Very Updated This week in The Slacktiverse, July 28/29 2012

The Blogaround

Lurker Laura Heron's blog continues with her Dictionary of Peril, short stories about the Peril of Dab and the Peril of the Eadish.

There is also an examination of Embassytown by China Mieville, that I would love to have a conversation about with anyone inclined that way.

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Deconstruction: Depression Diaries and Puritan Work Ethics
(Content Note: Depression, Surgery)–
One of the really frustrating things about depression is how well it succeeds in camouflaging itself as a "nothing" disease, the mental equivalent of having a touch of sinus drainage in the morning, or of needing your joints to warm up for a few minutes before you can really hit the ground running.

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Animation: Brave
Brave didn't light my world on fire from a story-telling perspective. But that's okay because it's still a step in the right direction. Now we just need more. Lots more.

Literata writes: I'm out. Anyone is welcome to come over to my blog at any point, but I will no longer be contributing to or commenting at The Slacktiverse. TBAT has worked to keep this place going in order to support community. It is no longer coalescing as a community, especially since it has become too toxic for Kit, mmy, and hapax to participate. They are now relegated to the position of servants, and communities shouldn't have servants.

gleomstapa reports: It being rather hot, I wrote a story about glaciers.

chris the cynic writes: This week I wrote a post about dealing with people on the internet called “It IS Real” that I'm just going to share an excerpt of rather than summarize:

It doesn't matter if it's in person, or over the phone, or via physical mail, or email, or in a chatroom, or on a forum, or on a blog, or over the radio, or on TV, or via legislation. None of that makes the slightest bit of difference. What you do to real people is real.

In response to other people saying what they would guess a story called, “Under the Dome,” was about based on the title, I shared my own primary guess and a couple of secondaries. In response to discussion of Edward Cullen's mind reading I wrote a bit on my thoughts about Edith Cullen's mind reading.

And I had a few posts about depression:
•  Music– I shared some of the music I listen to on youtube when I don't have the energy to get to a CD player.
•  My Hoped for Future Doesn't Exist (Trigger Warning: discussion of depression and things that trigger depression)– I talk about how the world has changed while I've been depressed so all of the things I hoped to do when no longer depressed are based in a past that no longer exists, rather than a possible future.
•  Rejoice, Rejoice, we have no choice – I talk about walking, quote Frost, and describe in a few words how I carry on.

Coleslaw writes: Really Bill is a response to some parent-blaming remarks Bill O'Reilly made after the Aurora shootings. His remarks are quoted in the post. By the Sea, By the Sea talks about why Louisiana has so few beaches despite being a coastal state. Plague is about a virologist's account of the factors that led to transmission of HIV from monkeys to chimpanzees to humans. The earliest known AIDS patient is not who you think. In Subscribe Later I discuss why my virus software reminds me of a virus.

sarah reports that this week I posted: a "thoughts on things" post with bonus kitty picture. In past weeks: ee cummings for the fourth of July, photos from vacation, and, as always, some poetry.

Michael Mock reports: It's been an odd week at Mock Ramblings. Monday began with a Real Work Conversation about Sunglasses and ended with a very bad pun. On Tuesday, I gave in to my brain's unwillingness to do anything useful, and posted a collection of Lovecraft-related youtube clips; at home that evening, Secondborn displayed a startling new ability for us, which I described as Not What I Wanted To Hear, Parenting Edition. On Wednesday, I announced the upcoming deconstruction of a book-length tract called National Sunday Law which somebody placed in my car last week. On Thursday, the Deranged Cultist checked in with some Reflections on In-Laws. Lastly, on Friday, I recounted an incident that occurred in the Wichita Wildlife refuge many years ago: That's No Moon... Here's hoping everyone else is having a good week.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
Deconstruction: Love Is...
(Trigger Warning: Hospitalization, Cancer, Religious and Political Homophobia)
I'm blessed and privileged that the love from my parents and my spouse has social approval and government sanction. And I hope to someday live in a world where that statement will also be true for the millions of QUILTBAG peoples on this earth.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
(Trigger Warning: Depression, Ableism Language in Text, Ethics of Mind-Reading, Bad Friendships, Disordered Eating)
Twilight: Protagonist-Centered Everything
It's a fantasy that is essentially self-centered, that places Bella -- or the reader -- at the literal center of everyone else's emotional universes. Sexual orientation, personal preference, monogamy, and respect for one's position as a person of authority are all tossed out of the window in order to bolster Bella's desire to be overwhelmingly beautiful.

