you are so good to me eggplant mike

Take my uterus, please!

darkrosetiger — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:08:55 GMT

I'm still sitting here trying to pick my jaw up off the floor after reading this article in the New York Times, by a doctor who was asked to perform a tubal ligation on a patient:

Earlier this year, a patient of mine in her early 20s who was expecting her third child asked to have her tubes tied. A mother of two, with a full-time job and part-time school classes, she saw a fourth child as an impossible burden....My patient’s request wasn’t unreasonable. She was choosing a form of birth control favored by millions of other American women. For her, I just felt it was a bad choice because in 15 years, much could change: her children might go off to college, she might be remarried, she could have a higher income.

He apparently tried to talk her out of it, by among other things, asking her "What if your children died in a fire? Would you want more children?"

The condescension and the patronizing attitude that not only does he know what's best because he's the doctor, but that a woman can only be fulfilled if she has children, is something I would truly not have expected to hear in 2006, and it makes me very nervous about my ob/gyn appointment next month.

Within the past two years, my periods have gotten worse and worse. They're longer, for one thing--I can usually count on 9 days of bleeding--and they're heavier. The cramps are agonizing; the mood swings make me hell to be around, and I've started having migraines again.

Because of my blood pressure, no doctor will put me on the Pill. Personally, I'm almost at the point where I'm ready to say, "Fuck it--take it all out." I'm sure that if I even suggest that, I'll get asked if I'm sure I don't want children.

I like kids--when they're other people's, and I can pet them and hold them and play with them and give them back. I have absolutely no desire to have any myself. I've got a genetic predisposition to hypertension and diabetes and a family history of strokes. I'm almost 37. My father died before his 50th birthday. I'm on meds for depression. I'm one layoff away from financial disaster. I can barely deal with the fact that my cat's peeing inappropriately--what on earth would I do with a child?

Since telesilla doesn't want kids either, I really don't see that I need to have my reproductive organs taking up space and making me miserable. If there's something that can be done short of a full hysterectomy, great, but regardless, it's going to be my decision, and I don't need to have a doctor patting me on the head and telling me that I might change my mind. At what point am I, as a woman, considered old enough to make my own decisions? 18? 28? 38? Never?

FIC: Redirected Prologue: Test, 1, 2, 3 (RPF; Jason Isaacs; PG)

darkrosetiger — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 01:02:50 GMT

FIC: Redirected Prologue: Test, 1, 2, 3 (RPF; Jason Isaacs; PG)

Title: Redirected Prologue: Test, 1, 2, 3
Author: darkrosetiger
Fandom: RPF, "Redirected" AU
Pairings/Characters: Jason Isaacs, 2 OMC's
Archive: Please ask.
Rating: PG
Summary: In a world where everyone is divided into tops and subs, 16-year-old Jason Isaacs is going to be a top--no matter how many times he has to take the placement test.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Not RL; didn't happen. Jason's family as depicted here is absolutely nothing like his real family. If you think this has anything to do with the real actors involved, then you need to put down the crack pipe.
Notes: Set in 1979, roughly 27 years prior to Redirected 1. More notes follow at the end.

The moment Jason saw the "I'm not angry; I'm disappointed" expression on his father's face, he knew that something was wrong. He could smell something cooking, but Scott wasn't in the kitchen, which indicated that whatever it was, it was serious. And I bet I know what.

"Have a seat, Jason." Alan gestured at the space on the sofa beside him.

"Sure...I guess my test results came in?" Jason hid a smile at his father's brief flash of consternation. Why yes, Dad, I can read you that well. He didn't bother being irritated that his father had looked before he even got home; that was to be expected.

"Yes, and I'm a little concerned, Jason. You scored...well, let's just say that if you still plan on aiming for the Foreign Office--or even going back to Harrow--this isn't going to cut it."

Jason blinked. "What, did I test out sub? Is it really that big of a deal these days?" Even as he said it, Jason knew the answer; he'd overheard and even participated in some of the whispered conversations at school, though he'd always thought it was unsporting to place bets on how various people would test out.

Alan shook his head. "Come on--you know better than that. Sure, there are quite a few subs in the FO now, and most of them are clerical staff, or at the most, cultural attachés. I was under the impression that you had somewhat higher goals than that."

