Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in zem's LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
11:11 pm	the zookeeper beautifully written sf short-short (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 28th, 2012
2:30 am	the daily mail song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI (and a somewhat more madcap song along the same lines, yankovic's midnight star) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 21st, 2012
2:47 am	thinking about taxes http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/thinking-about-taxes/243651/ extremely interesting discourse on the theory and implementation of (some aspects of) taxation (Comment on this)
12:03 am	the dreamers of dreams http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=112411/TyroneCurry discussion behind a cut tag since you should read the article first( Read more... ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
9:20 pm	"it has never got easier" Wonderful letter from Steinbeck to his creative writing professor (5 Comments |Comment on this)
12:23 am	dude has a point ( cut for large image ) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
1:40 am	the ministry of second chances http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/165/homeboy-industries Homeboy Industries, the passion project of an L.A. priest, has brought life reboots to hundreds of ex-cons, including onetime gang members and the former CEO of mega-construction company KB Home. "Everyone is a lot more than the worst thing they ever did", says Boyle. "This place is about redemption and restoration." (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 16th, 2012
12:04 am	Stop the Arizona birth control bill (Commentary is <lj user=mama_hogswatch>'s, I agree 100 Originally posted by labelleizzy at Stop the Arizona birth control bill (Commentary is <lj user=mama_hogswatch>'s, I agree 100%) Originally posted by mama_hogswatch at Stop the Arizona birth control bill Originally posted by roadnotes at Stop the Arizona birth control bill Originally posted by rozk at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill Originally posted by cluegirl at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill Originally posted by aubergineautumn at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill Originally posted by enchanted_jae at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill Originally posted by mandatorily at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill I just signed the following petition addressed to: Arizona Sentate, Arizona State Legislature, Debbie Lesko. ---------------- Stop the Arizona birth control Bill If this bill passes the senate then women of Arizona would be forced to provide documentation that birth control is for medical purposes only. The "company" would not be required to cover birth control if it was for prevention of conception. Additionally this bill would give companies the right to fire women if they discovered that she was using a contraceptive to prevent pregnancy ---------------- http://www.change.org/petitions/arizona-sentate-arizona-state-legislature-debbie-lesko-stop-the-arizona-birth-control-bill# Cluegirl note: Please don't roll your eyes and click past because you're tired of this nonsense. We're all tired of this nonsense. We're exhausted with the Tiny White Men That Other White Men Seem To Insist Need To Live In Our Ladyparts, and we're tired of being treated like cattle and chattel just because we're capable of conceiving life, but WE CANNOT IGNORE SHIT LIKE THIS! We must speak up, in our thousands, and we must speak up EVERY DAMN TIME! We must roar and shake the bars because every time even one of these appalling little incremental atrocities passes without uproar, then the Tiny White Men use it as a platform from which to to launch another, only slightly more atrocious attack. Don't get tired, get mad. Talk about it. Yell about it. SCREAM about it. Deny nay-sayers sex over it. Do. Not. Be. Worn. Down. Because once the chains go on, it takes a lot of blood to get them off again. This signal needs to be louder than all the 'stop internet limitations' signals. This Conservative Agenda includes the enslavement of better than half the human race. It really, really is more important. Act like it. Common Sense Disclaimer: If you are not me, then these opinions, relative to the experience of being me, are not yours. Also, if your gender makes it impossible for you to become pregnant and carry a foetus inside your body without resorting to science and surgery, then you must expect that your opinions on a woman's right to choose when and whether to reproduce will NEVER carry as much weight with me as an actual breeder's opinions. For you, it's abstract. For us, it's real. Ergo, I expect any debate on this subject to be handled with maturity, courtesy, and restraint. No poo throwing, no tubthumping, no trolling, and no shaming. I will ban commenters who are deliberately provocative, rude, and cruel over this. Don't be douches. You have been warned. Jan Brewer has already voted this amendment into law, I heard from a friend who lives in Tucson. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 12th, 2012
