moths_birthdaycard

Culling my f'list

As a result of a total panic caused by ‘LJ’s new styles’ meeting ‘LJ’s New Year problems’ (January 2013) just as I was trying to look something up, I decided to cull my lists of friends and comms. Obviously the comms won’t care...

If you’re reading this and find yourself defriended, it is not personal! I need to get my f’list down to a more reasonable size and the criteria I have used are as follows:

If I normally communicate with you on Dreamwidth, Blogger or other platforms and our LJ friending is merely ‘historical’, I’ve defriended you. I can’t think why you’d want to be reinstated, but do ask. I have been just filtering out duplicate posts from you, but I think the time has come to jump off the fence! I haven’t defriended anyone who merely has a placeholder account on Dreamwidth and doesn’t post/comment there.

If I really haven’t communicated with you for absolutely ages on any platform, or if we friended each other for fandom reasons and have never communicated since, then I’ve defriended you - but feel free to ask to be re-instated! I just don’t see the point of having virtual strangers around. This might apply to one or two Connotations people - not that I don’t love you all but in some cases we never talk online! If you enjoy e.g. my f'locked posts about Portugal, by all means come back!

If you have two journals - maybe a personal one and an author one, or a personal one and a muse one - I’ve defriended one of them on the assumption that I can always check via the one I’ve kept on my f’list. Feel free to argue.

If I’m under the impression that you have left LJ, either because your name appears to be crossed out or you haven’t posted in years, I have defriended you. Feel free to correct me.

My usual posting method is to post on Dreamwidth and crosspost to LJ. Just occasionally I might post on LJ only, e.g. for a birthday when I know the person is just on LJ, or with an LJ problem such as the one that sparked this culling. Most of my posts on both sites are friends-only. I’ve left this one unlocked for obvious reasons and have only posted it on LJ as a sticky post.
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xmas_frogsideways

Last Christmas



(I wrote this a few years ago to a prompt from a writing group. I’ve tweaked it slightly to bring it up to date. It’s a kind of homage – and maybe we all wish it could be last year and 2016 could be re-run with edits?)
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(Crossposted to my Wordpress blog and my author Facebook page)
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reading_therefore

Gryphons: a review



Gryphons by Alyx Jae Shaw

I was lucky enough to read the first draft of this book and loved it then. I bought the 'polished' and extended version when it came out. The author, who has published with various Indie publishers, couldn't find a home for this so published it on Lulu. As a result, the print version is quite expensive for a paperback but is worth every penny. I promised a review, and must state straight away that although I know the author online (she's on my LJ f'list) I have paid full price for the paperback book and the review is completely impartial. However, I would recommend the e-book version for anyone who is either poor or not sure! Details under the cut.

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Go and buy it. Go and tell your friends about it. You won't regret it!

I'm leaving this post unlocked so if you want to point it out to friends who might enjoy the book, go ahead!
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cats_reading

NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman: a review

NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman

I can't praise this book highly enough. Anyone interested in autism, in the history of psychology or psychiatry, and even in the history of medicine should read it.

I have written a long review because I am anxious to 'sell' the book. I have also left the post open, contrary to my usual practice, so do send along anyone you think might be interested.

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Please try to get this book from your local library. I would suggest buying it but really, I'd like to see it on library shelves in the hope that the word will spread!!
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xmas_santa frog

Christmas Chickens

I've done all my Christmas shopping for this year - yes, I'm super-organised but that's because I can't cope with last minute crowds. However, if I or my family had any more space for calendars I'd be going for this one. I've been reading about the daily lives of these pretty chicks and here they are in their very own calendar. I hope the creators do something similar next year a little earlier!
If you can, go and buy - you'll be supporting some beautiful birds!

http://delaese.livejournal.com/807157.html
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xmas_lotr

Christmas Icons - for 2nd December LOTR Advent Calendar 2015

16 icons - well, 17 if you include the one I've used - for you. I chose an early date so that you could use them for Christmas, but there are some that are appropriate any time of year. I deliberately left all but one without text. Feel free to add your own captions - or ask me. Enjoy - grab some or all, and credit, please! Comments=love.

Bases are taken from pictures on IMDb then cropped, enhanced, resized etc. using Photoshop and inserted into themes using various online photo editing sites.

I have put them under a cut because I can't work out how to have them all nicely side by side like our advent doors.
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personal_noevilfrog

The last 24 hours were different.



For any of you who might have been worried.

I was offline yesterday for various reasons for about 12 hours and when I came back there had been a short sharp revolution back at OTW/AO3

This is to reassure you all - because I've seen some of the panic in assorted places.

The org and AO3 are fine. Ove 500 committed volunteers are working hard to keep them that way.
The staff and volunteers are fine - a bit shell-shocked but we've been partying.
The newly elected Board members are fine. Ultra-busy but fine, with lots of support.

(This was a result beyond our wildest dreams. All sorts of hopes can now be realised and most of us are giddy with delight.)

Your works on AO3 are safe. The ones imported by Open Doors are safe.
Your information in Fanlore is safe.
Your access to TWC is safe and so are your submissions.
Your reliance on defence by Legal against copyright take-downs etc. is safe.

We don't have all the details and new plans yet. How could we? We didn't expect this.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the entire current Board of OTW just resigned effective 15th December, leaving Matty and Atiya, the newly elected members who take office on 1st December in glorious isolation. They are extremely competent and completely trustworthy. All is well.

(This replaces today's planned post. Normal service will resume tomorrow. )
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moths_lace

In remembrance: Paris - November 2015

I am taking a day's 'hiatus' on posting about myself, my adventures and my writing, to share my feelings about the horrors of Friday night. j_flattermann inspired me with her beautiful post but hers is f'locked whereas I shall, for once, leave mine public.




Manchester Town Hall wore the Tricolore last night to show solidarity with Paris.

My love and grief and thoughts go out to all the victims and their families, and the unharmed witnesses at the scene and throughout France who must be so shocked. And there were yet more atrocities in Lebanon leaving distraught and bereaved people.

We - the world of sane people who value humanity and democracy, however flawed those might sometimes be - must not let these vicious terrorists win. They are not representative of Islam, or indeed of anything except their own distorted political views. They are international criminals and should be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, we must stand with Paris and Beirut, and let their citizens know they are not alone.
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cats_reading

OTW/AO3 elections - how and when to vote

The OTW Board elections are, as you know by now, an issue that is important to me. If you read or upload fanwork on AO3 they should be important to you, too.

The candidates have all answered loads of questions, here:
http://elections.transformativeworks.org/node/512 (follow the links)
and contributed to chats, transcripts of which can be seen at:
http://elections.transformativeworks.org/

There are also links to the candidate bios. Andrea is a current Board member who is up for re-election and the other candidates are standing for election for the first time. There are two seats available.

The actual voting opens on Friday 6th and closes on Monday 9th (at some US time but I get easily confused by time zones so I'll leave you to work out for yourselves what that means for you).

If you donated within the right time frame you should by now have had an email telling you that you are eligible to vote and you will get another when voting opens giving instructions.

One of our staffers designed a helpful guide to the voting process.





When she drew this there were still eight candidates. Two have now withdrawn. I don't really think it matters what order you rank the candidates in - make your own minds up by reading the chat transcripts etc. But remember:

*you do not need to rank all candidates

* a lot of staff and volunteers are desperate to have 'new blood' on the Board.

As with any election, if you have a vote, please use it. That's how democracy works! And feel free - even encouraged - to share this post, reblog it, whatever.
  • Current Location: Manchester UK
  • Current Mood: hopeful hopeful
  • Current Music: Planet Rock
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