And it has nothing to do with your expectations, of course. "So you want me to take the test again?" Jason asked. Alan took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Jason, this isn't about what I want. As long as you're happy, that's what's important. But you've always said that you're interested in a career in international law, and maybe in government. And like it or not, politics is still a top's game. Now, your scores were fairly close..." Alan put his glasses back on and studied the sheet of paper before handing it to Jason. "I've scheduled you to take the test again in two weeks."

Jason looked down at the paper, where his personality and future was summed up in two sets of numbers: Dominant--44%; Submissive--56%. "How do you know I'm going to be able to change it?" he asked his father. "Maybe this is just the way I am."

Alan chuckled. "I think I know my son well enough to know that you're not a sub. You've been pushy ever since before you could talk, Jason--it's just that you're also very thoughtful and polite, which is probably why you tested out that way." He stood up and kissed the top of Jason's head. "Now come on--Scott's kept dinner waiting long enough, I think."

*****

"Jason, can you pop into my office for a moment?" Alan's face was grim, and Jason realized that his second test scores must have come in. He went into his father's study and shut the door before taking a seat in the big leather chair across the desk from his father.

"Well," Alan began, "your scores won't be mailed out until tomorrow morning, but I pulled a few strings to see if I could get the results a little early."

"I take it they're not good," Jason said, settling back for what he suspected was going to be a long and excruciating conversation.

"They're not what I'd hoped to see, frankly. They're a bit problematic. You scored as a switch."

Jason raised an eyebrow at that. One in a hundred people who took the test scored within the four percent margin to be considered a switch. Usually, those people were re-tested, and their scores were averaged to determine their final categorization.

"I'm not done, Jason," his father told him. "Your score this time didn't just fall within the switch range--you had a dead even split. Do you have any idea how unusual that is?"

"One in a thousand," Jason said, allowing himself a slight smirk when his father blinked. "I've been doing a bit of reading--figured it might be relevant."

"Yes, well...The Testing Agency people are always very excited to run across someone like you, and I'm sure they'll want to look into this further." Alan rubbed his forehead. "Standard practice, however, is that in the case of a 50/50 split, you'd automatically be re-tested, but since you've got a set of test results already, they could agree to let that stand. If that's what you wanted."

Jason sighed. "Dad...you know, it's possible that I really am a sub. I know it might not be easy, but it's not like I'm a different person or something. My marks are still good, and as long as I keep up with the work....there are subs in sixth form these days, and besides, you've always told me that it's bollocks anyway, and that being a sub doesn't mean you're stupid. You wouldn't be with Scott if you thought that."

Alan stood and stared out the window behind his desk. After a long silence, he said, "My year was the first one after they started letting submissives stay for sixth form. Before, if you tested sub, you went off to finishing school--no one figured you needed a university education when you were just going to get married. There were two subs in my classes--a girl and a boy. The girl--Susan, I think was her name--left three weeks into the term. Steven stayed out that year, but God, it wasn't easy for him. People were always touching him, leaving straps lying around, making comments about his looks. The professors singled him out for criticism...I remember one of the history teachers who always made him kneel in the back during lectures..." Alan turned to face his son. "I found him after exams in the spring. He'd tried to hang himself. I was able to get him down, thank God...his parents came and got him the next day." He sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. "It would break my heart to see you have to go through something like that, Jason.

"And no, of course I don't think that subs are inherently stupid. But people have certain expectations of them, different expectations." Alan sat down again, giving Jason a level look. "Scott didn't finish his degree until after we were married, you know. When I met him, he was married to someone else. He'd left uni himself and was working as the Economics Department secretary in order to help put his husband through medical school. I encouraged him to go back for his degree after he'd gotten divorced and married me--it was a bit of a scandal among our set at the time--but as a sub, no one really thought he needed to go to uni, not if he was going to be minding the house and raising children."

"Fine, Dad. I'll take the test again," Jason said. "But...if it still comes up sub, can we just leave it there? Please?"

"Sure." Alan smiled, visibly relieved. "I promise."

