Theme: Prince Charming
Entries Due: Friday 9th June @ 11.59PM AEST (GMT+10)
WORLDCLOCK
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( Rules & Info )

For the longest time I was convinced, for reasons I don't even KNOW, that they didn't have canned/compressed air in Sweden.

You should have seen the look on Beth's face when she informed me that, no, that was in no way the case.

Anyway, there's a lot of dust that can get into a computer. Also out of it.

Yey!

 
The magician is a figure of personal power and confidence. Defining characteristics include concentration, focus and determination.
  

Trigger warning for suicide, bullying
( Read more... )
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20120525/NEWS01/205250449/7-year-old-s-suicide-shocks-community

OP Says: Tears. Just... tears. That poor family. That poor girl. That poor boy.

So, Marvel comics is trying to catch up to Archie comics because Archie has been blowing them out of the water lately with high-profile events like having their first gay character and, not much later, their first gay wedding in comics. Marvel comics, of course, has had a few gay characters but it seems like they're trying to create an event to one-up the gay marriage thing, if only because that's so big in the zeitgeist now.

Naturally, a sub-group of the absurdly hateful American Family Association called the One Million Moms (who do not, at least looking at the attendance at their events, number anywhere near a million) has started stirring up shit about oh no think of the children teaching them to be gay panic panic panic what will we do if gay people are treated like human beings someone think of the fucking children.

I never know what to say about things like this since the density of hatefulness they represent often overloads my ability to find anything coherent to say and besides, I find I'm largely preaching to the choir so... yeah. At any rate, I found the finest response I think I've read from an article over at ComicsAlliance.

"But I have to admit that there's a core of truth to that idea. I'm a firm believer in the idea that super-hero comics can teach you something. They just can't teach you to be gay.

What they teach you is that you should use your abilities to help the people around you and make the world a better place rather than just throwing your weight around to be a bully. And they teach you that when the world hates and fears someone just because they're different, it's the world that's wrong.

No wonder they don't want their kids reading them."

TW: transphobia, mentions of suicide/self harm

If you've never seen the hammer throw up close, especially during a New England winter, the most arresting part of every heave is the conclusion: how hardened earth erupts when the metal comet splits the ground. Weighing nearly nine pounds with a four-foot wire tail, the stainless-steel ball is menacing enough that airports ban it from carry-on luggage. And on a brisk February morning in Williamstown, Mass., every toss by Keelin Godsey offers further proof of its violence.

At 5'9" and 186 pounds, Godsey is tautly muscular. He wears glasses and is dressed in black from his sneakers to his knit cap, which sheathes his blond, spiky hair. Over and over, from in front of a chain-link backstop, he grips the hammer's handle and whirls in accelerating circles until it's no longer clear whether he is spinning the ball or the ball is spinning him. His target distance, 226'4½", is out on a gravel path beyond the frost-covered craters. That's the qualifying standard for the London Games—a mark Godsey finally surpassed last month (with a throw of 227'8") at a meet in Walnut, Calif. With a top three finish at the trials in Eugene, Ore., in June, he will realize his lifelong dream: to make the U.S. women's Olympic team.

For transgender men and women, the physiological traits that distinguish them as male or female don't conform to how they feel about themselves. Some have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy to make their biological and gender identities match. Others, such as the 28-year-old Godsey, have not: He was born as a female and therefore competes as a female, but he identifies as male. Imagine a body, especially one as finely tuned as an elite athlete's, feeling inescapably foreign—as if it were intended for the opposite sex. "I take a lot of pride in the fact that I have a good amount of muscle mass, and I've done it naturally," says Godsey. "But in some ways, this is the last body I would ever want."

A physical therapist who was known as Kelly until his senior year of college, in 2005, Godsey is the first American Olympic contender in any sport to openly identify as transgender. When not competing he dresses and lives as a man, renting a ground-floor duplex in North Adams, Mass., with Melanie Hebert, his fiancée of three years. "I'm a female when I compete," Godsey says. "Every day I have to sweat, stress and freak out. How do I look? What is someone going to think of me? Is someone going to say something at a track meet?"

