Slytherin Risen
The Online Haven of Ms. Katonic
Slytherin RisenThe Online Haven of Ms. Katonic |
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| The following entries may contain material on adult subjects or other things likely to disturb those of a narrow-minded or sensitive disposition. If you are one of them, why not save us all a lot of trouble and turn away now, hmm? |
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| Nov. 22nd, 2009 @ 06:31 pm Links | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  cheerfulRight, links! Have I got a collection for you! First off, the best thing I've seen all week: Rings Around The World, or The Rings of Earth, a short video on what the Earth would look like if it had rings. It's really good! If we all write in to Barack Obama, do you reckon he'll blow up the moon for us so we can have some rings? Talking of lobbying, the UK Government is thinking of introducing proposals to cut off accused filesharers without warning or indeed anything approaching due process of law. If you think that's a bad idea, sign this petition! (UK residents/citizens only.) Meanwhile, over in Minneapolis, you can if you wish go and see A Christmas Carol in Klingon. If I lived there, I'd be almost tempted. :) This post gets worse, I'm afraid. Much worse. First of all, there is The Meow Mix, which will put the fear of Bast into you for life. Next, the 30 Most Disturbing Twilight Products. I don't know whether my favourites are the sparkly dildo, the Edward Cullen silhouette wall decal, or Bella's uterus (don't ask). And finally, awesome multi-fandom sparkly news. For next year's Simpsons Halloween special, they plan to have Lisa fall in love with a vampire who sparkles. As if that wasn't funny enough, the vampire is voiced by none other than... Daniel Radcliffe. Told you it was awesome. :) |
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| Nov. 7th, 2009 @ 10:46 am Linkses! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  amusedCurrently in the Jukebox: Muse - Uprising Short one today. First of all, marmots! How can you not like marmots? Everyone likes marmots. We like deer and we like marmots and we like all the fluffy animals and we really like the moon. ;) There is now a mouse designed specifically for use with OpenOffice. I am intrigued but feel I wouldn't use half the functionality. Many of you may be familiar with Failblog. Well, now there's a blog detailing the opposite - Succeedblog! There are some truly impressive feats in there, although in some cases, I do have to ask why? ION, someone's found a mandrake! This is really clever and yet disturbing - Face Paint artist from Michigan paints his face to look like the members of Kiss, octopi and a dog's arse. Um. Yes. It's good, but it's not right! Not for the face paint phobic, that. Everyone's got a Twitter now, and now even Big Ben's got one. Nifty but a tad repetitive, I feel. Daily Fail's current poll is more leading than even I'd expect. Should female MPs be allowed to employ cleaners on expenses? Well, yes obviously. Get in there and skew it, my friends. :) And finally! Got kids? Worship the Elder Gods? Want to make sure the kids grow up in your footsteps (or flipper tracks or tentacle trails, depending on just how far you've gone with it)? Look no further. Let this educational video assist you. The Adventures of Lil' Cthulhu. I feel it lays the finer points of the mythos out quite adequately. :) |
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| Nov. 2nd, 2009 @ 08:40 pm Linkses! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  indescribableCurrently in the Jukebox: Velvet Revolver - Get Out The Door Haven't done one of these for a while, so here goes! Before anything else, ![[info - livejournal.com]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) bathtubgin and lovelybug are doing a sponsored firewalk to raise money for the Fawcett Society's Equal Pay campaigning. Please give generously!If you think getting around London is awkward now, it could have been worse. Or better, depending on your point of view. The borough boundaries could have been based on hexagons. Somehow, it never caught on. Incidentally, I may have to subscribe to that blog. I love maps! Especially weird ones. I quite like charts too, especially ones like this - Total Eclipse of the Chart. It's a flow chart designed to guide you around Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. I especially like the division of the various bits into 'croon' and 'belt'. And that's off a blog also specialising in odd charts! *adds* Speaking of geeky charts, today's XKCD is awesome. Even better, there's a large version that's fully readable. Sweet! The acrostic is alive and well in California, as this letter of veto from Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California legislature demonstrates. Best bit is the quote from Arnie's spokesperson. Someone has made an actual Ban Hammer. Classy. However, I think the opposite of classy may be this. Someone out there has made a set of Robert Pattinson ladies' underwear. Complete with panty liner detail of RPattz's face. Oh. Dear. At least it's fan-made and not official (or unofficial - they're not for sale at all) merchandise. Which does beg the question - why on earth did no one in HP fandom go there? You're not telling me no HP fen wouldn't have gone after a set of DanRad pants? |
