A laugh riot that was posted in Making Light in 2005, but I just found it thanks to

moominmuppet

Things I’ve learned from British folk ballads by Jim Macdonald (and many commenters)

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/749569.html

Browser Ponies! (Requires Javascript)

And while I'm at it:
The return of the Flying Toasters

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/749508.html

Originally posted by

kate_nepveu at announcing 2012 Con or Bust auction

I am pleased to announce this year's auction to support Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF conventions. Bidding starts Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST (GMT -5) and ends Sunday, February 25, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. You may post auction offers and make donations now.

For more details, please see these updated posts explaining how to:

As a reminder, Con or Bust is now helping fans attend all cons of their own choosing, not just WisCon as in the past. (Requests for assistance to attend cons in April, May, and June 2012 will be taken from February 15 through 25; see the "request assistance" link for more details.) Because the demand for assistance is greater than before, please spread the word widely!

More information about Con or Bust.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/748149.html

I was delighted to discover that the moderators of the excellent LJ community

50books_poc, for reviews of books by people of color, have created a sister community on Dreamwidth:

50books_poc

The announcement is here along with a request for input on how people want the two communities to interact: http://50books-poc.dreamwidth.org/374.html

Glass octopus sculptures

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/745749.html

I have been looking at this web page for the past several days and I have to stop myself from licking the screen.

http://www.madagascarminerals.com/cat-labradorites.cfm

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/743987.html

I volunteer for Peninsula Humane Society, which has built a spiffy new center at 1450 Rollins Rd., Burlingame, CA

Here are some services that PHS offers at the new center:

Microchip Mondays --$20 microchip for dogs and cats, no appointment needed.
Group Tours -- M-F, 10:30 am- 5:30 pm. Contact Scott Delucchi at 650/685-8510 or delucchi@PHS-SPCA.org
Kids' B-Day Parties for ages 6-12, Sundays, beginning soon. Contact Katy Schwarz at 650/340-7022, ext. 308 or kschwarz@PHS-SPCA.org.
Meeting Space for Local Groups and Companies. Hold your next meeting, team-builder or brainstormer at our Lantos Center, Mondays and Fridays, 2-5 pm. Meeting space looks directly into a cat condo! Suggested donation of $100. Contact Scott Delucchi at 650/685-8510 or delucchi@PHS-SPCA.org.
Furchandise Retail Store. Proceeds benefit shelter animals.
40-45 cats and kittens available for adoption.
Watch staff and volunteers working with shelter dogs in our Dog Training/Exercise Park with a retractable roof and water fountain.

In addition:

Wing for rabbits, small animals, birds and non-traditional pets
Viewing windows for the public to observe our Kitten Nursery and Wildlife Treatment
Dog obedience classes

Here are services still offered at the PHS center at Coyote Point:

Owners looking for lost pets
Owners surrendering unwanted pets
Spay/Neuter Clinic and vaccination clinics

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/740339.html

My Dad has participated in this intermediate-level piano ensemble class for over a year and he loves it. The ensemble has been active for a number of years. They need to recruit a few new members for the next session (12/9 through 3/10) so he asked me to pass the word.

If you know anyone who might be interested, or any mailing list or web forum that might welcome information about the class, please pass it on.

If you want my Dad's e-mail address to make further inquiries, let me know.

Play Piano? Read Music?

Have some fun! Join a unique East Bay Area Piano Ensemble!

The San Lorenzo Adult School Piano Ensemble warmly invites intermediate and advanced pianists to join us.

The class meets Thursdays, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, at
San Lorenzo Adult School
http://adult-slzusd-ca.schoolloop.com/
820 Bockman Rd., San Lorenzo CA 94580 (there is an A.C. Transit stop across the street)
Room 16 near rear parking lot.

The room has about 20 upright pianos. We play mainly classical orchestral music transcribed for 2 pianos, 8 hands, but each member of this very compatible group sits at his/her own piano.

If you would like to play in an ensemble, or if your main instrument is not piano but you want some piano experience, come join us! You do Not have to be an expert sight reader to enjoy this group but we guarantee to advance your reading skill.

Call Don Jones at 650-685-8208 for queries or info.

