Date: 31 Jul 2020 19:17 Subject: PSA: I'm not tracking you Security: Public

I've turned off the so-called Your Guests feature; I'll never know you've been here unless you choose to leave a comment.

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Date: 02 Dec 2009 09:24 Subject: Ephemera Security: Public

Bess Lomax Hawes (yes, the daughter and sister of those Lomaxes) was a folklorist, a folksinger who performed with Woody Guthrie, and a teacher. Those, she considered, were her important achievements.

In 1949 the Progressive Party was brainstorming how to advance their candidate, Walter A. O'Brian, for Mayor of Boston. They noticed that the Metropolitan Transit Authority had recently raised subway fares. The Progressive Party promised to roll back the nickel increase and asked Bess Lomax Hawes and Jacqueline Steiner to write a campaign song.

I think you know where this is going. The team wrote "Charlie on the MTA", a folksong about a man doomed to travel forever on the subway for the lack of a nickel. The Progressive candidate lost; the song, presumably, had served its purpose and was dead. However, the song had a catchy tune and a funny story; it was hard to let go of. It was recorded by Will Holt, but buyers said "We're not advancing a Communist candidate!" and that was that.

In 1959, the Kingston Trio turned Walter O'Brian into the imaginary Charlie George O'Brian, and the song became a nationwide hit. If you're an American over, say, 45, you've probably heard it, sung it at summer camp, or been bombarded with your parents' or Classic Pop's copies of the Kingston Trio recording.

In 2004 the MTA introduced its new automated payment card. They called it the CharlieCard.

Bess Lomax Hawes: may her works, all of them, praise her in the Gates.

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Date: 30 Nov 2009 16:59 Subject: How not to win Jonquil's heart Security: Public Location: in a shoe

Me:  Did you pull the books to the edge, or are they double-shelved?
Cleaner:  To the edge.
Me:  My parents swear by double-shelving, the first row on their faces, the second row standing up, so you can see both of them.
Cleaner:  Oh.  That's interesting.  This sort of thing usually skips a generation.
Me, suddenly defensive:  It's not hoarding if you read them over and over!  And we do!
Cleaner: 

Oddly enough, if "this sort of thing" is "reading a lot of books", I'm quite pleased it hasn't skipped a generation, either before me or after.  I do hoard fabric, although I'm working on it.  Books, I don't keep unless either they'd be difficult to replace or  I'm using them, and I use them quite a lot.

The day was *not* enhanced by a misunderstanding between my son and myself as to when the former was going to hide the kitten in his room, leading to a frantic half-hour searching to see if Jareth  had gotten outside.  At the end of which, of course, we discovered that like any sensible cat in a time of stress, he had hidden someplace *he* considered safe and then refused to come when called.  (In this particular case, the place he considered safe was inside a mat that was folded into a triangular prism, which proved quite efficacious in his pursuit of Not Being Seen.)

I am exhausted.  I am also sitting on the floor beside my bed.  You have no idea -- well, most of you have a very good idea based on analogy -- how heroic an achievement this is.
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 09:38 Subject: Happy birthday, legionseagle! Security: Public

 And thanks for all the well-informed snark over the years.

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Date: 30 Nov 2009 09:22 Subject: Why am I surprised? Security: Public Mood: mystified

 For no particularly good reason, I spent the weekend surfing the Irish clerical child abuse scandal, the related Christian Brothers scandal, and the Legionaries of Christ/Father Maciel scandal.   All of these involved abuse of children; the Legionaries of Christ also involved misuse of funds and cult techniques, including a vow not to speak ill of your superiors.

I am not, never have been, never intend to be, a Catholic.  Nonetheless, when the first abuse scandal broke in Boston, I was genuinely shocked, and the shock hasn't gone away with each subsequent disclosure.  The Church has, in multiple cases, primarily been concerned with protecting itself from scandal, and has subverted justice to do so.  There is citation after citation in the cases I named of the Church, in the person of its bishops, archbishops, and sometimes of Rome, choosing not to pursue people who are doing evil under the cloak of and using the authority of the Church*.  