*****

Alan was at a conference on the day Jason's third test results came in. Jason was home, so he grabbed the post as soon as it arrived. The plain, business-sized envelope should have felt heavier, he thought, since it held the weight of his future inside.

"Jason, I've made scones--ah, I see the post's here." Scott smiled at him. "Your scores, I take it?"

"Yeah. I don't know if I should wait to open them until Dad gets home, though."

"Why don't you come in the kitchen and have some tea first?" Scott suggested. Jason agreed, and joined him in the kitchen. After pouring a cup for Jason and giving him a plate of still-warm scones, Scott made tea for himself and sat across the table from Jason.

"Jason, love...I know it must seem like your father is...I don't know, maybe making too much of your test results," Scott said, not-quite looking at Jason. "But he only wants what's best for you."

"Doesn't it bother you?" Jason asked, voicing a question that had been bothering him for weeks. "That he's so insistent that I'm not a sub?"

Scott laughed and tucked a strand of red hair behind one ear. "Oh sweetheart, you're not a sub, trust me. You've never had any problems asserting yourself, that's for sure! No, it's just that you're also sensitive. I think you must get that from your father--he certainly isn't the sort of top who thinks being a dominant means you have to be hard. It's one of the things I've always loved most about him."

"Dad said you were married before? You never told me that," Jason said, curious.

"Oh...well, it's..." Scott flushed a little. "It used to be that if you were a divorced sub, then everyone wondered what was wrong with you, that you couldn't keep a top." He sighed. "Richard and I got married when we were both quite young, and I suppose he didn't really think about the fact that I'd never be able to give him children--surrogates were a new thing, then, so if you wanted kids, you had to be with an opposite-sex partner or adopt. It didn't seem to matter, but then his father died and he was feeling pressure, I guess...

Scott reached across the table and patted Jason's hand. "But then your father asked me out, and then he proposed, and when I pointed out that we couldn't have children together, he just laughed and said that we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. And I couldn't love you more if I'd given birth to you myself."

Jason squeezed Scott's hand. "I know. I'm just trying to figure stuff out, I guess."

"It's a confusing time. With me, there was never any real question how I was going to test. And I wanted a family most of all--I wasn't like you, wanting to run the country from the time I was six." Scott grinned.

"Did you ever think about more kids?"

"Oh, sure. But then your father got the fellowship at Harvard, and the job in Brussels, and we were moving everywhere and things were so busy that we decided not to. And you were quite the handful all on your own, young man," Scott added with a mock glower.

Jason looked at the envelope on the table. "It's weird...everything about my life comes down to what's in this envelope."

Scott snorted. "Would you rather go back to the days before the tests, when being a boy automatically meant you were a top and being a girl meant you were a sub? At least this way, everyone gets to reach their potential, regardless of their sex."

Jason wasn't entirely sure that was true, but he couldn't stand waiting any more. He picked up the envelope and carefully opened it. I think I had the "right" answers figured out, so it should be good.... He slid the still-folded sheet of paper over to Scott. "You tell me; I'm too nervous."

"Let's see, then...Dominant--59% ; Submissive--41%--oh, Jason, this is wonderful!" Scott beamed at him, and jumped up so he could give Jason a hug. "Your father will be so happy!"

The question is, will I be?

The Redirected and Misdirected arcs were inspired by helenish's excellent fic Take Clothes Off As Directed (SGA, John/Rodney, NC-17, kink). The world in TCOAD is divided into doms and subs, with subs being treated much like women in the '40s and '50s here in the real world. The universe interested us enough that we thought it'd be fun to see what happens to people in a world like that who don't fit easily into the standard categories. We want to thank helenish for writing TCOAD and urge you to read it, even if you're not in SGA fandom.

Because of the complications of rewriting history, we've tried to keep the actual world-building to a minimum. The important things to know for this piece are that in the UK, the test is administered to everyone shortly after their 16th birthday. The government pays for the test once; if someone wants to take it again, they have to pay, and it's not cheap. Also, because gender is less important than orientation, a few things are different: single-sex schools like Harrow are co-ed for gender, but have only recently started allowing students who test submissive to stay. Same-sex marriage is legal in both the US and UK; marriage between two tops or two subs is regarded much as many people view same-sex marriage today. Surrogate parenting and IVF are much more common, with children considered to "belong" to the dominant parent.

