Live! From an undisclosed locaton in KC's Power & Light District!

It might rhyme with "Gleedrops." They have really good limeade.

But yes. I've snuck off and left my family behind to have a random mini-holiday with pocketmouse, who is here for actual practical reasons. We had truly awful pizza last night (and for breakfast this morning) and both dreamt that there were cats in the hotel room¹. Which, you know, bad considering I'm violently allergic and have been known to have respiratory symptoms around cat owners. I actually woke up thinking I was in either LA or Miami, but also that I had to take the dogs downstairs.

I'm blaming NASA TV, con people, and Domino's.

I'm composing a list of things of interest which are not April 1 gags.

---
¹ My dream also involved commercial air travel (during which I climbed out onto the wing briefly to help warm up some freezing wild brown rats and then encountered Estonian heads of state when I returned to the cabin), being at a con in Florida, and a cast of several people in addition to pocketmouse including bluejeanius (who was our roommate and BROUGHT ANOTHER CAT) and wordsofastory (who had these really excellent flashing LED earrings).

(not)Friday Linkdump

Because if I sit on any of this much longer these things are going to hatch. And then the dogs will bark and chase them around and eat them and then where will we be? I ask you.

Also, I am on holiday and am therefore having really terrible trouble remembering what day it is just in general, and cannot be expected to care (except for reasons pertaining to exciting television) until Monday morning.

I solemnly swear that the following, unless where noted, are not April 1 gags:

- NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction Round Four is accepting entries.

- A new book, Contested Will, takes on the Shakespeare v. Marlowe (v. Oxford) theory, but also engages it. If I haven’t got this by the next major gift-giving holiday, friends and family should consider it an option.

- The Vigilantes of Comedy: in stand-up, it’s considered extraordinarily bad form to steal another comic’s bit. Apparently, though, the community rarely utilizes copyright, and relies on self-policing. Fascinating stuff, not sure how true it all is.

- Remember that school who made that dick move that involved canceling prom on account of lesbians (and then encouraging a private prom so that the girl and her girlfriend could be further excluded)¹? They’ve also discriminated against a trans student so vigorously (and with apparent community support) that the kid and his mother have had to relocate. It makes me sad (and incredibly angry that in 2010, people like Juin Baize and Constance McMillen are treated this way. And they’re not the only ones. sparkindarkness has posted a heartbreaking rundown on the way LGBTQ kids are being treated. This has to stop.

- Facebook user? More privacy settings shenanigans afoot.

- Don’t put Snyder’s of Hanover products in your mouth. You don’t know where they’ve been! Snyder’s of Hanover is opting not to go gluten-free certified to avoid “headaches.” Headaches in this instance being reasonable steps to prevent cross-contamination and to ensure consumer safety. In short, they want to use the gluten-free label without actually having to concern themselves with the quantity of gluten in their product. This is wildly unethical in its own right in that it will Do Real Harm to people, and also makes me wonder what other basic safety measures Snyder’s is cutting corners with.

- Feministe takes on David Brooks’ thing about marriage v. success and handily kicks its ass.

- Sinead O’Connor does the same thing with the Vatican’s fauxpology to Ireland over decades of abuse.

And now I’d best get writing, because I spent my usual work hours on the road last night and I can’t guarantee I’ll have the time/opportunity to work tonight.

—
¹ Literally minutes after I posted this, I saw that the AP is reporting that an attorney has announced that Constance is now being allowed to attend the private prom with her date. Which is all to the good, but does not offset the hateful way she’s been treated by her school district, and by her community.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com

Okay. I submit. I'm going to watch White Collar

Not because most of my Torchwood fandom friends dig it. Or because from seeing one ep it looks like the sort of thing I could get a kick out of. Or because I want Neal Caffery's tailor.

No. It's all because pocketmouse just pointed me to the WC writing team's Twitter feed, and the bits where they pull an awesome prank on Burn Notice's writing team.

And their visual aids are pictures of one of them planting the clocks with Neal's head photoshopped on. Badly. And when somebody tells them that the suit the guy is wearing is terrible, they are all, "We WRITE Neal, I think we would know what he wears."

Take me, White Collar. I'm yours.