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| Sep. 17th, 2009 @ 07:44 pm (no subject) | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  apatheticVery little going on in my life at the moment, so here are links! They're making a comic book about JK Rowling! Looks interesting, although I am a tad weirded out by the fact it's a part of a collection, one of which is on Sarah Palin... The Kanye West heckle is gaining new life in memeage - here is a mashup of him heckling Obama. And another meme is taken to new heights of geekery - students from MIT plaster the notes from 'Never Gonna Give You Up' on the university's Great Dome. Meanwhile, someone from the US Olympic fencing team gave Obama a plastic sword and Photoshop did the rest. Finally, even the keenest breakfast enthusiast would have difficulty polishing this off - a £10 fried breakfast involving 10 eggs, 10 sausages, 10 rashers of bacon, 5 black pudding, 10 slices of toast, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans. Free if you eat the whole thing in 20 minutes. No word on if tea's included with that. |
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| Sep. 5th, 2009 @ 11:14 pm Linkses! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: amusedCurrently in the Jukebox: Coldplay - Yellow (Live) Because I have also found time to look at cool stuff online, as always. Steam Punk! *dies* Fornication Sidearms, oh my. Pears Grown in the Shape of the Buddha. Bizarre but cute. Neil Gaiman's library. I have no words apart from WOW and possibly COVET. Sign hacks for pedestrian crossings in LA. I love the High Five one. And finally! I have ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} bunnypip's teenage son, L1, to thank for this link: If Twilight Were About Dragons. Do not click if you like Twilight. Everyone else, come straight in, it's hilarious. I think the butterflies line is probably the best bit. |
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| Aug. 29th, 2009 @ 03:20 pm Here Be Monsters | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  irritatedCurrently in the Jukebox: Carleen Anderson - Maybe I'm Amazed (Ian Grimble Mix / Full Length Version) Summer Glau joins Dollhouse! Good news for Joss geeks. In other news, the old stereotype that men don't empathise as well as women? Utter rubbish - a new study suggests they're quite capable, they just don't bother. I feel so many alleged differences between men and women come down to that in the end. :) Legoland has a motorsport arena now... and the Top Gear presenters plus Stig are in it! Yay! How to make a plush cell model! Look, it's got mitochondria and spidles and everything! It had to happen - there's a Harry Potter gay porn film in the making. Bits of it are in 3D. If they, er, need any creative input... *ahem*. Loch Ness Monster seen on Google Earth. They're coming for us, I tell you... And on the topic of monsters, here's a Monster Venn Diagram! Never knew there were so many things that were based on narwhals. Someone has baked Where The Wild Things Are cupcakes! Nyom. And finally, I have a flash game! Silent Conversation, which is a bit like Super Mario with books. Watch for the Lovecraft levels, those things are evil! |
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| Aug. 20th, 2009 @ 08:55 am OK, one last link | |||
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Uncomfortable Plot Summaries! Quite brilliant, especially the ones for Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Trek, Star Wars, and many more... |
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| Aug. 19th, 2009 @ 08:11 pm BICON IS TOMORROW!!! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: amusedCurrently in the Jukebox: Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I am all packed and ready. :D Travel all booked. Nearly everything sorted at work. I'm READY! Will have laptop with me but do not know extent of internet access. So I may be offline for the weekend. So in order that you lot are not bored while I am away, here are some links! Paid LJ Members - LJ are offering three extra days of paid time to compensate for slow service last week. Think your partner never listens? They can't be as bad as this girl. Boy talks repeatedly about upcoming fortnight in Europe he has planned. Girl either isn't listening or forgets... because after he leaves, she doesn't realise he's on holiday and thinks he's ignoring her. The result? A cringingly funny YouTube video of the emails she bombards him with. Probably the best Michael Jackson memorial yet - Michael Jackson as drawn on an Etch a Sketch. It's really quite impressive! Took 150 hours, apparently. For the prurient among you, here's the machine they use to test condoms with. Most common cause of condom breakage is a blunt puncture motion. Who knew? And finally, ZOMBIES! :D First up, Zombaritaville - song lyrics rewritten with zombie themes. I think the rewrite of The Passenger is my favourite. :) And finally, Louis Armstrong meets the Zombie Apocalypse. Scenes from the game Left 4 Dead set to What A Wonderful World. It's a tad disturbing, I grant you. |