Hypothetically speaking...

darkrosetiger — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:36:38 GMT

...if I was looking for good SGA fic, where might I start? I'll read het as well as slash and I'm not an OTP-er so it doesn't have to be John/Rodney.

FIC: Redirected 1/? (RPS; Jason Isaacs/Ben Daniels; NC-17)

darkrosetiger — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:37:28 GMT

Title: Redirected 1/?
Authors: darkrosetiger and telesilla
Fandom: RPS AU
Pairing: Jason Isaacs/Ben Daniels
Archive: Please ask.
Rating: NC-17
Summary: In a world where people are divided into tops and subs as a matter of course, Ambassador Jason Isaacs, a top, and MI6 agent Ben Daniels, a sub, have to deal with their attraction to each other as well as the sometimes conflicting roles they play in society.
Warnings: BDSM
Disclaimer: Not RL; didn't happen. If you think this has anything to do with the real actors involved, then you need to put down the crack pipe.
Notes: There are extensive notes below the fic, but we wanted to link to a picture of Ben Daniels--a British actor who was Jason's co-star in The State Within--so people have a face to go with the name.

"Why do you always get yourself into these situations?"

Virtual Non-Denominational Winter Holiday Stocking

darkrosetiger — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:43:09 GMT

Stocking Stuffers

leave a gift for darkrosetiger

get your stocking

The view from inside

darkrosetiger — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:28:54 GMT

In this post, researchgrrrl wrote about her experiences as a rape survivor, and how it informs her belief that writing rapefic about real people is wrong. I admire the courage it must have taken for her to write that post, and to make it public, and I am in no way denying that she is entitled to express her opinion. However, I have to disagree with her comment that:

I feel that we have a responsibility as humans first and fans second to not use the imagined violence and victimization of real people as the basis for any sort of erotica or romance.

To me, the implication is that there are some things that it's unacceptable to think about, and that thought and action carry the same moral and ethical weight.

I don't believe that.

I'm sure there are people who don't fantasize about things they would never do, but I'm certainly not one of them. I do it constantly in small ways, like when I'm on the phone with a client and I zone out while imagining being able to say, "Please to be getting over your clueless tenured entitlement-whore self, moron," and get away with it. I used to fantasize about going into my high school and blowing away the group of boys who were making my life hell--fortunately, this was pre-Columbine; now, just expressing the thought could get you in trouble.

Certainly, there are things that I wish people wouldn't think, especially in an erotic context. I have a kink for sleazy gay porn, which means I spend a fair amount of time at nifty.org. At a rough guess, at least half of the stories in the "Authoritarian" section of the archive involve characters who are children or young teenagers. About 2/3 of the stories in that section range from mildly to incredibly racist. Since I find both racism and child abuse to be appalling, I've learned to be very quick on the back button when on Nifty. If I met some of the authors of those fics, I'd be tempted to either smack them real, real hard--that violent streak again--or call the police. But as long as all they're doing is writing, then I'm simply going to exercise my right to not read their work, and hope that at some point, they'll get a clue.

A couple of years ago, someone I knew in the LJ HP fandom decided that she could no longer have me friended because I was on Fandom Wank. I found out about this because she made a public post in which she noted her disappointment (to be fair, she didn't mention my name), and wrote about how she'd killed off the Sim of me that she'd created. It was pretty creepy, given that I didn't think we knew each other well enough to be making Sims of each other. But I didn't and don't think that meant she intended violence, any more than I did when I made a Sim of my manager in my old job, stuck her in the pool, and took away the ladders. Laughing while I watched the Sim drown may not have been nice, but it didn't mean that I was going to try to kill her. It did mean that for one day, I was able to release my frustration in a way that didn't actually harm her, didn't harm myself (banging your head into walls hurts), and didn't get me fired. In a similar (no pun intended) vein, if the person on LJ who made and killed the Sim of me found that it was cathartic, well...more power to her; even if I felt it was creepy.