This shocked me in a way that similar scandals in, for instance,. the Southern Baptists and various other Protestant denominations did not.  There's no good reason for this shock.  Large institutions protect themselves, especially over time as they become well-established.  This is true for corporations, why shouldn't it be true for churches?  (And note that, as in large corporations, there are always whistle-blowers and there are always decent people, quietly doing what they see as right.)

But somehow I saw the Roman Catholic church as particularly holy, as particularly immune to doing evil to protect itself.  I cannot figure out why, most especially considering past histories of corruption.

*  I am referring particularly to these particular scandals here.  I am well aware that the Church also does good in various ways. 
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Date: 28 Nov 2009 10:25 Subject: Miscellany Security: Public

In the "it's always something" department, the appraiser for the refinancing called yesterday announcing that he would be by Tuesday to appraise the house. I had counted on a couple of weeks' delay; apparently this refinancer moves fast. That means that the rest of the holiday weekend, plus an emergency visit from Clutterboy Monday, will be spent making the inside of the house presentable. AIEEE! Thank God Clutterboy had the time available.

Am following the Irish priest-sexual-abuse scandal. It's following what is by now the established pattern, with the hierarchy resisting any investigation as long as possible, then doing what they are forced to do, then announcing that they're sorry, but they won't do it again, so there's really no need for any more investigation. (There have been only two limited-scope investigations, none covering the entire country.) Furthermore as usual, the Vatican has refused to comment; they wouldn't cooperate with the commission's request for information unless it came through diplomatic channels, and the commission refused to go through diplomatic channels because it was "an independent body", making a nice little knot. The Irish Times called my attention to a refinement of which I was not aware, the "mental reservation". I'd be curious to know if the Times is accurately reporting the practice; the canonical (sic) example is of a priest who doesn't want to deal with a parishioner directing the curate to say that "the priest is not at home", with the mental reservation of "to you". Here's a specific case cited by the Times.

A spokesman for the archdiocese put it like this “we never said we co-operated fully”, placing emphasis on the word “fully”, the report commented.

Is anybody on the flist familiar with canon law? Does everybody get to make mental reservations, or just priests? It would seem to offer wide scope: "I didn't steal the communion chalice", with the additional "On Tuesday."

Finally, the New York Times has a somewhat cooler-than-thou ("Does anyone really feel the need to hear “Happy Together” again?" Well, I do) review of a PBS fund-raiser, a compilation of  Ed Sullivan rock performances. The review has a great peroration, though.


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Date: 27 Nov 2009 11:32 Subject: I did what I could Security: Public

I have continued, bit by bit, to tackle the hard overdue stuff that keeps the household moving forward. I may not be great or even competent at picking up that sock on the floor, but I do take responsibility for negotiating with the insurance company, compiling paperwork, and making appointments.

• Last week, in the middle of a migraine bout, I tried to fix the TiVo unsuccessfully. Monday I mailed the Weaknees people to find out how to return the replacement parts for credit. The Weaknees people said "Oh, if that's the one with the lifetime subscription, if you mail it back we'll waive the restocking fee and recycle the parts." "Recycle" meaning, in human language, "Resell the repaired machine." I thought it over and mailed back, "If you'll cover the additional postage, it's a deal"; a TiVo series 2 weighs 8 pounds. The CS person said "I think we can do that," and mailed me a paid return label. I negotiated! It was scary, and I did it, and it worked! (Assertive people may now feel free to laugh at me.)

   

• Monday I tackled the most urgent overdue task, refinancing the interest-only 5-year variable rate loan into a conventional 30-year fixed-rate. I checked the company bulletin boards for refinancers other people had used, then checked three Websites and contacted two of the people recommended by the company. The best rate I could find for a jumbo conforming loan was 5.125% with $3200 closing costs; I agreed to begin filling out the paperwork.

