(no subject)

I shall go mad. I woke up with the heroine of some adventure film or other in my head, saying, "Yeah! Let's do that again!" What the hell is this from?!

ETA: Oh, of course! It's Yori in TRON, after they slide down the slope. "Are you all right?" "Yeah! Let's do that some more!"

*fingers crossed*

Hamas agrees to Gaza truce, Israel reply awaited: official

ETA: "The defence minister, Ehud Barak, is pressing for a one-week halt to the fighting to allow in humanitarian aid, according to a report today in the Ha'aretz newspaper." sez The Guardian.

ETA: Blimey! Israel may face UN court ruling on legality of Gaza conflict

(no subject)

At 9 am it was 29°C. The predicted maximum for today is 38 muthafuckin' degrees (that's 100°F). The study, the one air-conditioned room we have, is now my Panic Room. As in "Ahhhhhh! It's 38 muthafuckin' degrees!!!"

Reproductive Freedom

Sign a petition asking President-Elect Obama to repeal the global gag rule ASAP. (Australia has a gag rule of its own - I'm still trying to find out more about that.) Americans for UNFPA has a timeline of US funding of overseas reproductive health services.

In Australia, Tasmanian ALP Senator Guy Barnett's Bill to remove Medicare funding for second trimster and late-term abortions prompted a Senate inquiry, which released its report last November. (The inquiry's only recommendations were for the definitions of medical terms to be clarified.)

From NSW: Coalition will leave abortion law alone.

ETA: I posted a while back about Australian teens' lack of knowledge about safe sex - the full October 2008 report from Marie Stopes, Sex: Telling It Like It Is is available online as a PDF.

"I also handed him an enormous rubber hat."

It probably shouldn't, but The Space Eaters by Frank Belknap Long kind of rocks.

(no subject)

OK, miniatures collectors. Why the hell don't the online stores, Ebay listings, etc, tell you how large the bloody things are?!

Geography quiz!

I received this JPG in email:



Eighteen nations are named on the map. How many are "Arab lands"?

( Answer under this cut... )

(no subject)

800 words on Other Writing Project. And here's the thunder, so I have to turn off the computer now.

ETA: Plus 300 words on Strange Flesh. I AM A WRITING GOD.

Found it!

Nisi Shawl's Transracial Writing for the Sincere, archived at the Wayback Machine. (Alas! The Speculations Web site is no more.)

Turns out Ms Shawl has also co-written a book on the subject: Writing The Other, which is available from the publishers for a pittance ($9).

I has a thunk

Writing well about cultures not one's own generally requires a lot of homework. A professional writer, or hopeful professional, may be able to invest the necessary time and effort. But is this a stumbling block for fan fiction? Some fanfic writers lavish care on their work, but on the whole, fanfic is written fairly rapidly and without immense effort (gods know mine is). Mind you, plenty of hopeful writers don't want to spend the time and effort either, and plenty of professionals try and fall on their faces; I just wondered if fanfic might be particularly susceptible to dodgy characterisations of the Other because of its comparatively quick-and-dirty nature.