Links for Your Thursday

I finished a draft of my novel, and have been filled with torpor ever since -- I slept until almost noon yesterday, and then also went to bed early. In between I did almost nothing but read, though I did mow the lawn in the evening. That's twice so far this summer. Usually we are in mid-July before I have managed to get around to mowing the lawn twice, so go me!

Links!


A lovely alternative parenting history

An utter pile of Right-Wing Bullshit. I hate this nostalgic everything was better in the old days crap anyway, but Sweet Jesus, this one is talking about 1954. Up your game, losers. That's within living memory of some of the people still around.

Can This Be Spring?

Usually in Arkansas, we go straight from winter to summer.

I hates me some summer, especially an Arkansas summer, which is blistering hot and thick with humidity, not to mention the bugs, OMF the bugs.

But this year we appear to be having a spring. Cool nights, days that often reach no more that the mid-70s, and even rain.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up -- could this mean a mild summer? Is that possible, in this era of global warming?

We can still hope.

Saturday Night Linkage!

What a week.

In my personal life, it's all been lovely. A nice week at home, with the kid receiving her award money and getting ever closer to being done with high school; and a good week at the university. Friday we had the Undergraduate Research Day, always a good time, since we cancel classes and spend a day listening to student presentations of what they've been doing. This year was especially good. The kids are all right, y'all.

Sadly, the adults are not. But the less said about Trump the better. Have some links instead:


Math problems for English Majors: This starts with the riddle we all know, but keep reading!

Destroying Your Credibility

Some time ago, when I was a young pup of a blogger, I read a post by another blogger, AWB, about how important it was to protect your brand. (I might not have the phrasing exactly right here; I can't find that post now. Lost in the mists of the blogosphere.)

The basic thesis: mind what you say, the arguments you make, what you publish, the words you put out in public. These will become your brand. They will become what you are known by. It will be hard to escape that brand.

This was one of those watershed moments for me (thanks, AWB!). Maybe it's hard to believe, but that was something I'd never thought of before. I'd been functioning, up to that moment, as though my life were something like a white board*. I could say things one day, and then erase them, and write something new the next. Who would remember? Certainly not me!

Why, What's This?

Yesterday, my copies of the May/June 2017 F&SF arrived in the mail. Gotta tell you, it was sweet!

All y'all can pick up your copies starting May 1st. Check your local bookstore!  Also, I'll post a link, never fear!

Links for You

Sunday Link Post!

My Name is Cow.

Why Trump's supporters don't mind his lies: Blue Lies.

Gender bias riddles

On the topic of stuff you can do very little about, debt is bad for your health.

A first person account of surviving a sarin gas attack.

Flying squirrels and how they fly (very cool)

How to be a writer (for all my writers)

Superbabies don't cry (long read, but excellent)

What Bathroom Bills Do (the comment section on this one is worth reading, especially the comments by Grace)

My Kid's Art

It's true that Trump is wagging the dog, and America is falling for it like the boot-lickers they are.

But! Look what my kid made for me in her craft class:

Is she not the best kid ever?

What I'm Reading

As always, since the election of the Great Circus Peanut, I am reading enormously, even obsessively. Literature is the opiate of me.

What am I reading? A lot of science fiction, and a dash of older literature, plus a few other works.

Robin Shortt, Wellside

This one won't be released until June -- I read an advanced copy -- but it's leading the list here because it's one of the best SF/F novels I've read in some time. Do you know that feeling you get, five or six or ten pages into a novel, bone-deep, chilling, and wonderful, when you realize that once again, lucky you, you have a truly wonderful book? It's only happened to me twenty or thirty times in my life, but it's a great feeling when it happens. It happened with this book.

The Kid Wins an Art Contest

Or, you know, another art contest.

This one earned her money, too. My talented child.

Your Questions about Trans People Answered

I've seen a number of people ask what may or be good faith questions about trans people, or make claims that they may actually believe about trans people (claims I know to be untrue). Sometimes I have attempted to educate these people; often I have walked away, knowing the attempt to be useless.

Anyway!

Here's an excellent resource, to anyone who is interested in learning.

Seven Troubling Questions About Transgender Theories, Answered

TrumpCare: Burn, Baby

TrumpCare fails at the legislative level.

Trump is reaching out to Democrats now. That's... droll.

Costa on MSNBC: Trump says bill won’t be coming back in near future & he’ll see if the Dems want to work with him on healthcare.

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 24, 2017

Update

So the site where I had the encounter with the Right-Wing Troll held a brief forum with those who commented there, saying that they had received complaints about the troll, and that they were inclined to begin deleting such abusive emails in the future. They asked for thoughts on this policy.

Comments came out strongly in favor of not just deleting abusive comments, but of banning those who showed a pattern of making such comments. (I was one of those who argued for this policy, using basically the argument I made here.)

The site owner then banned Dick Johnson from the site.

As some of you may have noticed, Dick almost at once began posting abusive and stalker-type comments here. He'll be banned and deleted here as well, no fear, and for the same reasons he's banned and deleted there.

Here's a Must-Watch

If you watch nothing else this week, watch this:

A little over eight minutes, but vital to our country.

Lays out the evidence that Trump and his regime are treasonous.

The NYTimes article on this.

The Kid's Comic

Your reminder that you should be reading it:

Find more here: Fragile at Taptastic.

Further Thoughts on Trump Supporters and the Limits of Free Speech

Nicole and Maggie point out in the comments to my last post that appeasement isn't a tactic, historically, that has much of a success rate.

This is true.

I think one mistake I made in the beginning with Dick Johnson is one we often make when dealing with bullies. Slightly amused at his mistake (ha ha, he thinks I'm a guy, isn't that fun), I ignored the stupid insults he threw my way.

This was when he thought I was just a guy, not a gay guy.