 

Tuesday the phone rang; the second refinancer had tracked me down using caller ID. She said excitedly that her lender was trying to reach 70% market share (!!!! Now that's a prudent long-range strategy) and was offering 4.875% with no points. The second refinancer, furthermore, charges no closing costs -- she pays them herself. (No, they aren't rolled back into the principal; my assumption is that she simply does a high-volume business.) Having done a teeny-tiny bit of shopping paid off in a quarter point lower interest rate and a $3200 savings. There may well be an even better deal out there somewhere, but this one is quite good enough for me.


Wednesday my husband and I rustled up all the supporting documents  -- interestingly, all we had to provide was proof of income in various forms; they will presumably research for themselves that we own the house in question -- and turned them in. The refinancer said cheerfully that she probably wouldn't call back unless something went wrong, but that assuming our credit rating was over 740 we should be good. This lack of handholding was something various people on the internal bulletin boards had complained about, but it's absolutely fine by me. Given that she has a track record of delivering, I'm happy to let her go perform her magic undisturbed; indeed, the less human contact, the better. I went home, arm-wrestled Equifax until it let me get a free credit report and buy a FICO score, and lay down for a nap with an easy conscience. 

Of course, adult life being what it is, knocking one item off the to-do list merely promotes the rest. Now I'm contemplating having the battered kitchen floor redone and stripping off the adjoining sitting-room carpet; getting in electricians to fix the shocking outlet in our bedroom and put a power strip above the workbench in the garage; and assembling shelves in the garage in order to start getting books out of the house. I also have a high-level design for an Android app that scans barcodes and records which box you put each book in; we'll see if I ever develop the oomph to write it.

P.S.  After all the sturm and drama, the manicure from Talkative Life Story Lady is at least 1/4 chipped off three days later.  Pah.   Am deciding whether it's worth the effort to write her a stern note.  See above re: to-do list.
This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/902947.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 27 Nov 2009 11:04 Subject: Who do you think you are? Security: Public

 A couple of days ago I was driving home with local public radio on.  A producer at the Herbst theater was talking about her work.  She explained that she had standards, and that one of them was that a lit stage and dark house were essential.  She went on to explain that Barbara Cook had showed up and explained that she needed the house lights up so that she could work with the audience.   The producer proudly explained that she had, after a lot of talking, convinced Cook to work with the house lights off.   The person interviewing her said, "And if you weren't there, you don't realize what a feat of diplomacy that was."

You are dealing with Barbara frelling Cook, one of the greatest living interpreters of American popular song.  Barbara Cook has been performing onstage since the 1950s, first in musicals and later as a solo performer; in her seventies, Cook remains renowned for the excellence of her concerts.  Cook's not demanding the stage be full of artificial fog, or that she be lit with pink heart-shaped follow spots; she's asking that the lighting not make it impossible for her to see the audience.  Cook is asking for work that ,  although tricky, should not be impossible to manage for a good lighting designer -- designers have to deal with stage shows that require audience interaction all the time.

And you know better than she does how to light a Barbara Cook concert, because you are a Producer. 

Pfeh.
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Date: 26 Nov 2009 13:35 Subject: John Keegan and David Irving Security: Public Tags: rants

After Brad DeLong pointed to John Keegan's public statements on David Irving, I decided to go read Richard J. Evans's Lying About Hitler, which analyzes Irving's written and spoken work in pitiless detail. I heartily recommend it, both to those interested in how historians actually work and to those who enjoy knife fights.

Briefly, in 1993 Deborah Lipstadt wrote Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, an early book about Holocaust deniers; she called out Irving as one such. In 1998 Irving sued Lipstadt, and her British publisher Penguin, for defamation; he offered to settle with Penguin for 500 pounds and the withdrawal and pulping of the book, while making it clear that he would not withdraw his case against Lipstadt. Penguin, bravely, refused these terms.

