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Gay marriage at the supreme court – the smell of desperation

I’m sure getting a whiff off of this:

Marriage should be limited to unions of a man and a woman because they alone can “produce unplanned and unintended offspring,” opponents of gay marriage have told the Supreme Court.

So let me get this straight… one of the strongest arguments the opponents of gay marriage think they have at this point is that only heterosexual couples can have “oops” babies? Seriously? And gay people don’t need marriage because they have to plan their babies? I just. I can’t even.

First, I’m sure given the glorious spectrum of human sexuality, this line of argument is not true anyway. For example, John Scalzi pointed out on Twitter that:

Polyamorous bisexuals in same-sex open marriages might wish to dispute this line of “reasoning”

And of course, infertile couples, childfree couples, etc etc etc. But I don’t think we even have to go that far. We should just take a step back and gaze in wonder at the utter, majestic stupidity of that line of argument. We’re boiling the supposedly inviolate and super special institution of state-sanctioned marriage down to trying to get people to legally hitch themselves together because of accidental pregnancy? Because accidental pregnancies out of wedlock place a burden on society but ones within a marriage can’t? (…how’s the weather on your planet?)

Instead, they argue that it is reasonable for the law to steer opposite-sex couples toward marriage, including by giving them extra benefits. “It was rational for Congress to draw the line where it did,” Clement said, “because the institution of marriage arose in large measure in response to the unique social difficulty that opposite-sex couples, but not same-sex couples, posed.”

I just… what? I’m guessing they’re still hammering the oops baby point here, which doesn’t really paint marriage in such a great light. Oh look, marriage is an easy solution to unintended pregnancy – how about rape as well? This is something that still happens in the world and is horrifying. Or maybe I just missed the bit in world history where they told us about how same-sex couples have always had it easy and opposite-sex couples faced unique social difficulties of other sorts.

If all you can come up with once you’ve stripped way the overt homophobia is something that brain-lockingly dumb, maybe it’s time to just quietly pack up the briefcase and go home.

In another part of their brief, they argue for the high court to stand back and to let the “democratic process” resolve the dispute over gay marriage. Both note that voters in several states recently approved same-sex marriage, and opinion polls report that most Americans now favor it.

So basically “please let the dinosaurs draw it out in a lingering, painful state-by-state extinction.”

History called. You’re on the wrong side.

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Adventures with eBooks and DRM

Alternative title: I now totally understand why people might go pirate, and it has nothing to do with wanting free shit.

My husband and I bought each other Nooks last year as a combination birthday/Christmas present. I’d been really wanting an e-reader since we’ve long since run out of shelf space, and I didn’t want an actual tablet since reading on a backlit screen makes my eyes get really tired after a while. For the most part, I’ve liked having a Nook, and have happily just bought stuff from the Barnes and Noble online store.

Last night, I decided to do something a little different. I wanted to buy an ebook through the the Tattered Cover, because they’re the local independent book store and I want to support them with my money. A two hour adventure ensued in which I tried to figure out how the fuck to even download said book and then get it in my Calibre library. Because I had this, in retrospect, terribly naive thought that I’d buy the ebook, I’d get to download it, then put it on my Nook and yay, new book!

Oh no.

The Tattered Cover referred me to a store called Kobo. Which tried to then make me install their proprietary reader. But I wanted to just download the book myself, so ended up with an .acms file with absolutely no explanation what that even was. Well, it’s an Adobe DRM format, which meant if I wanted to download the book I then had to install the Adobe digital edition software, which then didn’t let me put the book in Calibre anyway because DRM you filthy disgusting pirate.

I was ready to just chew on things. I’ve now installed (non-sanctioned) plugins for Calibre that let me strip the DRM off the files, because goddamnit I paid for them and I can do that. But talk about ARGH.

Oh, and in the process I discovered that the B&N website downloads your ebooks into a hidden partition of your Nook so that you cannot even see them when the device is mounted to your computer. SO THAT’S NICE.

Other fun B&N anecdote: my husband has some ebooks from Barnes and Noble that contain a page with the message that the book was provided DRM free by the author. And then B&N added their own DRM anyway. Classy.