In case you missed this

From Wysteria: Here's one I read a few weeks ago. (Trigger Warning: Profanity) Unfuck Your Habitat on the Depression/Messy House Cycle. Her thing is trying to motivate people to clean stuff, so if you're not in a place to have someone try to get you to clean stuff, I'd avoid reading it. I find her brand of plainspoken encouragement with lots of swearing and understanding that everyone has different levels of activity they can stand/achieve really lovely.

Via Nenya Kanadka: This month, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the USA released a first draft of an official liturgy for the blessing of a same-sex marriage.

From TRiG:
• SB Nation writes about the objectification of female athletes:

An Australian female swimmer is called fat, while in beach volleyball the guys must cover up while the gals show as much skin as possible.

• Hemant Mehta at the Friendly Atheist tells us about two young college students who filed a lawsuit about Hamilton County Commissioners (in Tennessee) praying “in Jesus’ name” at a meeting. One of the witnesses called to give evidence was Muslim:

“I felt ostracized,” she said. “When a prayer is given, I think that people should feel closer to God — not the way that I felt.

• Claudia at the Friendly Atheist tells us that UK taxpayers may be funding Creationist schools.

• Stephanie Zvan at Almost Diamonds posts that Heina Dadabhoy, who writes at Skepchick, is looking for financial support for a book explaining Islam to sceptics from non-Islamic backgrounds.

The book will mostly cover what non-Muslims who lack an Islamic background need to know about Islam and Muslims from a non-pandering perspective, along with a glossary of terms that aren’t easily Google-able and an annotated bibliography for further informed study.

• (Trigger Warning: Discussion of the phenomenon of rape jokes) No actual rape jokes are presented: it's a discussion of the phenomenon of rape jokes. Stephanie Zvan also has a clever flow chart: "So You Want to Tell a Rape Joke". (Click on the chart image for a transcript. Once there, click the image again for a larger version.)

• In the news, we wonder whether Scotland, New Zealand or, of all places, Vietnam will be the next country to enact marriage equality.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, and his wife, MacKenzie, have agreed to donate $2.5 million to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington State, instantly becoming among the largest financial backers of gay marriage rights in the country. [The New York Times, July 28 2012]

--Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community

---

The Slacktiverse is a community blog. Content reflects the individual opinions of the contributors. We welcome disagreement in the comment threads, and invite anyone who wishes to present an alternative interpretation of a situation to write and submit a post.

Comments

[Timothy (TRiG)]

SB Nation writes about the objectification of female athletes:

An Australian female swimmer is called fat, while in beach volleyball the guys must cover up while the gals show as much skin as possible.

Hemant Mehta at the Friendly Atheist tells us about two young college students who filed a lawsuit about Hamilton County Commissioners (in Tennessee) praying “in Jesus’ name” at a meeting. One of the witnesses called to give evidence was Muslim:

“I felt ostracized,” she said. “When a prayer is given, I think that people should feel closer to God — not the way that I felt.”

Claudia at the Friendly Atheist tells us that UK taxpayers may be funding Creationist schools.

Stephanie Zvan at Almost Diamonds posts that Heina Dadabhoy, who writes at Skepchick, is looking for financial support for a book explaining Islam to sceptics from non-Islamic backgrounds.