The defamation lawsuit of 1998 was Irving's attempt to suppress academic speech: he wanted to force a fellow historian to withdraw her work of history. This point is important because various historians, including Keegan, described the suit as Lipstadt's attempt to suppress Irving's writing, 180 degrees from what actually happened. Lipstadt merely defended herself against Irving; given the constraints of defamation law, she was required to do so by proving Irving to be what she had called him.

After you've read Evans's withering dissection of Irving's research methods, you cannot call Irving a historian; he is at most a controversialist. Irving has a habit of citing only half of important statements [1], of misquoting and mistranslating statements that go against his thesis [2], of ignoring evidence that contradicts him [3], and of misinterpreting context-bound statements as if they applied outside their contexts [4]. After the close of the trial, Irving's reputation as a historian was completely, and appropriately, destroyed.

John Keegan was forced, against his will, to testify for Irving. After the trial concluded, he wrote his take on the proceedings for the Daily Telegraph. Unfortunately, the only online copy of Keegan's article is on Irving's own site; given Irving's habit of eliding text inconvenient to his purpose, this text may well be incomplete. I link to the Google cache for the article.  In this article, Keegan says:
Keegan provides no explanation of why Lipstadt was unreliable on Irving or any other subject. By contrast, Irving's historical work had been under attack by many reputable scholars  since the publication, in 1977, of Hitler's War, which Keegan had called "Irving's greatest achievement... indispensable to anyone seeking to the understand the war in the round". Keegan's fellow-Englishman, Hugh Trevor-Roper, called out one of the linchpins of Irving's argument as self-contradictory. "[He] commented about Irving's claim that Hitler was unaware of the mass murders of Jews carried out by the SS while at the same time intervening to save Jewish lives that: 'One does not veto an action unless one thinks that it is otherwise likely to occur' " Many of the scholarly arguments cited in the Wikipedia article to which I link came up again in the Irving trial. (Much of what I've said here is cited to Wikipedia, simply because Wikipedia is open-source and Dr. Evans's gripping book is not; I've verified much of it, including the four earlier citations, in Evans.)

Keegan "suddenly realized" a position Irving had been stating in print since 1977, a position to which Irving had devoted several books, one of which Keegan had reviewed.

The trial, to which Keegan claims he paid attention, made it clear that Irving's "all-consuming knowledge" was in fact based on ignoring and distorting information inconvenient to him. You cannot accurately call a man an archivist when his business is to misrepresent the data he catalogs.

Here's the crux. All of the proof that Irving in fact distorted the facts, consistently, and based his distorted reasoning on these distorted facts, has sailed right over Keegan's head. Keegan claims that Irving's only fault is in the conclusions he drew from the facts, and refers to his letting his "youthful resentments" bubble up.  (At the time of the trial, Irving was 58, Keegan a mature 64.)  More to the point, there was ample evidence presented at the trial that Irving believed exactly what he said, and had said it repeatedly, both in public and in private.

Here's Keegan's conclusion.

Deborah Lipstadt, the woman whom Irving sued in order to silence, is dull. Nobody wants to read her. Irving is interesting, and if he only learns from this case [learns what? This was a man of 58 who had been denying Hitler's knowledge of the Holocaust since 1977, and the Holocaust itself since the late 1980s], will continue to be worthy of attention.

This essay is shameful. I have no idea why Keegan preferred Irving, a man who made grave, repeated, and deliberate historical errors to which Keegan himself admits ("That did not imply endorsement of Irving's view that Hitler did not "know" about the Holocaust until October 1943. That view was "perverse", I said."), to Deborah Lipstadt, unlike Irving a trained and experienced historian who submitted her work to peer review. It is clear that Keegan did prefer Irving, and continued to do so after the evidence proved him to have backed the wrong horse.

Keegan should be ashamed of himself.

