Board Post, February 22 2012

 

Regular Business

Don't forget to send in items that you want included in This week in The Slacktiverse February 25/26 2012.

The three sections of the weekend post are:

The Blogaround

Any denizen of the Slacktiverse who has posted an article to their own website during since the previous weekend post is invited to send a short summary of that article along with its permalink to TBAT. That summary and link will be included in the next weekend blogaround. This will help to keep members of our community aware of the many excellent websites hosted by other members.

In Case You Missed This

Readers of The Slacktiverse can send short summaries of, and permalinks to, articles that they feel might be of interest to other readers.

Things You Can Do

Anyone who knows of a worthy cause or important petition should send a short description of the petition/cause along with its url to TBAT.

Deadlines

Please email all submissions to slackmods at gmail dot com. The deadline this week will be 2000 GMT on Saturday.

Urgent or time-sensitive announcements will be posted immediately rather than being held for the next regular "This Weekend" post.

---

 

The Board Administration Team
(hapax, Kit Whitfield and mmy)



Comments

[MercuryBlue]

I just got called a troll for suggesting that a Facebook friend consider not posting "it's one nation under God, love it or leave it" graphics on the grounds that she knows (we have had this conversation before) that such graphics hurt me. I feel as though I have conquered an atheist rite of passage. Or possibly an Internet rite of passage that's nothing to do with atheism. \o/?

[Mmy]

@MercuryBlue: Or possibly an Internet rite of passage that's nothing to do with atheism. \o/?

I would guess that it is an Internet rite of passage. I remember being called at "stalker" because I thought someone should fact-check a statement about a public figure rather than just spread unfounded gossip.

I have been called a troll both by people responding to my atheism and by people who presumed that I couldn't be an atheist (given the fact that I wasn't committing felonies in the street.)

Take it as a rite a passage and wave your banner high!!

(And, btw, I think that that banner would be offensive to many people including, but not limited to, atheists.)

[AnaMardoll]

{{MercuryBlue}}

ABNA starts tonight. I was so excited that this year they let us choose what genres we want to judge. I foolishly picked fantasy + scifi + young adult because I like all those things. What I'd forgotten was that amateur scifi tends towards the misogynistic, and... well.

Three excerpts in (I have forty to review) and I'm already triggered. New record! And I'm four of four for major issues of sexism and ableism... in excerpts that have featured women, QUILTBAG, and neurodiverse protagonists across the board. Not a white male heterosexual neurotypical protagonist to be found, and yet the Sexism/Ableism Fail is in full force. How. How? How?? How is this possible.

Tomorrow I will go back to being sunny and optimistic about humanity. Tonight I just want to snorgle deep into my Slactivist + Shakesville bubble and pretend that there's nothing else outside my window.

[AnaMardoll]

And once again I leave a 'k' out of Slacktivist because apparently my brain does not like the letter k. I like j and l. I don't understand it.

[AnaMardoll]

Also, tomorrow I will remember that Sturgeon's Law does not mean I can become a misanthrope.

[MercuryBlue]

mmy: So my initial reaction of \o/ was not unfounded. Though looking at it, I'm not sure anymore if it's the victory arms or a martini glass.

Ana: *hugs* Also, ABNA?

[AnaMardoll]

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011

It's a really fascinating contest. I've been a judge for 3 years now and I love love love the process. It's kind of like my dream job, if I could have my pick. But! this year I'm wishing that the entries had trigger warnings because... if I listed out all the triggers I've seen so far in my 5 excerpts, it'd be at least a dozen serious ones. Whew. *reaches for chocolate*

[AnaMardoll]

Oh! I see it now. I like both victory arms AND martini glass. It's kind of both/and.

[Anonymous]

I always thought that \o/ looked like a person drowning kinda. You can see it better if I add water:

~~~~~~~~~
~~~\o/~~~
~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~

[Nenya]

I always want to write it as .o/ and pronounce it "ART CRAWL!"

[truth is life]

A question which seems vaguely related to earlier comments and has been bugging me for a while: How do you pronounce "Ms."? I've always thought it was pronounced the same as "Miss," but that seems unsatisfactory in light of their differing meanings.

[Beroli]

Miz.

[Julie paradox]

Most people seem to pronounce Ms to rhyme with fizz, but I attempt to not interpolate a vowel sound at all.

My friend described it as "a demented bee".

[Sixwing]

I also attempt not to interpolate a vowel sound.

... always thought that \o/ was victory arms (I use it a lot, ha.) But I can see the martini glass. It's even got an olive.

On the other hand, it took me forever to figure orz or OTL out (it's either a head-bang or a kneeling bow, and I've seen both uses...)

[J Enigma (the Transhumanist!)]

I just got called a troll for suggesting that a Facebook friend consider not posting "it's one nation under God, love it or leave it" graphics

I've had people unfriend me for doing the same thing you did. In fact, I'm often vocal about the fact that I'm an atheist because every time I turn around on my news feed I see some Christian stuff up (mostly from family). So I'm vocal about my atheism, I vocally criticize creationism, and I attack the anti-choice position. I've had at least one friend tell me I was "silencing hir" because I was speaking up, and me speaking meant that they would "have to speak louder to drown me out." Because, you know, my existence is silencing to the majority, and they have to speak up to drown out my pitiful voice, out here on facebook where the vast majority of people don't even pay attention to me anyway. When I responded, hie told me I was welcome to leave (the country). Hie also read things into my posts that weren't there - for instance, saying I called hir an "idiot" even though I said no such thing and then unfriending me for it. Frankly, I'm better off I think.