( Consider something as simple as going to the bathroom. )

Source
NPR

A surprisingly good article from Sports Illustrated.

HOUSTON—A judge threw a 17-year-old 11th grade honor student from Willis High School in jail after she missed school again.

Judge Lanny Moriarty said last month Diane Tran was in his Justice of the Peace court for truancy and he warned her then to stop missing school. But she recently missed classes again so Wednesday he issued a summons and had her arrested in open court when she appeared.

Tran said she works a full-time job, a part-time job and takes advanced placement and dual credit college level courses. She said she is often too exhausted to wake up in time for school. Sometimes she misses the entire day, she said. Sometimes she arrives after attendance has been taken.

The judge ordered Tran to spend 24 hours in jail and pay a $100 fine. Judge Moriarty admitted that he wants to make an example of Tran.

“If you let one (truant student) run loose, what are you gonna’ do with the rest of ‘em? Let them go too?” Judge Moriarty asked.

Tran said she is working so hard because she is helping to support an older brother who attends Texas A&M University and a baby sister who lives with relatives in Houston. Tran said her parents divorced “out of the blue” and both moved away, leaving her in Willis. Her mother lives in Georgia, she said.

“I always thought our family was happy,” the teen said tearfully.

Tran lives with the family of one of her employers. They own a wedding venue. She works at the Vineyard of Waverly Manor on weekends and at a dry cleaners full time.

“She goes from job to job, from school she stays up ‘til 7 o’clock in the morning,” said her friend, co-worker and classmate Devin Hill.

There's also a video at the source

Credit goes to layweed for sharing the article.

A political debate over whether to enshrine Russian as an official language in much of Ukraine brought lawmakers to fisticuffs this week, playing on enduring divisions in the country over cultural identity.

The scuffle, caught on tape Thursday, was followed Friday by lawmakers blocking the podium to prevent the start of a parliament session. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside, and the spat even led the head of the Ukrainian parliament to call for dissolving the body and holding early elections, Ukrainian news reports said as the furor stretched into a second day.

The Russian tongue has been a sensitive subject in Ukraine sincein gained its independence just over two decades ago, said Damon Wilson, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council. For some Ukrainians, the push to protect their language has become enmeshed with protecting the nation.
( more under cut )

Source has video of the fight.

(He) leaves undiscovered, to walk on water now.
How do you want me, how do you want me now?
Time’s in the middle, unwind just a little,
Storms are going to throw you to waves,
I’ve heard of you, I’ve heard of you,
You’re wishing for rain.
You’re missing the raid.

Burn in the summer, walk under water now,
With the white wolves, with the white wolves.
How do you want me, how do you want me now?
Minds are going to walk on paths formed by the sun,
With the white wolves, with the white wolves.
Minds are going wild like dogs in every town.
You’re missing the raid,
You’re wishing for rain.

I can see the sun, I can see the moon,
I can feel those eyes lighting up the room.

She said she’d never love me anymore,
She said she’d never want me anymore,
She said she’d never love me…
But the lion, the lake and the lover are at your door.

Where’d you get your lines from, where’d you get your name from?
Where’d you get your thoughts from, where’d you get your name from?

The lion, the lake and the lover are at your door.

A Dominican dancer who says she was present at Silvio Berlusconi's now-infamous "bunga bunga" sex parties testified in court today that the former Italian prime minster had her dress up as a "burlesque version" of President Barack Obama, and dance around.

Marysthell Garcia Polanco, who is a member of the all-girl group Muñecas con Clase (Dolls with Class), told the court she would also masquerade as a sultry simulacrum of the trial's prosecutor, Ilda "the Red" Boccassini.

"I dressed up as Boccassini with a toga to make him laugh, and also as Obama," the 28-year-old said.

Berlusconi, who is being tried for allegedly paying then-underage Moroccan-born prostitute Karima El Mahroug for sex in 2010 and abusing his power in securing her release from jail, maintains that the parties were "elegant dinners" that involved "burlesque games" as a form of entertainment.

