Gaza

ETA: Hamas announces ceasefire; Israel begins withdrawing troops

The UN says that Israel kept out aid for Gaza, with food and supplies only trickling in during the last six months before Operation Cast Lead, and suggests this contributed to Hamas' decision to break the truce.

Although I don't fully grasp the situation, I'm disturbed by reports that Arab Israeli parties have been banned from February's election, apparently because of their opposition to the war.

Amnesty International has a Q&A on the conflict, posted on the 12th, with answers provided by apparently the most patient woman on the planet. AI's position, put very simply, is the same as my own: both sides in the conflict must obey the law.

Bless

He's back in London. Hide, boy, hide! (Nicked from whoismattsmith.com, who nicked it from the Sun. lol)

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More on writing about races and cultures not one's own: We worry about it too., a terrific posting by Black writer nojojojo about how every writer can fall into the stereotypes. "This stuff gets in all of us. It's like a perpetual infection; we have to constantly watch for the symptoms and repeatedly innoculate ourselves against it, lest it flare up and devour our souls."

I've probably posted this before, but here it is again: an online extract from Cultural Etiquette: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned. I discovered this firm but gentle little book (probably in Lambda Rising) in the nineties, and it was a real eye-opener for me. It's worth tracking down a second-hand copy online.

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*slaps forehead* And from the 'I know better than that' department, I spent the last two weeks working so hard and stressing out so much that I managed to have a Setback. Fortunately Jon was there to drag me off to the gym and then out for Thai, restoring my equilibrium. I'm having today off to laze about. She said, having just opened up ABW to work on Other Writing Project without even realising what she was doing. *sigh*

Stuff that's being hanging about in my bookmarks

A fun screencap recap of the Torchwood ep Something Borrowed by lucy_locket, including this priceless still:



That's where Jack is handing out orders, and when he raps out 'Ianto,', Ianto drily responds, 'Jack', in the verbal equivalent of a wedgie. (It's the Torchwood version of 'The Voice!' / 'The Apostle.')

And another of From Out Of The Rain wot gave me the giggles.

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So, what were you doing on Wednesday 26 September 1979? People in Canberra were watching a surprising amount of the test pattern. And, of course, Doctor Who, although I'm not certain which episode. Not to mention Harry Butler and The Inventors. And Community Billboard! For some reason this fascinated me as a child, especially the inexplicable cartoon of an English sheepdog that accompanied announcements about Housie.

Sadly, I have inadvertently deleted my "not laughing" icon

Gaza war great victory for Palestinians, says Hamas leader.

The Guardian has a bit of a vox pop of civilians in Gaza as they take stock. Poor bastards. With friends like that...