piranha | Network

I APOLOGIZE FOR ALL 4,000 WORDS OF THIS. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS!

( Spoilers )

Hahaha, did you think I was kidding about the 4,000 words? OMFG I can't believe I wrote all that?! But like, this show! Holy crap. I remember watching the first episode a billion months ago and having so much hope, and yet I never expected it could be THIS GOOD. I am seriously tearful with how wonderful this show has been for me! Right now I can't even be sad that the season has ended, I am just so satisfied with this finale!!!

I see EVERYONE has made a post about these two episodes, and I will definitely check them out, but right now I'm going outside to get some sun.

slacktivist_feed

Posted by Fred Clark

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/05/18/10-years-ago-the-most-critical-time-in-the-history-of-the-world/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=15404

May 18, 2003, on this blog: The Most Critical Time in the History of the World

A while back, Josh Marshall posted a nasty little piece of hate mail he received … that illustrated this point.

It’s the typical supercilious undergrad tone — the kind of thing written by people who want to be Ben Shapiro when they grow small. But one sentence in particular (and yes, this is all one sentence, if not quite one thought) stood out:

This may be the most critical time in the history of the modern world much less of our country; and it is my fervent hope that the American People will remember and appropriately reward those, like you, who have chosen to use this opportunity to forward a political cause, and not incidentally their own careers, by attempting to sabotage an honorable effort to make the world a safer, better place.

You have to love the uppercase “American People” — and I’m guessing this guy never expresses a hope without it being “fervent.” But the important part here is the section in bold — that ours is “the most critical time in … history.”

Like many people who blindly support[ed] this war — including perhaps many in the White House and the Pentagon — the writer is desperate for his life to have some greater meaning or purpose than it apparently does. He hasn’t quite managed to stare into the abyss, but he’s taken a quick glance in its direction and seen something deep and dark and frightening that he doesn’t quite know how to deal with.

“All flesh is grass,” the prophet Isaiah said, and “the grass withereth.” This guy, understandably, doth not want to wither. He wants his life to matter, to mean something. He wants to be remembered after he is gone.

He has given this war a metaphysical, religious significance. For him, the war isn’t about oil, or “liberating” Iraq, or overthrowing an evil dictator. It’s grander than that — grander even than the dreams of empire that seem to be motivating Cheney, Perle and Wolfowitz. This war is an attempt to give his life meaning by turning our times into “the most critical time in the history of the modern world.” If our times are meaningful, he hopes (fervently), then our lives must also be meaningful.

The writer gives his life meaning by taking a part in this great, epochal, transcendent struggle.

And note how easy, how undemanding of sacrifice, it is for him to play a role in this epochal, historic event. All he has to do is watch Fox News and fire-off the occasional sophomoric e-mail — maybe even wave a flag, attend a corporate-radio rally, or rename some snack food.

This letter-bomber is not the only one narcotizing his existential crisis with an enthusiasm for “shock and awe.” This is widespread — it’s one of the reasons it is nearly impossible to have a civil conversation with our fellow Americans who believe — or want to believe, or need to believe — Bush’s baseless arguments for capricious war.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/05/18/10-years-ago-the-most-critical-time-in-the-history-of-the-world/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=15404

friendlyatheist_feed

Posted by Hemant Mehta

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/18/these-christian-kids-think-theyre-being-persecuted-now-watch-them-get-called-out-on-it/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/?p=83138

A group called Reach America released a video last month called “The Thaw” — because “Christianity is being ‘frozen’ out of the… public square” and it’s time to fix it! — in which young Christians talk about how they are being persecuted for their faith:

Their questions are completely absurd (“Why can’t I pray in school?” “Why do they teach every other theory in science except Creation?”) and I was tempted to refute them…

But then I saw that Dusty had done it already far better than I could. Plus, his response channeled my inner monologue exactly… plus or minus 32943294 swear words:

Dusty, be my friend. I like you.

(Thanks to Ed for the link!)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/18/these-christian-kids-think-theyre-being-persecuted-now-watch-them-get-called-out-on-it/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/?p=83138

3quarks_feed

Posted by Jim Culleny

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/3quarksdaily/~3/eXWToa5DFD8/saturday-poem-2.html

Through the Speckled Land
.
I

She won’t speak to me anymore, this place
my tongue is received with poor grace.

