponders gendered fandom and the geek male.

Frightening Fangirls: On Being a Male Fushigi Yuugi Fan


Sadly, the thread in doctorwho about n00bz girl germs has vanished.

(no subject)

For those who may be interested, I'm flogging the audiobook of Vurt as read by Paul McGann on Ebay.