I want to be able to buy books from any site I want and not have to screw around with a different proprietary reader for each one. I want to not have to do google search adventures every time I want to figure out how to download my goddamn book and look at it. And in that sense, I totally understand why someone might turn to book piracy out of the desire to not have to deal with this bullshit, because just give me my fucking .epub and let me get on with my life. By the end of the experience I felt like crying out to the uncaring sky I JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU MY MONEY AND READ A BOOK WHY WON’T YOU LET ME.

I imagine various shops want to force customers to stick with proprietary software and formats, since it makes it more likely that people won’t stray from them and spend their money elsewhere. But I didn’t buy a Nook so I could be effectively owned by Barnes and Noble and badgered into shopping only at their store. I bought a Nook because I liked the specs and because I wanted to, I don’t know, read some fucking books. Isn’t the profit margin better for everyone with ebooks? Then why the hell make them more difficult to use than dead tree books? Why make an ebook a less liberating purchase than a physical book?

The people this fucks in the end – other than readers like me who spend hours ranting and sobbing at their computers – is the writers. If you make buying and then using something utterly painful, maybe that will keep some customers from straying. But it’ll make others stop buying it. I want to see my favorite writers get money. But I can’t say the temptation wasn’t there during the battle with the Adobe DRM because I was getting so damn pissed off.

Most of the time, writers have no control over if their ebook has DRM on it. I just wish the corporate paymasters would figure out that treating your customers preemptively like criminals makes the illegal option feel like the path of least resistance. I refuse to be in abusive relationships with other human beings. I sure as hell won’t be in an abusive relationship with a store.

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Being last sucks, I admit it.

Today was the first group ride I’ve done in 2013, a 45 mile roundtrip to Gunbarrel that was relatively flat for Colorado. Which really means fuck you hills, I hate you so very, very much. To say I survived it is probably charitable.

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This is me, post-ride on the ugly carpet of my living room. I am probably dead by the time you read this.

I learned several things from the ride today:

1) A no-drop ride does not mean the same thing for every group. Technically, I was not dropped, thank you everyone who put up with my slow ass. But there were times when it was just me and the sweep rider and no one else was in sight because they had outboard motors on their bikes or something. (I managed to average ~15.5 mph over the whole 45 miles, which was in the speed range of 15-17mph the ride organizer told me. The average for the main group was ~18 mph. Yeah.)

2) You can ride when it’s 40 degrees out, and do distance. Your lungs will just rise up and try to choke you when you’re done.

3) Even if you’re the slowpoke, most other cyclists won’t be dicks to you. In fact, everyone was very encouraging.

4) God I hate being in last place. Well, who doesn’t, right? But I’m such a naturally competitive person that it was an extra side of frustration.

However, I think being in last place was also good for me. It meant that I worked my ass off, trying to catch up with the others or maintain a reasonable speed. That’s why I like group rides anyway – I have a tendency to challenge myself more in them. When I’m riding by myself, I’ll put in the miles (I did a 30 mile ride on Monday, for example, all by my lonesome) but I tend to just cruise along, listen to my audiobook, and not really work it.

So this was good for me. Very good for me. It gives me incentive to do more rides and work harder, so I’m not in last place any more. If I keep repeating that, maybe my quads will stop their shrill, pathetic screams.

And by the way. You, Hill on 95th between Kestrel and Phillips. You may think you’ve won this time. But you have no idea who you’re fucking with. I’ll be back.

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Little girl gets boy underwear

I found this story very cute: Why I Bought Boys’ Underwear For My Daughter. Of course, the point is kind of that once again, gendered marketing strikes. Little girls only get appropriately feminine underoo options, little boys get Star Wars and the like, and there seems a total disconnect over the fact that little girls can appreciate “boy” things and enjoy them. No! You will wear pink! Nothing but pink! If you want a telescope it will be pink! Girls are only allowed to like girl characters! Etc!

So yeah, good on the dad.

This is the other thing that struck me. All of the comments on the article are positive. Pretty much along the lines of what I said – go dad! Woohoo! Now, the internet’s only had a day to blemish the comments so maybe people will be frothing in them soon about how boy underwear will turn that girl into a butch lesbian or something. But I would almost bet not.