Note: Do not even consider debating  the historical fact of Hitler's murders of Jews, Slavs, Communists, and other 'undesirables' here. This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/902427.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 25 Nov 2009 06:55 Subject: Damn Midwestern face Security: Public

Things having been what they is, I needed a break. I signed up for the mobile pedicure van that shows up at work every other week -- you may all pause to glare at the screen before moving on.  I said in the appointment that I was really stressed and wanted a chance to chill out.

What I got was information on all the following:

• The proprietress's unhappiness with her nail technician, whom she had just fired the previous day for failing to pay her station rent, including repeated enumerations of the technician's vices.
• The proprietress's having been up until 3 AM at the hospital with her personal assistant, who had broken a clavicle.
• How much time the previous appointment, posing for photographs to promote the business, had consumed.
• Life histories for all three of the proprietress's dogs, past and current, including tragic deaths.
• The proprietress's infertility and subsequent divorce, twenty years ago.
• The proprietress's having raised her nieces after her sister died young.
• What the proprietress said to her mother on the latter's deathbed.

This flow of information continued after I explained that because we were running late, I needed to begin reading a work-related book.  At least once she said something requiring an answer, then popped up "But you're supposed to be reading, so I won't bother you!"  My toes are moderately shiny, but the proprietress is nowhere near as good at nails as her technician.  Sigh.

I need to hire a New Yorker to give me lessons in I Don't Talk To Anybody face.

This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/902294.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 24 Nov 2009 16:48 Subject: Sir John Keegan isn't paying attention. Security: Public

In a linkspam, Brad DeLong destroys John Keegan's recent work. I had read the recent New York Times review that proved Keegan hadn't done his research on the Civil War -- . “The Ohio and its big tributaries, the Cumberland and the Tennessee form a line of moats protecting the central Upper South, while the Mississippi, with which they connect, denies the Union any hope of penetration.” Um.... ever heard of a boat?

It turns out, however, that Keegan is equally unreliable on the location of Bulgaria and that, furthermore, he testified for David Irving in the latter's libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt, Lipstadt having called Irving a Holocaust denier.

Keegan: "[Irving] has, in short, many of the qualities of the most creative historians. He is certainly never dull. Prof. Lipstadt, by contrast, seems as dull as only the self-righteously politically correct can be. Few other historians had ever heard of her before this case. Most will not want to hear from her again. Mr. Irving, if he will only learn from this case, has much that is interesting to tell us."

Sigh.

The Times review I linked to is riveting, if you, like me, enjoy watching one scholar cut another to shreds.

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Date: 24 Nov 2009 06:52 Subject: Not just falling but leaping off the pedestal Security: Public Mood: tired Tags: rants

In the space of a week, RWA has moved from taking the genuinely risky and courageous step of confronting Harlequin, a major RWA National supporter, to ... well, let me quote.

That was sent to Jane Litte of Dear Author. Dear Author is one of the most visible and successful romance-review blogs. As a review blog, it posts both positive and very negative reviews. Dear Author's "romfail" thread on Twitter consists of one-line snippets from novels the authors found particularly amusing,. Sample #romfail posts:

• "Emmy flung back her head, rubbing her breasts on his chest, jouncing vigorously on his lap as her channel rippled".
•  "Their bodies were still joined since she refused to release his cock from her ferociously gripping cunt".  
• "after masturbation & showering, Quentin exits the bathroom to find an angry dark skinned young man delivering Kamaria's summons".  "everyone is no color or dark skinned. Because dark skin apparently is an abnormality worth mentioning" 

Dear Author has also criticized RWA's reluctance to acknowledge E-publishing.

Let's get this out of the way. Organizations have the right to choose their members, blah blah blah. RWA has the right to do any damn thing it wants to about membership qualifications.  However, RWA looks profoundly petty by throwing out a well-known critic because she criticized both romances and the organization itself. That's what critics do.  An organization that can't stand criticism is showing itself to be weak.

