(no subject)

elspethsheir reminded me yesterday that Ter would have been 55 this week.

Ter still has an LJ, a memorial LJ now, and I still have emails and comment notifications from her in a file in my Gmail, as I have for Kiki, another great literary friend who passed in the last few years, both of them well before they ought to have.

The other day I stumbled over a personal website that a man's family had preserved after he was killed in a car accident. They made two changes: one, they put up a front page explaining the website and what had happened, and two, they put a link to a page with his "last words", which were an email to a friend. I don't think his family is terribly computer literate; in his "last words" they included his friend's quoted email and his sig line, which okay, totally made me snortlaugh. If I die and someone does that to me I don't want my sig to be remembered as the last thing I ever said.

I'm planning on being young and alive forever, though, so I'm not too fussed.

In all seriousness, I do sometimes think about (read: make a baffled face at) the fact that I've made something and put it out there in the world that will be around after I'm gone. I mean, there's the Cafe, maybe, but also the tangible books I've published. Copies of Nameless have survived maulings by dogs (no kidding, it's an awesome story involving a husky who picked the book specifically to attack) and giant house fires, so at least a few will probably outlast me. Especially given I can't seem to go a month without some form of bodily harm.

Christian recently linked to an article called Cyberspace When You're Dead, which I admit I haven't read in full because a) it's really long and b) it makes me want to make a to-do list of shit I have to set up before I die and c) it's kind of freaky and I have too much else to do this month to deal with my own mortality as well. But it's got some interesting things to say.

WELL THIS HAS BEEN A CHEERY FUCKING BLOGPOST.

In closing, an email exchange from last night:

E: Point of interest: the past tense of "pet" is not "pet."
Sam: The past tense of "pet" is "cremains".

(no subject)

This is getting out of hand.

After reading about the wild coyote colony living cheek-by-jowl with us here in Chicago, I decided I wanted to know more about coyotes. So I set up a google alert, which was clearly a mistake. I have fallen too far down the rabbit hole, and I know this because I get unreasonably angry about negative media coverage of our Second City Coyotes.

Lately, a nearby county has offered a bounty on coyote ears. While I know that sometimes hunting thins out overpopulation and is good for the local ecosystem, it still annoys me; coyotes are territorial and tend not to overpopulate the way, say, deer do. A bunch of "save the quails/turkeys/ducks" organisations are behind it, and while I'm a big fan of ducks I'm not sure you can trust people who care that much about turkeys.

Also, some of these people are morons. The coyotes are not invading your housing subdivision, asshole, you're building houses on their hunting ground. And I'm fine with people building out into coyote territory, because coyotes are super-adaptible pest-control machines, but don't blame the coyotes when you invade their home and they refuse to leave.

I also happen to know that mating season for coyotes is starting. Keep your cats inside and your dog on a leash! (That sounds wrong, but what they mean is that coyotes are more aggressive during mating season and especially in the suburbs may go after cats as prey and dogs as competitors.)

Seriously. I know too much about coyotes for someone not doing a degree in coyotes. On the other hand, I learned it all from people doing degrees in coyotes. Did you know you can get a degree in coyotes?

It does have its advantages. Remember Holly, the badass coyote who was rescued from the ice floe in Lake Michigan? She's recovering nicely from a case of frostbitten paws, living on rats and the occasional quail, and will probably be released this spring. Happy ending!

In short: Fuck Yeah Coyotes.

(no subject)

It has become evident that a Radio Free Monday supplement is in order this week -- the flooding in Australia has caused a lot of people to send links my way, and some of these are pretty time-sensitive.

I won't be doing another one of these until Monday, but those of you who want to follow events or may need the info are free to bookmark or track this post for info in the comments. Everyone should feel free to drop links here, though if you leave links in comments, please just paste 'em rather than embedding them, it's a little easier on link collators if they can copy and paste.

This is a pretty good representation of the flooding. It's intense.

There are a crapton of resources at Irreparable's journal, who seems to be more able than I am to track this stuff, so you may want to check there as well.

The ABC, the government-funded-but-not-controlled broadcaster, is updating frequently with relevant information, contacts, news stories etc. ABC has dropped regional restrictions to viewing their ABC24 streaming news channel. If there's anyone outside Australia worried about family or friends, wanting to know a more detailed picture of the suburbs affected and the current situation, I'm told this is definitely the way to go.