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| Aug. 4th, 2009 @ 09:23 pm Linkses! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  relaxedSlate is doing a week long feature on the End of America, and one of the highlights is a little flash web toy called Choose your own Apocalypse! You too can choose combinations of up to five ways the USA is going to snuff it, ranging from the benign (World Government) to the lethal (SuperVolcano); the plausible (Peak Oil) to the Vastly Unlikely (Alien Invasion). Have fun playing with it - I did. :) Also these are very cute - Simon's Cat, animated short films by a guy called Simon who has a cat. I LOL'ed. Not one for RSI sufferers - Pixel otherwise known as death to your mouse hand. Addictive though. Talking of pixels - Bangkok's newest skyrise project is going for the pixellated look. I'm thinking less along the lines of pixels and more along the lines of Cloverfield, but YMMV. And finally, there is this apartment building in Florida with only one family living there. Sounds peaceful... and yet very lonely. |
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| Jul. 31st, 2009 @ 09:26 pm STOP SCROLLING AND READ THIS. | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  excitedI HAVE FOUND THE BEST YOUTUBE CLIP EVER. SOMEONE HAS DONE A MASH-UP OF VARIOUS TOP GEAR CLIPS TO FORM THREE MINUTES OF JEREMY CLARKSON BEING A HUMAN BEATBOX. It is wonderful and genius and I love, love, LOVE it. And now I have to attempt to top that with the rest of the stuff languishing in my tabs. I will do my best but cannot promise the rest of this post will be any good. Giant Jellyfish Invade Japan! See, even the imminent threat of Things from R'lyeh slaughtering the Japanese pales in comparison. Spectacular Twilight wank involving studio being twunts and dropping one of the better actresses from the next film. And finally, there is a new WoW guild forming - a team of top psychiatrists is joining the game to better treat Warcrack junkies for their addiction in an environment in which they feel comfortable. I love this bit: "Of course one problem we’re going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they’re probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft. We may have to work at that". Bless. :) |
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| Jul. 25th, 2009 @ 11:43 pm (no subject) | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: sleepy Surprised no one from TGS picked up on this one - Top Gear presenter James May is looking for volunteers to help him build a new house in Surrey - made entirely out of Lego bricks. He's had three million of them delivered to Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey (not a million miles from where I grew up) and with help from whoever turns up, plans to build an actual house from them. Were it not suspiciously close to Hard Work, I would be tempted to go. In further geek news, I may have just downloaded the PC version of Settlers of Catan. It's worryingly addictive. All I need now is the digital version of Puerto Rico and you may never see me again. And finally, the human body is said to actually glow. That's right, scientists claim that the human body emits a very faint luminescence not normally visible to the human eye. No word on what colour it is. |
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| Jul. 16th, 2009 @ 11:09 pm Half Blood Prince | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: bouncy Went to see Half Blood Prince at the Imax last night. Was really good! Although the 3D bit only lasted for the first 15 minutes, which was a little disappointing. Very good though. ( Spoilers ) All in all, good movie. In related news, I noted this story in yesterday's thelondonpaper in which Dan Radcliffe thinks it's great when people think he's gay. Which apparently happens quite a lot. According to certain unnamed gay web fora *cough*slashfandom*cough*, Dan has a 'gay face'. DANIEL RADCLIFFE HAS A GAY FACE, EVERYONE!!! IT MUST BE TRUE, EVEN THE MAINSTREAM PRESS SAY SO. :D The paper speculates he may be about to come out as bi, but I suspect this is just speculation. Although if he does, fandom will explode. I reckon he should therefore do it whether he actually is or not, just so I can watch everyone's reactions. ION, we have a huge thunderstorm going on over London tonight. Cat is not frightened exactly, but being a bit clingy even by his standards. Was curled up in my arms while I typed earlier. Now he's just sitting on my duvet with his eyes shut. |