My roots penetrated only so far
and they wither for lack of water.

Salt was spread on the upper scraw
and ploughed through to the lower layer.

She can no longer nourish her brood,
In my own land as a stranger viewed.

II

On the road between two cities
each of which has two names,
I read the words on the signs.

I am travelling through the speckled land
and every town here has two names.

Claonadh – Clane
Cill Dara – Kildare
Baile Dháith – Littleton
Cúil an tSúdaire – Portarlington

the native name
in italic script
a biased telling of the lore of place
the native name
in the lesser script
a muted telling, in slow fade . . .

III

As I travel through the speckled land
I move from white to black
my journey is taken aslant
the way I follow is zig-zagged.
I am the knight going the long way round
to attack from behind, to try to confound
but there are castles I can’t assault
and clerics before me, proud and preening,
I can’t protect my own queen even
my road is blocked by lowly pawns.

IV

Between two hues
between two names
between two views
between two words
between two tongues
between two worlds
I live my life
between two lives.
.

by Colm Breathnach
from An Fearann Breac
publisher: Coiscéim, Dublin, 1982

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/3quarksdaily/~3/eXWToa5DFD8/saturday-poem-2.html

sraun

Happy Birthday

dduane

Current Location: home
Crossposts: http://sraun.livejournal.com/1080298.html

andrewducker

Crossposts: http://andrewducker.livejournal.com/2915699.html

friendlyatheist_feed

Posted by Hemant Mehta

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/18/atheist-literature-is-about-to-be-distributed-in-georgia-state-parks/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/?p=83146

It’s one thing to find a Bible in your hotel room since hotels are privately-owned businesses.

But why would there be one in a rented cabin at a state park?

That’s what Ed Buckner, the former American Atheists president, wanted to know after finding one at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia. It’s not that he was offended so much as he didn’t see how it was legal for a Christian book to be offered in a taxpayer-funded place.

“I think government entanglement with religion is a very dangerous thing,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “When you go into a state park cabin and the only piece of religious literature there is a Protestant Bible, that suggests the government’s endorsed that particular perspective.”

Initially, officials removed the Bibles from all the state parks — angering many Christians in the process — but this week, Governor Nathan Deal ordered those Bibles back into the rooms because he argued they were perfectly legal:

Gov. Nathan Deal

“These Bibles are donated by outside groups, not paid for by the state, and I do not believe that a Bible in a bedside table drawer constitutes a state establishment of religion,” he said. “In fact, any group is free to donate literature.”

Well, we can take issue with whether the fact that they were donated makes them legal… but did the Governor just say any group can donate literature that would appear in state-owned cabins?

Fantastic. American Atheists is on it:

“We appreciate the governor’s invitation to place atheist books in the cabins and look forward to providing visitors with the opportunity to learn more about atheism when they visit Georgia’s beautiful state parks,” said Managing Director Amanda Knief.

…

“American Atheists does not believe the State of Georgia should be placing Bibles or atheist books in state park cabins; however, if the state is going to allow such distribution, we will happily provide our materials,” said President David Silverman.

Books to be donated include “Why I Am Not A Muslim,” by Ibn Warraq, “Why I Am An Atheist” by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, “god is not Great,” by Christopher Hitchens, and “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins.

What’s Deal going to do now? Either he has to allow the distribution of atheist books in state parks, remove all religious and non-religious books from them, or brace himself for a lawsuit.

Either way, Ed did the right thing by alerting officials to this promotion of Christianity and the Governor just stuck his foot in his mouth by trying to pretend like this wasn’t Christian privilege in action.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/18/atheist-literature-is-about-to-be-distributed-in-georgia-state-parks/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/?p=83146

wyomingnot

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

spiralsheep

- Reading, books 2013: 22.