Whereas, say, when you get an article about a little boy wearing awesome pink shoes – shoes! Not even something as intimate as underpants – there was definitely a lot of negative reaction in the comments. Plenty of “go, mom!” as well, but it wasn’t so unilaterally positive. Maybe it’s more okay for a little girl to like “boy” things than it is for a little boy to like “girl” things. I don’t know. I do get the impression that it’s much more okay for a little girl to be a “tomboy” when she’s young, so long as she straightens up and hews to the gender norm by the time she hits puberty (or risk getting picked apart by her peers). That was certainly close to my personal experience – no one really gave two shits about what I wore until suddenly there were boobs and makeup became a thing.

Though I also do wonder if the baggage is in there where it’s more acceptable for women to like “man” things than vice versa, because there’s still the idea of masculinity being superior.

Anyway. Awesome dad. Enjoy your Star Wars undies, little girl. If they made decent Avengers underwear for women of my size and shape, you can bet I’d be all over that shit too.

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Steampunk Nominations!

Steampunk Chronicle’s Reader’s Choice Awards NOMINATION Page: for fun, for steampunk. I love that there is a best goggles category.

And because, selfishly, I wrote a couple of short stories in 2012. ;)

And was in the Steampunk edition of Penumbra with a bunch of other amazing stories!

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Good Boy

Yesterday my mom had her second dog, Willis, put to sleep. On January 8th, she had to let the first dog, Maxine go. They were both 14 years old. Maxine and Willis were littermates.

Anyone who has ever lost a pet knows how tough this is. They give us so much love and don’t really ask for much in return.

I’m feeling pretty rough about this, myself. I haven’t lived with my parents for over ten years, but I was there when Maxine and Willis were puppies. Hell, I was there for the first trip Mom took to see them after they were born. She and Maxine were basically best friends from the moment Maxine opened her eyes. Willis, my brother and I helped pick out. He was the most adorable, clumsy, doofy puppy out of the bunch.

Willis was the most adorable, clumsy, doofy dog when he grew up, too. He and Maxine were always there when I visited my parents. I’m going to miss them. They were both good dogs. In the end, that’s the best thing you can say about a dog, isn’t it? Simple, wonderful words for simple, wonderful little beings.

Good dogs.

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Contacts!

No, not this kind:

This kind:

I went to the eye doctor yesterday to get my glasses prescription updated and get measured for contact lenses. I left wearing a pair of contact lenses and feeling utterly euphoric.
I used to wear contacts, years ago when I still worked for AT&T – I had to stop after getting laid off because they would have been too expensive. The reason for that was because I’d developed an astigmatism, and I’d begun to get some blood vessel growth into my corneas; the way the optometrist at the time talked about it, you’d think I would be on the brink of death if I didn’t switch to gas permeable lenses.
It’s kind of crazy how technology has advanced in the last eight years. First off, my eyes are fine for normal lenses, which now routinely are made so you can sleep with them in (holy shit what). And the optometrist said he thought they’d correct enough for the little astigmatism I have without having to go fancy. So far, he seems to be right.
Oh yeah. And I wore the pair he gave me for something like twelve hours on the first day, and almost forgot they were in. Technology indeed. I can’t begin to say how excited I am.
Even cooler, my glasses prescription has not changed at all, even though it’s been three years since I last got a new pair of glasses. (I actually only went in because my lenses were getting scratched up enough to annoy me. And what I considered “scratched up” is nothing compared or other people, so I got some well-deserved teasing for being insanely anal retentive.) So – and this is the most exciting thing of all – the optometrist said I should be good to go for Lasik when I can afford it. 
I just. I am so full of happiness I can’t begin to describe it. I’ve had glasses since I was in grade school, and my uncorrected vision is somewhere down in the 20/500 range. The idea of being able to just… wake up and see is mind-blowing. 
Not yet, of course. I haven’t even started my real job, and I still have student loans to pay. But as soon as the loans are paid off, I’m going to start saving. And until then, I’m going to love the shit out of my contacts. (Which are also cheaper now than when I used to wear them. I live in the future.)
So, so very happy.
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Support the arts! Form of: a British film documentary!

