firecat

mjlayman passed away on February 22. Here's a link to what little I know.
http://tenuousnet.myfastforum.org/forum2.php

I didn't know her well, but I admired the heck out of her for her handwork talent, her determination in the face of a heap of medical issues, her love of science fiction and support of the SF community, and her stories about her cats.

If I believed in an afterlife I would imagine her in a heaven where she has all the time she wants to catch up on her reading, and all her cats on her lap.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/793914.html

I really appreciate everyone's condolences about Biscuit. I'm fortunate that the people in my life understand it's hard to lose a pet.

( cut for sad )

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/773363.html

( cut for sad )
Hug your human and animal loved ones for me. Heck, hug your plants too.
( a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye )

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/773096.html

A story of Ray Bradbury's that has always haunted me, and one that seems appropriate for the occasion, is "There Will Come Soft Rains" from The Martian Chronicles. Wikipedia links to a PDF version of the story.

His book on writing, Zen in the Art of Writing is also superb.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/768650.html

I was a Mac fan from the very beginning and got my first Mac in the winter of 1984. I got a job at Apple in 1988, during the Sculley years, and moved out to California. I worked for Apple full-time, then as a contractor, then part-time until shortly after the introduction of the iMac. I overlapped with Jobs for only a few years and never met him. But Apple and Jobs have been very important in my life, and somehow the world seems different when I think that he's no longer alive.

http://xkcd.com/961/

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/737273.html

Heather MacAllister's notes for her keynote address to the NOLOSE conference in September 2006:

http://nolose.org/06/hm_keynote.php

These are notes so there are parts where the flow breaks into "still-to-do" lists and there's some repetition.

This is relevant beyond the fat dyke community. It talks about history and intergenerational communication and love of community and the meaning and possibility of gatherings and sexuality and appearance and social competitiveness and inclusivity and discrimination and health care and risk taking and identity politics and includes a very interesting act of verbing.

Below is one of my favorite John M. Ford writings, not that I actually understand all of it, but that is true of me with respect to most John M. Ford writings. (You can get this one on a poster at http://www.cafepress.com/speceng - several other of his poems are also available in various forms there).

( Cosmology: A User's Manual, by John M. Ford )

Here is a moving memorial post from his partner