kerravonsen

Howdy, friends and strangers!

This is my intro post. I figured I'd better have one.

This journal is a mix of fannish stuff, ponderings, computer geekery, craft and random cookery experiments. More personal posts are friends-locked, some with tighter filters than others. ( things you should know about meCollapse )

Where you can buy my work:

• My Print-on-Demand designs at RedBubble. (t-shirts, art prints, mugs, pillows, throw rugs etc etc)

( other sites of mineCollapse )

Transformative Works Policy

If you wish to transform my work, I have Transformative Works Policy to clarify stuff in advance!

Other stuff

If you want to write fic for me, here is my Generic Ficathon Elaboration Post.

After you have friended/subscribed to me, I would appreciate it if you drop me a comment here, saying hello and what brought you here. No need to ask permission beforehand, but it would be nice to give me a note afterwards.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1081811.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So... crossposting from Dreamwidth is currently suspended, due to various reasons, mainly that LiveJournal are being jerks.
So if you want to interact with me, come over to Dreamwidth. https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org
I'm probably going to stop checking in on LJ.

Beautiful princess, hair down to her waist, yadda yadda yadda.
Her beloved is imprisoned in the dungeons, by order of the cruel king, her father, with orders that he receive no food or water.

The princess begs to visit him in the dungeons.

The king says "I know you will sneak him something in your clothes or hidden in your elaborate hairstyle. No."

The princess says "I will wear a servant's shift, and I will wear my hair loose and unbound, so nothing can be hidden in it."

"Very well," says the king.

The princess, being a princess, still bathes every day, even though she then puts on a shift and leaves her hair loose. And she visits her beloved in the dungeons.

And her beloved does not die of thirst. Because the princess has been bringing him water every day, using her WET HAIR.

(This idea is brought to you by the amount of water I squeezed out of my waist-long hair today when I washed it.) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1211955.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

The more I ponder "Avengers: Age of Ultron", the more it feels like an escapee from a Mirror Universe. Sure, the Doylist explanation is that it was directed by Joss Wheadon, who would consider himself a coward if he didn't destroy continuity, but I have no ideas about what a Watsonian explanation for this would be.

( rambly spoilery discussionCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1211528.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

I've been faffing around for a long time trying to make the "perfect" (to my taste) mocha (whether iced or otherwise). But not actually being scientific about it, like, not measuring anything, not recording any results. That ends today!

What am I aiming for? I want to see if I can come close to the taste of Dare Iced Coffee Mocha, which has been my favourite reliable iced mocha for quite a while. (That isn't to say it's the only taste I like. There's really not much that can beat pouring fresh pourover-filter coffee over a glass full of chocolate ice cream.)

And it so happens I have half a bottle of Dare available for taste-comparison. I predict that today's effort will not come anywhere near it. However, actually having some Dare to compare it with will at least give me a direction to go in.

( Read more...Collapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1211177.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

(don't have a Black Panther icon, so I'm using Thor.)

So, I've watched The Black Panther now. It was okay, but there were points where I was bored and wondered whether I should continue watching. I think it was because none of the characters really clicked with me. I mean, they were okay, the nice ones were nice, the bad ones were bad, and so on. But none of them grabbed me by the heart.

( here be spoilers, because I'm considerate like thatCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1210918.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

The Marvel Trumps Hate auction is live. Bid on me for charity and I will make you stealth-fannish Marvel-themed jewellery!
Here is my auction listing
Auction ends on Saturday, or is it Sunday?

BID FOR CHARITY. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1210718.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Yes, I am watching these all in the wrong order, very late. That's pretty standard for my Marvel watching. I was spoiled for the spoilery thing, but I'm glad that I listened to the people who told me it was worth watching, because it was worth watching, because there was a lot more going on than just the spoilery thing. And I am in great admiration for the way they handled the thematic structure in this one.

( I'm assuming you've already seen the movieCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1210623.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Out there
A vast ocean of
The disinterested
Not so much deaf as
Numb
Desensitised
Self-protecting.
The sensationalists
Who poke and prod
With sharper and sharper sticks, are
Trying to seize, to overwhelm
Their attention.
Eyeballs can be bought
And they want
Their piece of the action.

Hence, indifference.
The shell, the armour
Against a clamouring world.

Small voices, there are no
Small voices, there is no
Place for small voices.
No place for gentle reason.