It probably goes without saying, but trying to have a career in the arts sucks. That was one of the reasons that compelled me to go back to school for geology instead of journalism, because there’s always that ugly little voice in your head that keeps reminding you that there is debt, and you have to eat, and to do those you need this thing called a day job. (And hey, if the day job turns out to be an awesome career all its own like looking at rocks professionally, I can’t complain, right?)

I can’t speak for other countries, but in the US money for artists is tight and only getting tighter thanks to the economy shitting itself. And art of all sorts is important. It’s ultimately about us and our relationships with each other, the greater part of humanity, and the universe as a whole.

I believe in giving when you can. Because some day, it will come back to you. I haven’t been able to give as much as I would like to a myriad of causes and projects while I’ve been a grad students because, well. Grad student. That’s going to change once I’ve started working.

And this project is number one on my list:

Dear friends,
I must assume you all have dreams, yes? Well, here’s ours:
We are attempting to make a documentary about the world of British Cinema. There’s more to it than just Harry Potter and James Bond, and we want to put a spotlight on it because it is a truly unique, but unfortunately, struggling, industry. However, we can’t do it without your help. Be a part of something truly great and help make a few dreams come true in the process. Any amount of donation and/or spreading word makes all the difference! Please check out our INDIEGOGO PAGE HERE, where we are campaigning to raise funds to make this documentary a reality. You can find tons more info about what we’re planning to do, how you can help and why the British industry is important.If we are funded successfully, we may just interview one of your favorite British actors or directors. We have a list, and it’s a pretty epic one. Check out the perks for donating. They include things like signed memorabilia from the interviewees, tickets to the premiere/after party for the documentary, your name in the credits or even an opportunity to contribute a question to one of the interviewees of your choosing. Even $5 helps. Or reblogging this entry. Or sharing the ‘IndieGoGo’ page on another social networking site like Twitter. Did I mention we’re on Twitter? You can follow us here: @BritishFilmDoc The smallest of effort from you – a short moment of your time – makes a world of difference to us. Again, here’s the LINK.
Thank you! 

I’ve already given my grad student pittance and have committed to significantly more once the real paychecks start rolling in. Why? Because I grew up watching a lot of British film and television. Because this is something I’d personally like to see. Because the people behind this project are awesome. And because helping other people achieve their dreams is a way to keep your own alive and well fed.

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Blogger vs. WordPress

I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Blogger as a tool, particularly since it’s pretty crap for cross-platform posting to anything by Google+. So I’m thinking about switching over to a WordPress blog. I’ve used WordPress a couple of times for the Clarion Blog and my Clarion Write-a-thon group blog, and I found the interface a bit confusing… but I think it’s something I’d figure out pretty easily if I just sat down and played with it for five minutes.

Thoughts? Do you use WordPress and if so, is it worth the switch? Is it really as useful as it appears to be? If you’re one of the three people who reads my blog, would that just permanently stop you or would you follow along?

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The end of the Violence Against Women Act

Okay, so it’s been over a day and I’m still trying to think of some kind of coherent response to the House killing the Violence Against Women Act. Because all I can really manage is a keysmash of rage. I mean, the Senate, the place where good legislation goes to die, managed to get its shit together on this one. Back in April, for fuck’s sake. You’d think this would be easy, right? Violence against women. No one’s for that, right? Right? Just like no one’s against puppies.

Apparently Eric Cantor didn’t like that the bill would make it easier for Native American women to pursue their rapists with the tribal legal system. And others didn’t like that there were expanded protections for immigrants and LGBT people. I’d say Cantor and his friends should be ashamed, but it’s pretty goddamn clear they have none.

The Violence Against Women Act is supposed to get brought back this year. I’m not laying any money on if the House will be a bunch of shameful shitcocks again. My mom (a woman) taught me not to make sucker bets. Disgusted. I am just disgusted. And argh. Goddamnit. ARGH.

#@$(U#J)FGWEKOP@(!UI#jk.