RWA is infamous for "the cult of Nice".  Early in my membership I was warned by a respected author never to speak ill of a member's book in public, because memories were long.   A critic, by definition, cannot be Nice;  Q.E.D.  It's the inverse of Snacky's Law; RWA is terrorized by those Nice GIrls From High School, where "nice" means "we don't say things like that here."

Dear Stephen Sondheim, always with the mot juste.

You're so nice.
All so nice.
You're not good, you're not bad,
You're just nice.
I'm not good, I'm not nice,
I'm just right. This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/901789.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 23 Nov 2009 10:38 Subject: I'm going to WisCon! Security: Public Mood: squeeeeeee

I have ordered my membership and made a Concourse reservation.  See you there!

This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/901293.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 23 Nov 2009 06:44 Subject: Gleee! Security: Public Mood: informed Tags: top hat

 A friend (edit: ) linked me to The Black Tie Guide, which is full of pleasing minutiae of men's evening wear, written in a style that reminds me of Tim Gunn.  I'm not great on men's dress etiquette -- Emily Post et al., really prefer to lay down the law to women -- so it's enlightening.  Some morsels  I loved:

•  Strict social etiquette dictates a choice [of boutonniere] from only four “correct” flowers:  a blue cornflower, a red or white carnation or a gardenia.   Cornflower?  Who knew?  I'll never see a man wearing a gardenia in this country, at least unless he's gender-bending.
• Truly classic cufflinks are connected with links or a chain (thus the name) and are decorated on either end in order to dress both sides of the shirt cuff.  If choosing common single-sided cufflinks instead, opt for a finished backing to provide at least some decoration for the opposite cuff.The exposed working hardware of most hinged backings is incongruous with formal cuffs.
•  Although there is no specific etiquette regarding the number of miniature medals that can be worn, it would be prudent to limit yourself to a maximum of six.  Any more and you may be mistaken for a head of state.  Heee!

Edited to correct link.
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Date: 22 Nov 2009 14:17 Subject: A friendly note to humanity Security: Public Mood: grumpy Tags: rants

(I have a feeling that I've ranted this rant before.   I nonetheless feel that it is worth ranting again.)

Weight loss can be caused by "willpower", diet, and exercise.  It can also be caused by ill health, both physical and mental; medication reactions; personal stress; and other Bad Things.  

When you compliment somebody on weight loss, and especially when you praise her willpower, you may in fact be reminding that person of recent misfortunes, and, if you persist, forcing her to reveal those misfortunes in order to get you to shut up. 

When you equate weight loss with virtue, you are implicitly equating weight gain with vice.   The person you are complimenting on his virtue may be aware that the weight loss is temporary, and wondering if, when it reverses, you will be silently criticizing his lack of "willpower".

When it comes to weight loss, why not just say "You look GREAT!"  This is nearly always welcome.   Next, if the person has, in, fact, worked hard to lose weight/increase fitness, she is free to volunteer, "Thank you, I've lost 20 pounds!"
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Date: 22 Nov 2009 08:35 Subject: Okay, this is just NOT FAIR Security: Public

 For the last few weeks I've been having pains in the ball joints just below both big toes.  I will, of course, be going to a doctor for a diagnosis, but I very much fear that this is the bunions that have plagued my mother.  (Another fun possibility is the gout that plagues my husband.)

In the course of my life, with the exception of my disastrous six-month telecommute to an investment bank* during the tail of the dot-com boom, I have worn high heels on the average of once every six months.

*Hint:  Yes, they were absolutely as corrupt as you think they were.  I was told in so many words that "The Chinese wall [between research and the investment bankers] is just a myth."
This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/900581.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 21 Nov 2009 17:34 Subject: Geektalk Security: Public

• Okay, I replaced the hard drive and the power supply on the 2002 Tivo and it's just dead. It was a good 7 years, little Tivo. Thanks
• Ebay is biting the wax tadpole. Ever since I joined a software service firm my first reaction to a really juicy outage has been, "Oh, thank God it isn't us." Robust is hard, y'know?
• I am so grateful that nobody in my profession is expected to carry a pager.  I would hate to be the person responsible for figuring out why $MAJOR REVENUE SOURCE$ has been down for 45 minutes. 
• I ♥ BART.  People who bathe in Ben-Gay and then ride, however, should get migraines.
• I also ♥ my Droid.  Mostly.  Except when it annoys me.  Overall, though, smartphones are love.