Defy them
With your whispers
Defy them
With your soft kindnesses
Defy them
With your wide-eyed interest

Breathe.
Speak.
Despite it all, speak.
Speak to the raindrop,
Not to the ocean.
For if only one drop
Hears
That is enough. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1210347.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

False hope is worse than no hope.
Dissappointment is more difficult to deal with than despair. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1209874.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

The Algorithm
Chasing the people.
The people
Chasing the Algorithm.
An eternal
Tail-swallowing exercise
Tangled in self-reference. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1209807.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

A band of rebels fighting against the evil Federation:

• The alien spaceship "Avenger", run by the artificial intelligence Jar-Vis.
• Steve Rogers - political activist and legend, he supposedly died seventy years ago, but was found, resurrected, mind-wiped, caught at a political rally (where the protesters were massacred), framed for child-molestation, and sentenced to Transportation to Cygnus Alpha.
• Tony Stark - businessman, engineer, computer tech, convicted of embezzling billions of credits; but he was framed by his business partner, Obadiah Stane, who was the real embezzler. Stark maintains that if he'd actually wanted to steal billions of credits, he would never have been caught.
• Bruce Banner - government experiment gone wrong, most of the time he's just a mild-mannered scientist, but if he gets angry, he turns into a raging berserker. Convicted of murdering a guard who was threatening to rape his girlfriend Betty Ross.
• Natasha Romanov - smuggler, pirate, free trader, pilot of the infamous "Black Widow"
• Clint Barton - co-pilot and partner of Romanov, between them there isn't any place they can't infiltrate and steal from.
• Loki - a genderfluid alien shapeshifter, they have their own reasons for hating the Federation, but they aren't saying.

Yeah, I put Loki in the "Cally" slot rather than Thor, because IMHO he fits better. Though I suppose Sylvie would fit even better.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1209455.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So, after consultation with feng_shui_house, I have pledged to do daily posts, for this, this August, we are Naarting again! If you want to, you can join us at naarmamo, for a month of Arting! Let us all gird up our loins, take deep breaths, sharpen our pencils, plug in our tablets, go through our yarn stashes, and in 12 days, we will ART! This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1209091.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Loki finale! Oh my. The problem with half-truths is trying to figure out which bit is true.

( spoilers at the end of timeCollapse )

So... I guess we'll just have to wait for season 2.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1209034.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Oh this is fascinating. I just want to bask in the process of it all coming together. This show. This show. Oh this is beautiful. Because character is plot. And also, this continues that blend of profound, portentous, mysterious, amusing, ludicrous and surprising.

( spoilers ahoyCollapse ) So now I am all caught up, you can comment freely with no worries about spoilers! So tell me your thoughts!

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1208806.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

OMG! OMG! I cried. !!! This show. This show. Wow. ( there be spoilers here, I'm WARNING YOUCollapse ) C'mon, please, somebody comment! Am I all alone here, like Loki?

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1208564.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Fascinating. In some ways it felt like a Doctor Who episode. With more swords and daggers. About a similar level of not-plans, though.

( here be spoilersCollapse )

And I spent more than an hour on this anyway.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1208170.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

The plot thickens. I'm feeling all caught up in the excitement.

( here be spoilersCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1207886.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

WOW. I really was not expecting it to be this good. I don't mean the setup, though that has its own farcical nightmarishness. What was unexpected was Loki's character development.

( here be spoilersCollapse ) And it took me longer to write my episode reaction than it did to watch the episode. Oops.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1207762.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Since many ficathons suggest an "elaboration" post as to one's likes and dislikes, and also because it is a good idea as an aid for people who might want to make gift fic; instead of having to post and re-post such a thing, I am going to make one single post, which I will link to, and which can be edited in future if need be.

So here we go.

• Things I Like
• Things I Dislike
• Things That Can Go Either Way
• Fandom-Specific
• Other Places To Look

( Things I LikeCollapse )
( Things I DislikeCollapse )
( Things That Can Go Either WayCollapse )
( Fandom-SpecificCollapse )
( Other Places To LookCollapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/755030.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So, I've been thinking more about the time travel in Endgame. So I made myself a little diagram. ( cut for imagesCollapse )

Yeah, this is all old hat and people all hashed it out two years ago, but I'm allowed to apply my brain, even if I am late to the party.

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1207275.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So I've finally seen "Avengers: Endgame". I was astonished to realise that this movie was Three Hours Long. No wonder they packed so much into it. So many feels. Even though I had already been spoiled for the major events, they still got me right there.

( Read more...Collapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1206988.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

I've read a few MCU/Sentinel crossovers recently that gave the impression that the author had never watched an episode of The Sentinel in their life. Which is kinda sad. There's two things that attracted fans to the show: the buddy cop vibe, and the worldbuilding. Lots of fan writers took the worldbuilding and ran with it, sometimes very far away. One of the most influential worldbuilding-extensions was the "GDP" series by Susan Foster. More on that later. The Sentinel has been described as "the little black dress" of fandom, because if you just take the worldbuilding aspect of it, you can cross it over with practically anything. And it seems that people are writing crossovers based on the fanfic they've read, rather than the actual series.

So I'm going to do an introduction to the Sentinel worldbuilding, what is canon, what is fanon, and possibly what is in-between.

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This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1206565.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

I saw this at the suggestion of tptigger for whom it is an old favourite.

First thing I have to say is that I think I was too old for this. It also didn't help that the worldbuilding was straight from Zenna Henderson's "People" stories -- yes, yes, you can't steal an idea, but the similarity made for an unfortunate comparison.

That isn't to say I disliked it. I was just doing inappropriate things like laughing at the hairstyles of the country folk and the cars they were driving. And thinking that Donald Pleasance would make a good Phil Coulson (all unflappable and BAMF) but he would have been typecast as a HYDRA villain instead. I have to say that the foreshadowing of the dogs, from the title sequence onwards, was well done. And Tony and Tia had the siblings vibe going strong - supporting each other, but also eyerolling at each other - "No, Tia, we can't bring the bear with us..."

Plotholes... I won't talk about the plotholes...

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1206319.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

One of my favourite things to do in writing is to allow the characters to jump to logical but incorrect conclusions. I find it mischievously delightful. I have an evil smile while I am doing it. No, I do not toss in deliberate red herrings in order to confuse people. That isn't fun at all, that's cheating. What is delightful is putting all the clues there right in front of them, and have them not notice them, or misinterpret them, while not being stupid; making the characters stupid is no fun at all.

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So, writers, what are your favourite things to do in your writing?

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1206045.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So, I've signed up to Disney+, because Loki. And secondarily because I realised there were quite a few Disney movies that I didn't manage to see in the theatres that I'd quite like to see (such as Frozen II). Plus I also like Nat Geo.

But since I have it, I might as well use it while I have it, because I don't expect I will keep it for that long. So... do any of you have recs for stuff to watch?

Warning, though: I have no intention of watching WandaVision, because I gather it's in the form of a 50s sitcom similar to I Love Lucy, and I'm afraid that sitcoms hit my embarrassment squick really hard and it would be torment for me to watch it. So I won't be watching it.

But apart from that, any recs? Any particularly good Nat Geo documentaries? SFF series that aren't crap? Don't assume I've seen them already, I'm pretty bad at keeping up with stuff. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1205795.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

(I started saying stuff on Twitter this morning... realised it turned into a longer thread, so I'm posting an expanded version here.)

Sometimes the only thing I can do to "live in the world but not of it" is to be polite and silent, refusing to engage in discussions of morality, saying that other people's morals are NOT MY BUSINESS. Does that make me a coward? I hope rather it makes me a peacemaker. Take-home from this: if I am silent on a subject, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with you. I hope, rather, that I am following the command "Judge not, lest you be judged."

I am glad that I am not in a position to be required to judge, such as being someone in authority over others. That I am able to say "It is not my business what other people do, it is not my business how they choose to sin. We are ALL sinners. My sins are not less than yours."

It is not my business who you sleep with.
It is not my business how you dress.
It is not my business what bathroom you go into.

It is my business how I interact with you.
I will not shun you.
I will respect your pronouns, because I would much rather be polite than obnoxious.

It is your business how you choose to interact with me.
If you ASK me what my position on something is, do not expect me to lie. Being silent is the best I can do. Perhaps the fact that I disagree with you makes you feel that I am silently judging you. If you feel that, that makes me sad. It will not change my position, but it still makes me sad.

When I was younger, I was far too quick to speak up about what my position was, because I was insecure enough to be afraid that people might actually think that I agreed with XYZ if I remained silent, if I didn't quickly defend ABC instead, if I didn't correct people's assumptions. Perhaps I've gone too far in the other direction, but many painful interactions (and the internet is a TERRIBLE place to have nuanced discussions, really) have taught me that I ought to shut up instead. Mostly.

And I need to try not to worry about what I imagine people think of me. As do we all. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1205257.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

So what is "Amnesiac Worldbuilding" and why do I want to rant about it?

We've all seen it before -- usually in TV/movie SF, though it isn't limited to that. The author needs a quick fix, either to solve a problem or to set up a situation which they need in order for the plot to work. So they toss in some technology, or instant cure, or magic, which will solve the immediate problem, and then promptly forget about it and its implications.

There isn't a good phrase to describe the phenomenon; I'm choosing "amnesiac worldbuilding" as the least-worst I could think of. Other phrases I considered: "deus-ex-machina worldbuilding", "worldbuilding without consequences", "you can do THAT and you didn't use it earlier?", "you can do THAT and you used it for something trivial?".

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Have you got any juicy examples of "amnesiac worldbuilding" to suggest?

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1204241.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Due to various things, including my involvement with the Marvel Reverse Big Bang, I've spent the past few days tracking down and putting up my symbolic jewellery and digital fan art up on AO3. The pictures are hosted on LJ -- do let me know if they aren't visible to you!

Series 1: Symbolism With Occasional Words
Series 2: Fan Art (yeah what a boring title)

The reason I decided to use LJ for the images is because I have a permanent membership there, so my stuff will be around for as long as LJ is (however long that may be), I don't have to pay anything, and the images won't vanish like so many free hosting sites do. Yes, LJ will vanish eventually, as all things do, but I'm not going to worry about it now. I'd rather trust LJ, whom I have paid money to to look after my stuff, than Google, whom I have not. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1203858.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

There's a trope I rather like in SF, which a reverse of the usual "all aliens are superior" thing. It isn't that humans are superior as such, but that humans are better at surviving - because the planet Sol III is a hellhole, a Deathworld. Such extremes of temperature, of landscape, of flora and fauna! How could any being survive it? Hence the "Earth is Space Australia" -- everything here is out to kill you. And the related trope, "Humans are Space Orcs", as a consequence of being native to a Deathworld.

( see some examplesCollapse )

So, any recommendations for stories/novels/shows/movies that use this trope?

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1202713.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Finished reading "The Android's Dream" by John Scalzi. First bit of non-fanfic fiction I've read in a while. Initially hard to get into, but soon got caught up in the shenanigans. So many shenanigans! It was fun. ( spoilery philisophical ramblingsCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1202063.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Sit down and pull up a chair, I'm about to give a rant. I can't remember if I've ranted about this subject before, but I'm about to do so now.

This rant is brought to you by a few comments on a YouTube video which... well, the video was looking at blood-glucose levels as related to things like breakfast and drinking coffee. That was fine, the original video was sufficiently qualified in its statements and was interesting. But then someone in the comments mentioned they were diabetic and immediately some well-meaning person replied "Look into resistance training".

No. Just no.

It doesn't matter how helpful a person intends to be, all unasked-for advice is unhelpful. Why? Because it isn't advice, it is criticism. It says "Why haven't you done whatever-it-is?" It says "Your problems are easily solved and therefore trivial". It says "You are stupid/ignorant/lazy because you haven't fixed it already with this simple solution". It says "Your suffering is your own fault."

These pieces of medical advice are always given by people who are not qualified in medicine. Medical professionals know better than to give advice when they don't know the details of the condition. Especially not advice to random people on the internet that they've never met. And even non-medically speaking, anyone who is an expert in something (and I speak as a computer expert, okay?), anyone who is good at solving problems, they aren't going to toss out suggestions without asking questions first. Because the more you know about a field, the more you are aware that things that may seem similar on the surface can be quite different from each other once you know a few more details. A one-word description of the problem doesn't cut it.

And yet some people jump in as soon as they hear the words "diabetes" or "obesity" or "sleep apnoea" or "insomnia" or....

Who do you think you are, random advice-giver? Who are you to tell me what to do? You know-nothing ignoramus, you don't know a thing about me, what gives you the idea that you can solve my problems? I did not ask for your patronising condescension, you useless busy-body! If I'd wanted advice, I would have explicitly asked for it.

Don't be that person. Next time you feel the urge to pass on something you read in a magazine, or something that worked for you but might not work for everybody... take a deep breath and ask yourself, "Did this person actually ask for advice, or did they just mention their state of being?"

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1201906.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

We've got a bunch of heroes here, the Avengers, but they don't all see heroism in the same way.

Steve Rogers:

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Tony Stark:

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Bruce Banner:

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Thor:

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Natasha Romanov:

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Clint Barton:

I don't actually know enough about what motivates him, really.

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And a couple more, because they are interesting.

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This analysis of the characters has a lot of interesting implications. But the thing I'm most pleased about is that I think I've finally got a handle on Steve Rogers. At least to a degree. But hey, what do you all think? Am I mistaken about all this? Can anyone fill in the gaps in what I know? PLEASE chime in! (Don't let me think I am all alone in Space with a Chitauri army in front of me...)

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1199334.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Yeah. I've been pretty silent for a while. Why? I think I got out of the habit of keeping up with Dreamwidth, and then I felt so overwhelmed that I then avoided it out of guilt for not keeping up. So, my apologies everyone, I have no idea what you have been doing. Let me know if there's anything you want me to know...

We've been busy (before Easter) distributing my father's Estate, which means that I now have two office chairs, a replacement sofa, some boxes of crockery, linen, photos, artefacts etc, and of course books. And two new bookcases for said books. And a chest of drawers which is definitely not going to have clothing put in it.

( Read more...Collapse ) This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1199102.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

On re-watching Iron Man, and pondering Thor-1, it seems to me that SHIELD's knee-jerk reaction is to cover things up even when they don't need covering up. Consider the two cover stories they made in Iron Man: that Tony Stark's bodyguard is Iron Man, and that Stane died in a light plane crash.

( You don't need to be warned for spoilers for MCU surely?Collapse )

This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1198596.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Apologies for not having answered comments in too long. Sorry! Will get to them soon.

I haven't done something like this before, but after watching Rafi & Klee's Year in Review where they "celebrate all the little victories" even in this "dumpster fire of a year", I thought that would be a good idea. Of course my little human brain isn't going to remember everything, no way, so I'm going to prod my memories with things like my blog posts (including my locked to-do list posts). Probably not going to try to trawl back through my twitter feed, though, that would take too long. Will be noting when I added various art pieces to my inventory, because I actually have a record of that, whereas I generally don't have a record of when I finished a piece.

Yeah it's a day late. Oh well.

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This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1198549.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

Without love, you are empty.
Without faith, you can't act.
Without hope, you can't live.

People usually talk of faith and love, but let's not overlook hope. This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1198112.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.

The rise of governments filled with climate-change deniers has led people to complain that governments (and politicians) "shouldn't have ideology-led policies". Which, while I can see where they're coming from, has always niggled at me as not-quite-right. Because every single political party under the sun has an ideology, that's what makes them a political party, not just a bunch of random power-hungry douchebags. (Though many of them are still random power-hungry douchebags.)

One may disagree with a particular ideology, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't have one -- because, as I said, everyone has one, so it isn't the fact of having an ideology that leads to nutty decision-making or everyone would be doing it.

So where does the problem lie? Ideology influences policy: that is good, that is its purpose. Ideology, however has no business influencing your science, your engineering, or your maths. That is like putting your cart before your horse and then shooting your horse for being defective because it couldn't push the cart. Science, maths and engineering will no more bow to your ideology than the mountains will bow to a butterfly. To believe otherwise is magical thinking, like a cargo-cult.

Ideology-led mistakes can happen to both the Left-wing and the Right-wing. Yes, the left-wing can ignore science too; or be ignorant of the unintended consequences of their actions. I mean, it's all very well to say "conservation is good", but does that mean one shouldn't do preventative burn-offs? Does it mean one shouldn't uproot the stumps of trees that have fallen? (I can't remember the specifics of that one, I just remember vaguely some farmer complaining about Greenies making it illegal for him to uproot tree stumps that needed uprooting, but I can't remember what the reason for uprooting them was, just that it was apparently a good reason, and that the Greenies policy was a knee-jerk reaction that was impractical and insufficiently pragmatic. I have insufficient data to say whether the farmer was biased, or whether the Greenies were ignorant.)

(This thought is brought to you by the Banqiao Dam Disaster which can partially be laid at the feet of the ideology-led policies of Mao Zedong...)

So, what do you think? Any examples of left-wing stupid decisions that are better than the ones I could not properly remember? Any thoughts on the rise in magical thinking and the denial of science? Thoughts as to why that has been happening? Please chip in with your comments!

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Because I am writing fanfic for the first time since 2012! And of course it is MCU and it is AU, set during Avengers-1. Maybe I won't finish it, but at least I started, yes?

"You mortals die like flies," Loki spat. "What is one more or one less?"

"You use that word like it doesn't apply to you," Tony returned. "But you can die like the rest of us. That makes you mortal. It just takes a little longer with you."

(Insert Shakespearean vitriol here)

Yeah, gotta think of some good Shakespearean vitriol now...

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Hey, fellow Harry Potter fans who've been in the fandom longer than me!
Where did the fanon idea come from that Polyjuice alters everything except the voice? I just stumbled across it again in the current fanfic I'm reading, and I'm completely baffled. This is NOT CANON! So where did the idea come from? This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1193418.html. (Comments ) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.