I expect that at least someone is about to hit reply and point out that researchgrrrl never advocated censorship, and that she was just expressing her opinion. And I would agree. But just as she does, I have the right to express my opinion, which is that stating that people have a responsibility not to fantasize about certain things implies that there are things that not only shouldn't be written about, but that shouldn't even be thought. And for me, that's never acceptable. The inside of my head isn't always a nice place, and I acknowledge that. But it's my place, and no one else has the right to tell me what is allowed to happen there--which means that I don't get to set those rules for anyone else.

Cat Blogging

darkrosetiger — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:02:55 GMT

This is the coolest thing ever: the store for rathergood.com, the people who did the Viking Kittens, has a feature where you can design your own T-shirt. It's not cheap, but I'm seriously considering ordering something.

*****

oystergal introduced me to Two Lumps, a great cat webcomic. It centers on two Russian Blues. Ebenezer is the cat most of us fear we have: a smart, scheming alien anthropologist with fur and no opposable thumbs. His brother Snooch is the cat most of us really have: concerned only with food and attention and dumb as a box of hammers. Since we started reading it, telesilla and I have begun to refer to Joxur's wet food as "gooshyfood". Today's strip is especially apropos.

*****

...speaking of which, I'm happy to report that Joxur has gone for several days without peeing on the landing. It's still possible that he's got an infection, but since he's not showing any signs of distress and he is still usiing the box most of the time, I strongly suspect that something's wigged him out. We've been giving him half a can of gooshyfood every day, and I've become fanatical about cleaning out his box. Someone commented in my previous post asking if he was getting enough attention. While I'm sure Joxur would say that he is horribly neglected, the truth is that he gets all kinds of loves from the Thur-Mom during the day, and then I come home and give him more loves. We've even been giving him kitty treats without making him dance first.

I'm going to get him a new scratching post for Christmas. I can't get him what I think he really wants, judging from the way he sits in front of the hole in the bathroom where the mice came out last year. In a way, it shows an glimmer of intelligence: he understands that mice came out of the hole once; therefore, it's reasonable to expect that they will, at some point, do so again. Or at least they would, if we hadn't covered the hold with duct tape. That's where the "dumb as a box of hammers" comes in.

"Why can't I ship UPS Ground to Hawaii?"

darkrosetiger — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 03:31:41 GMT

Whenever I despair about the users, I read stuff like this, and I know at least I'm not alone.

What year is this again?

darkrosetiger — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 03:15:01 GMT

In The State Within, following an incident in which a British Muslim detonates a bomb on a plane leaving Dulles Airport, the fictional Governor of Virginia orders all British Muslims in the state rounded up and put in a detention camp. Attempting to get them freed, the ambassador, Sir Mark Brydon--played by Jason Isaacs--talks to Madelaine Cohen, one of the senators on the Homeland Security Committee. In an interesting bit of meta, Sir Mark points out that the governor's response is eerily similar to the German government's response to the Reichstag Fire in 1933.

Think that's an exaggeration of the current climate? Think again:

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.

The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."

At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.

The saddest thing about this, for me, is that once again, I am not surprised in the least.

World AIDS Day: One day, I won't have to make this post.

darkrosetiger — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:33:26 GMT

Sadly, today is not that day, because despite the fact that there are better drugs available (for some, anyway), the fight isn't over yet. Particularly troubling to me is that the CDC's statistics for 2002 showed that HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 25 and 34, and the second-leading cause of death among all African-Americans between the ages of 35 and 44.

Click here to light a virtual candle, and Bristol Meyers Squibb will donate $1 to the World AIDS Fund. It may not be much, but everything helps.

My Combat Card

darkrosetiger — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:24:09 GMT

I'm not entirely sure what this is, but I figure it's silly, which is a good thing.

COMBAT CARDS 2.1

watch darkrosetiger fight

CREATE YOUR CARD

darkrosetiger — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:45:52 GMT

I'm about at my wit's end with Joxur. For some reason, he started peeing on the landing again. We put plastic down and he ignored it, and eventually shredded it. We tried blocking it with boxes, and he went right in front of the box. We got a plastic carpet runner and put that down, and put a scrap with the nubby side up against the wall, and he still didn't stop. We've tried changing his diet and giving him wet food once a day, and we thought that was working.

