HSU IT Department

A group of technical folk from Silicon Valley have initiated a pledge called 'Never again', by which they state their refusal to create or contribute to databases that would be used to oppress and exclude.

This makes me happy.

The full text is posted online, but here is an excerpt:

We, the undersigned, are employees of tech organizations and companies based in the United States. We are engineers, designers, business executives, and others whose jobs include managing or processing data about people. We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies. We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable...

"The Star Wars universe is going on 40-years-old these days, but apparently the alt-right just now got the memo that the franchise’s universe is multi-cultural..."

Yup. The poor wittle Trumpflakes are apparently all miffed about Rogue One because it's, er, "anti-white" or something.

So they've invented a #DumpStarWars hashtag -- which was promptly, and humorously, co-opted by Star Wars fans and people with, y'know, an actual sense of proportion, with tweets like these:





Seriously, what is wrong with these people??

My gift has posted over at sshg_giftfest, and it is stellar. I don't know who the Mystery Author is (though I have a suspicion), but they've got a magic quill, whoever they are. Run, do not walk, to this delightful tale of a novel come to life and a bit of Christmas cheer which totally made my night :)

A Gifting of Book Wyrms

Hillary Clinton lost and Leonard Cohen died. Saturday Night Live managed to combine acknowledgement of both in an unusually sober and remarkably beautiful opening to their show on Nov 12th. Lovely.


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If you like yogurt, and if your store carries a brand from New York called Chobani, please consider buying it.

The owner is a Turkish immigrant, Mr. Ulukaya. He bought a defunct yogurt factory in central New York a few years back, revived it using a yogurt recipe from his homeland, and it's now a billion-dollar business with a second location in Twin Falls, ID. He's instituted profit sharing for his employees, gives paid paternity leave, has created more than 2,000 jobs, and keeps dozens of New York dairy farmers in business because he buys as much milk as they can produce. He actively employs legal immigrants who have been resettled in the area, recently founded the Tent Foundation which works to help immigrants find work (so, y'know, they can pay taxes!), and spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on how corporations can help with the refugee crisis.

So: A hardworking immigrant achieves the American Dream, creates thousands of jobs, treats his employees generously, does his bit to help solve a serious world crisis, and is "walking the walk" about turning immigrants into productive tax-paying citizens. Sounds like the right wing's dream guy, right?

Nope. Breitbart and others in the far-right conspiracy-sphere are spreading lies about the company, suggesting a boycott of the product, and encouraging death threats against Mr. Ulukaya personally.

I'm really starting to believe that there is a small but loud segment of the far right that is quite literally insane.

God I can't wait for this election to be over. Every single particle of it has depressed me unutterably.

Ah, cozy mysteries -- those wonderful oh-so-English mysteries, where tea and toast are sipped and nibbled, there's a cameo by a vicar, and the corpses are as neat and tidy as the gardens. Such fun to read and so satisfying, since the guilty party is generally someone who richly deserves being caught and convicted.

Ah, but have you ever written one? If so, now's your chance to get published! Minotaur Books is holding a best first mystery competition. Hop on over and give it a shot.

(Note: If I didn't know better, I'd suspect shiv5468 of having authored that book shown on the left under a nom de plume, because hey, peacocks!)

My quadruplet of Hogwarts-House octopods, made by the talented drinkingcocoa, protecting our incredibly valuable and constantly growing accumulation of wine corks. Note how the Slytherin one is pointedly ignoring the Gryffindor behind it, while the Ravenclaw appears typically deep in thought. And of course the loyal little Hufflepuff is wondering why, with all that wine, everyone can't just get along and be happy :)

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Tor is opening to fantasy novella submissions set in worlds not modeled on European cultures, starting October 12th. They will be open for 3 months.

"...Tor.com will only be considering novellas of between 20,000 and 40,000 words that fit the epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, high fantasy, or quest fantasy genres, whether set on Earth or on an original fantasy world. However, we will only be considering novellas that inhabit worlds that are not modeled on European cultures. We are seeking worlds that take their influences from African, Asian, indigenous American, or Pacific cultures, or any diasporic culture from one of those sources. To qualify, novellas should center the experiences of characters from non-European-inspired cultures...." [emphasis theirs, not mine]

Read more ===>

So I've started roughing out various ideas for my sshg_giftfest recipient, thinking about the different prompts, how they might be fleshed out, where they might go, how I can work in various elements. And I'm in so much trouble. Because I want to write All The Things. In fact multiple versions of All The Things. Seriously, I have at least seven different stories that are all tugging at my sleeve and whining, "Write me!" "No, write me!!" "Shut up, she's going to write ME!!"

This is a good thing, right? Right??