Sign up by WEDNESDAY 12/1/10 through the Adult School Office 510-317-4200 or at our session on Thursday, Nov. 18th. Tuition is $100.00 for 12 weekly sessions from 12/9/10 through 3/10/11.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/693037.html

This looks like an interesting book:

Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, with N.K. Jemisin, Amal El-Mohtar, Sara M. Harvey, Mike Allen, Shweta Narayan, Meredith Holmes, Georgina Bruce and Matt Kressel

Preorders of the print book available at Torquere Press' bookstore.

http://upstart-crow.livejournal.com/427179.html

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/691368.html

This list by John Scalzi is a good start for understanding what it means to have privilege. Quite a few of the comments are good too (as of right now there are 155 comments).

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/10/18/things-i-dont-have-to-think-about-today/

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/689260.html

Really interesting article/book review investigating reasons for procrastination.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/10/11/101011crbo_books_surowiecki?currentPage=all

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/688295.html

The .doc File of J. Alfred Prufrock.

http://copperbadge.dreamwidth.org/305346.html

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/686906.html

The following is excellent collection of quotes criticizing the concept that trans people need to "disclose" their gender history to people they are dating or thinking of dating.

http://dglenn.dreamwidth.org/1722095.html

(Hm, I need a gender icon.)

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/683239.html

A classical singer (and voice teacher) analyzes classic male metal singers:

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2010/07/ask-a-real-musician-5-classic-male-metal-singers/

via

onyxlynx

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/682291.html

I was just treated to a really good dinner at the Madison Concourse restaurant, Dayton Street Grill. The restaurant has a new chef since the last time I was at Wiscon (and according to my dinner companion, since last year). It's definitely more than "a convenient hotel restaurant" now, at least for dinner.

They serve three sauces, out of a list of twenty, with each entree. You can either pick your own sauces or they will recommend some. I went with their recommended sauces for the short ribs, and was happy. Not only did the sauces add something to the ribs (which were very tender and came with their own sauce, which was also tasty), but the ribs were served with a risotto I actually liked. (I almost never like risotto...something about the texture.)

Tonight they were also serving some specials, which are supposedly previews of what will be on the menu later this year. One of the specials was "Cheese bread." I'll just say that it's not what it sounds like, and it's superb.

Awesome summary of what one white person has learned in conversations about race.

http://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/313918.html

This is awesome.

http://www.food-for-thought-pyramid.com/

Designed as a tongue in cheek response to and criticism of the FDA’s Food Guide Pyramid, the “Food for Thought” Pyramid offers an alternative approach to enhancing your health. The “Food for Thought” Pyramid will help you become more conscious of the bigger picture of your health.

http://www.food-for-thought-pyramid.com/articles/pyramidsample.pdf

You can buy it as a poster.

The little user icon is cute! Sort of like a standing stone with a head. Or an androgynous Venus of Willendorf.

firecat

The Kiva microloan charity organization lets individuals lend money to individuals or small groups in areas like Africa and Asia via the Internet. You don't get interest on the loan, but it is repaid to you, and you can either lend it out again or withdraw it.

Kiva initially repaid lenders at the end of the loan term (typically 10 months to 18 months), but they've just changed their policy so that they repay lenders each time the loan recipient pays an installment (typically once a month). So you can get your money back faster.

I just went online to lend out my accumulated "Kiva credit." A lot of other people were doing the same thing, presumably because of this change in policy. I was refreshing the pages of several loan requests and watching the "amount still needed" drop every minute.

It is cool to watch people trying to help other people.

My lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/firecatstef

Get yourself a free copy of the new 'zine Big Bums here:
http://obesitytimebomb.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-bums.html

Highlights:
Heads drawn back onto headless fatty photos
Positive Fattributes comic
Obesity Epidemic random story generator
Make your own Ticking Time Bomb of Obesity costume

....go to http://www.bethelstreetgallery.com/index_flash.html, click artists, click Chris Campbell, and enjoy.

Since I like all four, I'm enjoying a lot. Some of my favorites: "Summer Heat," "Cat Fight," "Floating Flower"

(via BBW Art: The Broad Band http://francesca.net/broadband.html via

liveavatar)

http://www.colossalclothing.com/aa.html

Colossal Clothing is proud to be affiliated with American Apparel, the largest and finest clothing maker in North America. All of our garments are made under special arrangement in the American Apparel sweatshop-free facilities, utilizing fair labor practices.

They offer T-shirts, tank tops, polo shirts, hoodies, and jackets to men's size 5XL. They have photos of most sizes on a model of that size.

Bacon brittle

Bacon baklava

I would make them, but bacon has a tendency to go from the draining and cooling stage directly into my mouth.