Polanco appeared to agree, testifying that the parties were "innocent fun," and the burlesque was not pornographic.

source: has half naked pictures. probably not work safe

Harley-Davidson motorcycle swept away by Japan tsunami to be preserved in museum

A Japanese man’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle that washed up on the shores of western Canada more than a year after it was swept away by the devastating tsunami will be preserved in a Harley museum in the U.S.

The 2004 FXSTB Softail Night Train motorcycle will be permanently housed in the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., as a memorial to the victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which swamped several coastal towns in northeastern Japan and left more than 15,000 people dead.

“It is truly amazing that my Harley-Davidson motorcycle was recovered in Canada after drifting for more than a year,” said the bike’s owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, in a press release issued Friday by Deeley Harley-Davidson, the Canadian distributor of Harleys. “I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to Peter Mark, the finder of my motorcycle. Due to circumstances caused by the disaster, I have been so far unable to visit him in Canada to convey my gratitude.”

( I would be delighted if it could be preserved in its current condition and exhibited to the many visitors to the Harley Davidson Museum as a memorial to a tragedy that claimed thousands of lives. )

Twice voted the best gay bar in the world, The Abbey in Los Angeles has banned all bachelorette parties until marriage becomes equal for gay couples.

David Cooley, founder and president of the bar, told CBS that he gets flooded with requests for bachelorette parties on Fridays and Saturdays. “I just felt after seeing so many bachelorette parties… having our wonderful straight girlfriends having a special time, a special night, having fun that it’s almost a slap in the face to my clientele,” Mr Cooley said.

“Myself being a gay person a kind of slap in my face that I couldn’t have that same experience,” he added. ““So I thought that I would put a ban on bachelorette parties until every person will have the right to have a marriage and be able to marry their loved one.”

Mr Cooley has also released a press statement, which he says intends to confront an “offensive heterosexual tradition [that] flaunts marriage inequality in the face of gays and lesbians”:

Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married.( Read more... )
______________________

source

I saw one post on a similar topic earlier today, but that post referred to Maryland; this one is for North Carolina and also nationally. If not kosher, let me know.

Signs of Shift Among African-Americans on Same-Sex Marriage

President Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same-sex marriage — from opponent to proponent — appears to be catalyzing a similar shift among some of his most loyal supporters, African-Americans. Although evidence for such a shift is preliminary — there are just a few data points and a number of caveats — Mr. Obama’s announcement may have accelerated the acceptance of gay marriage among blacks.

( An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted May 17-20 found 59 percent of African-Americans in favor of same-sex marriage. )

Source.

By Shasta Darlington, CNN


Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday vetoed 12 articles of a controversial forest bill approved by Congress last month, which was promoted by the powerful agriculture lobby but slammed by environmentalists.

The legislation updates the complex Forest Code, regulating how much and what kind of land should be maintained as native forest and how much can be cleared for ranching and agriculture.

Rousseff's decision comes less than a month before Rio de Janeiro is due to host a high-profile U.N. summit on sustainable development. Many Brazilians had pushed for a complete veto, staging protests across the county and collecting 1.9 million signatures for a petition.

Instead, Rousseff opted for line-item vetoes of articles that many said would grant amnesty to those who had illegally cleared land.

She vetoed sections that would have eliminated reforestation requirements and sharply reduced the area around water sources that must be maintained as forest.


( Read more... )

SOURCE

Hmmm, not sure you lovely ontd-p'ers are interested in Rio + 20 but here we go. And mods, my internet is all over the place right now, might have automatically submitted this post more than once :-p.

You need a 2 liter jug, a pyrex jug, a lemon squeezer, 2 big or 3 small lemons, 2 limes, 1 orange, a tray of ice, 2 oz of sugar, and lots of cold water. Takes 5-10 minutes.

Put the sugar in the pyrex jug. Boil the kettle. When the kettle boils, cover the sugar with boiling water, stir to dissolve. You don't need to make syrup or anything, but you want the sugar dissolved.

Meanwhile, put the tray of ice into the 2 liter jug. Squeeze the lemons, limes and orange in, getting out all the juice and pulp you can and avoiding adding the pips. Pour the dissolved sugar and water in. Top up with cold water. Shake or stir. Drink, with ice. It'll be cold enough. I used to refrigerate it for a while first, but then I had to make some in a hurry and it was just fine.