The weird thing is that he's using his box--tonight, he'd just been when he went on the landing. It looks like I'm going to have to take him to the vet, which wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't December and I wanted to do holiday shopping, and if I didn't have to take the car in tomorrow to get the broken turn signal fixed. It's just one more thing to deal with, and I'm afraid that the vet's going to tell me the same thing that they've told me before: that it's behavioral.

Life imitates art

darkrosetiger — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:19:22 GMT

Daniel Craig thinks that Bond needs to have a gay love scene. The reaction from some quarters is predictable, with people saying things like:

How did this poofter end up as Bond anyway?

Idiot. Is there the SLIGHTEST chance folks would take their kids to see Bond flicks, and grow a new generation of fans for the franchise, if they make that choice?

He'll be on my list on Dec. 1st, AIDS Awareness Day, when I will be wishing AIDS upon my enemies.

Apparently, there was a problem finding an actual man to play James Bond. They settled for a girly-male. I have seen every Bond movie, I am skipping this one.

I'm just disappointed. I really LIKED this flick. Sigh. The Gay Agenda never sleeps does it?

It all sounds eerily like tthe reaction in the Establishment-verse when Jason was outed as bi after having been cast as Bond.

"...so help me, Flying Spaghetti Monster."

darkrosetiger — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:39:53 GMT

Keith Ellison, the newly-elected Congressman from Minnesota, seems like an intelligent, nice guy who wants to do his best to represent his constituents. Unfortunately, even before getting to Washington, he's been having to deal with all kinds of crap from the wingnuts because he's--gasp!--Muslim.

First, Glen Beck asked him to "prove that he's not working for our enemies" on his show (complete with "some of my best friends are Muslims, which is always a sign that the conversation's about to go bad). Now, it seems that his taking the oath of office on a copy of the Koran rather than the Bible will undermine American civilization--at least according to Dennis Prager.

What would amuse me, if I weren't trying to keep from screaming, is the fact that Prager is ignorant about both American history and the Constitution. Swearing an oath of office on the Bible is customary but not mandated--four Presidents have chosen not to do so. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that, "all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

In North Carolina, the notary public guidelines state that: "A person taking an oath should place one hand on the Holy Scriptures. This book will vary depending on the person's religious beliefs: Christians should use the New Testament or the Bible; Jews, the Torah or the Old Testament; Moslems, the Koran; Hindus, the Bhagavad-Gita; etc." I'm not sure what they'd use for me--a copy of Spiral Dance, maybe? Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? Or perhaps a box of pasta, in honor of His Noodly Appendage?

Thanksgiving, Rozilla style

darkrosetiger — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 10:36:26 GMT

The first year I was in Sacramento, telesilla and I were both sick, and I was still without a permanent job, so Thanksgiving dinner was at the Lyon's down the street. Surprisingly, their prime rib wasn't half bad.

Last year, MM and nadab were in town, so the four of us and nadab 's BFF C. went to the Rusty Duck. Three of us had the duck and two had the filet mignon. We pretty much rolled home.

This year, telesilla is making "tynye byrdes", aka Cornish game hens, with a delicious pomegranate glaze. I've made greens, and we're having mashed and sweet potatoes, cornbread, and cherry pie for dessert.

You may have noticed a distinct lack of turkey. Neither of us is all that fond of it, and we probably couldn't get one in our oven anyway. Like so much else about us, Thanksgiving for us is a combination of the traditional from at least two different cultures, with our own hippie/bohemian twist. It's worked pretty well so far, and I'm thankful for it.

I hope all of you who celebrate are having a wonderful Thanksgiving

Alan Rickman is hot

darkrosetiger — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 01:29:06 GMT

...especially when he's doing the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch with Eddie Izzard, Harry Enfield, and Vic Reeves:

(gacked from darthtall)

Dear Keith Olbermann,

darkrosetiger — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 01:17:26 GMT

Marry me.