Baaaaby fruit bats!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=495789&in_page_id=1770

http://www.shakesville.com/2007/07/like-a-hole-in-the-head/
excerpt:

Thorn and I have become so outraged by all the stories we’re hearing about fat people’s encounters with asshole health professionals, we’ve decided to start a blog devoted to collecting them all in one place.

if you have a story to share ... please send it to fathealth@gmail.com.

Here's a roundup of some of the stories that people submitted. It has a link to the original post that inspired all the comments (which is heartbreaking).

http://www.shakesville.com/2007/07/first-do-no-harm/

I pass on (from

kyubi, who has the good fortune to look at these things as part of her line of work) the blog http://www.kittyhell.com/

The first entry at the moment is for the "Hello Kitty Etch-A-Sketch Purse."

The author of this blog taunts his ambivalent readers by refusing to reveal where to buy the products he blogs about.

via http://harrietbrown.blogspot.com/2007/07/take-love-your-body-pledge.html
via

serenejournal and

sistercoyote

I, your name here, pledge to speak kindly about my body.

I promise not to talk about how fat my thighs or stomach or butt are, or about how I really have to lose 5 or 15 or 50 pounds. I promise not to call myself a fat pig, gross, or any other self-loathing, trash-talking phrase.

I vow to be kind to myself and my body. I will learn to be grateful for its strength and attractiveness, and be compassionate toward its failings.

I will remind myself that bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and that no matter what shape and size my body is, it’s worthy of kindness, compassion, and love.

The point of this pledge is to "change the way girls and women talk to themselves and others about their bodies." I like that. I'm all for changing how body-hatred talk becomes an automatic bonding ritual among women that IMO ends up damaging our self-esteem and reinforcing a negative tendency to view our bodies as tools and vehicles to be manipulated instead of, well, us.

I certain am happy to pledge that I won't "call myself a fat pig, gross, or any other self-loathing, trash-talking phrase," except in mockery of such phrases or as a way of describing an inner landscape I don't agree with and want to change.

The part I won't promise is not to talk about how fat my thighs or stomach or butt are. Because promising that in the context of a promise not to talk trash about my body implies that I'm broken if I have fat thighs or stomach or butt. And I don't agree with that. My thighs and stomach and butt are fat, and there's nothing broken about any of them.

I really liked today's Cute Overload photo of a cream tabby kitten. Here are lots lots more: http://www.tigers-deluxe.de/

mood cute cute cute cute cute cute cute

Cool!

http://bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com/375773.html

(note, contains photos of shirtless man)

The OH loves Fred Astaire movies and I generally find them irritating in one way or another, except for the dancing. But tonight's movie, Roberta, was an exception. It had great songs, several strong women characters, and even a couple of charming, non-buffoonish fat characters. It had some great geeky dialogue. It even qualifies under the Bechdel Rule.

The leading man was played by Randolph Scott, who I gather usually played in Westerns, but he was especially cute and charming in this movie - he had an open face that most of the romantic leads of the era didn't have, and a great "gee, you're swell!" gaze.

Even the OH had never heard of the movie before (it came in his Fred & Ginger collection). There are a lot of rave reviews on IMDB. We were speculating why it never became as popular as other Fred & Ginger movies. Maybe because ( spoilers )

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firecat (attention machine in need of calibration)

May 2013

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Page Summary

Learning from British folk ballads
Kawaii
Signal-boost: It's time for the Con or Bust auction!
There's now a 50books_poc community on Dreamwidth
from the DO WANT files
labradorite
(SF BAY AREA LOCALS) Signal boosting for Peninsula Humane Society
Piano Ensemble class, San Lorenzo, CA
multicultural steampunk book
John Scalzi doesn't have to think about a bunch of things.
Procrastination
Updated T.S. Eliot
(no subject)
Singing technique
Dayton Street Grille, Madison Concourse Hotel, Madison, WI
(no subject)
"Food for Thought" Pyramid
Aww!
Kiva microloan charity
One for the fat activists
If you like cats, sumo wrestlers, hawaii themes, and/or bbws
Huh.
Because I have friends who think bacon goes with everything
Hey jodawi
new fat health blog - pass it on
Since I do claim to be ambivalent about Hello Kitty...
Speak well of your body
cute overload overload
Diabetes art
fred & ginger

Active Entries

1: somewhat weekly reading meme
2: somewhat weekly reading meme
3: blaming the victim
4: In which firecat is angry about injustice
5: Paradigms of practicing medicine
6: (no subject)
7: mid-week reading meme
8: debtors' prison in the US

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firecat

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