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| Jun. 25th, 2009 @ 11:02 pm Michael Jackson | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: shocked Has been taken to hospital after suspected heart attack. It isn't looking good, and there's several news reports that he's died - nothing confirmed but the fact that the BBC is repeating them, as are other news outlets is telling. Twitter has fallen over. JournalFen has very little concrete word. WikiPedia has the hospitalisation news but nothing about a death. I'm... not sure what to say. I'm a child of the 80s, he was such an icon when I was young, still is. And now he's gone? Flawed, certainly, but he was just such a huge figure the world over. It feels so weird to realise he's not here any more. It's Michael fucking Jackson, you know? Maybe this is another sign of my own mortality. I'm old enough now to see my childhood icons die. It's an odd sensation. ETA: Word from the LA Times is he's in a coma. Wait, no... LA Times announcing his death. Damn. |
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| Jun. 6th, 2009 @ 08:39 pm Meme! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: amused Rules: a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. (Google Image Search may also work.) b. Pick an image. c. Copy each image URL into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3. d. Save the image and post it on this note. ( The Questions ) ( The Result ) Pretty, yes? |
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| Jun. 3rd, 2009 @ 11:35 pm Elections tomorrow! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: tired If you're in the EU, the European Parliament elections are tomorrow! I freely admit I've not really been following this in any great detail, other than to note the following: - The BNP are vile and must be beaten at all costs. - UKIP are not much better. Less openly racist, but more right-wing, corrupt as hell, unstable and generally just no. - The Christian Party: lacking the BNP's racism, but alas the sexism and homophobia makes up for it. Hell and indeed no. - Labour are going to get hammered. - I still hate the Tories. Just leaves the Lib Dems and the Greens as parties I would actually be willing to vote for. I think on balance it'll probably be the Greens. I am thinking they have changed the voting system this year so you only vote for one party, instead of listing in order of preference. Apparently new voting system is even more arcane and bewildering than the previous STV system was, which is saying something (I support STV but it's kinda complicated). I would urge all those of you eligible and registered to get out there tomorrow and vote! If you're not sure who to vote for, pick someone likely to beat the BNP at least. |
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| Jun. 3rd, 2009 @ 09:57 pm (no subject) | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: annoyed Right, I think I need an external mouse for this laptop - the left mouse button is wearing out. Recommendations? A wireless one is preferable, plus something not really needing a mouse mat. Also my birthday is next week, partners. ;) |
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| Jun. 3rd, 2009 @ 08:17 pm (no subject) | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: amused New Carmilla movie with proper lesbianism! Oh yes... Funky new web gadget: Mapumental. Does maps based on how long it'll take you to get somewhere on public transport! No more will you have to struggle getting to that place which looks so close on the map but in reality takes about three buses to get to. Presently in private beta, but I've signed up for an invite, so who knows, maybe I'll get one. UK maps only though, but it'll certainly be useful for me. Spinal Tap have a new song out! It's, er, interesting. :P But it was free. And it's called Saucy Jack and it's about Jack the Ripper, and I'm going to see them live at the end of the month so thought I'd better get some listening in. It's not bad actually! New hoax (maybe?) in London: a spate of memorial bench plaques all from the same family, all with sarcastic phrases. Genuine or a monumental pisstake? I'm thinking the latter, but it made me laugh. :) Doctors send a petition to WHO asking them to condemn homeopathy. About bloody time - there are some forms of complementary medicine that might actually work, and then there's homeopathy. Absolutely useless. Did a test one summer - over the counter antihistamines versus homeopathic pills. The antihistamines had been working well enough for a few weeks. Weather had been sunny and warm with moderate to high pollen counts, so I'd have been sniffling and sneezing quite badly with no meds. Came off the antihistamines and took the homeopathic pills as directed. HORRIFIC SYMPTOMS SO AWFUL I WAS BACK ON THE CLARITYN WITHIN THREE DAYS. Not the week I'd originally hoped to go for. Don't waste your time or money, folks. And finally, yesterday's XKCD, otherwise known as Twilight's Revenge. Nice. :) |
