Poem: "Emodox"

Jun. 6th, 2025 08:22 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by the "unlabeled" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. It has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. This poem belongs to the series A Poesy of Obscure Sorrows.

Read more... )

Fandom50: #14

Jun. 6th, 2025 07:46 pm
senmut: Screen shot of Mikaela dirty in the end of '07 TF, Warrior Goddess in blue above and below (Transformers: Mikaela)
[personal profile] senmut
Almost the end of a decade in 1989. Revolutions, crackdowns, changes in power ... look, 1989 left a mark on my psyche. Evidently I was escaping into the cinema as much as I was to the roller rink, judging from me opening 20 tabs even with me being picky. Going to narrow that down some. Okay, 11 in the final cut.

kinda grouped in genre broadly )

(no subject)

Jun. 6th, 2025 08:18 pm
skygiants: Autor from Princess Tutu gesturing smugly (let me splain)
[personal profile] skygiants
A while back, [personal profile] lirazel posted about a bad book about an interesting topic -- Conspiracy Theories About Lemuria -- which apparently got most of its information from a scholarly text called The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories by Sumathi Ramaswamy.

Great! I said. I bet the library has that book, I'll read it instead of the bad one! which now I have done.

For those unfamiliar, for a while the idea of sunken land-bridges joining various existing landmasses was very popular in 19th century geology; Lemuria got its name because it was supposed to explain why there are lemurs in Madagascar and India but not anywhere else. Various other land-bridges were also theorized but Lemuria's the only one that got famous thanks to the catchy name getting picked up by various weird occultists (most notably Helena Blavatasky) and incorporated into their variably incomprehensible Theories of Human Origins, Past Paradises, Etc.

As is not unexpected, this book is a much more dense, scholarly, and theory-driven tome than the bad pop history that [personal profile] lirazel read. What was unexpected for me is that the author's scholarly interests focus on a.) cartography and b.) Tamil language and cultural politics, and so what she's most interested in doing is tracing how the concept of a Lemurian continent went from being an outdated geographic supposition to a weird Western occult fringe belief to an extremely mainstream, government-supported historical narrative in Tamil-speaking polities, where Lost Lemuria has become associated with the legendary drowned Tamil homeland of Tamilnāṭu and thus the premise for a claim that not only is the Lemurian continent the source of human origins but that specifically the Tamil language is the source language for humanity.

Not the book I expected to be reading! but I'm not at all mad about how things turned out! the prose is so dry that it was definite work to wade through but the rewards were real; the author has another whole book about Tamil language politics and part of me knows I am not really theory-brained enough for it at this time but the other part is tempted.

Also I did as well come out with a few snippets of the Weird Nonsense that I thought I was going in for! My favorite anecdote involves a woman named Gertrude Norris Meeker who wrote to the U.S. government in the 1950s claiming to be the Governor-General of Atlantis and Lemuria, ascertaining her sovereign right to this nonexistent territory, to which the State Department's Special Advisor on Geography had to write back like "we do not think that is true; this place does not exist." Eventually Gertrude Meeker got a congressman involved who also nobly wrote to the government on behalf of his constituent: "Mrs. Meeker understands that by renouncing her citizenship she could become Queen of these islands, but as a citizen she can rule as governor-general. [...] She states that she is getting ready to do some leasing for development work on some of these islands." And again the State Department was patiently like "we do not think that is true, as this place does not exist." Subsequently they seem to have developed a "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter which I hope and trust is still being used today.
slippery_fish: (sister)
[personal profile] slippery_fish
Three sisters with abusive parents turn into three sisters with murdered parents and the police believing that one of them did it. Fast-forward a few years and Emma, now pregnant, returns to her childhood home with her husband and a lot of questions.

I didn't like this one as much as I liked Marshall's other books but it still was a good read. The description of their horrible childhood was bleak and claustrophobic, the way they lost each other after the murder very fitting. I also liked how they didn't really have an easy time with each other when they reunited, distrustful and yet loyal to each other in a strange way.

It's a pretty good and interesting take on three very different sisters dealing with abuse and the aftermath of a murder and I was happy with the ending. Also, the way they were so very different and what kept them trapped and how they freed themselves (or didn't) really worked.
[syndicated profile] eff_feed

Posted by Rory Mir

Austin organizers turned out to rebuke the city’s misguided contract with Flock Safety— and won. This successful pushback from the community means at the end of the month Austin police will no longer be able to use the surveillance network of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) across the city.

Two years ago Austin City Council approved this controversial contract, despite strong local opposition. We knew then that these AI-driven surveillance systems weren’t just creepy, they are prone to misuse and mistakes which have a real human toll.

In the years since, this concern has materialized time and time again, and now the risks have heightened with the potential of using the data against immigrants and people seeking trans or reproductive healthcare. Most recently Texas authorities were implicated in a 404 media report on the use of these cameras to target abortion seekers

Today's victory in Austin is a tribute to what happens when a coalition of activist groups come together in common cause

Just a few days before the scheduled vote, an audit of the Austin Police Department program also revealed that over 20% of ALPR database searches lacked proper documentation or justification, in violation of department policy. The audit also revealed contract language allowed for data retention beyond council-mandated limits on retention and potential sharing with outside agencies. 

Fortunately, more than 30 community groups, including Electronic Frontier Alliance member EFF-Austin,  joined forces to successfully prevent contract renewal.

EFF-Austin Executive Director Kevin Welch told us that, "Today's victory in Austin is a tribute to what happens when a coalition of activist groups come together in common cause and stand in solidarity against the expansion of the surveillance state.” He went on to say, “But the fight is not over. While the Flock contract has been discontinued, Austin still makes use of ALPRs via its contract with Axon, and [the] council may attempt to bring this technology back [...] That being said, real progress in educating elected officials on the dangers of these technologies has been made.” 

This win in a city as large as Austin lends momentum to the larger trend across the country where local communities are pushing back against ALPR surveillance. EFF continues to stand with these local efforts, and encourages other organizers to reach out at organizing [at] eff.org in the fight against local surveillance.

Speaking to this trend, Kevin added, “As late as Monday, it didn't look like we had the votes to make this victory happen. While these are dark times, there are still lights burning in the dark, and through collective action, we can burn bright."

[syndicated profile] verushka70tumblr_feed

theconcealedweapon:

“College is a place of liberal indoctrination.”

And what possible motive would liberals have to put their indoctrination behind one of the biggest paywalls to have ever existed?

College is often the first time that someone regularly interacts with a diverse crowd. College is often the first time that someone is encouraged to think for themselves instead of blindly trusting their parents.

They’re not being indoctrinated to be liberal. They were previously indoctrinated to be conservative and are now being freed from that.

[syndicated profile] verushka70tumblr_feed

liberalsarecool:

Biden Surgeon General: Harvard University magna cum laude in biochemical sciences, Yale M.D. and M.B.A. and an actual physician

Trump Surgeon general: literally some random lady.

#BestPeople

@publicnicole, above, is 100% correct

Daily Check In.

Jun. 6th, 2025 06:39 pm
adafrog: (Default)
[personal profile] adafrog posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Friday to midnight on Saturday (8pm Eastern Time).


Poll #33223 Daily poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 9

How are you doing?

I am okay
8 (88.9%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
1 (11.1%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
3 (33.3%)

One other person
3 (33.3%)

More than one other person
3 (33.3%)




Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Profile

libraralien: (Default)
libraralien

October 2024

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
1314151617 1819
20212223242526
2728293031  
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios