Monthly Archives: September 2016

The first draft is always… well, a draft

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“You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.”—Jodi Picoult
“You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”—Jodi Picoult
It’s a sentiment that many writers far more accomplished than I have expressed over the years: “You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.” I’m quoting Jodi Picoult in this instance. And she’s right. It is better to get something written down, even when you think it’s horrible, than not to write anything at all. It is much easier to revise a completed story than it is to write the story to begin with. And it is also true that no one, no matter how talented, experienced, or inspired they are, writes wonderfully every single time they sit down to write.

But while the sentiment represents the truth, it is not the whole truth. Not by a long shot… Continue reading The first draft is always… well, a draft →

Weekend Update 9/2/2016: cute otters and delicious tacos

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John Oliver and the Cookie Monster presenting news on "Last Week Tonight."
John Oliver and the Cookie Monster presenting news on “Last Week Tonight.”
The first time I did one of these weekend updates, it was because after I posted that week’s Friday Links (just before going to bed Thursday night), there had been a rather big development in one of the stories. Specifically, I’d posted at least one link about yet another planned anti-gay march being sponsored by NOM and some of the related hate groups. And that was the second year that the small number of people who showed up was significantly smaller than any previous year. The shocking development, for me, was that all of the the rightwing so-called news sites reported on the march truthfully, admitting that almost no one showed up and that support for the anti-gay cause was going away.

I didn’t intend this to become a weekly thing, but some how, at least a few times every month, something happens after I post Friday Links something turns up in my twitter timeline or on the news that I either really wish I had included, or that substantially improves upon something I did include. So, yesterday I linked to the story of Rialto, an orphaned sea otter pup found nearly dead on a beach several weeks ago, who has been nursed back to health at the Seattle Aquarium.

And how can you resist a baby otter?

Rialto learns to swim!

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Rescued sea otter pup, Rialto plays with a cone

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

I’m also sorry I didn’t include any links about Taco Truck Nation, because it is a perfect example of just how weird the otherworldly perspective held by supporters of the orange-skinner white supremacist buffoon are compared to the rest of us: Trump supporter’s ‘taco trucks’ remark draws mockery. Because people with a non-racist, non-fearful, non-xenophobic viewpoint just associate taco trucks with delicious food.

There are some potential economic implications of a program that somehow mandates a taco truck on every corner (which isn’t what they meant to say, but…), and the Washington Post looked into that: The national economic implications of a taco truck on every corner. The Federalist had a slightly different take: 7 Reasons America Needs A Taco Truck On Every Corner.

All I can say is, if a vote for Hilary is a vote for more taco trucks, I think she’s going to win in a landslide!

Friday Links (rescued baby otter edition)

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Rescued otter pup, Rialto, had to be bottle fed when first brought to Seattle Aquarium (© Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
Rescued otter pup, Rialto, had to be bottle fed when first brought to Seattle Aquarium (© Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
It’s Friday! It’s the first Friday in September. September?! How did that happen? Oh, well! Don’t forget: September babies are superior!

I’ve done very little writing and a lot of revising this week.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

HOW A SELF-PUBLISHED WRITER OF GAY EROTICA BEAT SCI-FI’S SAD PUPPIES AT THEIR OWN GAME AND WHAT IT TAUGHT ME ABOUT PUSHING THROUGH WRITER’S BLOCK. Seriously, if you read nothing else this YEAR, read this.

Happy News!

Hitting all the right notes. “I want to see children do better in school. I want to see children have better lives. But I don’t want to belittle that I’m also seeking the joy of music for everybody.”

Baby sea otter Rialto’s heart-melting story of survival.

This Week in Difficult to Classify

The University of Chicago, Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces.

Alabama officials ordered Christian woman to remove headscarf for drivers’ license: ACLU lawsuit.

Marine Who Saved 70 Lives In Pulse Shooting To Be Honored By LGBT Military Group.

This week in awful news

People Are Being Warned About Scary Clowns Luring Kids Into The Woods. They insist this is true. I think the universe is trolling us.

News for queers and our allies:

Out Representative Brian Sims Is Our New Favorite Disney Princess.

‘Inside My Head I’m a Girl’: Three Ways of Growing Up Gay.

Stranger Things’ David Harbour on Seducing Jake Gyllenhaal, Fighting with Winona, and ‘Hopper Butt’.

Why Walmart Became LGBT-Friendly.

‘Best of the Best’ and ‘Absolute Worst’ Colleges for LGBTQ Students.

Welcome to the new America: Straight-ish, heteroflexible, and pansexual.

Trailer for the Upcoming Gay Rugby Documentary, Scrum.

On becoming a man: Transgender in the workplace.

Science!

The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture.

Will This “Neural Lace” Brain Implant Help Us Compete with AI?

Microscopic Black Holes Might Be Shooting Through the Universe.

Why Do We Have Such a Hard Time Grasping Climate Change?

The Strange, Twisted Story Behind Seattle’s Blackberries.

Our new pterosaur fossil shows birds and small reptiles flew side by sid.

Miniature lion fossils lead to discovery of new species.

Fossils of oldest multicellular organisms found in South America.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE: IRON FOUND IN FOSSILS SUGGESTS SUPERNOVA ROLE IN MASS DYING.

Alzheimer’s: New drug that halts mental decline is ‘best news for dementia in 25 years’.

Five rare white killer whales spotted together in a sign of dangerous inbreeding.

The 3.7 billion-year-old fossils discovered in Greenland.

A group of citizen scientists have cracked a 300 year old mystery.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Ageism in SFF.

We Are All Allies.

Communities: Weight of History.

This week in Writing

Nora Jemisin: “I would love to just write and not have everything turned into a political battle”.

This Week in History

Miss Cora M. Strayer’s Private Detective Agency. It started out when someone posted a vintage newspaper ad, sending the writer on a search that unearthed a truly kickass woman who ran a successful detective agency from 1902-1938, taking a break to form the First Volunteer Women’s Calvary Regiment to take up arms and join the fight in the Border War with Mexico in 1814…

Convincing a Suicidal Teen He Can Wish the Gay Away.

This Week in Tech

I Got Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup.

Google Just Agreed to Pay $5.5 Million to Settle Claims It Hacked Apple’s Browser.

Apple’s new rule will force Google, Amazon, and others to shorten their app names. The other changes, restricting the use of metadata in the app description and image tags, may go a long way toward fixing the horrible search results when trying to find an app…

This Week in Inclusion

Hello! You just used the “damned if you do/don’t” fallacy!

“An Ode To Being Blaxican” Shines A Light On An Erased Identity.

This Week in Police Problems

Dear Police: Once and For All, Saliva Does Not Transmit HIV.

This Week in Not Understanding Diversity

Matt Bomer’s Transface: Hollywood Business as Usual.

Culture war news:

‘Gay Zombies’ Face $104 Million Lawsuit for Crashing Pride Toronto.

MTV News’ Jamil Smith: Breitbart News Is Trying To “Mainstream” White Supremacy “Through Trump”.

Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery.

Denial Lit Gets a Little Wilder: Toles and Mann’s Madhouse Effect.

#VeteransForKaepernick Stand Up For His Right To Sit Down.

‘Woman using law Mike Pence pushed as a defense against child abuse charge’ & other Thur. midday news briefs.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s new ‘Hug a Homophobe’ stance is the least inspiring thing I’ve heard all week.

Human Rights Campaign Sets Sights on Johns Hopkins After Controversial Trans Report.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Explosions Rock LGBT Newspaper in Salem, Mass – Again.

Police: Man put hydrochloric acid in gay sex club’s lube dispenser.

Police probe gay bar threats from thug who wanted to go ‘bigger than Orlando’.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

Donald Trump’s Tweet About The Murder Of Dwyane Wade’s Cousin Was Bad. The Associated Press’ Tweet Was Worse.

Pro-Trump Pastor Goes on Non-Apology Media Tour After Clinton Blackface Tweet.

Trump’s VP pick Mike Pence published articles urging people not to employ gays.

Several Hispanic Trump surrogates reconsider support.

And the award for most unbelievably savage Trump take goes to… Garrison Keillor?! When this is over, you will have nothing that you want.

This week in Politics:

The AP, And Why The Press Has Trouble Admitting Its Clinton Mistakes.

Anthony Weiner was the Ted Cruz of the left.

West Virginia attorney general spokeswoman booted after spotted repeating overtly racist phrases in ‘Stop White Genocide’ video.

The Drive to Become ‘Fox News Famous’ Hurts the Right. …there were actually two primaries: the race for the nomination and the auditions for FOX.

Remember That Time Dubya Lost 5 Million Emails And Nobody So Much As Flinched?

Maybe 2016 Will Be the Year Voters Elect an Openly Gay Republican to Congress. I know the author thinks this is good news, but racist self-loathing gays aren’t really an improvement over the run-of-the-mill anti-gay Republican. And being willing to vote for a token guy who shares all their other bigoted views doesn’t prove the Republican base is becoming more enlightened.

Boston Globe: Don’t close the Clinton Foundation.

This Week in Racism

How Nextdoor reduced racist posts by 75%.

Georgetown University Plans Steps to Atone for Slave Past. It’s better than nothing, I suppose…

How do you become “white” in America? “As the history of the Poles in America shows, whiteness has always been a malleable category, used for political exploitation.”

This Week in Misogyny

So, You Must Talk to the Woman Who Is Wearing Headphones.

This Vote Is Legally Binding: In response to all those articles about talking to women with headphones….

Farewells:

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ Star and Comedic Icon, Dies at 83.

Two of Gene Wilder’s most regarded films – “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Blazing Saddles” – are headed back to theaters this weekend following the actor’s death this week.

Gene Wilder’s Understated Nuttiness.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/27/2016: Homophobic pastor is a child molester… surprise?

Diamonds, houses, bars of soap and what I almost mansplained.

Thank you, Mr. Wilder.

Videos!

Ash vs. Evil Dead – Season 2 | official FIRST LOOK (2016) Bruce Campbell:

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Lyon Hart – Falling for You:

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