This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/900348.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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Date: 20 Nov 2009 07:09 Subject: Holy cow Security: Public

 I'm coming late to the quarrel; I'm sure half my flist have commented by now.

For those of you who don't follow the publishing world, Harlequin just cast around for a new source of income and found it.  Harlequin has opened a vanity press, originally to be called "Harlequin Horizons".  Whenever somebody is rejected from Harlequin, Harlequin will send the would-be author a long letter encouraging him or her to pay to have the book published.  This letter includes such lies as that the bound copy of their vanity publication would be just what should be sent to a would-be agent.  Jackie Kessler has a fine, fine, rundown (alas, on an orange background) of everything that's wrong with Harlequin's offer.  

There was, justifiably, an uproar:  Yog's Law: "Money flows toward the writer."    Harlequin, offended, said, "What's the matter, you don't believe in self-publishing?"

Self-publishing with Lulu and the like is completely legitimate because nobody is promising best-seller status.  With Lulu, you plunk down your money for the prepress setup, you buy as many of Lulu's services as you find appropriate (you're welcome to design your own cover and interior layout, to provide your own ISBN, and so on), and you set the price and royalties for the final book.  You're paying Lulu to facilitate your setting up a tiny publishing business.  

With Harlequin, you pay truly outrageous prices (compare Lulu, which offers both packages and unbundled options) for basic industry services, and then Harlequin demands half of the net.  For what?  For what service?   Harlequin hasn't invested a clipped penny in the book, but they're demanding half the net for the use of their names, in perpetuity.

Last night RWA, SFWA, and MWA laid the hammer down: no publication by any branch of Harlequin will be considered a qualification to join those organizations, and Harlequin will be listed in their records as a vanity press.  Harlequin has backed off using their name on the vanity press, and  is whining that these organizations just don't get the brave new world of self-publishing.  In fact, Harlequin just sold  their reputation, and are now complaining that its value has diminished.
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Date: 18 Nov 2009 09:04 Subject: THIS CAN STOP NOW Security: Public Mood: exhausted Music: Warren Zevon, your sh*t's f*cked up

It's the day after a severe migraine;  all I did yesterday was sleep, take the cat to the vet, and take the cat back from the vet.  I feel like death on a stick, with no hope of resurrection.

The phone rang just as I was pulling into work.  The test reports came back on the kitten.  He has giardia.  Which is contagious to humans.  (I've been hand-washing after touching litter, but now I need to make sure I hand-wash after petting the cat, too.)  Also I need to pick up more drugs to treat that.

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Date: 18 Nov 2009 07:47 Subject: Question Security: Public

This week's Newsweek has an unfavorable cover story on Sarah Palin. The cover picture was taken in a shoot she gave to Runner's World. It shows her in a cheesecake leg pose, leaning up against a draped American flag, holding two Blackberries.

Palin is complaining that the Newsweek cover is out of context, that she posed for Runner's World in the context of promoting fitness, and that reusing the picture for a political piece is sexist.

(P.S. The cat is fine. The diarrhea was probably a reaction to the ringworm med, which has worked so well he doesn't need it any more. Furthermore, the biopsy results showed that the thing in his nose was an enormous polyp, but the thing in his ear was granulation tissue; this means he won't need ear surgery. Yay! The only dark spot is that he needs his ringworm baths even more now that he's off the internal med; I've been skimping for two weeks on account of my own health.) This entry was originally posted at http://jonquil.dreamwidth.org/899123.html. comment(s) on that entry.

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