22. I done a book! \o/ (In other news: waiting rooms are boring.)

I read Selected Poems by C. Day Lewis. I usually avoid collections in which the author has been allowed to choose and arrange their own poems but Lewis' preface indicates that he understood what he was doing (although I don't know enough of his work to accurately judge whether or not he achieved his intention well). Lewis' reputation as a poet has declined with time and this volume doesn't include many poems I'd want to quote at people in their entirety but Lewis' deliberate choices of lyrical language mean there are many images and phrases that will stay with me:

"a brown mare / Drinks her reflection." From The Double Vision

"Then I turn the page / To a girl who stands like a questioning iris / By the waterside, at an age / That asks every mirror to tell what the heart's desire is." From The Album

O Dreams, O Destinations, sonnet 2, by C. Day Lewis

Children look down upon the morning-grey 
Tissue of mist that veils a valley’s lap; 
Their fingers itch to tear it and unwrap 
The flags, the roundabouts, the gala day.
 They watch the spring rise inexhaustibly -
 A breathing thread out of the eddied sand, 
Sufficient to their day: but half their mind 
Is on the sailed and glittering estuary. 
Fondly we wish their mist might never break,
 Knowing it hides so much that best were hidden: 
We’d chain them by the spring, lest it should broaden 
For them into a quicksand and a wreck. 
But they must slip through our fingers like the source, 
Like mist, like time that has flagged out their course.

"To settle like a bird, make one devoted / Gesture of permanence upon the spray / Of shaken stars and autumns;" [...] "Her home is soon a basketful of wind." From O Dreams, O Destinations sonnet 9 (You can hear Lewis read the whole sonnet sequence on youtube.

I am especially fond of his lyrics Jig and Hornpipe, and also very much appreciate what he was trying to achieve in Two Songs (and hit what he was aiming at although I think he missed a perfect bullseye because his middle class, male perspective was too skewed to see his subject with complete clarity).

It seems fitting that one of Lewis' best known and poetically most successful works, from which the epitaph on his gravestone is taken, is a lyric about love and death (written for his lover Rosamund Lehmann in 1944, when there was too much death and not nearly enough love).

Is It Far To Go?, by C. Day Lewis

Is it far to go?
 A step - no further. 
Is it hard to go?
 Ask the melting snow, 
The eddying feather.

( Full text of Is It Far To Go? )

Current Mood: Buggere all this formattinge

ysabetwordsmith

Here's a thoughtful review of Goal-Fish, a project I promoted earlier.

Current Mood: busy
Crossposts: http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2837485.html

miss_s_b

Ukip donor brands women 'hostile' for wearing trousers
Actually, if you think about the construction of the male body, they'd be a lot better off in skirts, with their nadgers roaming free and not squished into inadequate flat spaces, while women are much better suited to trousers due to the need for gusset. YAY! I can do logic too! ;)
(tags: )
Revealed: Cameron’s nudge,nudge survey to woo marginal voters | David Hencke
(tags: )
At Google Conference, Cameras Even in the Bathroom - NYTimes.com
(tags: )
Sexual squeamishness does women no favours
(tags: )

monanotlisa

So, Elementary! Eventually, iTunes delivered it – about 24 hours after the episode was aired. Screw you, people. I would qualify the "people" there, only I’m not sure whether Apple are the culprit or CBS just didn’t hand over the ep in time.*

( Elementary 1x22/23 )

* Likewise file under Huh? with regard to this Elementary experience: A middle-aged dude next to me on the sofa at Shutters on the Beach tried to hit on me by grinning excessively and bending forward in a rather...forward manner to ask me what it was that I was watching so intently, whether it was that movie (the name of which I have already forgotten). I had to turn 90 degrees and take my headphones out to answer his question. That said, I was German – read: blunt and unimpressed – enough that he backed off, literally. Did he really expect this young lady would relish the chance to talk to his less than inspiring and much older self? Probably. But while privilege -- read: money and societal status – can get you a lot of things a lot of the time, it can't pry me away from Lucy Liu's freckles and Joan Watson's delightful cases.