If you are in Australia

The Australian Red Cross National Registration and Inquiry System allows flood affected people to register and then be searched for by others. The Red Cross Blood Service is also looking for blood donations. The floods have closed some donor centres and caused other people to cancel their appointments, leading to a drop in donations. It's a high demand time.

QNews, a QLD-based queer news service, are coordinating a queer-friendly flood-relief billeting program. Emergency shelters aren't always welcoming of queer people, though I'm told locals haven't seen any reports yet of shelters turning people away.

If You Wish To Give

There's a fundraising fic auction going on at Waltzmatildah's journal. Members of the cafe, I know some of you are selling services -- please leave a link here if you'd like people to come bid on you!

There's a fundraising fic auction also going on for Aid to Brazil and it's very small -- I strongly recommend if you want to write for an auction, you consider this one.

Donations to aid for Sri Lanka can be made here.

There are a couple of links for Philippines relief: UNICEF, Red Cross, and Oxfam.

QLD RSPCA is asking for donations to feed the native and domestic animals displaced by the flood and to treat animals injured in it.

Fablecroft Publishing is selling a limited edition ebook of their forthcoming speculative fiction anthology After the Rain as a fundraiser; 100% of payments will go to the Appeal. No set price, just whatever people want to donate, and you get a collection of Australian writers' spec fic stories, plus some thoughts from Brisbane writers/editors. More background information at editor Tehani Wessely's lj post.

Thanks to everyone who dropped links -- sorry I'm not crediting this time around, I got all the way through this collation post before I realised I'd been deleting the notifications without noticing who sent them first. But your information is appreciated!

(no subject)

Apparently it's fashion preview time in the world of couture. Seeing as ask_aboutcoffee has retired from fashion blogging, I thought it was time I stepped up and pretended to be a snob.

It started with Valet making a 2011 forecast. Guys, do not listen to Valet. Even if they are right, they are so wrong. Well, they're right about some things, like wing tips, henleys, and a self-imposed ban on skinny jeans, but wrong about almost everything else. White jeans are dreadful. Full stop.

The rest of this post is almost entirely about guys named Tom. I didn't do that on purpose, it just happened.

God, Tom Ford, I just...aviators and pastels? Seriously? The suit cuts are okay and the saddle shoes are fine, and that one black suit with the patterned grey shirt is excellent, but...pastels and aviators.

Fall previews are going on this coming week in Milan and Paris. Stay classy, Thom Browne, inventer of the mysterious disembodied belt.

I was going to say I can't wait to see what Galliano has going, because his wild stabs at fashion usually entertain more in the mockery, but actually his Spring/Summer 2011 preview is unusually sane if you ignore the ANGRY CHARLIE CHAPLINS. I mean, there's still guys modeling what appear to be bondage harem pants, but I'd wear some of those coats.

If you really want to know a great way to think about fashion and style, check out what Tom Sachs has to say on the matter. Tom Sachs is awesome; he once Prada-branded a toilet and built a giant Weeping Hello Kitty sculpture.

Or you could check out the White Collar Style Gallery. But only if you're really into Thomas Pink.

Make It Pop

Title: Make It Pop
Rating: PG-13 (Tim/Matt)
Warnings: None
Fandom: White Collar RPF.
Summary: "Tim's going to do it" is going to get Matt Bomer in trouble some day.
Notes: Will make much more sense after watching this video of Matt and Tim at Comic-Con, dancing to Tik Tok. Also that may redeem the song Tik Tok for you.

( Comic-Con was insane. )

(no subject)

Okay I have posted like five times today, sorry. I AM BRIMFUL OF CONTENT FOR YOU. Here, have some original fic and some fanfic in one shiny package!

First, there's Trace Chapter Six.

And then there's some RPF that I wrote as part of my <1000 challenge. Oh the shame.

Title: Make It Pop
Rating: PG-13 (Tim/Matt)
Warnings: None
Summary: "Tim's going to do it" is going to get Matt Bomer in trouble some day.
Notes: Will make much more sense after watching this video of Matt and Tim at Comic-Con, dancing to Tik Tok. Also that may redeem the song Tik Tok for you.

( Comic-Con was insane. )