This is very refreshing and about as isotonic as you can get. I sometimes add mint or basil to the sugar in the boiling water when I have that growing outside. If it's too sweet, use less sugar next time. I figure this has about a teaspoon of sugar per glass.

The other thing you can do, right now while limes are nine for a dollar, is just squeeze half a lime into your glass of water and ice. Kids won't drink this, but it's good.

A place just for men?
By Josh Dehaas | April 27th, 2012 | 10:33 am


Simon Fraser students debate gender-exclusive spaces

Keenan Midgley played basketball, soccer, baseball and football. But it isn’t his athletic skill that has made him well-known on campus in Burnaby, B.C. It’s the budget he’s written as treasurer of the Simon Fraser Student Society.

The fifth-year accounting student added funding that will carve out a special space on campus for guys. The men’s centre, assuming the budget passes a final vote, will get $30,000 next year. That’s the same amount that the women’s centre, started in 1974, will receive.

The pending creation of the men-only space is the source of much discussion at Simon Fraser University. Since the news broke in April, many students have questioned whether the men deserve funding. Along with that, a debate has emerged over whether women—who make up 55 per cent of undergraduate students at SFU—still need their own women-only space.


( Read more... )


SOURCE

I don't even know what to make of this, tbh. Although my overall reaction is still, "oh hell no."

Unintelligent Male Attacks Sandra Fluke on Twitter, Wants His Name Magically Scrubbed From Google

It's so fun when someone has enough knowledge of technology to get themselves in trouble but not enough to realize that whatever they say online can and will be used against them in the court of public opinion. A tipster alerted us to a pretty amazing spat that TBogg is having with a man named George Tierney Jr from South Carolina. It began when George tweeted a nasty response to one of Sandra Fluke's tweets about some pro-woman legislation. He said, "@SandraFluke, when are you gonna shut that god damn dick sucker?" Aww, 2SWEET4WORDS. ( Sandra naturally took the highest of all the possible roads and replied so that her 36,000 followers could see… )


I seriously cannot come up with a combination of words to aptly describe how vile this man is. Uuuuugh.

Source
Source of source

Supreme Court says double jeopardy does not protect against murder retrial

Arkansas may retry a man for murder even though jurors in his first trial were unanimous that he was not guilty, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Alex Blueford, who is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son, is not protected by the Constitution’s Double Jeopardy Clause, the court ruled in a 6 to 3 decision.

( Read more... )

Source.

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I can't say too much without giving away too much so I've cribbed this from Amazon:

"In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?

These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.

Oh lÀ lÀ, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—SacrÉ Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore."


A historical novel about Impressionist painters as only Christopher Moore could do it. It's a fun romp that continually made me smile and laugh, full of one-liners, bawdy humor, and wonderful comments on art and creativity. Loved it.



View all my reviews

At Hancook restaurant located on the 1st level of the tower, diners can look out over Seoul as they enjoy traditional Korean cuisine in surroundings which blend antique Korean beauty with modern convenience. The most popular choice at Hancook is the buffet, offering a selection of 30 different Korean delicacies.

This Wednesday I took a cable car and then a fast elevator to the top of the N Seoul Tower.

( Dinner in Korea )

Words: 3492, about 100 of them words from last time. I started again, much better. Now have good grip on voice.
Total words: 3492
Files: 2
Tea: Four O'Clock White Orchard. Also home made lemonade.
Music: Three Double Concertos.
Reason for stopping: Solid end of chapter.

Z fixed, or reasonably fixed, Protext on this computer, so I am trying it again. Much nicer using this keyboard!

Posted and deleted science query because I want an answer, not my competence to write SF brought into question. Thanks to people who gave useful answers anyway.

I think the short version of what this is about is "an art festival on a generation starship".

You're free to comment about anything, whether it relates to the interests of the community or not.

No nudity, please.
If you post pictures, please don't make them so big that people have to side scroll. (If you're unsure about a picture, just link us to it instead.)
No personal attacks.

I visited Austin, Texas last week and was treated to Shipleys Do-nuts... I especially loved a marshmallow cream filled. Ah yum! More info here.