Crossposts: http://monanotlisa.livejournal.com/1406221.html

tree in

fucking_meds

dear avanza (mirtazapine),

it's not that i don't appreciate the improvement in my mood and the way you've taken the edge off my sensory defensiveness, or that you sedate me much less heavily than seroquel. it's not that i'm not happy to have escaped the seemingly ubiquitous side-effect of extreme carbohydrate craving. it's not even the dry mouth, although that is definitely unpleasant and i could do without it. tori amos lyrics aren't meant to be taken literally, you know.

it's just... vaginal dryness? really? that's not even on the list of side effects at crazy meds. i am not a happy camper.

and if the yeast infection you've brought on recurs, we're probably going to have to break up. i'd rather it didn't come to that, so please behave yourself.

love,
tree

(mods, we don't have tags for side effect: dry [anything])

little_dee_feed

Posted by christopher

http://www.littledee.net/?p=3813

Our floorboards creak right as you step from the living room into the “middle-room.” I imagine if I was home alone and the lights were out I would not like that creak.

http://www.littledee.net/?p=3813

lilly_c in

writethisfanfic

Morning everyone, hope the last couple of days have good for you. Sorry I missed yesterday's post, I had a double shift and crashed out when I finally got home.

No new words for me yet but I'm not too fussed about that at the moment because I have a few pages to type up when I have a spare hour.

Poll #13454

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Snippets day. Feel free to share a wee snippet of something you've been working on. Tell us what is working, what isn't working. Ask for a beta if you need one. Chat amongst yourselves if you want to.

ysabetwordsmith

This story is a sequel to "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," and "Birthday Girl."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS, Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mind control. Inferences of past child abuse and other torture. Current environment is supportive.
Summary: A mission in Russia introduces the Avengers to the Winter Soldier. Steve wants Bucky back and will stop at nothing to make that happen. Everyone else helps however they can.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Sibling relationships. Fix-it. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. BAMF!Avengers. Vulgar language. Drama. Rescue. Hurt/Comfort. Emotional whump. Survivor guilt. Friendship. Confusion. Mind control. Memory loss. Slow recovery. Nick Fury makes stupid-ass decisions. Fear of loss. Fluff. Nonsexual ageplay. Making up for lost time. Tony Stark has a heart. Games. Trust issues. Safety and security. Howard Stark's A+ parenting. Obadiah Stane's A+ parenting. Food issues. Multiplicity/Plurality. Sleep issues. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Yoga. Personal growth. Family of choice. ALL THE FEELS. #coulsonlives.

Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

elliemurasaki in

queer_fest

Title: Love Is Such A Crazy Thing
Author:

elliemurasaki
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/characters: Sam/Jess, past Sam/Brady
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Any fandom, any character, queer people are queer all the time, not just when they're having sex. Not everything we do and say is about our orientation, but it does color a great deal of our interactions. Just give me a fic about someone being queer in every day life, and what that means for them... and what it doesn't.
Warnings: Canonical character death. Sexist language.
Summary: The homosexual agenda: spend time with family, be treated equally, buy milk.

DW or AO3

elliemurasaki

Title: Love Is Such A Crazy Thing
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The homosexual agenda: spend time with family, be treated equally, buy milk. Written for

queer_fest.
Pairings: Sam/Jess, past Sam/Brady.
Warnings: Canonical character death. Sexist language.
Word Count: 1300

( is it love for real? )

ironed_orchid

To celebrate caturday I cleaned the litter boxes and let the kittens explore outside.

( 10 photos of tabby kittens exploring a somewhat neglected courtyard )

boosette

MCU dinosaur story is a go. I will need a beta for Queens, NY NY, tho. ->

via boosette.com/blog

Crossposts: http://boosette.livejournal.com/1383363.html

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Elementary 1x23 "The Woman" & 1x24 "Herione"

10 years ago: The Most Critical Time in the History of the World

These Christian Kids Think They’re Being Persecuted… Now Watch Them Get Called Out On It

Saturday Poem

(no subject)

Interesting Links for 18-05-2013

Atheist Literature Is About to Be Distributed in Georgia State Parks

mixed bag.

In which there is Selected Poems by C. Day Lewis

Review of Goal-Fish

The Blood is The Life 18-05-2013

Elementary, my dear Watson

got a desert in my mouth

05/18/13 – Special Effects

Check in: day 18 Saturday

Story: "No Winter Lasts Forever" (Part 8)

Love Is Such A Crazy Thing (Supernatural)

Love Is Such A Crazy Thing

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