The book will mostly cover what non-Muslims who lack an Islamic background need to know about Islam and Muslims from a non-pandering perspective, along with a glossary of terms that aren’t easily Google-able and an annotated bibliography for further informed study.

Warning: Rape jokes (well, no actual rape jokes are presented: it's a discussion of the phenomenon of rape jokes)
Stephanie Zvan also has a clever flow chart: "So You Want to Tell a Rape Joke". (Click on the chart image for a transcript. Once there, click the image again for a larger version.)

In the news, we wonder whether Scotland or New Zealand will be the next country to enact marriage equality.

TRiG.

[LauraHeron2]

Hello, I usually lurk, but an going to make an effort to comment more. My blog was on last week and I hope that some of you enjoyed your visit. This week, I continued with my Dictionary of Peril, short stories about the Peril of Dab: http://dictionaryofperil.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/dictionary-of-peril-dab-a-short-story/

and the Peril of the Eadish http://dictionaryofperil.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/dictionary-of-peril-eadish-definition-of-peril/

There is also an examination of Embassytown by China Mieville, that I would love to have a conversation about with anyone inclined that way:

http://dictionaryofperil.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/not-a-definition-of-peril-embassytown-some-thoughts/

The story of the peril induced by the Fabian Society will go up tomorrow.

[Amaryllis]

Hello, LauraHeron2!

The story of the peril induced by the Fabian Society will go up tomorrow.

I have no idea what "the peril induced by the Fabian Society" might be; I always thought of them as a pretty innocuous bunch. But that's a great line, and I look forward to finding out. It's a dangerous world.

[LauraHeron2]

Hi! *waves*

To be honest, it took me a while to come up with one. They just seem so reasonable. Oh well, its the quiet ones you cannot trust, right?

Be glad to see you there, and, additions to the dictionary always welcome.

[Wysteria]

Here's one I read a few weeks ago. Unfuck Your Habitat on the Depression/Messy House Cycle. Her thing is trying to motivate people to clean stuff, so if you're not in a place to have someone try to get you to clean stuff, I'd avoid reading it. I find her brand of plainspoken encouragement with lots of swearing and understanding that everyone has different levels of activity they can stand/achieve really lovely.

[chris the cynic]

Just as a counterpoint to what Literata said.

I take a different position. I'm going to keep on sending in links for This week in The Slacktiverse, I'm going to try to get the posts I've considered written. I'm going to try to be an active participant in threads more than once in a blue moon.

Those have all been goals before, and the things holding me back then will still be working against me now, so maybe all of that will fail, but if the mods are going to put in all this work to keep the site alive without even the option of participating in their favor, I want that sacrifice to be worth it. I want this site to be something they can look at and be proud of, not some failed experiment.

Also, selfishly, I want this site to be something that will continue to be a place for me.

I understand Literata's point, and I have the utmost respect for her, but I see things differently and with her view at the top of this page, I wanted my view to be somewhere.

[Timothy (TRiG)]

I think I'm with you on that one, chris.

I am, though, going to give up submitting my blog links to This Week in the Slacktiverse, but that's nothing to do with the Slacktiverse and everything to do with my blog. Basically, I have a real blog, where I in theory actually write stuff (I've written nothing in ages, and the blog is currently offline while I have a row with my webhost about resource usage), and I have a links blog, where I post links to stuff (and write a small bit about it). The links blog is fairly active, and I used to submit my posts there to the Slactkiverse, but that just means that people have to click twice: once to my blog, to read a couple of sentences of my thoughts, and then again on to whatever the story was.

And that's silly.

So I'll just submit the links directly for the "In case you missed this" section, until I get around to actually writing stuff again. One day. One day.

TRiG.

[Timothy (TRiG)]

Scotland, New Zealand, or, of all places, Vietnam.

That's impressive.

TRiG.

[The Board Administration Team]

@TRiG: Wow -- we've updated the post to incorporate that.