Kthxbai,

Nancy

Unbelievable.

darkrosetiger — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 23:51:22 GMT

Public high school history teacher David Paszkiewicz in Kearney, NJ. apparently decided to switch subjects on the spot and teach religion, instead, telling his students that they were going to hell if they didn't accept Christ. When one of his students requested a meeting with school administrators, Paszkiewicz denied saying it and insisted that his comments were taken out of context. That was when the student pulled out the CDs of the lecture. The recordings are online now, and in the comments of this post, several people have waded in and transcribed. Some of the highlights:

...now my parents grew up and went to public schools but they went prior to 1962 so the teachers read the bible and the teachers prayed a nd it was part of the school day and. i phrase this very very diplomatically, but that's the generation that did not have terrorism did not have race agression and all of that...

God speaks through prophets and, uh, inspires their writing. The text itself could reflect the personality of the writer; your style of writing permeates the text. But the accuracy is assured of what you're writing. And Moses was a prophet and he received these revelations for God, from God. I'm sure there were primary sources that he used...

...in the scriptures, he's also completely just. He did everything in, in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven. So much so, that he took your sin on his own body, suffered your pains for you and he's saying, 'Please accept me. Believe.' You reject that, you belong in hell.

Superintendent Robert Mooney, who called Paszkiewicz "a wonderful teacher," said he was aware of the issues raised by LaClair [the student] -- and the recordings -- and that "corrective action" would be taken. He refused to elaborate.

ETA: Some of the students have replied to one of the blog posts on this topic, most of them accusing the student who made the recordings of being a troublemaker. As Lippard points out, Paszkiewicz should have told his class that they belong in remedial English, not hell.

WTF?

darkrosetiger — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:26:26 GMT

Steven? Did you cut stats class they day they went over correlation != causation?

What liberal media?

darkrosetiger — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:16:03 GMT

Last night, on Larry King Live, Bill Mahr sort-of outed RNC chair Ken Mehlman--I say
"sort of" because Larry was apparently the only person following politics who didn't know that Kenny's a self-hating closet case.

The real fun, though, is that when the ep was broadcast on the West Coast, CNN excised Mahr's comments. It's also been removed from the official transcript. Unfortunately for CNN, lots of people Tivo'ed it. One of them was blogger John Aravosis, who promptly put the clip up on YouTube. Today, John got an email from YouTube notifying him that they'd pulled the clip because CNN was complaining that it's copyright infringement. Oddly, though, they don't seem to have a problem with YouTube running the edited version of the show.

Fortunately, CNN still doesn't get how the interwebs work. You can see the unedited video clip here.

RIP Ed Bradley

darkrosetiger — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:04:44 GMT

Back in the days when I wanted to be a journalist, Ed Bradley was one of the reasons. He was a true gentleman, always classy, intelligent; in another era he would have been described approvingly as a "race man". Although they didn't look anything alike, he always reminded me of my father. He will be sorely missed.

Tomorrow...

darkrosetiger — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 02:14:57 GMT

...I will demand that the Democrats not forget that it was the party's progressive base who played a role in the victory.

...I will be angry that people in seven states voted to keep me a second-class citizen because of who I love.

...I will be resigned to the fact that much though I would like to see Bush impeached and made to stand trial, it's not going to happen.

But today...

...today, I'm going to Snoopy-dance.

*does so*

Sanctity, my ass.

darkrosetiger — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:34:37 GMT

Britney files for divorce after 2-year marriage

But remember kids--the only real threat to the sanctity of marriage is teh gay!

darkrosetiger — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 06:12:32 GMT

Banner by txvoodoo.

If you are an American, and are eligible, I hope you do so as well.

This is too cool!

darkrosetiger — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:21:44 GMT

So I'm playing through the NWN1 original campaign, and I'm in the Warrens of the Damned with my aasimar paladin with wings, a cute punk-girl haircut and lots of facial piercings. I killed Gulnan and was trekking back through to get the Armor of Comfort. Dispatching the mummy was trivial with the god-level equipment I brought in from the Halls of Advanced Training, and being the neat freak that I am, I decided to put the key I'd used to get into the room back into the sarcophagus.

Another mummy arose. I killed it, and took the key out.

Another mummy arose.

I killed it, and put the key and a spare torch back in.

Two mummies arose.

I killed them both, for 126 XP a pop.

I just tried it with seven mummies. I've already leveled once, so I'm only getting 91 XP per mummy, but I have Great Cleave now, so I'm basically playing Whack-A-Mummy. I could keep doing this all night.

I probably will.