firecat

State of the firecat: Happy. I went out and stood in the first rain of the season last night!

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Comments left for others:

Things you don't want your doctor to say while peering into your body cavities: "Oh, wow."

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Thoughts about Metropolis.

"Metropolis is, interestingly enough, the first feature length Science Fiction film. Also interestingly enough: it was written by a woman — Thea Von Harbou....Christian myths...are co-opted to emphasize a different meaning. That is, “The mediator between the Head (intellect/inventers) and the Hands (the workers) must be the Heart.” By ‘heart’ I can only guess Von Harbou meant ‘union negotiator.’ This is the film’s main message."

http://skiffyandfanty.com/2014/09/25/metropolis-1927-feminism-and-influence/

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail censorship letter (I am really glad they didn't lose "I fart in your general direction" as suggested).

http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-censorship-letter.html

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In the "What could possibly go wrong?" department, 23AndMe decides, a little too late, not to enroll all their customers automatically in their relative-matching service.

http://consumerist.com/2014/09/17/23andme-decides-to-not-enroll-all-users-automatically-in-relative-matching-service/

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Via hitchhiker, a long, thoughtful post about how to make things and also make a living, a conversation that makers are always having." I need to spend a lot more time on this article and maybe I will write a separate post about it.

http://quietbabylon.com/2014/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-making/

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Jim C. Hines explains why he canceled a Reddit AMA in 2012 (Reddit was profiting from rape apologism), and why he is willing to do a Reddit AMA now.

http://www.jimchines.com/2014/09/reddit-ama/

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Via sasha_feather: Check out this cool comic book art by disabled creator Larime Taylor. He draws with his mouth.

http://larimetaylor.com/

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The following are via the prolific andrewducker:

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A review of yet another book claiming to explain how cats think. Favorite line: "Some 85 percent of all cat matings, Dr. Bradshaw writes, are arranged by cats themselves."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/science/cat-sense-explains-what-theyre-really-thinking.html?_r=3&

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A description of delayed sleep phase disorder. I have this although not quite as bad as the writer does. (I can fall asleep at 1:00 am if I try. I just don't want to try.) Fortunately, freelance tech writing/editing mostly lets me keep my own hours.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/15/experience-cant-wake-up-in-morning

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In his introduction to a book of nonfiction essays by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman explains that, contrary to appearances, Pratchett is angry, not jolly. This is, I expect, not news anyone who has read even one of his books. (Terry is quoted as saying: “Do not underestimate this anger. This anger was the engine that powered Good Omens.”) Still, I don't agree with the notion that if someone has a giant store of anger and also a store of jollity, that means they are "really" angry and "not" jolly.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett-angry-not-jolly-neil-gaiman

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For Bi Visibility Week, brief comment on bi invisibility in modern readings of Homer. Funny line: "Bisexuality...has become in some people's eyes a sort of Schroedinger's Cat of sexuality - bisexuals exist in a state of indeterminacy, either gay or straight."

http://tonykeen.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/bi-visibility-day.html

(And in case anyone didn't know, I'm attracted to people of more than one gender, and have spent the last 30+ years being indeterminate that way.)