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| May. 28th, 2009 @ 03:24 pm That time of year again! | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling: excited Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote... Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages. (Chaucer as any fule kno) Specifically to Bicon 2009 in Worcester! Online registration is now open, so if you hang with bisexuals, work with bisexuals, live with bisexuals, sleep with bisexuals or are bisexual, you are welcome and should come! Booked my place just now. :) I hope to see many of you there. |
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| May. 9th, 2009 @ 03:31 pm Weekly Links Round-up | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  geekyAnd here is me getting my biology geek on - Mitochondria! Aren't mitochondria brilliant? They're former independent organisms that eos ago got taken over by other cells because of their ability to produce lots and lots of the ATP molecules that keep cells going (primarily by allowing things to pass through cell membranes, like food, waste products, things the rest of the organism needs). In return, the mitochondria are protected and cared for by the cells they form part of. You can tell they were former free living organisms because they have their own DNA that is nothing to do with the genome of the host organism. You inherit your mitochondria from your mother, because the mitochondria found in sperm don't become part of the embryo; they're left at the door, so to speak. Which is why variations in mitochondrial DNA can be used to track ancestry of a given organism/species via the female line. Next time you hear someone talking about mitochondrial DNA (and this crops up time and time again in pagan/new age circles, quite often by people who I suspect wouldn't know a mitochondrion if it threw a crystal at them), this is what they're referring to. And now there's a song about them! And you lot probably understand enough about them now to get the lyrics, so have a listen! On the topic of symbiosis, how to encourage kids to see things from both sides - It's Useful to Have a Duck. You can read it from either end, and if you read it from one side, you read about a little boy talking about how much he likes his toy rubber duck. Read from the other side... and you get to see the duck's perspective on what it gets out of things. Meanwhile, some researhers from Stanford are doing a survey on how knowledge about a pandemic among the general public might affect the outcome. So if you want to help, get yourself over there and fill their survey in. It is short and not difficult. Segueing neatly from human death to pixel death - 8 Bit Fatalities! Deaths from childhood computer games depicted realistically, with blood and guts and everything! Maybe not for the squeamish, that one. But on the subject of retro game - Atic Atac for Windows!!!! I haven't played this in years! Not since I switched PCs to one without a Spectrum emulator on it. Excuse me, I think my afternoon fun has been decided... |
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| Apr. 26th, 2009 @ 03:30 pm In shock non-Dreamwidth related post | |||
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This week, I have been mostly feeling:  lazyCurrently in the Jukebox: U2 - Beautiful Day BiFest programme now on the website! I am thinking I will be in the downstairs bar most of the afternoon, looking at that. Gillian Anderson may be appearing in next series of Doctor Who! Ooh! And even better, they want her to play the Rani!!!!! Yaaaayyy!!!! *geekgasm* And talking of BBC dramas, a rumour from Popbitch via Fandom Lounge: One of BBC's popular dramas almost didn't finish its recent series. Two of the actors - one blond, one dark, decided to forget their previously hetro lifestyles, wives etc, and started a passionate affair. This wasn't the problem. The problem occurred when the two lovers fell out. And refused to appear on set together. Production had to shut down. Eventually the boys showed enough intelligence to agree to see out the series, until one could be killed off. Any guesses, folks? Angie Zapata's killer found guilty. This is very good news indeed, particularly as the defence in all seriousness were claiming that the shock of her killer discovering she was a transwoman was an acceptable reason to beat her to death. Very glad to see that the jury were having none of it. And this idea is to my liking: feminist magazines are usually a bit strapped for cash and have difficulty getting circulation. So here's an idea - subscribe to one, read it, leave it in a public place for someone else to pick up. May have to start doing that... Any recommendations? And finally, sexism in geek culture. I'll be honest, I've experienced very little directly. But I think that has a lot to do with avoiding the more male-dominated areas of sf fandom and geekdom in general, and staying in female safe spaces. Fear of sexism can be as damaging as sexism itself. |
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