8:10 pm	Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA Originally posted by atalantapendrag at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA Originally posted by ericadawn16 at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA Originally posted by sxymami0909 at Here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA Originally posted by xtremeroswellia at here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA Originally posted by sio at here we go again....CISPA is the new SOPA PLEASE PASS THIS ON! i've shared on FB and a couple forums and hardly anyone else is--that bothers me on some level. we DON'T need this kind of censoring to be passed!!! Originally posted by colonoscarpeay at CISPA is the new SOPA Here's their next move: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, would obliterate any semblance of online privacy in the United States. And CISPA would provide a victory for content owners who were shell-shocked by the unprecedented outpouring of activism in opposition to SOPA and Internet censorship. The House of Representatives is planning to take up CISPA later this month. Click here to ask your lawmakers to oppose it. SOPA was pushed as a remedy to the supposed economic threat of online piracy -- but economic fear-mongering didn't quite do the trick. So those concerned about copyright are engaging in sleight of hand, appending their legislation to a bill that most Americans will assume is about keeping them safe from bad guys. This so-called cyber security bill aims to prevent theft of "government information" and "intellectual property" and could let ISPs block your access to websites -- or the whole Internet. Don't let them push this back-door SOPA. Click here to demand that your lawmakers oppose CISPA. CISPA also encourages companies to share information about you with the government and other corporations. That data could then be used for just about anything -- from prosecuting crimes to ad placements. And perhaps worst of all, CISPA supercedes all other online privacy protections. Please click here to urge your lawmakers to oppose CISPA when it comes up for a vote this month. Thanks for fighting for the Internet. -Demand Progress </div> (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
1:25 am	my father's final gift http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/my-father-final-gift/ very moving piece (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
8:20 pm	Submissions are open. Originally posted by figmentj at Submissions are open. Originally posted by belgatherial at Submissions are open. Copied verbatim from the brand new website: “Of all the fairy rings in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” Solarwyrm Press is calling for submissions for an anthology of fantasy noir short stories. I know what you’re thinking: What an earth is fantasy noir? Well, the idea is to combine elements of film noir with something fantastical. A dragon detective. An elven dame in a trenchcoat, luring a hapless man into crime. Take it wherever you wish. That’s the challenge. And we’re leaving the challenge pretty much wide open. Without putting any particular restrictions on it, it’s probably wise to steer clear of very graphic or explicit horror and erotica. But if you think you can pull that off in such a way that it doesn’t seem gratuitous, give us your best shot. We are hoping to make this a paying gig, and to this end have started up a Pozible project to crowdfund this. Should this succeed, stories will be bought at a flat rate of $50 a story. The maximum number of stories that will be accepted will be 20. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t succeed, then you will have to be satisfied with getting a contributor copy of the book. This is a totally crowdfunded and crowd-sourced project, so please spread the word as wide as you can! Suggested word count is between 1000-7000 words, but that’s not a hard and fast rule, so much as a guideline. Again, if you’re going to break it, make sure you do it exceptionally well. Please submit stories as a .doc or .docx file to solarwyrm@gmail.com. Ideally 12 point with a clean font and 1.5 spacing. Submissions close 15 June 2012. (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 11th, 2012
9:34 pm	the glass closet http://www.out.com/entertainment/2008/09/22/glass-closet very good article on queer hollywood stars who never claim to be straight, but never actually "come out" either. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 13th, 2012
8:09 pm	all of the promises http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2012/01/11/ one of my favourite comic strips in a while (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
2:40 am	some assembly required http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hdpf-MQM9vY Amazing timelapse video of a 30-story skyscraper being assembled in 360 hours. Both more earthquake-resistant and more energy-efficient than conventionally-built skyscrapers, apparently. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
2:15 am	the i of the octopus absolutely brilliant fic [link via wordweaverlynn] (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 5th, 2011
12:12 am	adults these days! Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post concurs. "Emma Sullivan, you're lucky you're not my daughter," she clucks, the only part of the column with which I agree wholeheartedly. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/why-emma-sullivan-is-good-for-democracy/249320/ read the whole column - lots of other good bits in there too! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
6:23 pm	bubble solution The Steiner problem involves building the shortest possible road network to connect a bunch of towns. Here's a very pleasing experimental solution based on the fact that a soap bubble network will automatically settle into a minimal configuration. http://www.youtube.com/embed/dAyDi1aa40E (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
12:20 am	of countersignalling and metacontrarianism http://lesswrong.com/lw/2pv/intellectual_hipsters_and_metacontrarianism/ very interesting discussion of how in many hierarchies, people in every stratum send out signals to distinguish themselves from the stratum immediately below them - and then the people in the stratum *above* them countersignal, as a means of distinguishing themselves from the middle layer. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
2:48 am	how to talk to little girls http://latinafatale.com/2011/07/21/how-to-talk-to-little-girls/ (or, more accurately, how *not* to) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 18th, 2011
12:51 am	hardest quiz ever http://ken-jennings.com/blog/archives/3366 (2 Comments |Comment on this)